Disney’s Animated Film ‘Rapunzel’ Changes Title to ‘Tangled’
A somewhat odd news story to report on today. Both Blue Sky Disney and SlashFilm have confirmed that Disney has changed the title of their upcoming animated film Rapunzel to simply just Tangled instead. The film is an animated retelling of the classic Rapunzel fairy tale about a girl with incredibly long hair stuck in a very tall castle. Disney’s version of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale has been in development for a long time, originally using computer animation techniques to make it look painted, but I think that was only in the early version. So why get rid of a very recognizable title? For marketing purposes of course. Read on!
Blue Sky Disney goes 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.
Tangled is being co-directed by Nathan Greno (head of story on Bolt) and Byron Howard (co-director of Bolt). Providing the voices in the film will be Mandy Moore (as Rapunzel), Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy, and David Schwimmer. This new telling of the classic fairy tale will transport audiences “to a stunning CG fantasy world complete with the iconic tower, an evil witch, a gallant hero and, of course, the mysterious girl with the long golden tresses. Expect adventure, heart, humor, and hair, lots of hair.” You can also find a new intro to the movie from producer Roy Conli on Facebook. We’ll keep you updated as well. Sound good?
View full post on FirstShowing.net
Studio Exec are idiots, plain and simple!
Two tickets for Tangled plz! Thnx!
I suppose I could have tolerated a name change more if they had come up with something better than Tangled.
“ooh how about tangled?” I would have puched the person who came up with that.
What is the name Rapunzel to difficult to pronounce or something? jeez.
Well, if they want boys to see these movies stop making ones starring the next Disney Princess. How about making Hansel and Gretal with a boy and a girl lead. That would draw in both sides of the audience. Or…write…something…original.
Well I like girl movies because I am half girl and half boy. By the way, I hate good designed characters. I only like the plain and boring looking characters from movies like lady and the tramp. Remember everyone John Lasseter = plain and boring!
Why else do you think I pushed all the good character designers out the door. Now DreamWorks can have good design but with badly told stories.
- John Lasseter
#1 – True, about TPATF’s failure, but they’re trying to think about success on every level. As in, they’re already trying to make Rapunzel a good movie, but they need to market it, too.
Laaaame…..
Even if I did agree with changing the name, I think “The Thief In The Tower” still sounds better
Wow… what’s with marketing people lately. Why don’t they change Cinderella and Snow White while they’re at it. The Princess and the Frog didn’t fail because of the name, it failed because people didn’t like the movie.