Movies With Terrible Titles That Doomed Them From The Start

"I ♥ Huckabees" may never have been destined to be a box office hit. Described by reviewers as an "existential comedy," its exploration of deeper themes and the meaning of life itself alienated some casual audiences and critics, and it received a decidedly divisive reaction. Centered on a pair of philosopher detectives, it sees Bernard and Vivian (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) hired by Albert (Jason Schwartzman) to try to connect the disparate dots in his life as part of what they call "universal interconnectivity."

The film's less-than-obvious plot, combined with its more philosophical ideas clearly confounded some viewers, but the title probably didn't help lure in audiences. For starters, the use of the heart emoji made it confusing right out of the gate, as nobody was quite sure if they should call the movie "I Heart Huckabees" or "I Love Huckabees." And what was "Huckabees" anyway? Regardless of a movie's quality, it's never a good idea for an already-off-kilter film to make moviegoers scratch their head before they even buy a ticket.

Ultimately, if you're making a more avant-garde movie, perhaps the lesson here is to balance it out with a more straightforward, pleasing title to attract an audience. While we'll never know if something like "The Existential Detectives" would have sold more tickets, it certainly couldn't have hurt.

In many instances, a bad title can doom a film by confusing an audience with its cryptic nature, or even misleading them outright. But in the case of "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," the title essentially spells out the ending of the film's story in very literal terms. The film is about both men, and the entire narrative leads up to the ultimate assassination. As such, the title may have felt a little revealing, with some audiences possibly thinking it was something of a spoiler for the film's conclusion.

But the movie is not a murder mystery at all, and not really even about the assassination itself. It's an intimate portrait of two men: Jesse James — the audacious Western gunslinger who made a name for himself as an outlaw — and Ford, a new recruit to his gang who becomes resentful of the fame Jesse has amassed, and both were well-chronicled real-life figures. In short, it doesn't matter if you know the assassination is coming, because this is a somber, slow-moving character-driven drama. While the trailers and marketing suggested the movie's more somber tone, the casual moviegoer may have been thrown off by its unwieldy title and wondered why it had given away what they may have presumed was a surprise murder in the film's climax.

Science fiction offers up opportunities for all kinds of movie titles, from the scary to the intriguing, and in the '60s and '70s, there were plenty of good ones. From smooth-sounding titles like "Fantastic Voyage" and "The Omega Man" to self-explanatory attention-grabbers like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." But in 1970, "Colossus: The Forbin Project" may have been a little too cryptic. While a mysterious title can compel audiences to want to know more, it probably wasn't well-served in an era where most audiences learned about new movies from a marquee or a poster alone.

A prophetic tale of an advanced computer, the film revolved around an artificially intelligent system called Colossus. Developed as a superior strategic missile defense system, the story is a stark warning about the future of a computer-controlled society, in an era where people still didn't quite understand what such machines were capable of. With one of the bleakest endings in sci-fi movie history, it sees the computer holding mankind hostage under the threat of nuclear armageddon.

As one of the best sci-fi films of the decade, you'd think it would have appealed to fans of the genre, with its cerebral story and political intrigue. Alas, it wasn't a hit, and despite being seen today as an underrated gem and even a movie ahead of its time, "Colossus: The Forbin Project" is still mostly overlooked, perhaps due to its clunky title.

Another science fiction movie with a terrible title, David Cronenberg's "Naked Lunch" proves the director is the undisputed king of weird movies. The acclaimed body horror auteur came to fame from sci-fi horror classics like "Scanners," "Videodrome," and "The Fly." But Cronenberg's 1991 masterpiece "Naked Lunch" proved both confounding and mesmerizing, frustrating and captivating, a movie that you struggle to understand but can't look away from.

