Why Was Disney’s ‘Rapunzel’ Renamed As ‘Tangled’? One Word – Boys

Disney is proudly returning to their classic tales and hand drawn animations. But after the middling (but still noteworthy) success of ‘The Princess and the Frog’, looks like they’re analyzing their demographics. Then suddenly a few weeks ago, they retitled their upcoming animation ‘Rapunzel’ to ‘Tangled’. Wonder why?

LA Times did some research work and made clear a reason that we all had in mind – getting young boys to the theater. See, the word ‘Princess’ usually doesn’t appeal to the average young male and that may be why they avoided ‘The Princess and the Frog’.  So how do you fix something like that in your upcoming film also having a female protagonist? You change the title from a widely recognised ‘Rapunzel’ to a slightly generic ‘Tangled’ in hopes that kids don’t see deeper.

President of Pixar/Disney Ed Catmull says about the change:

“We did not want to be put in a box…Some people might assume it’s a fairy tale for girls when it’s not. We make movies to be appreciated and loved by everybody.”

Personally, it makes sense for Disney to try to broaden their demographics a little considering the film is a re-tooled version of the classic tale with a twist. But I really hope this doesn’t mean that no more films with female protagonists will be produced, because that is a bad decision right there if it happens.

But how come people still went in droves to see a movie titled ‘Alice in Wonderland’?