10 Insane Reasons Movies Were Forced To Change Their Titles

6. 'The Madness of King George' Has 'III' Removed From The End So Americans Don't Think It's A Sequel

The Madness of King George The original title of Alan Bennett's play was The Madness of George III, which was changed to The Madness of King George all over the world for the movie. Why was the "III" dropped at the end? Well, the movie's producers were scared that American audiences, likely without a particularly thorough knowledge of British royal history, would assume the movie to be a sequel, rather than take two seconds to realise that it's about a monarch. Again, this isn't so much a knock against Americans as much as how little the studios expect of them, which is pretty awful. To be fair, director Nicholas Hytner did clarify in interviews that another reason for the title change was to ensure that American audiences - who, of course, have never had royalty - knew that the movie was about a King, hence that word being added in.
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Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.