Picture the scene: it's 1985 and you are sitting down to watch one of the biggest new blockbusters of the movie world, one that will end up being loved by millions. Popcorn at the ready, the lights go down and the title appears, with the words: Spaceman from Pluto... Doesn't have quite the same ring to it as Back To The Future, does it?
Your movie is going to live for longer (even if it's awful), it will come into contact with a wider cross-section of critical people and an entire marketing campaign will exist, based on that name.
So it's therefore understandable that a title may go through a number of different options, especially considering the amount of people involved.
Here's a look at an alternate universe where films all go by very different names...
Original movie titles
1. Goodfellas
...was almost known as: Wiseguy
Year: 1990
2. Final Destination
...was almost known as: Flight 180
Year: 2000
3. Child's Play
...was almost known as: Batteries Not Included
Year: 1988
4. Predator
...was almost known as: Hunter
Year: 1987
5. Back To The Future
...was almost known as: Spaceman from Pluto
Year: 1985
6. Field Of Dreams
...was almost known as: Shoeless Joe
Year: 1989
7. Scream
...was almost known as: Scary Movie
Year: 1996
8. Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
...was almost known as: Watch The Skies
Year: 1977
9. Big
..was almost known as: When I Grow Up
Year: 1988
10. Pulp Fiction
...was almost known as: Black Mask
Year: 1994
11. Alien
...was almost known as: Star Beast
Year: 1979
12. Robin Hood
...was almost known as: Nottingham
Year: 2010
13. Last Action Hero
...was almost known as: Extremely Violent
Year: 1993
14. Hancock
...was almost known as: Tonight, He Comes
Year: 2008
15. Vertigo
...was almost known as: Fear and Trembling
Year: 1958
16. Unforgiven
...was almost known as: The Cut Whore Killings
Year: 1992
17. Boys Don't Cry
...was almost known as: Take It Like A Man
Year: 1999
18. Casablanca
...was almost known as: Everybody Come To Rick's
Year: 1942
19. Stand By Me
...was almost known as: The Body
Year: 1986
20. Basic Instinct
...was almost known as: Love Hurts
Year: 1992
21. American Pie
...was almost known as: East Great Falls High
Year: 1999
22. The Other Guys
...was almost known as: The B-Team
Year: 2010
23. E.T.
...was almost known as: Night Skies
Year: 1982
24. Hollywoodland
...was almost known as:Truth, Justice and the American Way
Year: 2006
25. The Breakfast Club
...was almost known as: The Lunch Bunch
Year: 1985
26. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
...was almost known as: Head Cheese
Year: 1974
27. 2001: A Space Odyssey
...was almost known as: How The Solar Space Was Won
Year: 1968
28. Saturday Night Fever
...was almost known as: The Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night
Year: 1977
29. Licence To Kill
...was almost known as: Licence Revoked
Year: 1989
30. American Wedding
...was almost known as: American Pie 3: Piece Of Pie
Year: 2003
31. Fatal Attraction
...was almost known as: Affairs Of The Heart
Year: 1987
32. The Ring
...was almost known as: Static
Year: 2002
33. Letters From Iwo Jima
...was almost known as: Red Sun, Black Sand
Year: 2006
34. Shutter Island
...was almost known as: Ashecliffe
Year: 2010
35. Annie Hall
...was almost known as: Anhedonia
Year: 1977
36. Snakes On A Plane
...was almost known as: Pacific Air Flight 121
Year: 2006
37. The Last Exorcism
...was almost known as: Cotton
Year: 2010
38. Cars
...was almost known as: Route 66
Year: 2006
39. Obsessed
...was almost known as: Oh No She Didn't
Year: 2009
40. Some Like It Hot
...was almost known as: Not Tonight Josephine
Year: 1959