Skip to main content

This image released by Disney shows a teenage Elsa the Snow Queen, voiced by Maia Mitchell, in a scene from the animated feature Frozen.The Associated Press

TOO MUCH SYNERGY?

No need to get your eyes checked (and spoiler alert) : That really was Elsa from Frozen showing up on the season finale of the TV series Once Upon a Time.

And credit the cause of corporate synergy for making it happen.

A live-action version of Frozen's animated ice-princess showed up ready for fulltime cast duty on Sunday night's third-season finale of ABC's fairy-tale-themed series Once Upon a Time.

At this point, it's worth noting that Frozen is a Disney film and the highest-grossing animated feature of all time. Disney also owns ABC.

For the uninitiated, Once Upon a Time takes place in the fictional burg of Storybrooke, Maine, and focuses on a cast of fairy-tale characters thrust into the modern world.

By way of example, the pivotal Once Upon a Time character of bounty-hunter Emma Swann (Jennifer Morrison) is actually the daughter of Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas).

Also thrown into the mix for the show's first three seasons have been Pinocchio (Eion Bailey), Little Red Riding Hood (Meghan Ory), Geppeto (Tony Amendola) and even Jiminy Cricket (Raphael Sbarge).

Frozen, meanwhile, was last year's Oscar-winner for best animated feature and also collected an Oscar for the song Let It Go. The character was voiced in the movie by former Veronica Mars regular Kristen Bell.

And didn't the two worlds come colliding together in Sunday night's season-ender of Once Upon a Time?

In the episode's closing moments, Elsa suddenly sprung to life as a real, live person, played by an unknown actress, whose every footstep spread her frosty presence.

On Monday, Once Upon a Time executive producers Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz confirmed that was indeed Elsa on the finale and hinted that she will become part of the show's upcoming fourth season.

"What we loved so much about the character of Elsa was that she was considered a villain but she never really was," said Kitsis. "She was misunderstood. That, on our show, speaks to us strongly, that it was a toy we had to play with."

Of course the bigger question was: Did Disney force Once Upon a Time to fold in the character from Frozen – currently the sixth highest-grossing movie of all time with more than $1-billion (U.S.) earned at the box office?

Both producers insisted that airlifting in Elsa was their creative decision, and not a request from ABC parent company Disney.

"We are honoured to be allowed to do it," said Horowitz. "We loved the movie. We fell in love with it when it came out last year like everyone did, and we want to do our best to do it justice."

Kitsis added that she hoped to see Elsa on the show as a regular character as early as the season-four premiere next September.

All of which hints strongly at Disney's willingness to push the concept of creative synergy to the near-breaking point.

In fact, it was right around this time last year that several characters from the Muppets – which Disney also owns – inexplicably showed up on the fourth season of the Disney Channel sitcom Good Luck Charlie.

How did Miss Piggy, Kermit, et al suddenly enter the picture? The central character of Teddy (Bridget Mendler) had a dream featuring the Muppets. It's that simple.

And for anybody who needed a reminder that Disney also owns the Star Wars film franchise, the reality-competition series Dancing With the Stars (also on ABC) kicked off its current season with the participation of Billy Dee Williams, who played Lando Calrissian in the original 1977 film Star Wars.

At the age of 76, Williams went into the show with a history of hip surgeries and other ailments, and wasn't exactly capable of tripping the light fantastic with his partner.

The solution: Williams came out on stage in his Lando getup while a group of professional hoofers attired as Imperial stormtroopers danced all around him.

All together now: M-I-C-K-E-Y...

HERO TIME

Channing Tatum will play the X-Men character known as Gambit in a new standalone movie. Producer Lauren Shuler Donner confirmed the casting decision at the London premiere of X-Men: Days of Future Past on Monday night. "It is Channing," said Donner. "He's a rogue, Channing, he's a rascal like [Gambit's alter ego] Remy LeBeau, and he can handle the action, we all know that."

Source: Comicbookmovie.com

VINYL LIVES!

Neil Young made music history on Monday night's edition of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon by recording a live song onto vinyl during the broadcast. The Canadian music legend's performance of the song Crazy was pressed directly onto white vinyl for posterity by fellow musician Jack White. Both artists appeared on The Tonight Show to promote Young's new album A Letter Home, which was released on White's record label. Crazy was written by Willie Nelson and was a hit for country singer Patsy Cline in 1961.

Source: Rolling Stone

LEGAL BRIEF

The wife of the driver of the car that killed Paul Walker is blaming Porsche for the accident in a new lawsuit. Kristine Rodas, whose husband Roger Rodas perished with the Fast & The Furious star in the fiery crash last November, has filed a lawsuit against the German car maker, claiming the Porsche Carrera GT had a faulty part in the suspension that caused the car to careen out of control. The lawsuit also asserts that the vehicle did not have a proper "crash cage" or "racing fuel cell." According to the documents, the fuel cell is common in racing cars and prevents fuel from igniting in the event of an accident.

Source: Daily Mail

META-CELEBRITY

Talk about life imitating art imitating art: Former child star Macaulay Culkin has been photographed wearing a T-shirt showing Ryan Gosling wearing a T-shirt featuring Macaulay Culkin. The Gosling shirt boasts a photo of Culkin from his former incarnation as the star of the 1990 film Home Alone. Culkin posted the photo on Instagram in support of upcoming performances by his band called The Pizza Underground.

Source: Gawker

Interact with The Globe