10 Movies That Aren't Titled What You Think

WhatCulture

Edge of Tomorrow isn't what you think.

Transcript

00:00There's a hell of a lot in a name, that's for sure.

00:03Get it right, and potential audiences will instantly know what a movie is all about.

00:07But get it wrong, and you'll leave them confused, or worse still, totally apathetic.

00:12But a botched name doesn't have to be the end of the world,

00:15as studios aren't beyond renaming movies for the subsequent home video release,

00:20or in extreme cases, even altering their title while they're still in cinemas.

00:25Whether the films were good or bad, or whether or not the name change was actually warranted,

00:29each ditched their original title in lieu of one which they hoped would get more favorable eyes on the project.

00:35And as a result, I'm Gareth from WhatCulture.com, and here are 10 movies that aren't titled What You Think.

00:42Number 10, Birds of Prey got a more search engine friendly title on release week.

00:46We'll begin with the most current example, which is of course the recently released Birds of Prey,

00:51and the fantabulous emancipation of one Harley Quinn.

00:54The film's disappointingly soft box office opening quickly prompted Warner Brothers to act,

00:59authorizing cinema chains to rename it in their listings to Harley Quinn Birds of Prey,

01:04in the hope of aiding ticket sales.

01:06Given that the film's original title was both obnoxiously overlong,

01:10and failed to emphasize the feature attraction herself,

01:13many expressed concern before the film's release that it could affect the bottom line.

01:17And here we are. It's almost like we the fans actually know what we want.

01:21Warner Brothers went on to clarify that the title change was primarily in order to boost the film's accessibility

01:26on search engines and ticketing websites.

01:29Number 9, Edge of Tomorrow became Live Die Repeat on Home Video.

01:33This Tom Cruise starring sci-fi action flick was originally supposed to be charmingly named

01:38All You Need Is Kill, after Hiroshi Sakurazaka's source novel.

01:42Though Warner Brothers ultimately insisted upon the decidedly more generic Edge of Tomorrow.

01:47Between this and the film's lackluster marketing campaign,

01:50it wasn't much of a surprise that the $178 million tentpole underwhelmed at the box office.

01:56Even with some of the strongest reviews of any blockbuster released in 2014,

02:00Warner Brothers decided to take the film's Live Die Repeat tagline,

02:04and effectively make it the movie's newer, catchier title.

02:07In different markets around the world, it was now known as Live Die Repeat, Edge of Tomorrow.

02:11Ironically, this was the title originally suggested by the film's director himself, Doug Lehman,

02:17which Warner Brothers rejected and decided to use as the tagline instead.

02:21The title change was seemingly a success, as Live Die Repeat was a strong seller on home video.

02:27Enough that Warner Brothers eventually greenlit a sequel with the knowing title Live Die Repeat and Repeat.

02:33Better late than never, eh?

02:34Number 8, Ghostbusters 2016 was given the subtitle Answer the Call.

02:39Paul Feig's botched 2016 reboot of the Ghostbusters franchise similarly received a retitling for home video,

02:46with the movie's Answer the Call tagline being tacked onto the Ghostbusters moniker.

02:50Unlike Edge of Tomorrow though, Ghostbusters 2016's end credit sequence did actually refer to the film as Ghostbusters Answer the Call,

02:58as a result of a compromise between Feig and Paramount.

03:01The studio didn't want two movies in their catalogue called Ghostbusters,

03:05while Feig objected to formally naming the film Ghostbusters 2016.

03:09So, they agreed to use the tagline as a subtitle instead,

03:12on the agreement that it would only be used at the end of the movie and not the opening titles.

03:17This title was then used in earnest for the film's home video release,

03:20presumably in the hope of distinguishing it from the 1984 original a little easier.

03:25Aside from, you know, the entirely different cast on the front cover and the fact that the original was actually good.

03:31Number 7, Bastille Day was renamed The Take.

03:34Don't feel bad if you don't remember this Idris Elba and Richard Madden starring action thriller from 2016,

03:39because it came and went without a peep at the UK box office,

03:42before being renamed for both its European home video release and American theatrical rollout later in the year.

03:48Bastille Day was subsequently re-titled The Take,

03:51a move widely accepted to be a result of the July 2016 Nice terrorist attack which killed 86 people,

03:57and also resulted in the film being pulled from cinemas in France under its original title.

04:02And so, an already intensely generic and forgettable film somehow became even more of a painfully unimaginative cinematic non-event.

04:10And it's probably for the best, really.

04:12Number 6, Star Wars added Episode IV A New Hope.

04:15When the original Star Wars first hit cinemas back in 1977, it was simply titled as such,

04:21given that nobody could have imagined the unstoppable pop culture monolith it would become.

