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What exactly is considered the "original title" for a film?
posted by PhasmophobiaSTAFFMOD on February 19, 2017 at 6:30 AM
A few days ago, I changed the page for Alice Sweet Alice to Communion because Communion was the original title it was released under, though I guess it's more widely known as the former. The next day, someone changed it back to Alice Sweet Alice.
I've noticed this with other films, as well. There was a movie that recently came out called The Blackcoat's Daughter, but its original title when it was released at festivals was February. It's listed on here with the changed title.
I'm confused about what'supposed to go into the "original title" field for a film.
Reply by Marr 🇳🇱
on February 19, 2017 at 8:34 AM
When it is released theatricslly. We put the changed title as original indeed. Sorry for the confusion! Prepare to see Some sort of contribution bible in the near future with all our little definitions and regulations! :-)
Reply by Jeff Larsen
on February 19, 2017 at 9:03 AM
It looks like foreign films will be listed by their English titles?
Reply by lineker
on February 19, 2017 at 9:19 AM
They should not, but many probably are. Do you have some examples? We always want the correct original titles.
(I should add, just like Marr said, that both Alice Sweet Alice and The Blackcoat's Daughter had a different title for film festivals. Then they found distribution and the titles were changed. Since we don't allow an English on English translation, the first title used when released becomes the original title. Or else we get stuck forever with a title not in use. Imagine if La La Land had been known as Dancing in La for a festival screening, then quickly changed to La La Land. If using the IMDb policy on titles, users on this site would have to review Dancing in La for eternity and that's not good. Since IMDb uses different title settings it would not have been an issue for most users there, but here it's no good.)
Reply by Jeff Larsen
on February 19, 2017 at 9:28 AM
So far I've only checked a few obscure titles out of curiosity, Drakula Istanbul'da and Ye ban ge sheng (three movies by that title). All three of the latter come up on a search for that title, and the English alternates head the respective pages. Drakula Istanbul'da does translate as "Dracula in Istanbul" or Dracula of Istanbul". Not complaining, understand, just wondering.
Reply by lineker
on February 19, 2017 at 9:38 AM
I think you are noticing the translated English titles that are displayed when searching. They all have other original titles. The Chinese ones are incorrect, however, as IMDb carries the romanized versions and people tend to add those. I fixed one of them here: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/30992-ye-ban-ge-sheng/edit?active_nav_item=primary_facts
Reply by lineker
on February 20, 2017 at 6:09 PM
It's always easier with an example, but I think it shouldn't be any problems at all. We have translated titles for that. For example, let's assume Moonlight first was released in Argentina with the title "Luz de luna". Then we simply add a translated Spanish title for Moonlight.
A more common problem would be when a UK or Australian movie is first released back home with an original title and then released in the US with a different title. In those cases we always keep the original title and add the US title as an alternative.