What 21 Famous Movies Would Be Called If They’d Kept Their Original Titles

The popular movie Tangled was first named Rapunzel, but the title was changed because producers wanted boys to be attracted to the film. Filmmakers pay great attention to a movie’s title and puzzle over it for a very long time, trying to make it the most poetic and intriguing for as many people as possible. Titles are definitely one of the most important details in the art of movie-making because the right one should automatically make anyone who hears it want to watch it.

Believe it or not, movie-makers have lots of titles to sort through before choosing “the one”. Almost every movie could be called something different, and Bright Side has collected a list of “could have been” titles of some popular movies.

1. Léon — The Cleaner

2. The Lion King — King of the Jungle

3. Star Wars- The Adventures of Starkiller

4. Toy Story — You Are a Toy

5. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial — A Boy’s Life

6. Blade Runner — Dangerous Days

7. Back to the Future — Spaceman From Pluto

8. Wreck-It Ralph — Reboot Ralph

9. Brave — The Bear and the Bow

10. The Emperor’s New Groove — Kingdom of the Sun

11. Frozen — Snow Queen

12. Cars — Route 66

13. Independence Day (1996) — Sky on Fire

14. War of the Worlds (2005) — Out of the Night

15. Pretty Woman (1990) — 3000

16. Step Up (2006) — Music High

17. Alien — Star Beast

18. Some Like It Hot — Not Tonight Josephine

19. Avatar — Project 880

20. Arrival — Story of Your Life

21. Coming to America — The Quest

BONUS: The Avengers’ working title was Group Hug

Every movie also has a “production name” which is used to code the projects, and these names are often pretty hilarious. For example, The Avengers had the title, Group Hug and The Dark Knight was known as Rory’s First Kiss.

Do you have any examples of movies that made you want to watch them simply because of the title and nothing else? Perhaps you have your own great title for an already existing movie that you think would be better than the original. Let’s make a title contest in the comments!