04:25Star Wars' success, of course, led to George Lucas producing two follow-ups in the years that followed,

04:30namely the immediate sequel The Empire Strikes Back in 1980.

04:35Though the Star Wars sequel's title crawl indeed referred to it as Episode V The Empire Strikes Back,

04:40reflecting Lucas' desire to eventually make a prequel trilogy,

04:44this designation was only added to the original film retroactively for its 1981 re-release.

04:50And so, Star Wars became Star Wars Episode IV New Hope,

04:54which originally opened on a block of text without any subtitle whatsoever.

04:58And just like that, the titling convention for the series was cemented,

05:02one which will likely never change for as long as mainline Star Wars episodes are made.

05:06Number 5, The Mighty Ducks was renamed The Mighty Ducks are the Champions in several home video markets.

05:12Here's where things get really messy.

05:14You're probably aware that the original Mighty Ducks movie is most commonly referred to as The Mighty Ducks.

05:20But in the UK, South Africa and Australia, it was needlessly renamed to Champions for its theatrical release.

05:26But Disney rather awkwardly half-backpedaled for the film's home video release,

05:30opting for an iffy compromise by combining the two original titles to create the new moniker,

05:36The Mighty Ducks are the Champions.

05:38It doesn't even end there though.

05:40When the sequel D2 The Mighty Ducks hit screens,

05:43it was renamed The Mighty Ducks in the aforementioned countries,

05:46in an apparent attempt to avoid confusion,

05:49while paradoxically just creating more of it.

05:52I need to sit down.

05:53Number 4, Dark Phoenix added an X-Men subtitle for home video.

05:57Bafflingly, the US release of the final mainline X-Men movie, Dark Phoenix,

06:02opted to forego the expected X-Men branding designation,

06:06hoping to pull a Logan and succeed on its own, admittedly far more dubious merits.

06:12To the surprise of literally no one, Dark Phoenix tanked at the box office worldwide.

06:17And when the movie hit home videos a few months later,

06:20Fox decided to restore the X-Men subtitle which was present in its international theatrical release.

06:25To really hammer the point home, the cover art for the movie now featured the word X-Men in a huge, bold typeface.

06:32Several times larger than the Dark Phoenix itself, in fact.

06:35Though it's unlikely that the film enjoyed an Edge of Tomorrow-like resurgence at home,

06:40due to it being, you know, not very good.

06:42Clearly this should have just been its global title from the very beginning.

06:46Number 3, Mission Without Permission reverted to the original title, Catch That Kid.

06:50Pretty much the only reason that anyone remembers this 2004 family comedy is that it stars a 12-year-old Kristen Stewart,

06:57and couldn't be any further from the types of movies she's pursued as an adult.

07:01And I, for one, quite enjoyed this movie when I was a kid.

07:04But in the UK, Catch That Kid was, for reasons unknown, renamed to Mission Without Permission.

07:10Paraphrasing the tagline used on the film's US posters,

07:13they're on a mission without permission.

07:15Because, get it?

07:16It rhymes.

07:17Woohoo!

07:18Number 2, Raiders of the Lost Ark added Indiana Jones for the 1999 VHS remaster.

07:24When the first Indiana Jones movie was released back in 1981, it was simply named Raiders of the Lost Ark,

07:30speaking to its initially stand-alone nature, despite director Steven Spielberg and co-writer George Lucas

07:36hoping it would be successful enough for a sequel to be produced.

07:39And that it certainly was.

07:41Raiders of the Lost Ark, of course, led to 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

07:46And from that point onward, each subsequent sequel would follow the Indiana Jones and the naming convention.

07:51But in order to ensure a consistent titling among the films,

07:55Raiders of the Lost Ark's 1999 VHS remaster saw it renamed to Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

08:02To date, however, the in-film title hasn't been altered to reflect this.

08:06That's not us saying that it needs to be, please leave it alone, George Lucas.

08:10Number 1, The Wind added the subtitle, Demons of the Prairie, for home video.

08:15The Wind was one of the most evocative horror films and impressive directorial debuts of 2019.

08:21And if you're a fan of the genre, you absolutely need to check it out.

08:24But because the title admittedly doesn't tell a potential viewer much about the film at all,

08:29distributor IFC Midnight opted to rename The Wind for its global home video release.

08:34Adding a quote from the movie itself as a subtitle.

08:37The Wind, Demons of the Prairie.

08:39Sadly, one suspects this might have been a cynical move to sell the movie as a broader, trashier horror vehicle than it actually is.

08:47Playing up the demonic aspect, which, in fact, is incredibly subtle and low-key in the film itself.

08:52But, again, if you're a fan of eerie, low-budget horror and can get past that goofy title,

08:57there's a lot to like here, so go and treat yourself.

09:00I WANT THAT SOUND TO LIKIC YOU SELF.

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