diff --git a/core/includes/theme.inc b/core/includes/theme.inc
index 0d0e739..c241bf5 100644
--- a/core/includes/theme.inc
+++ b/core/includes/theme.inc
@@ -1114,6 +1114,22 @@ function theme($hook, $variables = array()) {
 
   // Generate the output using either a function or a template.
   $output = '';
+  // Allow common HTML attributes arrays to be instantiated as Attribute objects
+  // later in the rendering process.  Allows arrays to be manipulated as
+  // standard arrays in the preprocess and process phases.
+  if (!isset($default_attributes)) {
+    $default_attributes = new Attribute();
+  }
+  foreach (array('attributes', 'title_attributes', 'content_attributes') as $key) {
+    if (isset($variables[$key]) && !($variables[$key] instanceof Attribute)) {
+      if ($variables[$key]) {
+        $variables[$key] = new Attribute($variables[$key]);
+      }
+      else {
+        $variables[$key] = clone $default_attributes;
+      }
+    }
+  }
   if (isset($info['function'])) {
     if (function_exists($info['function'])) {
       $output = $info['function']($variables);
@@ -1160,20 +1176,6 @@ function theme($hook, $variables = array()) {
       template_preprocess($default_template_variables, $hook);
       $variables += $default_template_variables;
     }
-    if (!isset($default_attributes)) {
-      $default_attributes = new Attribute();
-    }
-    foreach (array('attributes', 'title_attributes', 'content_attributes') as $key) {
-      if (isset($variables[$key]) && !($variables[$key] instanceof Attribute)) {
-        if ($variables[$key]) {
-          $variables[$key] = new Attribute($variables[$key]);
-        }
-        else {
-          // Create empty attributes.
-          $variables[$key] = clone $default_attributes;
-        }
-      }
-    }
 
     // Render the output using the template file.
     $template_file = $info['template'] . $extension;