LOS ANGELES, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- A retelling of the Rapunzel story called "Tangled" will be the last fairy tale made by Disney Animation for the foreseeable future, the California studio said.
"Films and genres do run a course," Pixar Animation Studios chief Ed Catmull said in a Los Angeles Times report.
Catmull said he is encouraging filmmakers to push creative boundaries and develop more relevant shows.
"If you say to somebody, 'You should be doing fairy tales,' it's like saying, 'Don't be risky,'" Catmull said. "We're saying, 'Tell us what's driving you.'"
The "princess movies" have a limited shelf life and cater to young girls, the report said.
"Tangled" will be released Wednesday, and it received a major makeover to make it more attractive to male viewers, Catmull said.
The name was changed from Rapunzel to the more gender-neutral "Tangled" and the studio's advertising features the film's co-star, Flynn Rider.
Last year's critically acclaimed production "The Princess and the Frog" was the most poorly performing of Disney's recent fairy tales, and producers said it appealed to too narrow of an audience of "little girls."
John Lasseter, who oversees Disney Animation, noted the studio's heritage, which began with the 1937 debut of its first feature film, "Snow White."
