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Wall Street’s major market averages were muted on Friday after the S&P 500 notched another record high in the previous session. On the economic calendar, U.S. retail sales dipped 0.6% M/M to $763.6B in July from the previous month’s 0.2% growth to $768.1B.

The economic calendar will continue to remain largely muted for the next week, barring a few important events. Leading them is the FOMC’s minutes of the meeting, releasing on Wednesday. The Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing index for August and initial jobless claims data are due on Thursday. S&P Global’s PMI data for August is due on Friday.

Alibaba (BABA), Walmart (WMT), Home Depot (HD), and Baidu (BIDU) are among the firms reporting their earnings next week.

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Earnings spotlight: Tuesday: BHP Group (BHP), Home Depot, Baidu. See the full earnings calendar.

Earnings spotlight: Wednesday: Target (TGT), Lowe’s (LOW). See the full earnings calendar.

Earnings spotlight: Thursday: Walmart, Alibaba. See the full earnings calendar.

Volatility watch: Amazon (AMZN) and Mercury Systems (MRCY) have seen options volatility increase over the last week. The most overbought stocks per their 14-day relative strength index include SMJ International (SMJF), Hercules Metals (BADEF), and Varex Imaging (VREX). The most oversold stocks per their 14-day Relative Strength Index include Arko (ARKO) and Emergent Bio (EBS). Short interest is elevated again on Sphere Entertainment (SPHR) and Xponential Fitness (XPOF).

Dividend watch: Companies that have an ex-dividend date coming next week include ConocoPhillips (COP), Chevron (CVX), Applied Materials (AMAT), and Microsoft (MSFT).

IPO watch: IPOs expected to price during the

LONDON — Ariana Grande launched a landmark 10-night residency at London’s O2 Arena this weekend, bringing her Eternal Sunshine Tour to its European finale in what is being described as one of the most significant pop residencies the venue has hosted in years.

The run, which spans August 15 through September 1, marks Grande’s first UK concert dates since her 2019 Sweetener World Tour and represents the longest single-venue stretch of her career. The 10 shows are also the tour’s only European dates, a decision that has concentrated intense demand onto the London run. All 10 nights sold out within minutes of going on general sale through AXS, with Grande performing in a two-nights-on, one-night-off rotation across the three-week stretch. With the O2 holding roughly 20,000 fans per show, the residency is expected to draw approximately 200,000 concertgoers by the time it concludes.

The final show, on September 1, will close not only the London residency but the entire 41-date Eternal Sunshine Tour worldwide, adding extra emotional weight to the run’s concluding night. Speaking during an earlier tour stop at Oakland Arena, Grande told the crowd, “I don’t know when I’ll do this again,” a comment that has since taken on added significance as the tour approaches its final performance in London.

The Eternal Sunshine Tour supports Grande’s seventh studio album, “Eternal Sunshine,” released in 2024, along with its expanded follow-up, “Eternal Sunshine: Brighter Days Ahead,” which added nine bonus tracks and six new songs the following year. The tour marks Grande’s first major run of live shows in six years, following a Sweetener World Tour that drew more than 1.3 million fans across nearly 100 performances.

Ahead of the O2 shows, coverage from The Sun reported that Grande spent time at a private countryside retreat alongside close friend and fellow pop star Sabrina Carpenter, using the getaway as a chance to unwind away from London before the demanding run of performances began. The two singers have maintained a close friendship dating back to Carpenter’s time opening for Grande’s Dangerous Woman Tour years earlier, a relationship that has remained visible through the pair’s continued public support of one another’s careers and occasional appearances together since.

Security and logistics around the O2 shows have drawn particular attention given the venue’s history. The arena has implemented a strict bag policy for the residency, permitting only clear plastic bags no larger than 30 by 15 by 30 centimeters, a measure that reflects heightened security protocols at Grande’s concerts following the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, which took place following one of her performances. There is no opening act for the London shows, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. and Grande expected on stage between 8 p.m. and 8:10 p.m. each night, with performances typically concluding by 10 p.m.

The O2 residency places Grande among a small group of artists to have staged extended, single-venue concert runs of similar scale at the arena. The venue has previously hosted some of the most celebrated residencies in pop music history, including Adele’s acclaimed 2022 and 2024 runs, which became widely cited benchmarks for large-scale concert production.

