Josh Gad wants you to stay At Home With Olaf.
Production all over the world has been shut down during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Disney has not only had to shut down their productions, but all of the Disney theme parks around the world for the foreseeable future as well. During this difficult time of social distancing and stay at home orders, people are getting a little stir crazy. Especially kids who now have to finish up the school year at home and parents who are trying to help.
Josh Gad, the voice of Olaf in Disney’s Frozen franchise, is trying to help out as much as possible. This started with nightly bedtime stories that Gad will read live on his twitter. These live readings have been dubbed #GadBookClub. Past stories are available on his twitter after he reads them. Many people are grateful for this nighty activity they can share as a family, but that is not all Gad is doing.
Disney Animated Studios has created a series of shorts starring Gad’s Frozen character called At Home With Olaf. These short animated vignettes are created entirely remotely. The series was created and animated by Hyrum Osmond who served as supervising animator of Olaf during Frozen. Josh Gad reprises his role as the voice of Olaf which he recorded from home.
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Olaf’s First Adventure
In the first short which was released Monday April 6, Olaf is having some fun throwing snowballs when he is unknowingly joined by one of the little snowmen Elsa created in Frozen Fever which leads to an…interesting development. In the second short released Tuesday April 7, Olaf is enjoying some time on the frozen pond to the famous Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” from the nutcracker ballet.
You can watch the first two At Home With Olaf shorts below.
Gad went live on twitter to tell his fans about these all new shorts and explained how this came to be. Jennifer Lee the head of Disney animation and director of both Frozen and Frozen 2 called Gad to ask him to voice Olaf in the At Home With Olaf animated shorts. Gad admits “It was a little bit of a challenge because I’m not very good technically.” Gad excitedly continues “And now we are releasing Olaf shorts to, uh, to, also much like this, hopefully put a smile on your face every day and give you a little sense of joy.”
You can watch Gad’s full explanation below:
This isn’t the first time Disney has offered Frozen content to people during the pandemic. With Frozen 2 being released on Disney+ 3 months ahead of schedule. Onward was also recently released on Disney+ much earlier than initially planned. Disney is trying to help find a way to keep people and especially kids engaged and happy while they are at home.
Frozen 2 earned over $1 billion worldwide surpassing its predecessor to become the number 1 animated film of all time. Josh Gad’s Olaf is a fan favorite from Frozen and Frozen 2 so it’s no surprise Disney chose the silly snowman to star in the shorts.
Gad has been committed to trying to bring joy to people in this trying time and this is one more example of that. The quality of these shorts makes it all the more impressive that they were made completely remotely. There will be 20 shorts and with 2 already released that means there are 18 more to look forward to.
The shorts can be found on Gad’s (@joshgad) and @DisneyAnimation social media feeds as well as Walt Disney Animation Studio’s YouTube. Josh Gad’s live #GadBookClub also takes place on his twitter feed with past readings still available.
