Movie Title Changes That Made No Difference

Oh, studio marketing departments. We know you need something to keep you busy, but why do you insist on tinkering with movie titles in a vain effort to make them “more sellable”? Especially when the results are usually “pretty negligible?” Here’s a few retooled movie titles—some better than the original, some worse—but one thing is certain: they had no impact on the movie’s popularity or box office performance.

10. Movie:Hard Rain

Originally:The Flood

Impact: This Christian Slater “action” movie went from pedestrian to head-scratching real quick. We know they were aiming for Steven Seagal with the change, but they landed somewhere closer to Bowfinger (“Chubby Rain” anyone?)

9. Movie: Scream

Originally: Scary Movie

Impact: None at the time (the “winking” original title would have fit the “winking” take on the horror film) but in retrospect, the change is pretty hilarious. The thinking was that Scary Movie was too comedic and that Scream would better lure in the horror faithful—but as the Wayans Brothers showed, there’s nothing funny about Scary Movie.

8. Movie:Big

Originally:When I Grow Up

Impact: A rare case of an upgrade. When I Grow Up sounds like Judy Bloom pitching greeting card ideas, while Big has that quick, easily-remembered, iconic quality. And kudos to both for avoiding any combination of the words “Man”, “Boy” and “Inside.”

7. Movie:Pirate Radio

Originally: The Boat That Rocked

Impact: Remains to be seen, since this Richard Curtis movie has yet to hit these shores. But to judge a book purely by its cover, The Boat That Rocked is quirky, fun, and intriguing. Pirate Radio makes you think it’s two hours of a dude huddled in a basement spitting into a RadioShack microphone. Or worse: a sequel to Pump Up The Volume. (Talk hard, indeed, young man.)

6. Movie: The Village

Originally: The Woods

Impact: Nada. Both are generic and both fail to warn people about what they’re in for. Of course, it’s not like you can call a movie “Crappy Twist.”

5. Movie:Tango and Cash

Originally: The Set-Up

Impact: It’s not like Tango and Cash exactly lit the world on fire, so the original title probably wouldn’t have changed its fate. Still, the change helps put the focus on the lead pair (Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone) and not on the plot (which, trust us, is a VERY good move). This usually happens when an otherwise generic cop script suddenly has movie stars involved. Or when it might remind moviegoers a Stallone bomb released earlier that year: Lock Up.

4. Movie:Goodfellas

Originally:Wiseguys

Impact: Martin Scorsese didn’t want anyone to confuse his mob epic with the 1987 TV series Wiseguy or the 1986 Danny DeVito/Joe Piscopo disaster Wise Guys, so he changed the title of Nicolas Pileggi’s novel. Would people have been confused? Maybe, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter since Goodfellas works on every level.

3. Movie:The Invention of Lying

Originally:This Side of Truth

Impact: Again, this movie hasn’t come out yet, but this change smacks of ham-fisted marketing interference. The original is odd, but intriguing. It hints at deeper issues. The current title feels like this sort of meeting: “What is the movie about?” “It’s about a world where everyone tells the truth, and then this one guy invents lying.” “Perfect. There’s your title. Who wants lunch?”

2. Movie:The Vampire’s Assistant

Originally:Cirque du Freak

Impact: The title Cirque du Freak might not roll off the tongue, but it hasn’t hurt the book series on which the movie is based. It also sets it apart by being unique and strange, just like the stories. The Vampire’s Assistant sounds like a bad SNL sketch.

1. Movie: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Originally:Watch the Skies; Kingdom Come

Impact: Save! Steven Spielberg may be great at a lot of things, but thank goodness he rethinks his title choices from time to time. Both Watch the Skies and Kingdom Come are vague and TV-movie sounding. Close Encounters is cold, strange, scientific, and much more in line with the movie’s “everyman experiences the otherworldly.” Still, he could have called this Mashed Potato Mountain and it would have been a hit.

The Most Ridiculous Change Ever

Movie:Speed Zone!

Originally: Speed Zone Fever

Impact: Do you really have to ask? This was originally supposed to complete the Cannonball Run trilogy and early titles included Cannonball Run III and Cannonball Fever. The first two movies pulled in the likes of Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore and Jackie Chan while this one had to settle for everyone from SCTV. After they scrapped almost everything connecting it to the successful franchise (with the not-quite notable exception of Jamie Farr), they must have soured on the “fever” angle, feeling it added too much weight to such a fast movie. It sure didn’t slow it down on it’s trip to Cinemax.