After many years in development, Disney’s Snow Queen tale, Frozen, is finally due to arrive in cinemas December 2013, and to prepare us, the studio has released some rather cool looking concept art, which you can see above (click on it for a larger version), and a few more story details.

Here is the synopsis: ‘When a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, Anna, a fearless optimist, teams up with extreme mountain man Kristoff and his sidekick reindeer Sven on an epic journey to find Anna’s sister Elsa, the Snow Queen, and put an end to her icy spell. Encountering mystical trolls, a funny snowman named Olaf, Everest-like extremes and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom from destruction.’

Co-directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck have been talking about the image in an interview with EW, saying “We wanted to push it to the extreme. The unnatural quality of the ice emphasises this is not, you know, sky-made ice, but ice made by someone.”

The person controlling the wind and ice is Elsa, and to further the idea it’s ice that was made by a person, the film will have a subtle snowflake pattern embedded in the backgrounds. ”You’ll see that shape throughout,” Buck says. “It’s very subtle, but that’s basically [evidence of] Elsa’s magic. That’s her signature.”

As for heroine Anna, Lee says, “Anna is a very relatable character to those of us who are not superheroes. She’s wonderfully flawed, but fearless. And wants to do the right thing. Those are the characters I love.” She adds, “From the Kristoff angle, we were trying to get at what it’s like to be a guy, trying to understand women – basically.”