# The notorious colon in movie titles
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 12, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906 "2003-07-12T04:43:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/1 "2003-07-12T04:43:36Z")
Apologies if this thread has been done, I wasn’t finding it in a search
I’ve seen a lot of movie titles today get longer and longer, and include the infamous colon. Meaning only thing: sequel.
It’s being done for actual sequels, I suppose to eliminate the cheesy “2” or whatever (Of course, Legally Blonde 2 and Terminator 3 do BOTH, just to give recent examples). And since there are a lot of sequels these days, of course we are going to see a lot of this.
But isn’t it starting to get pretentious when the colon and subtitle is added to even the first installment of the film? The IMDb says that the colon and subtitle was added to _Pirates of the Caribbean_ simply to make it easier to market a possible sequel (and unlike certain movie franchises, has a sequel even been contracted for?).
Or even the new Star Wars films. They didn’t attach “Star Wars:” in front Empire or Jedi, did they? Now, we have the mish-mosh of Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones. A double offender!
I think the only place I’d be on the fence is the Lord of the Rings. Yes, they were named after books in a trilogy written long ago. But is Hollywood really afraid that moviegoers would not remember that “oh yeah, The Two Towers is the next one!”?
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### Author:  [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2003, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/2 "2003-07-12T05:55:57Z")
When the title:subtitle forma is used in a FIRST MOVIE, then there is only one term that applies: WISHFUL THINKING…Timmy
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### Author:  [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2003, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/3 "2003-07-12T12:31:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> They didn’t attach “Star Wars:” in front Empire or Jedi, did they?
They did actually. I remember the original logos had the sequal titles surrounded by the words “Star Wars”.
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### Author:  [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/4 "2003-07-12T16:59:59Z")
I like it better, at least if you take your film seriously, because numbers after titles sound cheesy. Imagine how silly _Lord of the Rings 3_ would sound. Something light-hearted like _Wayne’s World 2_ is okay, though. At the very least, if you make a sequel with a numeric suffix, I think you should rename the original with a 1, because that’s what people are going to call it anyway.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/5 "2003-07-12T21:02:12Z")
The reason is simple.
In the old days, if you did a sequel, you’d either use an element from the original title (“After the Thin Man”) or a brand new title (“From Russia With Love”). Then came “The Godfather II” and numbers were used to indicate a sequel.
But that device is getting old, so they want to go back to the older version.
One problem, though: video rentals. “The Thin Man” is filed under “T”; “After the Thin Man” is under “A” (not counting those video stores that keep films together – Hollywood Video in our area has all the Marx Brothers movie in one spot under “m”).
So when you’re coming up for a title for “Charlie’s Angels” and don’t want to call it “Charlie’s Angels II” and, at the same time, want to keep the two movies together in the video store, you name the film “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.” Now they’re filed together until the end of time.
Same for LOTR, especially since they had a pre-sold franchise. Calling the first film FOTR would be confusing to those unfamiliar with the book, so LOTR is part of the title.
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### Author:  [@Mearl\_Dox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mearl_Dox)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/6 "2003-07-12T21:05:14Z")
When I first read the title of this thread, I could have sworn it was talking about a different type of colon.
“Irritable Bowel Syndrome: The Revenge!”
Sorry, fleeing now…
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/7 "2003-07-12T22:10:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \*
> \*\*Then came “The Godfather II” and numbers were used to indicate a sequel. \*\*
[Nitpick]
The title is “The Godfather, _Part_ II.”
[/Nitpick]
Which actually makes a lot of sense. Granted, the whole Michael plot was new, but the Vito storyline was straight from _The Godfather_ novel. In a real sense, the movie was a continuation of the book’s narrative, rather than a standalone story with the same characters.
I think for the first “Title + Number” sequel, you probably have to turn to 1978’s _Jaws 2_ and 1979’s _Rocky II_.
