TOKYO — It premiered last month at the Tokyo International Film Festival, is currently topping the Singapore box office and looks to be an even bigger hit than Frozen.

We’re not surprised. Because only a cold lifeless robot would fail to succumb to the charms of Baymax, the huggable, marshmallow-shaped robot at the heart of this Disney film.

But why exactly is everyone flocking to see it? Our conversation with co-directors Don Hall and Chris Williams at the festival offered some clues.

IT’S A ‘MASH-UP’ MOVIE DEVOID OF STEREOTYPES

“The setting, San Fransokyo, is a futuristic mash-up of two of our favorite cities in the world — San Francisco and Tokyo,” said Hall. “It’s Marvel and Disney. It’s East and West. The mash- up idea ran very deeply.”

Added Williams: “It was devoid of stereotypes. We wanted a multi-cultural cast because it made sense in this world of San Fransokyo. We certainly did not want any character to be defined by his or her race.”

THE JOHN LASSETER ‘TOUCH’

They’re referring to the genius behind Toy Story, who’s the film’s executive producer. “He would give you advice as to placing the camera, the animation, the lighting. All the way to the tiny little details,” said Williams.

“You can sometimes have big plans for a meeting, but it just evolves into watching movies. That’s the thing with John. You’re discussing important ideas and details in the movies, but he also wants you to get excited about movie-making.”

THE MOVIE’S SOUNDTRACK IS A PERFECT FIT

Rock band Fall Out Boy wrote the original song Immortals and, guess what, they love animation. “They are rockers and covered with tattoos. If you look closely, their tattoos are Disney characters!” said Williams.

“They are comic book nerds, too,” added Hall. “We showed them stuff from the film and they totally geeked out.”

IT’S NOT AFRAID TO GET EMOTIONAL

“We wanted to take on loss as a subject and we looked back at the great Disney movies of the past, all the way to Bambi and Dumbo,” said Williams. “Those movies are not afraid of taking on really heavy emotions. This movie is part of that lineage — fun and funny, but not afraid of emotions.”

THE DISNEY FAMILY IS ONE HAPPY FAMILY

“We are absolutely thrilled that Frozen did as well as it did, but we never felt any pressure (being the next Disney film in line) because we all work on one another’s stuff,” said Hall. “That’s what’s so great about being in Disney right now. It’s not little fiefdoms of people making movies. It’s one for all and all for one.

THE HAYAO MIYAZAKI MAGIC

The legendary Japanese film-maker Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film Laputa: Castle In The Sky is one of Big Hero 6’s influences. “There is one specific scene at the end of the film, where Hiro is dangling from a cable. It isn’t a shot-by-shot retelling of a scene from Laputa, but we did watch it to get the feeling,” said Hall. “It was supposed to be just a five-minute thing to watch that scene, but we ended up watching the whole movie!”

Big Hero 6 is in cinemas now.