When do Disney's Frozen films take place? While it's not made obvious to the audiences, there are hints throughout the films that reveal the franchise's time period, and a tie-in short film actually gives them a date. 2013's Frozen was a surprisingly huge success for the House of Mouse, with Frozen 2 proving to be just as commercially viable as its predecessor; it was the studio's sixth film to surpass $1 billion in 2019. A couple of short films have subsequently followed, Frozen Fever and Olaf's Frozen Adventure, as well as a digital series called Olaf Stays Home. Frozen is currently Disney's biggest animated franchise.
The first Frozen saw Elsa and Anna's sisterhood put to the test when Elsa's powers brought a permanent winter that threatened Arendelle; it was a story of self-discovery, love, and family. Out of Walt Disney Animation Studios' recent endeavors, it's arguably one of their better films to date thanks to its strong narrative and thematic value. The sequel then followed the sisters as they journeyed to find a spirit that was calling to Elsa and endangering Arendelle's peace again. Frozen 2 was a mature follow-up and far more serious in how it approached its themes and stories - Elsa's narrative, especially, was surprisingly darker than the original. Both films were fantastical adventures with timeless themes and stories grounded in their mythical world.
Both Frozen and Frozen 2 overlap narratively by sharing an important flashback scene in which Elsa and Anna's parents suddenly leave, and their ship crashes, killing them in the accident. The first clue that indicates the time period in which the franchise occurs is their means of transport. Ships, sleds, and horses aren't exactly contemporary ways of getting around. Moreover, a detail hidden on a map in one of the Frozen shorts gives an exact time period.
In Frozen Fever, which follows the group throwing a surprise birthday party for Anna, a geographical map of Arendelle shows the date in Roman numerals MDCCCXL, which is equivalent to 1840. As far as when the first and second film are set, this can be deduced using the timeline established by Frozen Fever, which takes place three months after Frozen. In the short film, Anna is turning nineteen while, in the original, she's said to be eighteen, and in Frozen, Oaken, the owner of the trading post, also mentions that it's July. So while it's easy to determine that the first movie takes place in the month of July, it stands to reason that it's set several years, if not several decades, after 1840. Taking into account that Agnarr was reading The Little Mermaid when he was a kid (which was released in 1837) - through a clever Hans Christian Anderson Easter egg - it seems the first Frozen movie is set in the 1860s or 1870s, given time to factor in Agnarr's growth, Anna and Elsa's birth, and then them growing up to Elsa's 21st birthday.
This, of course, is assuming the map was first made around the time Agnarr was a teenager, since Frozen 2 takes place over 30 years after the fateful day that the Enchanted Forest was closed off. Something else that anchors the franchise's late-1800s setting is the fact that, at the end of Frozen 2, a camera is used; the characters are still bewildered by the technology and coming to terms with how to use it. While the oldest surviving photograph dates back to 1826, cameras started to become more commonly used in the late 19th century when their functionality rapidly started to increase. This would fit in with the fact that Frozen likely takes place in the late 1860s or early 1870s and Frozen 2 three years after, roughly when cameras would start to be used more in public life and, therefore, establishing the timeline of the franchise.
Updated on 4/13 to account for a timeline error.