Frozen (2013 film) billion, and Lasseter was promoted to chief creative officer of both Pixar and Disney Animation. The next attempt started in 2008, when Lasseter was able to convince Chris Buck (who co-directed the 1999 film "Tarzan" for the studio) to return to Walt Disney Animation Studios from Sony Pictures Animation (where he had recently co-directed the Oscar-nominated 2007 film "Surf's Up"); that September, Buck pitched several ideas to Lasseter, one of which was "The Snow Queen". Buck later revealed that his initial inspiration for "The Snow Queen" was not the Andersen fairy tale itself, but that he wanted "to do something
The Little Mermaid (franchise) was released to theaters on November 15, 1989 by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, and produced by Musker and Howard Ashman. The film was a critical and commercial success. "The Little Mermaid" is the 28th Disney animated feature film and belongs to an era known as the Disney Renaissance. It is based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of the same name. "The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea" is a direct-to-video sequel to the first film. It was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on VHS in the United States