The Walt Disney Studios proudly announced today that directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, the talented team behind Disney Animation Studio’s global blockbuster Tangled, will premiere a delightful new animatedshort film spotlighting the royal wedding of Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) and Flynn Rider – a.k.a Eugene – (Zachary Levi) in front of each screening of Beauty and the Beast in 3D, which opens on January 13, 2012.   

Today Rapunzel stopped at the Thames riverside to admire the beautiful Tower Bridge in the glorious late September sunshine. The future princess arrived in London to do some sightseeing before she is officially welcomed as the 10th Disney Princess character at a high profile, star-studded celebration that will take place in front of a global audience on October 2, 2011. Rapunzel will be visiting famous London landmarks every day this week (September 26-30) and taking pictures along her journey. For her celebration, little princesses from across the globe will watch Rapunzel be welcomed into the Disney Princess royal court by Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, Snow White and Tiana. As an official member of the Disney Princess court, she will be celebrated and recognized as such across Disney, and will be included in all Disney Princess products featuring multiple characters, in addition to her own merchandise line.

Click here for a much larger version of this picture

Today Rapunzel's hair was spotted flowing off the Salt Tower at The Tower of London. The future princess has arrived to do some sightseeing around London before she is officially welcomed as the 10th Disney Princess character at a high profile, star-studded celebration, that will take place in front of a global audience on October 2, 2011 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Rapunzel will be visiting famous London landmarks every day this week (9/26-9/30) and taking pictures along her journey.

Click here for a much larger version of this picture

For her celebration, little princesses from across the globe will watch Rapunzel be welcomed into the Disney Princess royal court by Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, Snow White and Tiana. As an official member of the Disney Princess court, she will be celebrated and recognized as such across Disney, and will be included in all Disney Princess products featuring multiple characters, in addition to her own merchandise line. Plus, across all Disney Parks, Rapunzel will for the first time wear her royal tiara, stolen from the kingdom by Flynn Rider in the Tangled film.

LaughingPlace Newsdesk -- In a recent interview John Lasseter explains his very special connection with the floating lanterns in Tangled.

John Lasseter and his wife celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in Bora Bora, Tahiti. During their stay at the resort, the head of food service who had lived in Indonesia for years brought out a special gift for the couple - a lantern.

As John Lasseter explains, "He had us sign a little note to each other, which we taped to the top of the lantern, and then he lit it. It was dusk, we were on the beach and it was very romantic. The guy then said, “Kiss and let it go.” So we let it go and that beautiful lantern floated up into the Tahitian sky and drifted off into the distance...It was beautiful. We had dinner on the beach that night and we watched the lantern float away for about two hours until it was a tiny, little speck in the sky. It looked like a star up there."

John and Nancy Lasseter at the premiere of UP image (c) LaughingPlace.com

While developing Tangled, Lasseter mentioned the story to the creative team and with further research they discovered festivals in Southeast Asia where thousands of lanterns light up the sky. The team had never seen anything quite like it. "So," says Lasseter, "it became an inspiration for the movie."

Tangled comes to 3D Blu-ray, 2D Blu-ray, DVD & Movie download formats March 29th.

---compiled by Rebekah

Disney's Tangled comes to blu-ray and dvd March 29, 2011.

"One of the best ways to celebrate the arrival of a movie in any given market, in any part of the world, is to include an IMAX release," said Chuck Viane, President of Global Distribution for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. "Tangled is ideally suited to the enhanced image and sound quality of IMAX, and we're looking forward to offering audiences the opportunity to experience it in this very special way starting next month."

“2010 was a banner year for The Walt Disney Studios, and we are thrilled that the Academy has chosen to recognize both our animated blockbusters Toy Story 3 and Tangled and our live-action hits Alice in Wonderlandand TRON: Legacy for their artistry, technical achievements and storytelling,” said Rich Ross, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.

Original Song nominees include “I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater -and- “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

As well as garnering nominations for Best Picture, Animated Feature Film and Original Song Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3" is nominated for Sound Editing and Adapted Screenplay (Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich).

Teddy Newton's "Day & Night" (Pixar) the animated short that appeared in theaters with "Toy Story 3" has been nominated for Animated Short Film.

"TRON: Legacy" received a nomination for Sound Editing. 

Disney Pictures "Alice in Wonderland" was nominated for Art Design, Costume Design, and Visual Effects

Other Disney Company related nominations include:

• Iron Man 2 (Marvel Studios Production (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment, Distributed by Paramount) in Visual Effects
• The Tempest (Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films Production (Miramax)