In celebration of Walt Disney Feature Animation’s newest feature film Zootopia, Disney’s El Capitan Theater in Hollywood held a 7-night countdown even from February 18th through the 24th. Each night, one of the animation studio’s most recent films was presented with a special introduction. On Saturday, February 21st, that film was Tangled.
Co-director Nathan Greno took the stage to explain how proud he is of the film. Working for Disney was something he had dreamed of ever since he was a young boy in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He thanked all of the fans in the audience for making it such an amazing experience for him before introducing Mandy Moore, voice of Rapunzel.
Mandy Moore declared Tangled as the thing she is most proud of in her career so far. With that, the duo decided to do a Q&A. However, fans in attendance seemed less interested in questions about the film and were more interested in asking for favors. One of Mandy’s biggest fans was there in Rapunzel cosplay and the singer/actress happily obliged her request for a photo.
Another fan asked for Mandy’s autograph while another asked if she would sing “Happy Birthday” to a friend in the audience. Greno joked “Does anybody have any actual questions?” But the manager of the theater had to cut the Q&A in order to pass out some of the raffle prizes. Some of the more amazing items given away included original Nathan Greno artwork of Rapunzel created just for the event, signed movie memorabilia and a Zootopia swag bag.
The curtain closed behind Nathan and Mandy as they explained that the final giveaway was very big and would be given away by seat number instead of raffle ticket number. A young woman in Row G, Seat 2 was asked to join them on stage and when the curtain parted, a man was standing behind it with a ring. His proposal explained that their first date was Tangled. The audience let out a unanimous “Awwww” as she said yes.
At this point the film was supposed to start, but some fans began yelling their unanswered questions, which tickled Nathan Greno pink. “Oh, now you have actual questions?” The first question asked about a specific song that was cut from the film and Nathan Greno didn’t seem to recall the title, but explained that songs are usually omitted when they slow down the story and in this case, may have been from an earlier version of the story. Another fan yelled a question for Mandy asking if she is making any new music. “Yes, I’m making new music and there’s new music in the Tangled TV series.” She also pointed to the balcony where the crew behind the upcoming Disney Channel series let out cheers of excitement for their project.
Just before exiting, Nathan Greno explained that the short Tangled Ever After would play at the end of the film, which caused a loud cheer from the audience. It was a real treat to see Tangled again on the big screen and I had forgotten just how funny Tangled Ever After was. The whole experienced left me even more excited for Zootopia.