A Film By Any Other Name: The Original Titles of 25 Classic Films

Crash. Gladiator. Bad Boys. Twilight. Men in Black. Scream.

Don’t be surprised the next time you cue up a movie to watch only to discover it’s not what you expected. Since the invention of celluloid, movies have recycled titles and, as long as the later movie isn’t trying to pass itself off as the earlier one, there’s usually no issue with it. But the powers-that-be at Warner Bros. didn’t see it that way when they caught whiff of Lee Daniels’ The Butler.

Having made their own movie with that exact same—albeit not very original—title back in 1916, the studio argued (and won) that Daniels should not be allowed to bestow the same moniker upon his film, based on the life of Eugene Allen, who served in the White House for 34 years. This week, audiences will need to double-up on their syllables when purchasing tickets for the film formerly known as The Butler, now much less eloquently known as Lee Daniels’ The Butler. Which is certainly less of a mouthful than Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.

Daniels' isn't the only player in the title switcheroo game. In fact, some of cinema's most beloved films have been called something else at some stage in their production. And whether the name changes came about for simplicity, secrecy, or legal reasons, it’s hard to imagine them as being anything but the iconic titles they’ve come to be known as today. Still, these are The Original Titles of 25 Classic Films.

The movie: Snakes on a Plane (2006)

OK, so this one's more "cult classic" than straight-up "classic film." But it's hard to imagine that Snakes on a Plane would have earned as much pre-release buzz—or more than $62 million at the box office—had it not boasted one of cinema's greatest-ever titles. The world has star Samuel L. Jackson to thank for that.

"The title was what got my attention," Jackson told USA Today in 2006. "I got on the set one day and heard they changed it, and I said, 'What are you doing here? It's not Gone with the Wind. It's not On the Waterfront. It's Snakes on a Plane!'"

The movie: There's Something About Mary (1998)

Nothing too controversial here. At some point between writing the script and shooting it, the much-loved main character in this Farrelly brothers hit was changed from Sarah to all-American Mary. Boner jokes + biblical allusions = comedy gold.

The movie: Scream (1996)

Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson's genre-bending horror flick was originally—and quite simply—titled Scary Movie. But the duo decided the name was too comedic-sounding a title for the film's darker tone, forcing the name change. The Wayans Brothers must have agreed, as they adopted the moniker for their spoof series, which kicked off four years later (and is unfortunately still going).

The movie: Pulp Fiction (1994)

Believe it or not, Quentin Tarantino employs a lot of homage in his work. And the inspiration for his Oscar-winning script for Pulp Fiction was a popular pulp magazine from the 1920s called Black Mask. Hence the movie's original title.

The movie: Unforgiven (1992)

And the Oscar for Best Picture goes to... The Cut-Whore Killings? Memorable? Sure. But not everyone would have been lining up to purchased tickets to a movie with the word "whore" in the title. Which would explain why Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning western went through a series of different titles, including Whore's Gold and The William Munny Killings before Eastwood himself suggested Unforgiven.

The movie: Child's Play (1988)

If you're thinking, "Wait! I remember a cheesy Steven Spielberg-produced alien movie from the late 1980s titled *batteries not included," you would be right. Which is exactly why the producers of Child's Play needed to change their original title. Spielberg may have won the name game, but we don't see any sequels or remakes of his *batteries not included on the horizon.

The movie: Big (1988)

Why use four words when one can say it all?

The movie: Back to the Future (1985)

There's a lot of talk of paradoxes in Back to the Future. So much so that Paradox was the film's intended title—far along enough into the film's production that it's actually the title that was written on the clapboards during filming.

The movie: Return of the Jedi (1984)

In the world of movie titles, there are working titles and title fake-outs. Blue Harvest is the latter. By the time George Lucas was readying the third film in his Star Wars franchise, fan fervor was at an all-time high. In order to avoid leaking any of the film's details ahead of time, George and co. went to great lengths to hide Return of the Jedi's true identity, positioning it was a horror film called Blue Harvest, even going so far as to create a tagline: "Horror beyond imagination."

The fake-out is now fairly legendary; original materials that bear the working title's logo are worth a fortune to collectors.

The movie: E.T. (1982)

Steven Spielberg took a cue from his good buddy George Lucas when he very purposefully used A Boy's Life as the working title for E.T. in order to ensure that no one would steal his alien idea and beat him to the market.

