Disney to remove controversial 20-minute Frozen short playing before Coco

The 21-minute film has left cinemagoers less than impressed

Disney is facing something of a mild controversy over its release of Pixar's Coco.

The film, set against the backdrop of Mexico's Día de los Muertos, has been a fairly massive hit in the US, knocking Justice League off the top spot on its initial release, while receiving critical adulation for its beautiful visuals, its thoughtful representation of Latin culture, and themes of family and the power of music.

Less popular is what comes before. Pixar's theatrical outings have a tradition of being preceded by a short produced by the studio, normally no longer than 10 minutes, with many having been received tremendously well (and even landing a few Oscar wins) - such as For the Birds, Partly Cloudy, and La Luna.

However, Coco opens with a short produced by Disney, not Pixar, entitled Olaf's Frozen Adventure; a 21-minute adventure which many have interpreted as a cynical advertisement for the studio's upcoming Frozen sequel.

Mashable now reports, however, that Disney has made the decision to instruct cinemas to remove Olaf's Frozen Adventure from their screenings of Coco, requesting they use the extra time to fit in more Coco screenings. Sources state the removal goes into effect on 8 December.

Coco reaches UK cinemas 19 January 2018, likely without Olaf's Frozen Adventure.

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