Whats in a name? I know, a pop culture piece starting with a Shakespeare quote. Get used to it pal. Were getting highbrow round these parts! But seriously, what is in a name? Specifically the name of a movie? A good movie title should be your first way in to the film. It should tell you everything you need to know about the film and why you should see it. There are the titular film names like Forrest Gump, Erin Brockovich and Wall-E (God I love that little guy). There are bold broad brushstrokes of titles evoking clear images like Star Wars, Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey. And there are the ridiculous like Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, or How The West Was Fun. But youll be surprised at how some of the most famous movies of all time were meant to be known by the public as something else entirely...
5. Tomorrow Never Dies Was Originally Called Tomorrow Never Lies
This is one of my favourite stories ever. Imagine youre working at some third party marketing department and youve just landed the new James Bond contract. Your boss, Alan, has thrown a party and its a great release of catharsis for the crap quarter youve had. Your terrible drinking habit and crippling self-esteem soon become a memory at least for tonight as you flirt with Sharon from Legal by the photocopier. She looks at you with those eyes youve been staring at, those eyes you know so well because youve bought magazines of women and cut out their eyes to put on your Sharon Shrine. The next few hours go by in a daze, and you need to send a quick memo before you go home. The whiskey and cocaine have overloaded your system but goddamnit if youre not a man who can handle his hard liquor and middle-class drugs. You confidently send the memo about that new James Bond film around, metaphorically waving your enlarged phallus for all the other marketing departments who never hired you to see. And you walk home as the sun rises, the heat on your back a gentle pat of congratulations for a job well done. Then Alan rings you the next morning to ask what the hell you just did. Basically, due to a typo, Tomorrow Never Lies (the original name of the movie) became Tomorrow Never Dies. Luckily for our marketing man above, the powers that be rather liked his foolhardy mistake and kept the title he erroneously typed. Now we have no idea whether or not it all went down like I described above, but I sure hope so.