June 18, 2007

Confusing Movie Marquee That I saw

It listed the following films:

Spider-Man 3
Pirates 3
Shrek 3
Fantastic 4

It just reminded me of the time years ago when Gwen saw the movie title "Passenger 57" and asked why it was called that, and I explained that there had been fifty-eight previous films about Passenger.


PAD

Posted by Peter David at June 18, 2007 09:20 AM | TrackBack | Other blogs commenting
Comments
Posted by: rik levins at June 18, 2007 09:35 AM

Back in the Seventies, I remember seeing a marque announcing a double feature: Earthquake and Towering Inferno.
The marquee said, Shake and Bake.

Posted by: Matt at June 18, 2007 09:40 AM

Oceans 13, even! It was great seeing you at Heroes Con this past weekend, Mr. David. Thank you for signing my Aquaman book!

Posted by: Nat Gertler at June 18, 2007 09:51 AM

Hey, it is a close race but Fantastic is in the lead!

--Nat (whose favorite movie listing came from the sign at the Eric Theaters in Pennsauken, NJ in his youth: ALIEN MEATBALLS ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ)

Posted by: Rich Drees at June 18, 2007 10:03 AM

Back in college we were knocking around the idea of doing a humor publication at the campus newspaper I worked at. I recall trying to write a piece called "Rock Concert Double Bills I'd Like To See." I only got as far as "Madonna- Supertramp."

Posted by: Malnurtured Snay at June 18, 2007 10:14 AM

That's funny. I mean, shouldn't it have been "Fantastic 4 2"? I guess they know the audience is smart enough to know they're talking about the sequel to the first film, yet, apparently feel that if they didn't put the film number on the end of the other sequel movies, people would be walking in saying "Hey, I thought we were here to see the first Pirates/Spidey/Shrek movie!?"

Posted by: Bill at June 18, 2007 10:17 AM

There was a movie back in 1992 called Malcolm X. I can't seem to find IMDB listings for I - IX, can anybody help me?

Posted by: Patrick Calloway at June 18, 2007 10:19 AM

Or maybe whoever put the sign up thought it was the third sequel of the movie "Fantastic"....

Posted by: Sig at June 18, 2007 10:22 AM

There've always been interesting stories to be told in marquee combos: "Erin Brokovich/Screwed/My Dog Skip," for example. My favorite of this year has to be "Pirates/Knocked Up/Shrek," though.

Posted by: Michael Brunner at June 18, 2007 10:25 AM

I saw a picture of one recently:

Pirates
Knocked Up
Shrek

Posted by: Israel at June 18, 2007 10:41 AM

Well, legend says that "Madness of King George" was planned to be called "Madness of King George III", but the three I´s were dropped when shown prior to release because the public thought they had missed the first two.

A story so good it deserves to be true

Posted by: Micha at June 18, 2007 10:44 AM

"Spider-Man 3
Pirates 3
Shrek 3
Fantastic 4"

It looks to me like a grocery list or a bill.

Maybe it should be the Fantastic 8?

One joke goes that they chaged the name of the movie 'the Madness of King George III' to 'the Madness of King George' to avoid people asking what happened to the Madness of King George I and II.

Posted by: Micha at June 18, 2007 10:46 AM

Oh, I guess sombody beat me to the story about King George.

Posted by: The StarWolf at June 18, 2007 10:48 AM

Very unusual, but I preferred the BROOMHILDA take on that.

The witch is doing something when one of her weird acquaintances runs up, enthusiastically proclaiming that one of them newfangled 'cineplexes' has just opened in town.

"Great! Finally, we'll have some choice instead of just watching the same terrible movie over and over."

They get down to the cineplex building and there, on the marquee ...

RAMBO
RAMBO 2
RAMBO 3
etc.

Posted by: BobH at June 18, 2007 10:53 AM

I keep hoping that they start making prequels to OCEANS 11, in backwards order, detailing various smaller crews that Danny Ocean worked with, ending with OCEAN, an early solo job that goes disastrously, prompting him to declare that from now on, he works with an experienced crew.