Grande’s setlist has varied slightly from night to night throughout the broader Eternal Sunshine Tour, drawing from her catalog spanning “Eternal Sunshine” alongside earlier hits from throughout her career. Unlike some previous tour legs, the London shows do not feature a dedicated opening act, with the full evening built around Grande’s own multi-segment performance.

Beyond the concerts themselves, the residency has generated substantial economic activity around the O2 site in North Greenwich, with nearby restaurants, transportation hubs and public spaces filling with fans well ahead of each night’s doors opening, part of what organizers and local businesses have described as a broader citywide moment tied to the shows.

With demand for tickets remaining high even after the official sold-out designation, resale platforms have continued listing available seats, though at a significant premium over face value, reflecting the scale of interest in what has been billed as one of the most anticipated concert events in London this year.

As the residency continues through the coming weeks, all eyes will remain on the September 1 finale, which Grande and her team have positioned as the definitive closing chapter of the Eternal Sunshine era, following a stretch of touring that has taken the show across multiple continents before arriving at its concluding stand in London.

ETTRICK, Va. — Five people were injured in a shooting outside dormitories at Virginia State University early Saturday morning, prompting a campus-wide lockdown that was lifted several hours later as investigators continued searching for multiple suspects.

Officers were called to the 3300 block of Boisseau Street at approximately 1:30 a.m. following a report of gunfire, according to Lt. James Lamb of the Chesterfield County Police Department. When officers arrived, they found five people suffering from gunshot wounds outside the university’s Quad Annexes, a residence hall area near Boisseau Street and Third Avenue. All five were transported to nearby hospitals.

One victim, initially listed with life-threatening injuries, was later upgraded to critical condition, according to county police. The remaining four victims sustained injuries described as not life-threatening. Sources familiar with the investigation told a local television reporter the wounds appeared to be graze injuries, though that characterization had not been officially confirmed by police as of Saturday morning.

Virginia State University said in a statement that the shooting involved multiple suspects, though authorities had not announced any arrests as of Saturday morning. Lamb said law enforcement remained heavily deployed on campus as the investigation continued. “A significant law enforcement presence remains on campus as investigators process the scene,” Lamb said, adding that Virginia State University Police, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office were all assisting Chesterfield County police with the investigation.

In its own statement, the university confirmed that multiple law enforcement agencies were involved in the response. “VSU Police and the Chesterfield County Police Department are actively investigating,” the university said, urging students and the broader campus community to continue avoiding the area and to follow all instructions from law enforcement personnel on scene.

The university placed its campus on lockdown immediately following the shooting. VSU Police Chief David Bragg announced around 8:20 a.m. that the lockdown had been lifted and that normal access to campus could resume, though officials cautioned that a heightened law enforcement presence would remain in place while the investigation continued.

The shooting occurred at a particularly sensitive moment for the university. Residence halls had opened to returning students just a day earlier, on Friday, ahead of the start of classes for the new academic year, scheduled to begin Monday. The university had marked the occasion that same Friday morning with a pinning ceremony welcoming nearly 1,500 new students, featuring former NFL Most Valuable Player Cam Newton as the event’s guest speaker.

Virginia State University is a historically Black public university located in Ettrick, Virginia, roughly 24 miles south of Richmond. Founded in 1882, the school holds the distinction of being the first fully state-supported four-year college established for Black Americans in the United States. The university currently enrolls approximately 5,700 students.

Officials have asked anyone with information about the shooting to come forward. The university directed tips to Chesterfield County Police at 804-748-1251, the Crime Solvers tip line at 804-748-0660, or Virginia State University Police directly at 804-524-5411.

Saturday’s shooting adds to a series of gun violence incidents that have affected college campuses across Virginia and the broader country in recent years. In November 2022, a shooting at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville left three football players dead and two other people injured, prompting an hours-long manhunt and a campus-wide shelter-in-place order. More recently, a shooting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk left one person dead and additional victims injured among members of the school’s ROTC program.

As of Saturday morning, no additional details had been released regarding the circumstances that led to the shooting at Virginia State University, including a possible motive or the relationship, if any, between the shooters and the victims. Investigators had not indicated whether any of the five injured individuals were current students at the university.

