Disney has created a new series of shorts, or “vignettes,” starring Frozen character Olaf the friendly snowman.
The series is designed to entertain Disney fans who are stuck at home while self-isolating due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Disney has already been posting new videos on various social media platforms in the last couple of weeks, and they’ve decided to bring them together on to one handy website called Disney Magic Moments.
Accompanying the site is a new digital shorts series, At Home With Olaf, starring Olaf from Frozen, and voiced by Josh Gad himself.
Olaf tosses snowballs in first Disney Magic Moment short
The first vignette has been launched already and is titled Fun With Snow and features everyone’s favorite outgoing snowman Olaf throwing snowballs at an unknown object. He then accidentally tosses the head from a mini/baby snowman; however, (spoiler alert!) it looks like he makes a friend.
It’s only 41 seconds long, but it’s funny and very cute. The audio was recorded at home by Josh Gad, and the animation was by Hyrum Osmand. We’ve been told to expect 20 more wonderful shorts.
Josh Gad enjoys playing Olaf
Josh Gad, 38, has spoken about his disappointment at the thought of not playing Olaf again after Frozen 2 wrapped up, so he must have relished the opportunity to jump into the character once again.
He said previously: “Woke up this morning and had a realization: I may have played Olaf for the last time. Who knows what the future holds, but should that be the case, thank you all for embracing this little bundle of optimism, naivete and now existentialism. I hope he bought you as much joy as he has me.”
Gad took to Twitter yesterday to say the shorts “are so charming & hopefully provide a smile during these scary times.” He also explained that Jennifer Lee, the head of Disney Animation and the director of Frozen 1 and Frozen 2, called him up asking if he could voice Olaf once again.
My friends @alittlejelee & @mrhyrum called me up one day & asked me if I would be able 2 record some dialogue & sounds as Olaf from home. These little shorts done from home by Hyrum & the @DisneyAnimation team are so charming & hopefully provide a smile during these scary times? https://t.co/pjdVGSDa2U
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) April 6, 2020
He then later tweeted that “the sheer volume and production value of these is a testament to the brilliant animators and post-production team at @DisneyAnimation.
The Disney website reads:
For more vignettes from At Home With Olaf, head to the Disney Magic Moments video portal and Walt Disney Animation Studios YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Explaining what will feature on Disney Magic Moments, the company described it as:
A website where you will find fun and engaging Disney content, stories and resources — for free! — from Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars, to Walt Disney Animation Studios, National Geographic, Disney Parks and beyond.
Many entertainment companies are doing their bit to try to keep us all entertained while we endure self-isolation. HBO announced at the end of last week that they would be releasing 500 hours of TV viewing absolutely free for a limited time only.
And earlier last month, the Hallmark channel gave us a Christmas movie marathon that lasted a whole weekend.