The movie: Friday the 13th (1980)

While screenwriter Victor Miller was busy penning the script to Jason Voorhees' debut under the title A Long Night at Camp Blood, director Sean S. Cunningham was testing out the reaction to his preferred—and much simpler—idea: Friday the 13th. Before there was even a story, there was a logo, a promise ("The most terrifying film ever made!") and this advertisement in Variety. Ten sequels, one remake, a television series and countless comic books later, the title is a brand unto itself.

The movie: Alien (1979)

The tagline to Ridley Scott's Alien is often touted as one of the most succintly brilliant in all of cinema history: "In space no one can hear you scream." But just as much thought went into the film's deceptively simple title. Originally written under the title of Star Beast, screenwriter Dan O'Bannon decided to change it when he realized how many times the word "alien" appeared in the script. He and writer Ronald Shusett, who created the story together, both also liked the fact that the word could be interpreted as either an adjective or a noun.

The movie: Halloween (1978)

No question, The Babysitter Murders paints a picture. But it's not a totally accurate picture for the plot of Halloween. The title—and date—of the script, written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, were rewritten at the request of indie producer Irwin Yablans, who then promptly raised the film's $300,000 production budget. The rest, of course, is history.

The movie: Saturday Night Fever (1977)

The original title of John Travolta's disco-dancing classic came directly from the newspaper article which inspired the script. But try writing a song to that title. The name change came about when the studio deemed it too long and clunky and looked to the Bee Gees' soundtrack for new moniker inspiration.

The movie: Annie Hall (1977)

As pretentious as his dialogue may sometimes be, Woody Allen is a no-frills kind of filmmaker (as evidenced by the simple white script on black background he uses again and again for his opening and closing credits). And while the title Annie Hall seems a perfect fit within a filmography that includes such straightforward entries as Manhattan, Crimes and Misdemeanors and Husbands and Wives, it wasn't the first or even the second title to grace the cover page of Allen's Oscar-winning rom-com. Among the earlier suggestions? It Had to be Jew, Rollercoaster Named Desire, Me and My Goy, Alvy and Me, and Anhedonia (which is an incapacity to experience pleasure).

The movie: Rocky (1976)

The Contender became more personal when he was given a name: Rocky. (Cue the Bill Conti "Gonna Fly Now" score.)

The movie: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Here's proof that shorter is not always better: Originally titled Leatherface, the script for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre went through a variety of alternative titles—including Headcheese and Stalking Leatherface—before the filmmakers decided upon the elongated but totally apropos final incarnation.

The movie: The Last House on the Left (1972)

Wes Craven is no stranger to title changes (see Scream). As if the original X rating that got slapped on The Last House on the Left wasn't enough to shrink the paying audience down by a significant margin, its original title—Sex Crime of the Century—certainly would have. (Krug and Company and The Men's Room were two other possible titles in the mix.)

The Movie: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

After making movie history with a number of one-word-titled movies like Spartacus and Lolita, Stanley Kubrick went the garrulous route with 1964's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. His original title for this sci-fi epic was a fun play on 1962's How the West Was Won, but didn't get a lot of positive feedback. It was almost a full year into production before 2001 was suggested.

The movie: Psycho (1960)

Sometimes referred to as Production 9401, Alfred Hitchcock was intent on keeping many of the details of Psycho's plotline under wraps throughout production. That its title appeared as Wimpy on many clapboards throughout its production was both an attempt at secrecy and a fun nod to second unit cameraman Rex Wimpy.

The movie: Some Like It Hot (1959)

Billy Wilder had a tough time naming his Oscar-winning comedy. While the eventual title came from a nursery rhyme (and a line uttered by Tony Curtis in the film), its earlier versions included Fanfares of Love and Not Tonight, Josephine.

The movie: Vertigo (1958)

The movie title that launched a million WebMD searches was originally just set to list a couple of symptoms.

The movie: The Blob (1958)

What a difference a letter makes. In the heyday of B-movies, the title was the thing—and usually preceded a script, director, cast or anything else. When the producers of The Glob learned that a children's book had just been published under the same title, they thought they legally needed to change the name of their production. And The Blob was born!

The movie: Casablanca (1942)

Casablanca. The city's name alone conjures up ideas of mystery and romance. Everybody Comes to Rick's? Yeah, not so much.

The movie: King Kong (1933)

There's only one word to describe the enormous ape that can climb atop the Empire State Building and turn biplanes into toothpicks: Kong, plain and simple.