diff --git a/django/template/defaulttags.py b/django/template/defaulttags.py
index 8a2fb944f2..51ddfc9819 100644
--- a/django/template/defaulttags.py
+++ b/django/template/defaulttags.py
@@ -419,12 +419,19 @@ class LoadNode(Node):
 
 
 class NowNode(Node):
-    def __init__(self, format_string):
+    def __init__(self, format_string, asvar=None):
         self.format_string = format_string
+        self.asvar = asvar
 
     def render(self, context):
         tzinfo = timezone.get_current_timezone() if settings.USE_TZ else None
-        return date(datetime.now(tz=tzinfo), self.format_string)
+        formatted = date(datetime.now(tz=tzinfo), self.format_string)
+
+        if self.asvar:
+            context[self.asvar] = formatted
+            return ''
+        else:
+            return formatted
 
 
 class SpacelessNode(Node):
@@ -1200,10 +1207,14 @@ def now(parser, token):
         It is {% now "jS F Y H:i" %}
     """
     bits = token.split_contents()
+    asvar = None
+    if len(bits) == 4 and bits[-2] == 'as':
+        asvar = bits[-1]
+        bits = bits[:-2]
     if len(bits) != 2:
         raise TemplateSyntaxError("'now' statement takes one argument")
     format_string = bits[1][1:-1]
-    return NowNode(format_string)
+    return NowNode(format_string, asvar)
 
 
 @register.tag
diff --git a/docs/ref/templates/builtins.txt b/docs/ref/templates/builtins.txt
index 2b3d48d90e..146f2eacd6 100644
--- a/docs/ref/templates/builtins.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/templates/builtins.txt
@@ -799,6 +799,18 @@ This would display as "It is the 4th of September".
 
         It is {% now "SHORT_DATETIME_FORMAT" %}
 
+
+You can also use the syntax ``{% now "Y" as current_year %}`` to store the
+output inside a variable. This is useful if you want to use ``{% now %}``
+inside a template tag like :ttag:`blocktrans` for example::
+
+    {% now "Y" as current_year %}
+    {% blocktrans %}Copyright {{ current_year }}{% endblocktrans %}
+
+.. versionadded:: 1.8
+
+The ability to use the "as" syntax was added.
+
 .. templatetag:: regroup
 
 regroup
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.8.txt b/docs/releases/1.8.txt
index 73ad244cfb..b342234ef9 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.8.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.8.txt
@@ -419,6 +419,9 @@ Templates
 * Added a :class:`locmem.Loader <django.template.loaders.locmem.Loader>`
   class that loads Django templates from a Python dictionary.
 
+* The :ttag:`now` tag can now store its output in a context variable with the
+  usual syntax: ``{% now 'j n Y' as varname %}``.
+
 Requests and Responses
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
diff --git a/tests/template_tests/tests.py b/tests/template_tests/tests.py
index 71da1ee40a..67ac08601b 100644
--- a/tests/template_tests/tests.py
+++ b/tests/template_tests/tests.py
@@ -1697,6 +1697,8 @@ class TemplateTests(TestCase):
                 datetime.now().day, datetime.now().month, datetime.now().year)),
             'now06': ('''{% now "j 'n' Y"%}''', {}, '''%d '%d' %d''' % (
                 datetime.now().day, datetime.now().month, datetime.now().year)),
+            'now07': ('''{% now "j n Y" as N %}-{{N}}-''', {}, '''-%d %d %d-''' % (
+                datetime.now().day, datetime.now().month, datetime.now().year)),
 
             ### URL TAG ########################################################
             # Successes