With the lockdown lifted and classes still scheduled to begin Monday as planned, the university’s response in the coming days is likely to focus on both the ongoing law enforcement investigation and efforts to reassure students and their families as the fall semester approaches. Chesterfield County police said the investigation remains active and ongoing, with additional updates expected as authorities work to identify those responsible.

Catherine, the Princess of Wales, is reportedly set to accompany Prince William to Mumbai, India, in November for the 2026 Earthshot Prize Awards, according to a report from the Mirror, in what would mark the couple’s first joint international visit since 2023 and Kate’s first appearance at the environmental awards ceremony since its second edition in 2022.

Kensington Palace has not officially confirmed Kate’s attendance, and did not comment when reached by PEOPLE about the report. If the trip goes ahead as described, it would represent a significant milestone in Kate’s ongoing return to public duties following her 2024 cancer diagnosis, for which she announced she was in remission in January 2025.

William launched the Earthshot Prize in 2020 as a 10-year initiative aimed at identifying and rewarding solutions to major environmental challenges, with winners across five categories each receiving £1 million, or roughly $1.4 million, to advance their work. Kate attended the inaugural ceremony in London in 2021 and the second edition in Boston in 2022, but has not appeared at the awards since, missing subsequent ceremonies in Singapore in 2023, Cape Town in 2024 and Rio de Janeiro in 2025, a period that overlapped with her cancer treatment and broader step back from public engagements.

According to the Mirror’s royal editor, Russell Myers, Kate’s involvement in the Earthshot Prize traces back further than her public appearances at the awards themselves. “The secret to the Prince and Princess of Wales’ marriage is support for one another,” Myers said, crediting Kate as a driving force behind William’s decision to launch the initiative in the first place, at a time when he reportedly had doubts about whether it could achieve the scale of global recognition it has since reached.

Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond echoed that assessment in comments to the Mirror, describing the couple’s shared commitment to environmental causes as a genuine, mutual passion rather than simply a supportive gesture from Kate toward her husband’s work. “They are completely aligned in their love of nature,” Bond said, adding that concerns about the natural world and the broader climate crisis matter just as much to Kate personally as they do to William.

Myers went further in characterizing the significance of a potential November trip, describing it as more than just another royal engagement. He said Kate’s expected presence in India represents a substantial moment both for her individually and for the couple as a working partnership, framing the visit as an opportunity for renewal following a difficult stretch tied to her health. He added that when the couple appears together on the international stage, their combined presence tends to generate significantly more attention and impact than either would achieve separately.

William announced Mumbai as the 2026 host city during the first Mumbai Climate Week in February, noting that India has produced more Earthshot Prize finalists and winners than any other country to date. “India is one of the world’s most important forces for climate and nature,” William said at the time, adding that solutions successfully implemented at scale in India carry the potential to inspire similar progress in other parts of the world.

Beyond the Mumbai ceremony itself, the Mirror reported that William and Kate are also likely to spend additional time in Delhi during the trip, at the request of the U.K. government. The visit would echo a prior tour the couple undertook together in 2016, when they traveled to India and Bhutan while still holding the titles of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, including a widely photographed stop at the Taj Mahal.

Kate’s expected trip to India follows a successful solo international visit she undertook in May, when she traveled to Reggio Emilia, Italy, for a two-day trip tied to her work on early childhood development, her first solo overseas visit since 2022. A source told Vanity Fair at the time that the Italy trip had served as something of a trial run ahead of a potential second, larger tour later in the year. The Times separately reported that Kate appeared enthusiastic following the Italy trip, reportedly asking on the flight home, “Where next?”

With the Earthshot Prize ceremony still roughly three months away, Kensington Palace has not provided an official itinerary or confirmed guest list for the November events. Should the reported plans move forward, the Mumbai trip would stand as one of the most closely watched royal engagements of the year, offering the clearest public signal yet of Kate’s continued return to a fuller schedule of international duties following her recovery.

Players of Escape from Tarkov continue to report a range of technical and gameplay problems with the hardcore extraction shooter, even as developer Battlestate Games rolls out frequent technical updates to address specific bugs and stability concerns.

Escape from Tarkov, developed by the Russian studio Battlestate Games, entered full release as version 1.0 and expanded to Steam after years in early access. The game combines realistic first-person shooting with RPG progression, inventory management and high-stakes raids in which death can mean the permanent loss of gear. Its demanding nature has built a dedicated following, yet user reports on forums, review platforms and outage trackers consistently highlight frustrations that affect the experience.