Posted by: Timewalker at June 18, 2007 11:34 AM

Passenger 57.

BobH - excellent idea. Of course, Clooney would be ancient by the time they got there. Maybe animated? Or comics?

Posted by: R.J. Carter at June 18, 2007 11:48 AM

My favorite from the past:

MY DOG SKIP
SCREWED
ERIN BROCKOVICH

Posted by: R.J. Carter at June 18, 2007 11:55 AM

And apparently I'm not the only one to have seen that one... I'll try to read for better comprehension in the future.

PS: Has anyone seen "Leonard" Parts 1 thru 5? (For that matter, did anyone see Leonard Part 6 in the first place?)

Posted by: David Gian-Cursio at June 18, 2007 12:07 PM

As I recall, the "joke" of Leonard Part 6 was that the earlier Leonard films were so freaking cool that they couldn't be distributed to the public because of their sheer awesomeness.

After reading the recap at ( http://www.agonybooth.com/leonard_6/ ), I doubt the veracity of this story.

Posted by: Bobb (In Irving) at June 18, 2007 12:32 PM

There was a comic panel a few weeks ago that had a double feature on a movie marquee that read,

Adam's Rib
All About Eve

I came up with an idea of a competing double feature,

Planet of the Apes
The Story of Mankind

(TSoM) is one of my favorite bas movies of the 50's that Featured Vincent Price as the Devil, and Ronald Coleman as The Spirit of Man.

Bobb (i.I.)

Posted by: David Serchay at June 18, 2007 01:10 PM

I keep hoping that they start making prequels to OCEANS 11, in backwards order, detailing various smaller crews that Danny Ocean worked with, ending with OCEAN, an early solo job that goes disastrously, prompting him to declare that from now on, he works with an experienced crew.
----------

In the Entertainment Weekly article, Pitt and Clooney said that it should be like "And There Was None/Ten Little Indians" where the numbering keeps going backwards because someone gets killed off in each film.

David

Posted by: Daddy G. at June 18, 2007 01:31 PM

I saw "Silver Surfer" this weekend and wondered out loud to a friend how many people might get confused between "Silver Surfer" and "Surf's Up." And I suppose you could throw "Ocean's 13" into the watery theme as well.

Maybe they could combine'em all and we'd have silver penguins ripping off a casino...

:^)

Posted by: TransDutch at June 18, 2007 01:32 PM

I'm still waiting for movies 9-1, where I guess the starring woman gets progressively less attractive...

Or maybe the sequels "9 to 6" "9 to 7" and "9 to 8".

Posted by: TransDutch at June 18, 2007 01:35 PM

Maybe they could combine'em all and we'd have silver penguins ripping off a casino...

or silver Napoleons...

Posted by: Tony Collett at June 18, 2007 01:36 PM

Favorite film proposed but never made:
JAWS 3, PEOPLE 0
I believe Universal was going to enlist National Lampoon and satirize sequelmania.

Posted by: Dave Van Domelen at June 18, 2007 01:38 PM

A couple weeks ago, the local had on one side of its highway sign:

KNOCKED UP
SURFS UP
SPIDERMAN 3
SHREK 3
HOSTEL 2

Posted by: Peter J Poole at June 18, 2007 01:43 PM

Caught the FF movie over the weekend, was a/be mused to see that the BBFC logo screen showed the movie title as "4: The Rise of the Silver Surfer"

Guess the British Board of Film Censors didn't think it was so Fantastic....

Cheers!

Posted by: Jay Tea at June 18, 2007 02:11 PM

Feh. Amatuers. I can top that:

http://wizbangblog.com/2005/07/23/originality-is-overrated.php

Six films all playing at the same time, every single one a remake of some sort of another.

Six.

Top that, anybody. And no fair adding together sequel numbers.

J.

