Remember my post announcing all sorts of changes at Disney feature animation last week? One of them has been publicly confirmed:Rapunzel's new title is now, officially, Tangled.
Here's the announcement by the film's producer, Roy Conli, on Facebook:
"Hey everyone, I'm Roy Conli, producer of Disney's next animated film. I have some exciting news to share, and it was important to me that YOU guys – the Disney fans – hear it first. I want to tell you about Walt Disney Animation Studio's 2010 release, Tangled. It’s a really fresh, smart take on the Rapunzel story.
In our film, the infamous bandit Flynn Rider meets his match in the girl with the 70 feet of magical golden hair. We're having a lot of fun pairing Flynn, who's seen it all, with Rapunzel, who's been locked away in a tower for 18 years.
I’m so proud of the crew working on this film – they’re doing a fantastic job creating an awesome story with great characters and a stunning world – and it's all going to look amazing in 3D. All of us here at the studio are incredibly excited for you to see Tangled when it comes out in theaters this November."(The comments below his announcement reflect the general sentiments I've been hearing about the name change too, by the way.)
Why the change? Here's what First Showing is reporting:So why get rid of a very recognizable title? For marketing purposes of course. Read on!
Blue Sky Disneygoes on to explain that, after the mediocre-to-good success of The Princess and the Frog ($101 million in US box office), Disney is rethinking their marketing strategies for upcoming animated movies. They (meaning the execs and John Lasseter and so on) think that boys don't want to go see "girlie" movies and Rapunzel is instantly perceived as female because it's a story about a girl with the long hair. So by changing the name they give it some new life. Apparently it's not that girlie of a story either, so boys will still enjoy it. Other title considerations include the original Unbraided and The Thief in the Tower, too.
Since my little boy (6 years old) didn't want anything to do with the movie "The Princess and the Frog", I think it's was pretty smart of them to change the name - i love the name they picked. I want to go see it :)
ReplyDeleteHi Dorlana!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment and I agree the title is intriguing - would be more so if it hadn't been something else first. I think the bad move was using Princess in a previous movie title to begin with so every fairy tale movie following it is going to be suspiciously girly. Talk is that the movie is NOT very girly at all, despite all the hair, but I think we'll just have to wait and see what the public response is. I AM curious, however, about the new marketing campaigns that will appear, now they have a new angle... could be a lot of fun. :)