They're Calling the Movie What?

Another day, another round of changing titles. Today, Cartoon Brew had images of a few advertisements from the The Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, including the next Blue Sky animated film, "Epic," which was previously known as "The Leaf Men." I think it's a downgrade, personally. "The Leaf Men" is nice and descriptive, very distinctive, and goes well with a story about tiny people. Plus, it's the name of the original William Joyce children's book this is based on, so there should be some value in the name recognition, right? "Epic," while nicely aspiration, unfortunately also sounds like someone in marketing trying to stack the deck in the film's favor. If the film is called "Epic," it must really be epic, right?

Now I'm fully aware that films that are in production and pre-production often run through a string of different titles on their way to the screen, but I can't help getting attached to many of the initial ones. Often, the only thing distinctive about a project in the early days, before there are stars or even a director attached, is the title. It can be hard to keep track of a film without that constant. For instance, it took me a while to realize the new Brad Pitt film that was getting good press out of Cannes, "Killing Them Softly," was "Cogan's Trade," announced as director Andrew Dominik's follow-up to "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," back in 2010. Also, apparently "Code Name: Geronimo" and the not yet officially titled "Zero Dark Thirty" are two different films about the Navy SEAL mission to kill Osama bin Laden that may be competing against each other this winter. For a while, I thought "Code Name: Geronimo" was just the latest title change for Kathryn Bigelow's version.

Cataloguing title changes has become a routine, as common as noting the schedule changes. This summer is full of films that were once known by other names. "That's My Boy," opening on Friday, was known for a long time as "I Hate You, Dad." PIXAR's "Brave" started out as "The Bear and the Bow." Woody Allen's "To Rome With Love" was formerly "Nero Fiddled" and before that, "The Bop Decameron." As many predicted, "Neighborhood Watch" was shortened to "The Watch," due to concerns about negative associations with the Trayvon Martin case. Some changes are less dramatic, like "Outrun" becoming "Hit and Run," and "Welcome to People" becoming "People Like Us." Some are just kind of inexplicable, like "Great Hope Springs," the Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones comedy, now being billed as "Hope Springs." The "Great" part just had to go, huh?

Probably the most drastic name change I've seen lately was John Hillcoat's "The Wettest County in the World," a Prohibition-era Western, becoming "Lawless." What a generic, awful title. Marketing departments seem to consistently pick the most boring, most colorless names out of convenience. Sure, I understand wanting to make titles simple, so they're easier to translate for overseas markets, and to catch the attention of potential viewers quicker. But seriously, sometimes I think I could take all the movies in a particular genre, like the romantic comedies or the hard action films, swap them all around, and nobody would notice the difference.

This seems like a small thing to nitpick, but as we've seen this year, a title change can make a difference. Witness the continuing fallout of "John Carter," which everybody and their grandma thinks sounded much worse than the original "John Carter of Mars." I felt that "Knockout" was a far more appropriate title for Steven Soderberg's "Haywire," and might have helped it made a bigger impact. Then again, sometimes it doesn't matter what you call a film, like a certain summer blockbuster that was called "The Avengers," "Marvel's The Avengers" or "Avengers Assemble" depending on what part of the world you were in.

Historically, some of the really boneheaded title changes have been undone over time, or alternate titles have fallen out of use. No one calls Richard Williams' "The Thief and the Cobbler" "Arabian Knight," the name it was released under in the US. And I don't think I've ever heard anyone call the second "X-Men" film "X2: X-Men United." Not with a straight face, anyway. I'm already guessing "The Raid: Redemption" is going to lose that idiotic subtitle that the US distributors foisted on it a few months ago.

I do concede that some of these title changes have been for the better, and they do keep me on my toes when I'm tracking various projects. However, I've come to the conclusion that there is really no discernable logic to the process. I don't know how some wonderfully florid titles like "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" and "Beasts of the Southern Wild" have survived, while others have not. I don't know why Americans should be more receptive to "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" than "The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists," which is the original British title.

I just know that nothing's certain until I see the final theater listings. I don't like the title "Epic" at all, but maybe by next May, when it's due to be released, the movie will be called something else.
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