A surreal science fiction drama, "Naked Lunch" has nothing to do with nudity or a midday meal. Loosely inspired by the iconic beatnik novel by William S. Burroughs, and the experiences he had writing it, it stars former "Robocop" star Peter Weller, alongside Judy Davis and Ian Holm. Weller is Bill Lee, an exterminator with an addiction to his own bug-killing powder, and when he accidentally kills his wife (Davis), he begins writing a book titled "Naked Lunch." Before long, Bill is drawn into a dark conspiracy involving giant insects.

As weird as it definitely is, the title of "Naked Lunch" got the film off on the wrong foot, no doubt bewildering those that come across it, wondering what the heck it could be about. Whatever imagery the name conjures up, it certainly isn't giant shape-shifting centipedes involved in an international drug smuggling operation. So famous was it for its confusing title, it was even the butt of a joke in an episode of "The Simpsons."

There aren't many movies out there with acronyms for titles, with notable exceptions like "S.W.A.T." and "M.A.S.H." and that's probably for good reason. Because unless the acronym is widely used in the lexicon like "D.O.A." or spells out a recognizable or easily pronounced word like "C.H.U.D.," it's more likely to simply be clunky and confusing. Such was the case with the 2013 comedy "A.C.O.D.," starring Adam Scott, Amy Poehler, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jessica Alba, and Catherine O'Hara.

A coming-of-middle-age story, it centers on Carter, whose parents were involved in an acrimonious divorce. While stressing over his brother's impending nuptials, Carter begins discussing the challenges he's facing with his therapist and must confront the realities of the problems in his family. But he is also incensed when he learns that his therapist had once used his own life experiences as fodder for her own book.

While the film has received mixed reviews, it had the potential to be an exploration of the issues faced by adults who come from divorced homes. With a strong comedic cast, with two actors from the Emmy-nominated "Parks and Recreation," it had all the right ingredients, but the one thing it didn't have was a good title. "A.C.O.D.," despite being the appropriate acronym for "Adult Children of Divorce," didn't exactly roll off the tongue, and may have contributed to the film's lackluster reception at the ticket counter.

When sci-fi films have cumbersome or confusing film titles, it's sometimes owed to being based on old stories by authors who were trying to be clever. But while such awkward titles may work on the page, they don't always transition well to the screen, which explains why "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" became "Blade Runner." But in 1975, a science fiction drama landed in cinemas with its own misleading title — the post-apocalyptic adventure titled after the story on which it's based — "A Boy and His Dog."

The story of a young boy named Vic who roams the wastelands following a nuclear war, he is in fact accompanied by his dog Blood as the title suggests. But this is no simple mutt, as the boy's pet can communicate with him telepathically, and the two help each other stay alive, while the boy hunts for food ... and for women to satiate his baser desires. He soon discovers a small surviving community and is lured into joining by the bewitching Quilla (Susanne Benton). But he learns too late that this new group has sinister plans for him. An unsettling story about man's worst impulses, it may have flummoxed some audiences who went in expecting a more quaint story based on the innocence of its otherwise ordinary title. 

Never a hit, "A Boy and His Dog" may have stood a better chance if its title had more accurately reflected the film's dark tone.

As movies like "Colossus: The Forbin Project" were too cryptic, and "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain" was far too literal, the movie "The Men Who Stare at Goats" was a little bit of both. Just a bit too on-the-nose, the title described pretty plainly the overall story in a roundabout way: The film is about a squad of soldiers who use purported psychic powers, even claiming to be able to kill goats by staring at them. An already off-the-wall premise that was apparently inspired by an astonishing true story, the film's title was at best confusing without context, and the movie's poster — showing the cast lined up next to an actual goat — did little to clarify things for audiences.

Don't misunderstand: A film centered on soldiers in Vietnam who claim to have otherworldly powers could make for a compelling story. And with a high-profile cast including George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, and Ewan McGregor, it could have been great no matter what direction they took the story, from over-the-top action to wild madcap comedy. It instead went for something more offbeat and quirky, but calling it "The Men Who Stare at Goats" may have alienated prospective viewers who didn't quite understand off the bat what the movie was really about.