Cassava Films - The List of 9

the list of 9 for january 7, 2005:
NINE EXAMPLES OF FILMS GETTING THEIR TITLES CHANGED

Working on a film called Claustrophobia for two years, only to suddenly be forced to referto it as Serial Slayer after some guy in Lions Gate marketing decided it would be a bettertitle, is a strange situation for me, the filmmaker, to find myself in. But I'm not alone. Cinemahistory is filled with features that, for one reason or another, wound up with one or more titlechanges during their development. So many, in fact, that I had to abandon my original idea of justlisting nine films, and instead divide this practice into nine separate categories.

TYPICAL STUDIO BUFFOONERY. Some of these changes arelegendary, such as $3000 becoming Pretty Woman, The Madness of George IIIbecame The Madness of King George (there were fears American audiences, not knowing ofGeorge III, would think it was a sequel), and the awkward Harry, This is Sally morphingthrough a series of variations before finally winding up with the equally awkward When HarryMet Sally...
LET'S NOT SCARE ANYBODY. A lot of movies had originaltitles that were a bit more, shall we say, graphic than the studios ultimately felt wasappropriate. Solution? Tone down just one of the words. So Indiana Jones and the Temple ofDeath became ...Temple of Doom, Honey, I Blew Up the Baby became Honey, IBlew Up the Kid, and Killing Mrs. Tingle became Teaching Mrs. Tingle.
THE MIRAMAX NAME-CHANGING MACHINE. During the 90's,Miramax was infamous for acquiring independent films, then exchanging their titles for somethingmore suburbanite-friendly. Funny, because the films never became hits no matter what,whether it was Playing By Heart (original title: Dancing About Architecture), TheMighty (original title: Freak the Mighty), She's So Lovely (original title:She's De-Lovely) or Music of the Heart (original title: 50 Violins).
OCCASIONAL STUDIO IMPROVEMENTS. Once in a while, studios'marketing departments actually do the right thing by changing a title. If not for them, instead ofCasablanca we'd have Everybody Comes to Rick's, instead of Shadow of a Doubtwe'd have Uncle Charlie, and instead of Billy Elliott we'd have thegenerically-named Dancer.
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? - STUDIO VERSION. Somemovies had some great titles that were dumbed-down needlessly by some particularly uncreativestudio types. So the Disney cartoon Kingdom of the Sun was saddled with the awfulThe Emperor's New Groove while the clever title for the lesbian-themed romantic comedySeeking Same was thrown out in favor of the much clumsier Kissing Jessica Stein. Andeven though there's nothing wrong with the name of the Beatles film Help!, its originaltitle Eight Arms to Hold You was much more fun. Why the change? The studio felt it was toosuggestive of group sex!
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? - FILMMAKER VERSION.Filmmakers in rare cases should be down on their knees, thanking the suits for retitling theirwork. Otherwise Garden State would've been known as Large's Ark, Seabiscuitwould be stuck with Four Good Legs, the action/adventure The Thirteenth Warriorwould have the disturbing moniker Eaters of the Dead, and the wilderness-based thrillerThe Edge would be remembered by the slightly less thrilling title Bookworm.
THE NAZIS WILL TELL YOU WHAT TO CALL IT. As uncomfortableas it is to admit now, back in the 1930's the Nazi party had a lot of influence over artand commerce, not only in Germany but even in the US. (That's another story for another time.) Soone of the finest thrillers ever made, Fritz Lang's M, was called such because its originaltitle - Murderer Among Us - made Nazi officials suspect that it was a dig at their party.
THE IRONY DEPARTMENT. Kevin Williamson wrote a screenplayspoofing horror films, calling it Scary Movie. Miramax bought it and retitled itScream, seeing it more as genuine horror. But they obviously liked the name, since afterthe Scream trilogy was finished, Miramax spoofed that with, you guessed it, a comedycalled Scary Movie.
MY ALL TIME FAVORITE. A sad tale surrounds SarahKernochan's rarely-seen teenage comedy Strike! Miramax (them again!) bought it, shelved itfor over a year, then barely released it, even though it starred such up-and-coming actresses asKirsten Dunst. Not only that, but they gave it the truly dreadful name All I Wanna Do.Ouch! But compare that to the film's real original title, so weird that I wondered whyMiramax even looked at it in the first place: The Hairy Bird. I mean seriously, Ms.Kernochan.