16 Years Ago, This Classic Disney Movie Ended an Era for Animation (And Its Sequel Got Cancelled)

16 years ago, one classic Disney Princess film marked the end of an era for Disney Animation, but it’s had bad luck ever since as a potential sequel for the classic had been cancelled years after the original. Walt Disney Animation Studios has been through a number of different eras over the decades, and it’s no surprise to say that some of these eras have been received on a much better level than others. But heading into the 2010s, Disney was in a period of transition as it tried to find the next path to success going forward for its animated projects.

16 years ago this week, on December 11, 2009, The Princess and the Frog made its debut in theaters across the United States. This film introduced Disney’s first (and still) only Black princess into the official line up, and was also one of their final films produced through hand drawn 2D illustrations rather than what was seen later with CG animation in films like Tangled that came out just a year later. But despite all of the love fans have had for the movie, any chance at a comeback has been cut at the knees in the years since with its canceled sequel.

The Princess and the Frog Ended a Disney Era

Released in 2009, The Princess and the Frog was a very dramatic shift that fans might have been used to from Disney at the time. Though they had started their experimentation with CG animated releases with films like Chicken Little, Bolt and Meet the Robinsons, the disastrous Home on the Range would not be the final 2D animated work. The Princess and the Frog loosely adapts The Frog Prince fairy tale like many of the classic Disney Princess movies in the past, and introduced fans to a great new Princess as a result.

Tiana was also different from many of the others in the line up. She was introduced as a hard working young woman with some very strong and notable dreams of her own that she wanted to accomplish. Rather than hoping to find love or marriage, she wanted to run a successful business and build a community much like she was able to enjoy as a child. Living in New Orleans, it was a tough road for Tiana right up until she was magically transformed into a frog.

Her story together with Prince Naveen was also nothing like the other Princess and Prince dynamics of the past. The two of them were at odds for much of the film as Naveen was rather self-centered, and ultimately got Tiana stuck in her predicament. But when everything comes to an end, Tiana is able to live out her dream and even become an official Princess. But the film was quickly forgotten as Disney started to move forward with its CG animated futures and then had even more Princess success with Frozen and the like in the years shortly after.

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What Happened to Princess Tiana?

Despite the way we’ve seen some of these Disney Princesses return for sequel projects or spinoffs in some form, Princess Tiana has unfortunately not had that same level of luck. Although the film was part of a recent update to Splash Mountain in Disneyland and Disney World and got a new song in the process, The Princess and the Frog has not gotten a concrete follow up as many fans have wanted to see. Making matters even tougher was the fact that there was actually a TV series in development that was cancelled before it even got the chance to release.

Tiana was an official series in development for Disney+ that would bring back The Princess and the Frog star Anika Noni Rose as the voice of Tiana once more, but it was shelved while in development. It was first announced to be in production back in 2020, but was cancelled as Disney+ decided to shift gears and move away from producing its longform TV series content with the platform. This series did go through some staff changes during its development, but this one unfortunately the final nail in the coffin for Tiana’s story for now.

There’s still a chance that Tiana could return in a future project someday, but unfortunately it’s just kind of a bummer that The Princess and the Frog got stuck in such a weird position within Disney’s history. It’s not the final 2D film (as that honor goes to Winnie the Pooh, which came out shortly after), but continues to feel forgotten as Disney films seemed to instantly get sequels in the 2010s and 2020s. Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Moana, Zootopia and more have since gotten continuations of some kind, and The Princess and the Frog just got left behind.

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