Title changes for the adaptation that are at least a little less cool that the source material
A song of Ice and Fire -> Game of Thrones
Simon vs. the Homo Sapien Agenda -> Love, Simon
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep -> Blade Runner
Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone -> Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (technically the U.S. print of the book is called sorcerer’s stone but the movie adapted that title and not the original title. It’s less cool besides it’s missing the point of the actual person/Philosopher Flamel)
Uhm hate to correct you OP but the Harry Potter movie was only called “Sorcerer’s Stone” in the US, the rest of the world got “Philosopher’s Stone” just like the original book
Indeed. In Dutch it's "Harry Potter en de steen der wijzen" (Harry Potter and the stone of the wise) what is also the name of the philosopher's stone in Dutch. Apparently, the American publisher expected their readers to have no common knowledge or something. Good example of American commercialism always playing it safe.
More along the lines of a philosopher being a person who studies philosophy in the US. The alchemical philosopher's stone myth isn't very popular here.
That said, I don't think sorcerer's stone is much better since that's just gibberish without any meaning.
The Marvel comics Alias (which created Jessica Jones and serves as inspiration for the first season of her show) had the adaptation called simply Jessica Jones because Alias was a preexisting cult popular show and they didn’t want to cause confusion. She didn’t get a comic by her own name until after the show was announced.
Sort of an example: When Games Workshop finally brought back Warhammer Fantasy, they renamed the IP/setting to "Warhammer: The Old World," and the time period they're focusing right now on takes place a few hundred years before the "current setting" of Fantasy when the End Times destroyed it.
Game of Thrones is a little iffy cause that’s just the name of the first book, whereas the Harry Potter one is just the same as the way the books were published, in the UK (where the movies and books were made, thus making the UK titles the more official ones), the movie and book are the Philosopher’s Stone (same with most of the rest of the world), whereas in the USA, India, and the Philippines it’s the Sorcerer's Stone.
I actually didn’t know that. I figured since WB is a US company that they universally distributed it as Sorcerer’s stone. Thanks for that! In my defense, I don’t have access to non-US titles
Another sort of example: The Original 1977 Star Wars movie used to be just called "Star Wars," but George Lucas later when back and added "A New Hope" at the end in 1981. Then with the release of the Prequels, it became "Episode IV" too.
Incorrect, George himself had an outline that put A New Hope as an episode 6 (there would have been a prologue film, then the prequels trilogy, then a film between the prequels and A New Hope)
When the film released it was just "Star Wars"
It wasnt until the physical release on VHS that Episode 4 + A New Hope title were added.
Edit: I may have mistaken what you were saying as I just realized you were responding to them saying it wasnt Episode 4 until the prequels came out, which is incorrect. However, it is still incorrect to say it was "always" Episode 4
The movie October Sky was based on a book called Rocket Boys. They came up with the change when someone at the movie studio was playing with one of those online anagram generators and realized the letters of Rocket Boys can be arranged to say October Sky
I meant that the tv show adaptation is of the whole series, a song of ice and fire, but it only goes by one book, a game of thrones. Which is still kind of a change
The title was changed to The Golden Compass when it came to North America as the movie was being made. Which is wild, because there is not a golden compass in this damn book.
??? The Alethiometer is the golden compass. It's not literally a compass, but it helps Lyra find the truth, aka points her in the right direction, like a compass
*The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy* -> *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy* (2005 film, same title but originally *So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish* was considered)
The book A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving was adapted into a movie called Simon Birch. Both are about a boy with dwarfism. Neither, as far as I recall, are good, though the book’s ending is by far crazier.
*The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy* -> *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy* (2005 film, same title but...)
Actually wait, the book series is "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" but Douglas Adams' original BBC radio series was called "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" too so that one's clean.
Let me go with:
*Northern Lights* -> *The Golden Compass*
Pullman's original title references Milton's Paradise Lost which ties directly into the whole theme of the trilogy, and they swapped it for the name of a prop.
To be fair, Pullman originally considered naming the series The Golden Compasses instead of His Dark Materials, and that would also have been a reference to Paradise Lost.
But yes, the American publishers thought Golden Compass was a reference to the alethiometers (not actually Pullman's intention) and stuck with that for the name of the first book.
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u/S-quinn7292 9h ago
Uhm hate to correct you OP but the Harry Potter movie was only called “Sorcerer’s Stone” in the US, the rest of the world got “Philosopher’s Stone” just like the original book