Posted by: Ben at June 18, 2007 02:25 PM

It reminds ME of the time I heard a dude buy two tickets for himself and his girlfriend to the movie 12 Monkeys by saying "Two monkeys for 12 monkeys, please!" He thought he was hilarious, and the box office girl had a look on her face that said "Yeah, like I haven't heard that one before."

Posted by: R.J. Carter at June 18, 2007 02:41 PM

Don't forget the Pirates in that watery theme prevailing over the marquees, still. "Silver Surfer wipes out Penguins, Pirates, and tops Oceans."

Posted by: Wesley at June 18, 2007 02:58 PM

Every once in a while our local theater plays all of the Rocky movies (including the newest, which didn't do too well here). They do it in the summer when all of the tourists are here and it's called "All the Goddam Rocky Balboa Ever Made +1"

Posted by: Kim Metzger at June 18, 2007 04:43 PM

Here in Fort Wayne, we had one theater that just put the word "Menace" on its marquee, showing "Dennis the Menace" in the day and "Menace II Society" at night.

Posted by: Edward J. Cunningham at June 18, 2007 06:29 PM

"Well, legend says that "Madness of King George" was planned to be called "Madness of King George III", but the three I´s were dropped when shown prior to release because the public thought they had missed the first two."

The real reason the name was changed was probably the obvious one. To the British, George III was just a monarch in the late 18th Century during the American Revolution and later during the French Revolution. But to Americans, his name--rightly or wrongly--has become synonymous with "tyrant". Since the plot of King George revolved around his character being a sympathetic guy the audience can root for, they probably changed the name to get more Americans to buy tickets.

For similar reasons, the plot of "Master and Commander" was changed for the movies. Ever wonder why a French warship was built in Boston? Because this wasn't just the French Revolution---it was also the War of 1812 and in the original novel the "bad guys" are American.

Posted by: Chris Uhl at June 18, 2007 06:30 PM

I saw this sign on a drive-in:

POWER RANGERS
FRENCH KISS

Posted by: mike "shaggy" g at June 18, 2007 08:07 PM

ummmm -
y'know i love ya Pete, but....

you mean you didn't tell her there had been 56 previous movies about passenger 57?

58? :S

Go to the board and show me the math on that.

Posted by: mike "shaggy" g at June 18, 2007 08:09 PM

ummmm -
y'know i love ya Pete, but....

you mean you didn't tell her there had been 56 previous movies about passenger ?

58? :S

Go to the board and show me the math on that.

Posted by: deafscribbler at June 18, 2007 08:12 PM

"...there had been fifty-eight previous films about Passenger."

That's only if you count the direct to DVD prequel, Passenger: Disembarking Procedures, starring Larenz Tate, and Keith David as the crusty mentor of Passenger.

Posted by: John Hudgens at June 19, 2007 02:27 AM

About ten years ago, I remember one of the local theaters had this up on the marquee:

HOWARD STERN'S PRIVATE PARTS
SCREAM
BOOTY CALL

Posted by: John Hudgens at June 19, 2007 02:27 AM

About ten years ago, I remember one of the local theaters had this up on the marquee:

HOWARD STERN'S PRIVATE PARTS
SCREAM
BOOTY CALL

Posted by: Hooper at June 19, 2007 07:54 AM

When I lived in Los Angeles, I saw this one:
TUCKER
RUNNING ON EMPTY


Hooper

Posted by: Patrick Hamilton at June 19, 2007 09:57 AM

One I remember seeing a few years ago was Fun with Dick & Jane abbreviated to just Fun with Dick on the marquee.

Posted by: Bobb (In Irving) at June 19, 2007 02:27 PM

Edward J. Cunningham typed:

"Well, legend says that "Madness of King George" was planned to be called "Madness of King George III", but the three I´s were dropped when shown prior to release because the public thought they had missed the first two."

This reminds me of a woman who was interviewed outside the showing of I forget the movie, but this is may be an urban legend.

