# Good and Bad Movies Titles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226 "2013-07-11T14:30:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/21 "2013-07-11T16:55:16Z")
For perfectly descriptive titles you missed: **Snakes on a Plane** and **Cowboys vs Aliens**. I always liked the full title of **Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb** ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/22 "2013-07-11T16:55:46Z")
Speaking of sorceror, _Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone_ was an absolutely horrible and meaningless title change _for me_ for the American book and movie. “Sorceror’s Stone” means diddly squat to me. “Philosopher’s Stone” makes more sense. I was dithering about reading the books or not and the title may have made a difference in the beginning before the movies. After I saw the first movie, it all became clear and so I stayed away from the books and movies from then on because it is obvious from the title that they are dumbed down (even if they’re not: we’re talking _titles_ here.) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/23 "2013-07-11T16:56:39Z")
_Mel Brooks’ Silent Movie_. Doesn’t even need a cutline. Then again, neither does _Sharknado_, whose unnecessary cutline is “Enough said.” ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/24 "2013-07-11T17:01:43Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Disney’s putting more thought to this than they used to: they released _Tangled_, not _Rapunzel_, and, coming this winter, _Frozen_, not _The Snow Queen_. In both cases the idea is supposedly to attract boys who might not be interested in a “Disney princess” movie. Nope. It’s because they can’t copyright (or is it trademark?) the title to a public domain story. It’s about branding. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/25 "2013-07-11T17:02:57Z")
Pixar’s titles haven’t been particularly interesting. The movies have sold because everyone knows (or at least knew) that Pixar = Family Fun. But: _A Bug’s Life, Up!, Cars_ and _Toy Story_. Not interesting. _Monsters, Inc._ and _Finding Nemo_, better. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/26 "2013-07-11T17:06:06Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > \*Epic \*is such a bad title. There’s also another animated movie coming out this summer called _Turbo_. I’m wondering how often the two are confused. Or ignored, since the titles ar so generic. The protagonist in _Turbo_ is bitten by a radioactive car and gets enough super-speed to win races NASCAR-style. You could do a lot worse for a title. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/27 "2013-07-11T17:13:46Z")
Terrible:\*\*\* John Carter\*\*\* Great: _ **Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter** _ ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/28 "2013-07-11T17:16:28Z")
_Jaws_ was a good title. _Big_ was a bad title. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/29 "2013-07-11T17:24:16Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > [Unknown](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1401152/) – I’m amazed someone thought that this was a good idea for a movie title. The really terrible thing about Unknown as a title is that another Unknown was released just a few years earlier. > **[Unknown (2006) ⭐ 6.4 | Crime, Drama, Mystery](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450340)** > > 1h 25m | Not Rated ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/30 "2013-07-11T18:01:24Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > The really terrible thing about Unknown as a title is that another Unknown was released just a few years earlier. We could start another thread of recycled movie titles, sometimes within the same year. Just a couple of years ago there was _9_, _Nine_, and two other titles with “nine” in the name in the same season. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/31 "2013-07-11T18:08:54Z")
Just so you folks know, **John Carter** is definitely NOT the title Andrew Stanton wanted. He wanted to cal it _John Carter of Mars_, but the Powers-That-Be at Disney didn’t want him to call it that, thinking that it would a.) turn off female elements in the audience, who they thought might not want to see a science fiction epic; b.) It might invoke thoughts of the previous summer’s _Mars Needs Moms_; c.) They told Stanton that he only “became” John Carter “of Mars” at the end, after he wins. It was stupid all around 9What did they think, that women and girls might blunder into the movie if they thought it was the story of some earth-bound adventure about Noah Wylie? That failure is contagious by title? