Director John Carney’s new flick Begin Again, which hits theatres Friday, might confuse audiences who saw it at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival – back then it was called Can A Song Change Your Life? It’s far from the first movie to be rechristened. Original titles might not test well with early audiences, or perhaps something with a better ring to it comes to directors and producers. Often, the title is changed for the sake of brevity, and sometimes movies will have different titles for different countries. For instance, there are no White Castles in Britain, except actual white castles, so audiences there saw Harold and Kumar Get The Munchies. Some original names have been mined by later filmmakers to add to their meta sensibility, while others make you wonder if, had they been released with their original titles, the movies would still be revered as classics. Here are some notable examples.
Pretty Woman (1990)
Original title: $3,000
Unforgiven (1992)
Original title: The Cut-Whore Killings
Halloween (1978)
Original title: The Babysitter Murders
American Pie (1999)
Original title: Untitled Teenage Sex Comedy That Can Be Made For Under $10-Million That Most Readers Will Probably Hate But I Think You Will Love
Scream (1996)
Original title: Scary Movie
Scary Movie (2000)
Original Title: Scream If You Know What I Did Last Halloween
Annie Hall (1977)
Original title: Anhedonia
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Original title: Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Original title: The Lunch Bunch
Neighbors (2014)
Original title: Townies
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre(1974)
Original title: Head Cheese
Back To The Future (1985)
Original title: Spaceman From Pluto