Server connection difficulties rank among the most frequently cited issues. Players describe difficulties logging in, sudden disconnects during raids and high latency that disrupts combat and looting. In June, Battlestate Games acknowledged widespread connection problems in a public statement, attributing them to network infrastructure outside the studio’s direct control. “We are aware that players are experiencing difficulties connecting to servers and logging into #EscapefromTarkov. These issues are related to network infrastructure beyond the control of Battlestate Games. We apologize for the inconvenience!” the official account posted at the time.

Similar complaints surface regularly on community sites. Group play has drawn particular criticism. Some players report that the removal of a previous “waiting for players” feature leaves the first teammate to load into a raid exposed while others remain stuck in loading screens for several minutes. Scavenger runs in groups have also been reported to crash for non-host players, a problem described as persistent over extended periods.

Progress-related glitches have affected the separate PvE mode. In early June, Battlestate Games confirmed that some PvE accounts experienced progress resets or unintended transfers of PvP profile data into PvE zones. “We are aware that, due to a technical issue, progress on players’ accounts in the PvE ZONE has been reset, or profile progress in PvP mode has been transferred to the PvE ZONE. We are actively working to restore progress for all accounts affected by this issue. We apologise for any inconvenience caused,” the studio stated. The company later announced that the affected progress had been restored.

Cheating remains a prominent source of player dissatisfaction. Community discussions and review aggregators frequently describe encounters with aimbot users, radar cheats and other unauthorized tools that undermine the game’s intended high-tension encounters. Battlestate Games has publicly discussed its anti-cheat efforts in developer diaries and continues to ban accounts, yet many players maintain that the problem persists at a level that impacts fair play.

Performance and client-side bugs also feature in reports. Some users experience crashes, incorrect input handling, visual culling problems on maps such as Customs and Streets of Tarkov, and issues with trader loyalty displays or side-task acceptance. Loading times, desynchronization in the hideout and problems redeeming older Twitch Drop rewards on seasonal characters have been noted as well.

Battlestate Games has responded with a series of technical updates throughout August. One recent patch fixed culling issues on the Customs location, resolved loading errors that occurred with seasonal characters or in the PvE zone, and corrected input handling for hotkeys assigned to arrow keys. Earlier August updates addressed launch-time client errors, incorrect trader loyalty level displays, Q and E key input problems, spectator-mode environment display glitches, streamer-mode activation on the character selection screen, and several animation and localization issues. Another update resolved problems with specific doors, item-use modifiers and weapon attachment icons.

Studio head Nikita Buyanov has previously addressed capacity challenges during high-load periods. Following the Steam launch, he stated that servers had been overloaded more quickly than anticipated and that the team was fully engaged in stabilization efforts. “All hands on deck, and we will not rest until we will stabilise everything,” Buyanov said.

The introduction of a seasonal character system in the major 1.1.0 update earlier in August created separate progression tracks independent of standard PvP and PvE profiles. The change, along with adjustments intended to ease certain progression elements and the addition of a spectator camera after death in parties, represented efforts to expand accessibility and variety. Technical follow-up patches have continued to target residual issues tied to the new systems.

Downdetector and similar tracking services show fluctuating volumes of user reports, with server connection problems typically comprising the majority of recent submissions when spikes occur. At other times the volume remains low, indicating that many players can access the game without interruption. Trustpilot and Steam reviews reflect a polarized community: some players praise the depth and tension of successful raids, while others cite the cumulative effect of technical interruptions, matchmaking friction and cheating as reasons for reduced engagement or negative ratings.

Battlestate Games continues to issue patch notes and social-media updates detailing fixes. The studio has emphasized ongoing work toward greater stability. For a title whose core appeal rests on realistic tension and meaningful consequences, the persistence of connection, loading and fairness complaints remains a central point of discussion among its player base.

As of mid-August, technical updates continue to roll out at regular intervals. Players are directed to download the latest client versions through the official launcher. Whether the combination of seasonal content, targeted bug fixes and infrastructure adjustments will meaningfully reduce the volume of reported problems will become clearer in the coming weeks as more players engage with the post-1.1.0 environment.

A team of physicists has resolved a long-standing scientific puzzle over exactly how diamond melts under extreme pressure, using powerful laser-driven shock waves to observe the process in unprecedented detail and uncovering behavior researchers say defied expectations.

