The proposed film names of 12 legendary movies that got rejected — including one of the Brat Pack's biggest hits


It can take time to develop the perfect film title and these films prove even the biggest hits sometimes require a second thought


Ally Sheedy and Molly Ringwald in a scene from The Breakfast Club, dated 1985.© Getty Images
Daisy Finch
Daisy FinchAudience Writer
38 minutes ago

From one-word blockbusters like Gladiator to Oscar-winning feature Everything Everywhere All at Once, a film's name holds a lot of power in getting audiences excited, inspiring marketing materials and eventually ending up on posters lining the walls of teenage bedrooms around the world. Read on to find out what several of cinema's most iconic hits could have been called before executives settled on their iconic titles...

Actors Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman pose for a publicity still for the Warner Bros film 'Casablanca' in 1942 in Los Angeles, California.© Getty Images

Casablanca provided a short, memorable one-word title for the 1942 classic

Everybody Comes to Rick's

The 1942 Humphrey Bogart hit Casablanca was adapted from a 1940 stage play titled Everybody Comes to Rick's, so it was only natural that executives thought of keeping the original name.

Instead, the one-word title has become iconic in its own right, and there's a high chance fans of the '40s classic won't even know it used to be a play by another name.

Richard Gere and Julia Roberts standing in a boutique, smiling and looking at jewelry.© Alamy Stock Photo

Money might be at the centre of Pretty Woman, but it didn't make the title card

$3,000

With Julia Roberts and Richard Gere at the helm, Pretty Woman was bound to be a hit. But the unconventional romance between a sex worker and wealthy businessman certainly raised some eyebrows.

It's no too surprising, then, that the amount Julia's Vivienne is paid for her stay wasn't selected as the film's final title.

Christopher Lloyd as Doc sits in the DeLorian while Michael J Fox leans in the car door.© United Archives via Getty Images

Marty McFly was a Space Man from Pluto before he travelled Back to the Future

Space Man from Pluto

The 1985 favourite Back to the Future almost went by a wholly different name, as Universal Pictures head Sid Sheinberg reportedly didn't think audiences would go to see a movie with "future" in the title.

To justify the change, he suggested Marty McFly scare his father by announcing "I am a spaceman from Pluto!" rather than "I'm Darth Vader from planet Vulcan". Fortunately, Steven Spielberg thanked him for the chuckle and the iconic franchise kept its name.

Sigourney Weaver pictured in a still from Alien.© Getty Images

Star Beast might suggest alien lifeforms, but it's best to keep things simple

Star Beast

Dan O'Bannon used Star Beast as the working title for his penned feature film. But sometimes, the first idea requires a little more work – particularly when the film itself seems to be deciding on its own title.

Dan grew to dislike the title and noticed how often "alien" came up in the film's screenplay, eventually turning Star Beast into the Alien we know and love today.

David Arquette and Courtney Cox at the premiere of Scream 2. © United Archives via Getty Images

The parody franchise would ensure Scream's original title didn't go to waste

Scary Movie

Scary Movie might bring to mind the 2000 parody of the same name, alongside the likes of Spaceballs and Not Another Teen Movie. But before that, it was the working title of one of the horror genre's best-loved hits.

The 1996 horror feature Scream is an ode to all the scary movies that came before, so it's unsurprising that the simple title Scary Movie was, at one point, a perfect fit.

The Breakfast Club © The Kobal Collection

More children's TV than a teen drama, The Lunch Bunch was thankfully scrapped

The Lunch Bunch

It might seem strange now, but before The Breakfast Club became the Brat Pack's most well-known feature, there were several other working titles for the John Hughes project.

Early on in the development, the Brat Pack feature was titled Detention, before The Lunch Bunch was used as the primary working title. Another alternative, Library Revolution was closer to the mark, but The Breakfast Club luckily won out.

The Body© Getty Images

They took the plot but left the title when adapting Stephen King's The Body

The Body

Several of Stephen King's iconic adaptations have kept the name of their original book, from Carrie to The Longwalk, Pet Semetary and The Shining.

But in the case of his 1982 novella The Body, the title was changed to Stand By Me for the 1986 movie adaptation starring River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton and Corey Feldman.

Jamie Lee Curtis on the set of Halloween holding on to the back of a sofa and holding a knife up clutched in her fist.© Corbis via Getty Images

Mike Myers might seek out babysitters but the one-word title Halloween makes for a scarier hit

The Babysitter Murders

Perhaps The Babysitter Murders was a little too on the nose for the 1978 horror starring spine-shivering villain Mike Myers.

In Halloween, he's got a reputation for seeking out babysitters in his murderous mission so the working title was an apt choice, if a bit obvious.

Tom Hanks in Big

Instead of getting Big, the Tom Hanks comedy was almost called When I Grow Up

When I Grow Up

Like 13 Going on 30, Tom Hanks hit Big sees a 13-year-old boy wish to be bigger in size. Of course, that comes with grown-up adventures he didn't see coming.

But before it went by the one-word title, Big was known by its working title When I Grow Up. Both might be catchy, but it's impossible to think of the comedy classic by any other name today.

Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in space ship in a scene from 'Star Wars A New Hope' 1977.© Getty Images

The Jedi try to control their emotions so taking revenge isn't on the table

Revenge of the Jedi

The Star Wars franchise has always been creative in its naming processes. With its iconic slanted yellow introduction and debut at Episode IV, it's not too surprising that one of the film's required a little extra thought.

Return of the Jedi was originally titled Revenge of the Jedi. Unfortunately, one of the Jedi's key principles is that they don't seek out revenge, choosing a life not ruled by emotion.

Wiseguy© Getty Images

They're all wise guys in GoodFellas but the latter was a standout choice

Wiseguy

Before Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro brought GoodFellas to the screen, the iconic crime thriller went by a very different name.

It's difficult to think of the movie going by any other name today, but its title was once intended to be Wiseguy. Potential confusion with the existing TV series stopped that plan in its tracks.

pulp fiction scene

Quentin Tarantino wanted to pay homage to a whole genre of sensationalist paperbacks, not just one famous magazine

Black Mask

Black Mask was the title of a famous 1920s detective fiction magazine and it was almost the title chosen by Quentin Tarantino for his 1994 film starring John Travolta.

Instead, the director opted for the name Pulp Fiction to capture the whole genre of sensationalist paperbacks. He extended this idea into the opening visuals, showcasing dictionary definitions of the word "pulp".

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