The Original Movie Titles for Hollywood Hits

"Don't judge a book by its cover", is advice often ignored. The same thing happens within the movie industry when it comes to which film a person will go see or rent. Often one will find DVDs designing their covers based off of previously successful artwork or doing a variety of things to capture ones attention. One of the most important aspects of a film when it comes to marketing is the title. A good tile will help draw the audiences in and be unforgettable, a bad one could sink the ship before it leaves the dock. It can be a tricky thing picking the right title and many films go through several changes before one sticks permanently. Here are a few Hollywood favorites and some of their original titles.

AMERICAN PIE was originally penned under the name: "Teenage Sex Comedy That Can Be Made For Under $10 Million That Your Reader Will Love But The Executive Will Hate." The lengthy non-title sort of title stuck with the project all the way up until it was purchased by Universal who then changed the name to: "East Great Falls High." The second title was meant to be a temporary one and eventually there was a debate on what the final title should be; some rooting for the title: "Comfort Food." Eventually American Pie won out after a few legal issues with the title were ironed out, due to another movie wanting the same name.

GOODFELLAS was somewhat based on the book "Wiseguy" by author Nick Pileggi, therefore the film project started out with the same title. However, a television series was airing at the time with that same name and the term Goodfellas was used as a replacement.

PRETTY WOMAN was originally called "3000"; which was the amount Julia Roberts character was paid for the night. Studio research showed that 3000 made audiences wonder if it was a plot about hookers on the moon, and therefore a title change was decided upon. Director Garry Marshall was given a set of songs to choose a title from and Pretty Woman the movie was born.

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY was at one point named: "There's Something About Sarah."

ROCKY was originally named "The Contender"

SCREAM was originally written by Kevin Williamson as "Scary Movie", however the title seemed too comedic for most and not too long after the change the title was given to the now popular comedy series of films created by the Wayans Brothers.

BLADE RUNNER being based off of the Phillip K. Dick book: "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", also bore that title. The title was deemed "non-commerical" and went through a series of changes from just plain "Android" to "Mechanismo", to "Dangerous Days", before sticking to Blade Runner.

HITCH was written and sold with the title: "The Last First Kiss." Market testing of the titled proved it did not appeal to men, which the creators of the romantic comedy were hoping to help fill in the audience, and thus the title change.

REALITY BITES first came to be under the title "The Real World", that was until MTV decided to debut a new reality show with the same title.

UNFORGIVEN, the award winning Clint Eastwood directed, David Peoples written western was originally titled "The Cut-Whore Killings", which was then changed to both "Whore's Gold" and then "The William Munny Killings" before Clint Eastwood himself picked the title Unforgiven.

THE VILLAGE was originally titled "The Woods", but was changed to avoid conflict with another film of that title.

FIELD OF DREAMS having been based on a book entitled "Shoeless Joe" was shot with that title intact. However audience testing showed that people would assume it was either about a homeless person or that Kevin Costner was playing Shoeless Joe.

BIG was originally titled "When I Grow Up" before the writers made the change.

TOMORROW NEVER DIES is a James Bond film that was originally entitled: "Tomorrow Never Lies." A marketing department memo with a typo switched "dies" in place of "lies" and the title was determined to be better sounding and more popular.

BLOOD DIAMOND was originally titled "Okavanga" until the original script was changed and the story no longer took place in the Okavanga territory.

LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA went through a few title changes with the original being "Men From Mars." The first titles were taken from character quotes with "Lamps Before the Wind" also being considered, before being changed to "Red Sun, Black Sand" in reference to the Japanese flag and the black sands of Iwo Jima. Eventually during shooting a person from Warner Bros. Japan suggested Letters From Iwo Jima and the title stuck.

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER was originally based off of a newspaper article with which it shared the title " The Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night." The title was deemed too long and the Bee Gees song "Night Fever" inspired the change.

Lots of movies go through the name changing game to seek what will appeal most to the money spending masses. Often times it is good that research is done in this area because some of the classics, even mentioned in this article, would surely not have been the same in some way had they gone with the original title.