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### Author:  [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/8 "2003-07-12T23:16:19Z")
The Exorcist II was in 1977, but they did have the colon…
“Exorcist II: The Heretic”
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### Author:  [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/9 "2003-07-13T02:47:29Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Harvey The Heavy \*
> \*\*They did actually. I remember the original logos had the sequal titles surrounded by the words “Star Wars”. \*\*
You are indeed correct sir, and I had that in mind as I posted. But I beg to differ–they were small words at the top and bottom of the surrounding title image, and I don’t think anyone ever called it Episode 5 at the time of its release (unless they were bitching about how come it wasn’t Star Wars 2). Heck, correct me if I’m wrong, but did _anyone_ really discuss episodes until the prequels came out? I had always know them as Star Wars, Empire, and Jedi.
Meanwhile, wasn’t EPISODE II the biggest part of the new title image, with “Attack of the Clones” set underneath the “Episode”?
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/10 "2003-07-13T03:09:31Z")
Anyone else think this thread was going to be about gay porn?
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### Author:  [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2003, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/11 "2003-07-13T03:37:16Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mearlchan \*
> \*\*When I first read the title of this thread, I could have sworn it was talking about a different type of colon.
>
> “Irritable Bowel Syndrome: The Revenge!”
>
> Sorry, fleeing now… \*\*
Considering the topic,shouldn’t it have been[fleeting](http://www.fruit-eze.com/brands/fleet_enema_mineral_oil_adult.html) now?
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### Author:  [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/12 "2003-07-13T03:41:31Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ElwoodCuse \*
> Meanwhile, wasn’t EPISODE II the biggest part of the new title image, with “Attack of the Clones” set underneath the “Episode”?
In the movie poster, yes, but in the opening crawl sequence, all five movies so far have identical title designs. I don’t think they can be totally blamed for including “Episode I” and “Episode II” so prominently in the marketing. This is because fans were referring to the nonexistent movie _Star Wars: Episode I_ long before they’d ever heard the name “The Phantom Menace”.
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### Author:  [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/13 "2003-07-13T03:49:17Z")
Was I the only one to think that “Notorious Colon” or “Infamous Colon” would make splendid band names?
I thought so. Carry on.
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/14 "2003-07-13T04:15:05Z")
Ah yes, I remember well those halcyon days of childhood, riding the streetcar down to the Odeon, where a single dime would pay for popcorn, a licorice whip, root beer, a newsreel, two cartoons and the thrilling serial adventures of the Notorious Colon.
- "Midnight! When the streets of the city are the highways of crime. But from the shadows reaches the grim hand of justice. Lawbreakers beware! Fear the masked might of…the **Notorious Colon!"** \*
Then of course there were the sequels:
\*\*The Notorious Colon Returns
The Notorious Colon vs. Doctor Blood
The Notorious Colon and the Cloud of Doom
The Notorious Colon at the Earth’s Core
The Notorious Colon Goes Bananas\*\*
…ah, the memories…
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2003, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/15 "2003-07-13T04:48:45Z")
**Abbot and Costello meet The Notorious Colon**
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### Author:  [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/16 "2003-07-13T04:55:37Z")
What’s ridiculous is _double_ colons in the title…
**Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life**
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/17 "2003-07-13T06:00:45Z")
And then you get the media tie-ins, which add a whole new level of colons:
**Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradel of Life: The Game**
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### Author:  [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2003, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/18 "2003-07-16T07:53:34Z")
Colon on a Hot Tin Roof
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2003, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/19 "2003-07-16T08:10:16Z")
Colón: The Cristóbal Colón Story
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### Author:  [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2003, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-notorious-colon-in-movie-titles/187906/20 "2003-07-16T14:03:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mearlchan \*
> \*\*When I first read the title of this thread, I could have sworn it was talking about a different type of colon. \*\*
The two aren’t unrelated. However tasty what is before the colon may have been, after the colon it’s shit.
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