What’s in a name?

So with the appearance of that trailer this week, swiftly followed by this one I forgot to mention something quite important. The renaming of Avengers:Age of Ultron in the U.K. to Marvel Avengers: The Age of Ultron. Now I realise this isn’t a massive thing but it just raises the question with me of how stupid do the production companies think we are. You see, they appear to be worried that we poor stupid Brits might get a 7 foot Green Ego, A blonde bodybuilder in a cape, a tin man and a dude with a shield fetish confused with these two

No, seriously. The title has been changed just in case we thought it was The Avengers from 1960’s television and later in, so I’m told as I had erased it from my memory, this cinematic gem.

It’s no surprise though as they are always changing names of films in different territories. Of course they will to avoid offence or political faux pas, you know like bringing out The Interview!

For instance this film, filmed largely in Liverpool in the U.K. had it’s name changed in the U.S. to avoid offending anybody, I understand that (even if I don’t agree)

What really bugs me is when they do it for no other reason than they think the viewing public are thick. So I thought I’d share some of my favourite films that have been changed for the sake of the considered brain dead British public

Let’s start with

Seeing as it’s the second of these that made me write this post, why not start with the first. The Avengers, changed in the U.K. to Avengers Assemble for the exact same reason as above. We are far too stupid to know the difference between the people on that poster and the characters of Marvel’s comic book stable and a bowler hatted toff and his dominatrix mate.

Howard the Duck. Last seen in The Guardians of the Galaxy as an extra bit, but prior to this probably not many non comic readers had heard of him. However, the Howard the Duck movie, called Howard the Duck pretty much says it all. There’s a duck and his name is Howard and seemingly he smokes a cigar! wow, that’s a film I’ve got to see. So, they change it in the U.K. to Howard, a New Breed of Hero. Really (actually maybe this is one time they think we’re cleverer as it’s a terribly confusing title) there’s not even a duck on the poster and it looks like a horror film. It’s beside the point really as it’s roundly thought of as one of the worst films ever made. Which is a shame because I absolutely loved it when I was a kid.
Don’t judge me!

Aah, Encino Man. A film changed in the U.K. because they didn’t think we would know that Encino is in America, let alone California. So to be helpful they changed it to California Man. It’s just a shame they didn’t change the content of the film at the same time.

But I think my favourite has to be this one

Why’s it my favourite? because of the reason they changed the title here, and in Australia (which may give you a clue) yes, you guessed it. In case we got it confused with long running Australian daytime favourite Neighbours.

The soap that brought us Kylie and Jason we may confuse for an American “comedy” about a frat house moving next door to a suburban couple.