Producers
and their audiences
Tangled released in 2010, is a 3D
computer-animated musical fantasy-comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation
Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on the German fairy
tale "Rapunzel”, it’s the 50th animated feature in the Walt Disney
Animated Classics series. The film begins with a drop of sunlight becoming a
golden flower capable of healing illness and injury. For hundreds of years the
flower is used by Mother Gothel to retain her youth until it is discovered by
soldiers of a nearby kingdom. They use the flower to heal their ailing queen,
who soon afterwards gives birth to Princess Rapunzel. Gothel discovers that
Rapunzel's hair has the flower's healing properties, so she kidnaps Rapunzel
and raises her as her own daughter in an isolated tower. Once a year, the King
and Queen release sky lanterns on Rapunzel's birthday, hoping for their
daughter's return. On Rapunzel’s 18th birthday she goes against her
mother's wishes, accepts the aid of Flynn Rider (a handsome intruder) to take
her out into the world which she has never seen and find out what’s missing
from her life.
In order to market the film to
both sexes and additional age groups Disney changed the film's name from
Rapunzel to Tangled while also emphasizing Flynn Rider, the film's prominent
male character, showing that his story is just as important as Rapunzel's.
Disney hoped this would show the film as gender-neutral. This was due to Disney's
previous animated feature The Princess and the Frog (2009); while being highly
critically acclaimed and taking in nearly $270 million worldwide, not being as
successful as Disney had hoped. Disney expressed the belief that the film's
emphasis on princesses may have deterred young boys from seeing the film. However
they were criticized for altering the classic title of Rapunzel as a marketing
strategy. But in the end it paid off, Tangled made $591.8 million at the Box
Office; after spending six years in production at a cost that has been
estimated at $260 million. Making it the most expensive animated film ever made
and the fifth most expensive film of all time. The film has a unique artistic
style by blending together features of CGI and traditional animation while
using non-photorealistic rendering to create the impression of a painting.
For the producers of Tangled
identifying the audience was a pretty easy job. Disney already has a target
audience and knows their consumers well, understanding what appeals to them.
Obviously, children are the main audience for Disney’s films. The storylines
and adored characters keep the magic alive. Intertextuality is used throughout
the film. In addition to finding Pinocchio in the Snuggly Duckling, during the
song “I Have a Dream” Pumbaa from The Lion King (visible in the same scene as
Pinocchio with the ‘cupid’ swinging) and Louis from The Princess and the Frog
(one of the puppets used later in the song) can also be found. It can be
inferred that they are all involved in this scene, due to them all having
dreams (Pinocchio: real boy, Pumbaa: accepted despite bad gas, Louis: jazz
musician). When Rapunzel heals Flynn's hand, she says, "Don't freak
out," a line often said to Chuck, title character of the TV series Chuck
(2007-2012), played by Zachary Levi, voice of Flynn. The infamous "Frying
pans, who knew?" line is homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark, when the
damsel in distress has nothing else to fight with but a frying pan. Other
references to Disney’s own work in the film include:
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) on the cover of a purple book by Flynn's left foot in bookstore
- Sleeping Beauty (1959) open on the window sill
- Mulan (1998) red book against the small table
- Fantasia (1940) a broom from the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" appears against a wall in the tower
- The Little Mermaid (1989) blue book on the small table in the Bookstore
- Beauty and the Beast (1991) brown book on the floor
Until the first couple of months
before the film there was hardly any marketing techniques used to promote the
film; only concept art, no new trailers (with actual scenes from the movie) or
even bits of its musical numbers. As Tangled is Disney’s first CGI animated 3D
musical that still follows Disney’s classic style, they were bound to be
hesitant at how to market the film in the first place. However Disney then
surprised everyone, making a hilarious viral video that makes fun of the
popular Double Rainbow viral video.
The parody was posted on Tangled’s Facebook page. This was
the first of five to be released that month, titled “Double Tower”.
Flynn Rider (voiced by Zachary
Levi) is the male lead in the film and is the narrator of the video. In regards
to the movie, the audience get a wider look of Rapunzel’s tower and a faraway
view of Mother Gothel. This marketing strategy of copycat from a popular viral
video is used to draw in an older audience, attracting some of the viral
community; parents will trust the Disney logo to take their children to a safe
family film.
The official trailers released
for the film received a negative response (after film viewing). The trailers
included scenes that weren’t even in the film leaving fans disappointed. They
also portrayed a completely different story – focusing on the thief finding
Rapunzel, leading to consumers expecting what they had been led to believe but
being disappointed when watching the real thing. In some ways Disney failed
through this marketing technique and ended up losing out because of it. After
watching the trailers some people decided not to pursue watching the film as it
was not something they expected of Disney. But after watching the film months
after release were pleasantly surprised.
Disney took on something new with
this Disney classic: a viral campaign. All the trailers and viral videos made
the focus on Flynn Rider and gave a DreamWorks-like parody feeling; Tangled
forums like IMDB’s had constant user complaints of a mediocre Shrek rip-off
that they judged just from the trailers. However Disney fans defended the film
and clarified it was Disney’s marketing doing.
A sequel short, Tangled Ever
After, was released later in 2012. The plot revolves around Rapunzel and
Eugene's wedding day. A television series will premiere in 2017 on Disney
Channel, Tangled before Ever After.
Like other Disney animated
features, Tangled is merchandised in the Disney stores. Many of the Rapunzel
dolls emphasize her hair, while some also include sound clips from the film.
Toys based on other characters, including Flynn Rider, Mother Gothel, Pascal
and Maximus, have also been released. A video game based on the film was
released in November 2010 for the Nintendo DS and Wii by Disney Interactive
Studios.
Tangled was released by Walt
Disney Studios Home Entertainment as a four-disc combo pack on March 29, 2011.
The combo pack included a Blu-ray 3D, standard Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy. A
single DVD was also available. Bonus features for the Blu-ray include deleted scenes;
two alternate opening sequences, two extended songs, and an inside look at how
the film was made. The DVD includes only the two Original Storybook Openings
and the 50th Animated Feature Countdown. Sales of Tangled in the US and Canada
exceeded $95 million in DVD and Blu-ray sales, the highest grossing DVD of that
year to date; its home video sales exceeded the film's earnings in its first
week in theatres.
Tangled was nominated for an
Oscar, Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song,
for the song "I See the Light". It was also nominated for two Golden
Globes, Best Animated Film and Best Original Song - Motion Picture for the song
"I See the Light". All in all it had 40 nominations and 9 wins.
Tangled premiered in Paris on
November 17, exclusively screening at the Grand Rex theatre two weeks in
advance of its French wide release; with over 3,800 tickets sold on its opening
day, it set a new record for films showing in a single theatre. It had a
worldwide opening weekend of $86.1 million and reached the peak of the
worldwide box office once, on its eleventh weekend (Feb 4–6, 2011), with $24.9
million. It earned $200,821,936 in North America, and $390,973,000 in other
countries, for a worldwide total of $591,794,936. It was the third Disney film
appearing in the Top 10 films of 2010. As of 2014, it was the fourth
highest-grossing film worldwide produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios,
behind Frozen, The Lion King, and Big Hero 6.
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