Disney puts its Princess Movies out to Pasture

Once upon a time, there was a studio in Burbank, Calif., that whirled classic fairy tales into silver-screen gold.

But now the curtain is falling on so-called princess movies, which have been a part of Disney Animation's heritage since 1937's "Snow White". The studio's "Tangled", a retelling of the Rapunzel story, will be the last fairy tale from Disney's animation group for a while.

Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, and other Disney royals were born in the 20th Century. Over the decades, Disney has benefited from the ticket sales and licensing revenue generated by princess-driven properties like "The Little Mermaid." However, the studio's most recent royal offering, 2009's "The Princess and the Frog," was a big disappointment. It was the most poorly performing of Disney's recent fairy tales.

The studio discovered too late that "Princess and the Frog" appealed to a narrow audience: little girls. This prompted it to change the name of its Rapunzel movie to the gender-neutral "Tangled" in an effort to woo boys, teenagers and adults.