The research, led by physicist Marius Millot at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, was published this week in the journal Nature Physics. The team used the OMEGA Laser Facility at the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics to blast tiny diamond samples with laser pulses, generating shock waves that produced pressures ranging from 600 gigapascals to 1.8 terapascals, more than three times the pressure found at the center of the Earth.

Diamond, the hardest naturally occurring mineral on Earth, is notoriously difficult to melt, requiring conditions far beyond anything found naturally at the planet’s surface. Scientists first successfully melted diamond in a 2007 experiment using a laser to strike it with a shock wave at 750 gigapascals of pressure, more than double the ambient pressure at Earth’s inner core. A follow-up study in 2009, led by LLNL physicist Jon Eggert, directly measured diamond’s melting temperature for the first time, but that measurement created a new problem: it disagreed with quantum-mechanical theoretical predictions by roughly 20%, a gap that persisted despite years of increasingly sophisticated computer modeling.

Millot’s team set out to resolve that discrepancy using significantly improved diagnostic tools that allowed them to track diamond’s atomic structure in real time as it melted, something earlier experiments lacked the sensitivity to capture. Using X-ray diffraction, the team measured how the diamond’s crystal structure evolved as pressure increased, alongside measurements of shock speed, temperature, density and optical reflectivity, all captured within a window lasting only a billionth of a second.

The new measurements placed diamond’s melting temperature at approximately 7,300 Kelvin at 1 terapascal of pressure, a figure notably lower than earlier experimental results and one that, for the first time, closely matched theoretical predictions. Eggert, a co-author on the new study, acknowledged the significance of the correction. “It was frustrating to discover that our original temperature measurements were off,” Eggert said, adding that the improved data quality made possible by the team’s updated diagnostics ultimately made the correction worthwhile.

Beyond resolving the temperature discrepancy, the experiment answered a second long-standing question about diamond’s behavior under extreme pressure. Theoretical models had predicted that, at pressures around a terapascal, diamond’s rigid atomic lattice should temporarily shift into a different crystalline form of carbon known as BC8 before fully melting into a disordered liquid. Some earlier experiments had been interpreted as possible evidence of that transition occurring above roughly 900 gigapascals.

Millot’s team found no evidence of a substantial BC8 phase. Instead, the X-ray data showed that diamond’s crystal structure remained in its familiar cubic lattice for as long as any solid structure could be detected at all, with solid diamond and liquid carbon simply coexisting until the material had fully melted. Millot attributed the finding to the extremely rapid, single-shock nature of the experiment. “We think that is because the sample does not have time to change when it only experiences a single shock,” Millot said, explaining that the diamond effectively becomes trapped in its original structure rather than transforming into the intermediate BC8 phase theory had predicted.

The researchers say that outcome likely reflects the sheer energy required to break and rearrange diamond’s unusually strong carbon-carbon bonds, a process theory suggests would be needed to form the BC8 structure. Under the fleeting timescale of the shock-compression experiment, the diamond appears to melt before that structural rearrangement has any opportunity to take place.

The findings also revealed an unexpected parallel between diamond and ordinary water ice. Under the extreme pressures studied, solid diamond proved less dense than the liquid carbon it melts into, mirroring the way conventional ice is less dense than liquid water and floats on its surface. The researchers say this implies solid diamond could similarly float atop a pool of molten carbon under the right conditions, and it also produces a related counterintuitive effect: across part of diamond’s melting range, increasing pressure actually lowers the temperature required for it to melt.

Beyond its implications for fundamental physics, the research carries direct practical applications. Diamond is used to encase fuel pellets in inertial confinement fusion experiments, where the material is compressed under pressures similar to those studied in the new experiment. More accurate models of how carbon behaves as those capsules implode could improve the design of future fusion experiments. According to the study’s authors, simulations incorporating the corrected carbon behavior suggest that predicted fusion energy gain could increase by up to threefold. Millot said the findings suggest researchers could achieve full diamond melting in fusion experiments using somewhat slower initial shocks, a change that would make the fusion fuel more compressible and could increase the maximum energy yield achievable using the same amount of laser energy.