An Interviewer was talking to a African-American woman who was making a fuss at the theater box-office. She was upset that the paper review had stated that the movie was a 'Black Comedy', and she saw no Blacks in the film.

Bobb

(I always thought I had seen this incident on our local news, but maybe I heard this so many times I had become like on of those who even having seen Star Wars in 1977 are convinced it always said Episode Four in the credits.)

Posted by: Patrick Calloway at June 19, 2007 02:45 PM

"Well, legend says that "Madness of King George" was planned to be called "Madness of King George III", but the three I´s were dropped when shown prior to release because the public thought they had missed the first two."

This reminds me of the story that the studio changed the name of Timothy Dalton's last Bond movie from "License Revoked" to "License to Kill" because they didn't think enough Americans knew what the word 'revoked' meant.

Is it sad that I find this believable?

Posted by: David Gian-Cursio at June 19, 2007 02:58 PM

Actually, I believe that was because the first reaction test audiences had to the title "License Revoked" was that it was referring to a driver's license, giving the wrong connotation. In fact, that (very common) use of the phrase is exactly why you would expect your average american to know what it meant.

Posted by: Mark at June 19, 2007 03:08 PM

It's a few years ago now (2001 maybe?), but I saw one in London that said;

WHAT WOMEN WANT
CHOCOLAT

Posted by: Gabh at June 19, 2007 04:25 PM

Fantastic 4 2, even.

Is it any good? I though the first one had everything except a story.

Posted by: Jerry Chandler at June 19, 2007 04:40 PM

300
Wild Hogs
Reign Over Me

Posted by: Jerry Chandler at June 19, 2007 04:44 PM

One of the local second runs had 300 and Grindhouse playing at it over the weekend. The side by side marquee read:

Grindhouse 300

How did I miss the first 299?

Posted by: Alex B. at June 19, 2007 05:02 PM

Based on my wife's reaction to the latest Bond, I believe she actually would sit down to watch Daniel Craig stand in line at the DMV all day.

Posted by: Blair at June 19, 2007 11:43 PM

Guess I'm the odd man out on this. I read the list:

   Spider-Man 3
   Pirates 3
   Shrek 3
   Fantastic 4

And my first thought was that Fantastic was ahead by one point.

Posted by: Lou Dalmaso at June 20, 2007 08:41 AM

the best match-up of movie titles was at an old drive-in. here's the line up

Alien
Meatballs
Escape from Alcatraz

Posted by: BrakYeller at June 21, 2007 12:36 AM

The old 99-cent movie theater in Augusta, GA (sadly, it no longer exists) would run a bunch of older 'current' movies about a month before they'd go to video. They also had really small marquees. I'll never forget the time they put "The Firm" and "Free Willy" on the same screen... the tiny marquee only had enough room for "Firm Willy."

Posted by: Rex Hondo at June 21, 2007 03:17 AM

Posted by: Gabh at June 19, 2007 04:25 PM
Fantastic 4 2, even.

Wouldn't the ending of Fantastic 4 2 involve tricking Galactus into leaving by having everyone on the planet put towels over their heads when he arrives?

-Rex Hondo-

Posted by: Derek at June 21, 2007 12:52 PM

I remember seeing a picture somewhere of a drive-in marquee saying:

The Fly
Gods Must Be Crazy
Aliens

Posted by: Andy E. Nystrom at June 21, 2007 09:40 PM

I was just going to mention that last one myself: It was in National Lampoon's True Facts: The Big Book (a collection of unintentionally funny signs, artciles, etc.)

Posted by: Gabh at June 22, 2007 10:45 AM

Posted by: Gabh at June 19, 2007 04:25 PM
Fantastic 4 2, even.

Wouldn't the ending of Fantastic 4 2 involve tricking Galactus into leaving by having everyone on the planet put towels over their heads when he arrives?

-Rex Hondo-

Unless being Galactus's midnight snack is the meaning of life. I have found purpose, and have a bone to pick with that God chap...