Rankin/Bass Holiday Specials' Complex Broadcast History & Frozen 2's Marketing Blitz

The Complicated Broadcast History of Rankin/Bass Holiday Specials

• 📺 The exclusive cable broadcast rights for classic Rankin/Bass specials like "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman" have moved from CBS to Freeform.
• 🕰️ These specials originally aired under the "General Electric Fantasy Hour" umbrella, leading GE to acquire animation studios' most famous holiday specials in 1971.
• 🤝 A convoluted series of acquisitions eventually led to NBC Universal selling cable rights to Disney for Freeform, with an agreement that CBS would air them first.
• 🎬 Warner Brothers acquired the bulk of the Rankin/Bass library, excluding "Rudolph," "Frosty," "The Little Drummer Boy," and "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town."

"Frozen 2" Marketing and Box Office Success

• 📈 "Frozen 2" achieved record-breaking success over the 5-day Thanksgiving weekend, earning $123.7 million domestically and projected to surpass $300 million within 12 days.
• 🎯 A two-year, multi-faceted promotional campaign involved various arms of The Walt Disney Company, including quizzes on "Oh My Disney" that influenced "Frozen 2's" development.
• 🛍️ Marketing efforts included a Saks Fifth Avenue collaboration with window displays and an "enchanted forest experience," as well as a "Frozen 2" truck tour offering mini-posters and goodies.
• 🥣 A "Frozen 2" collector's edition cereal with themed marshmallows was released, featuring holographic packaging.

Annie Award Nominations and Industry Trends

• 🏆 The Annie Award nominations saw Netflix leading with 36 nominations, followed by Disney with 28, a decrease from their 2018 total.
• 🚫 "Primal," Gennady Tartakovsky's series, was notably absent from nominations, surprising many.
• 🌟 "Missing Link" received eight nominations, equal to "Frozen 2," indicating recognition for Laika despite its box office performance.
• 🎬 Disney's "The Lion King" was classified as live-action, thus not eligible for animation awards, despite a strong voice performance from Billy Eichner.
• 💡 "I Lost My Body" and "Klaus" were recognized, highlighting a trend of honoring diverse animated features.

Promotional Gags and Hollywood Trends

• 🚗 The "Spies in Disguise" trailer featured a "Mission Impossible"-style gag of a character slipping into a moving car, a gag also seen in "The Playmobil Movie."
• 🎬 The "Black Widow" trailer also exhibited "Mission Impossible" vibes, suggesting a trend in spy action filmmaking.
• 🎭 The musical "Beetlejuice" saw a resurgence in ticket sales after a successful performance of a Thanksgiving-themed opening number on the Tony Awards, a strategy that contrasted with "Tootsie's" eventual closure.
• 🎈 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade faced controversy due to high winds, leading to balloons like Olaf being kept very low to the ground, appearing to be dragged.