The research also carries implications beyond Earth. Scientists believe carbon experiences pressure and temperature conditions similar to those recreated in the experiment deep inside ice giant planets such as Neptune and Uranus, meaning the improved understanding of diamond’s high-pressure behavior could help refine models of those planets’ internal structure and composition.

Separately, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have conducted related diamond-compression experiments using the extreme magnetic fields generated by that facility’s Z machine, and have reported experimental signatures suggesting diamond may take an additional intermediate step on its way to melting, a finding that appears to differ from the Livermore team’s conclusions and suggests the full picture of diamond’s high-pressure behavior may still require further study to fully resolve.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Disney gave fans their first extended look at “Frozen 3” on Friday night, revealing that Anna and Kristoff’s long-awaited wedding will open the film before a mysterious new villain and an unexplored, dangerous realm pull the characters far from their kingdom of Arendelle.

The reveal came during Disney’s D23 Entertainment Showcase at the Honda Center in Anaheim, where stars Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell walked onto the stage together and performed a rendition of “Frozen Heart,” the song that opened the original 2013 film, before discussing the upcoming threequel in detail. Bell confirmed that Anna will marry Kristoff, referring to her love interest by his familiar nickname. “This royal wedding has been a long time coming,” Bell told the crowd, noting that Elsa will be by her sister’s side for the ceremony.

According to descriptions from outlets present at the event, the footage shown to the D23 audience opened on the night of Anna and Kristoff’s wedding, when the newlyweds come upon Elsa on a dock, studying a mysterious stone that appears to open a portal into an entirely new, snow-covered dimension. Menzel, who plays Elsa, described the realm awaiting the characters as considerably more perilous than anything her character has previously encountered. “A frozen land more wild and dangerous than anything Elsa has ever created,” Menzel said, teasing the scale of the adventure awaiting Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven in the new film.

Once the characters step through the portal, they are quickly confronted by a new antagonist. Outlets in attendance described the character as a woman with short black hair and a dark, dramatic cape, though her face was not shown during the footage. In the scene, the new villain approaches the group from atop a snowy peak and addresses Anna and Elsa directly, acknowledging their identity as Arendelle’s ruling sisters in a tone that made clear she was not a friendly presence.

The presentation also confirmed a lighter subplot involving fan-favorite snowman Olaf. Josh Gad, who voices the character, joined Bell and Menzel on stage to perform a new song dedicated to a character named Samantha, described as Olaf’s love interest in the upcoming film. The addition appears to be a nod to a running joke from “Frozen 2,” in which Olaf briefly mentions an imaginary friend named Samantha during the film’s post-credits scene.

“Frozen 3” is scheduled for release November 24, 2027, timed to arrive just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, mirroring the release strategy Disney used for the franchise’s two previous installments. The returning voice cast includes Bell as Anna, Menzel as Elsa, Jonathan Groff as Kristoff and Gad as Olaf, with the story once again centered on the fictional kingdom of Arendelle, even as this chapter is expected to take the characters well beyond its borders for much of the film.

Friday’s reveal builds on concept art Disney first showed for the project two years earlier, also at D23, depicting Elsa and Anna riding separately toward a distant white palace, with Elsa mounted on the water spirit Nokk and Olaf perched on the back of Anna’s horse. At that earlier presentation, “Frozen 3” co-director Jennifer Lee said the story had grown complex enough that it would take two films to resolve the questions left open at the end of “Frozen 2,” a comment that first confirmed a fourth “Frozen” film was also in development alongside the third.

Kristen Bell has previously discussed the film’s development in press interviews, telling Variety in October 2025 that production was getting underway, though she had not yet heard any of the film’s music at that point. Bell also used that interview to deny reports claiming she would be paid $60 million to reprise her role as Anna, though she did not disclose her actual compensation for the film.

The “Frozen” franchise ranks among Disney’s most commercially successful properties, with its first two films combining for more than $2.76 billion in worldwide box office receipts and two Academy Awards. “Frozen 2,” released in 2019, remains one of the highest-grossing animated films in box office history.

With “Frozen 3” still more than a year from release, Disney has not yet revealed the new villain’s identity, name or full motivations, nor detailed the specific nature of the frozen realm introduced in Friday’s footage. For now, fans have confirmation of a wedding, a new romance for Olaf, and the outline of a threat serious enough to pull Anna and Elsa away from Arendelle once again, with additional details expected to emerge as the film moves closer to its Thanksgiving 2027 release.