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/32 "2013-07-11T18:30:11Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Just so you folks know, **John Carter** is definitely NOT the title Andrew Stanton wanted. He wanted to cal it _John Carter of Mars_, but the Powers-That-Be at Disney didn’t want him to call it that, thinking that it would a.) turn off female elements in the audience, who they thought might not want to see a science fiction epic; b.) It might invoke thoughts of the previous summer’s _Mars Needs Moms_; c.) They told Stanton that he only “became” John Carter “of Mars” at the end, after he wins. But those are all such logical reasons. :rolleyes: For me, the huge mistake was not the truncation of the title but the abandonment of the fabulous art title they had developed and used in the long-lead promotion - and used in the final materials even though the centerpiece is a highly stylized “JCM.” Switching to a deadly-dull Futura or FraGo or whatever that was just killed the movie’s image as being ANYTHING anyone would want to see. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/33 "2013-07-11T18:55:15Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > But those are all such logical reasons. :rolleyes: > > For me, the huge mistake was not the truncation of the title but the abandonment of the fabulous art title they had developed and used in the long-lead promotion - and used in the final materials even though the centerpiece is a highly stylized “JCM.” Switching to a deadly-dull Futura or FraGo or whatever that was just killed the movie’s image as being ANYTHING anyone would want to see. I agree entirely. They sell T-shirts with that stylized “JCM” logo. I almost got one for last year’s Arisia, but instead went with a shirt having a fan-made poster for the unmade **Gods of Mars**. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/34 "2013-07-11T19:00:01Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > _Serial._ From that title would you guess it was a hilarious Martin Mull send-up of life in L.A.? I almost missed it completely. Marin County, actually…and based on a non-fictional (think Fast Times at Ridgemont High) book. Very funny. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/35 "2013-07-11T19:15:41Z")
_Plan 9 From Outer Space_ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/36 "2013-07-11T19:30:46Z")
My choice, \*\*Sorceror[/B[ has been mentioned already;. I’ve also mentioned **Dreamquest** in the past on this Board. Both of these sound like they ought to be Carlos Casteneda movies, or something. **The Last King of Scotland** – if you only saw the title lsted, you’d never guess this was about Idi Amin **Ballistic : Ecks vs. Sever** \*\*Metalstorm: the Detruction of Jared-Syn Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone\*\* I’m not especially fond of subheadings, but it _really_ annoys me when the subheadings, which are supposed to clarify and amplify the title, just make it more obscure. I start out feeling that I’m on the outside of an inside joke, or that there’s something going on I should have known about before this. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/37 "2013-07-11T19:35:45Z")
**Sorceress** (1982) is a bad sword-and-sorcery movie. It’s about… no, not a sorceress, sorry. There is a male wizard, but no sorceress anywhere. There are a pair of busty twin female warriors, and the whole movie basically an excuse for them to keep getting undressed. But no sorceress. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/38 "2013-07-11T19:42:48Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > **Sorceress** (1982) is a bad sword-and-sorcery movie. It’s about… no, not a sorceress, sorry. There is a male wizard, but no sorceress anywhere. There are a pair of busty twin female warriors, and the whole movie basically an excuse for them to keep getting undressed. But no sorceress. This is a favorite Bad Film of mine, that I’ve shown at Bad Film Festivals. It’s produced (of course) by Roger Corman. Its production values and effects are so awful that it looks like a bad foreign film dubbed into English – but it isn’t. There ARE two other films with the same title, but they’re fairly decent films. And involve actual Sorceresses. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/39 "2013-07-11T19:44:20Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > **Sorceress** (1982) is a bad sword-and-sorcery movie. It’s about… no, not a sorceress, sorry. There is a male wizard, but no sorceress anywhere. There are a pair of busty twin female warriors, and the whole movie basically an excuse for them to keep getting undressed. But no sorceress. Close enough! ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226/40 "2013-07-11T20:01:21Z")
Best Title Ever: **Snakes On A Plane** There it is - the title and the plot all rolled into one! No surprises, no tricks - just snakes on a plane. Bam. You buy your ticket and get your money’s worth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-movies-titles/663226.md?page=3)