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Movies with similar titles, possible confusion (1 Viewer)

Jake Lipson

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The new Todd Haynes film, Wonderstruck, opened in NY/LA this past weekend and, per Deadline, is supposed to expand throughout November.

Opening November 17 is Wonder, the Owen Wilson/Julia Roberts/Jaccob Tremblay drama.

Of course, we've also had Wonder Woman and Professor Marsden and the Wonder Women this year, and in December will come Woody Allen's latest, Wonder Wheel, which shares its studio, Amazon, with Wonderstruck.

Now I'm not talking about the movie fans on this board, who are attuned to industry goings-on an know well enough to keep track of these films, but in general, for the average moviegoer who does not spend time online in movie discussion forums, do you think it's a good idea to have a situation where Wonder and Wonderstruck are playing in the same cineplex at the same time? I once had a theater employee sell me a ticket to Argo when I asked for Wreck-It Ralph, and those titles don't sound similar at all. If the theater employees can keep them straight, the audience might still confuse them. If, say, Wonder is listed at starting at 23:00 and Wonderstruck starts at 2:30, it certainly seems within the realm of reasonable possibility that someone less informed might mix them up. The distributors of both should take note of the other and try to cut down on any confusion.

And while none of these were playing in theaters at the same time, it's also funny to note that this year we've had films called Logan (Hugh Jackman's Wolverine film); Logan Lucky (the Steven Soderberigh racing drama); and, now playing, Lucky, with Harry Dean Stanton.

Also, coming in November is the Sundance film Call Me by Your Name, which has no relation to the 2016 Japanese anime film Your Name, which was released in the U.S. this past April 2017 and will be on Blu-ray in November. Again, since they are not playing theatrically at the same time, there is less risk of confusion, but it's still a weird coincidence.

It just seems like this is a lot of films with similar titles for one year, certainly moreso than usual for a given year.
 
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cinemiracle

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There must have been numerous instances whereby the same film titles have been used again, but have no relation to the original film released under that same title..Almost every English title is changed in Asia. Often in Europe as well. Same goes for television series..With hundreds of thousands of films released since the inception of cinema, it is difficult to find a title that has never been used before.
 

Jake Lipson

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I know that. I'm not suggesting otherwise. I am simply suggesting that it is unusual for this many films with extremely similar names to come out at the same time.

Finding Nemo (May 2003) came out 18 months before Finding Neverland (fall 2004) and no one got confused. I'm sure there have also been other Finding films. But Wonder, Wonderstruck and Wonder Wheel are all coming out in an extremely concentrated span of time and might well have their theatrical releases bump up against each other. THAT is weird, and might lead to confusion which would not exist if these projects had not all come togeher at the same time.
 

Bryan^H

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I remember between 1999-2000 there were all these "American" movies
-American Pie
-American Beauty
-American Movie
-American Psycho

I remember A girl I worked with around that time insisted American Beauty was called American Movie. I told her, no that movie is a documentary about a film maker from Wisconsin....she looked at me like I was crazy.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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There seem to be countless movies that end in "man" like...

Beaver Man
Stork Man
Sloth Man
Kangaroo Man
Galago Man


The list is endless...

Whale Man versus Hippo Man was delightful though...
 
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Tommy R

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All three of these titles came out in 2017:
Logan
Lucky
Logan Lucky
:eek: That would make a crazy triple feature if they were playing at the same time.
 

Mikael Soderholm

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I was gonna say Crash (Haggis) and Crash (Cronenburg), until I checked and realized they were eight years apart (2004 and 1996, respectively). I would have said they came out about the same time, maybe a year apart, but nooo ...
God, must be getting old :(
 

cinemiracle

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In 1960 there were 2 British films made and released about the same year::: OSCAR WILDE and THE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE. The latter was changed to THE MAN WITH THE GREEN CARNATION in some countries. Both were about the same subject.
 

Jesse Skeen

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Remember when a twinned theater (that I never went to) was playing "Big" in one half and "Big Business" in the other.

When I worked as a projectionist I wanted to run all these trailers together on one movie, as they were current at the same time: First Kid, First Wives' Club, The Rich Man's Wife, and The Preacher's Wife. Also remember selling tickets for The Cutting Edge and having the people come out saying they thought it was Basic Instinct, and wondering why everyone was ice skating.
 

Michael Elliott

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I think there are companies out there who make most of their money tricking people. Remember the countless WAR OF THE WORLDS that were released straight to video when the Spielberg film came out?

Countless production companies release small knock-off movies with similar titles and I can't tell you how many times I've been in a store and seen people buying these movies thinking they are the real thing. JURASSIC CITY and JURASSIC PREY all came out at the same time as JURASSIC WORLD. Countless horror films have done this.
 

AshJW

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I think there are companies out there who make most of their money tricking people. Remember the countless WAR OF THE WORLDS that were released straight to video when the Spielberg film came out?

Countless production companies release small knock-off movies with similar titles and I can't tell you how many times I've been in a store and seen people buying these movies thinking they are the real thing. JURASSIC CITY and JURASSIC PREY all came out at the same time as JURASSIC WORLD. Countless horror films have done this.
That is common practice for decades now.
 

Vic Pardo

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I was once in a multiplex to see MENACE II SOCIETY (1993) and I noticed in the audience a mother and three kids (2 girls and a boy of about seven) and I thought that this was a most inappropriate film for her to bring her kids to. Then I remembered that the film in the theater next door was DENNIS THE MENACE and that's probably the one she meant to see. But not being sure, given how odd so many parenting choices are, I didn't say anything. After 20 min. of non-family movie trailers, the movie started--with the robbery/murder in the Korean grocery--and the mother realized her mistake and got up and pulled her kids out with her. The boy, of course, wanted to stay and keep watching. The audience laughed as they departed. I felt bad that I didn't trust my first instinct and inform the mother of her mistake.
 

MatthewA

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I was once in a multiplex to see MENACE II SOCIETY (1993) and I noticed in the audience a mother and three kids (2 girls and a boy of about seven) and I thought that this was a most inappropriate film for her to bring her kids to. Then I remembered that the film in the theater next door was DENNIS THE MENACE and that's probably the one she meant to see. But not being sure, given how odd so many parenting choices are, I didn't say anything. After 20 min. of non-family movie trailers, the movie started--with the robbery/murder in the Korean grocery--and the mother realized her mistake and got up and pulled her kids out with her. The boy, of course, wanted to stay and keep watching. The audience laughed as they departed. I felt bad that I didn't trust my first instinct and inform the mother of her mistake.

The Critic put them together.
 

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