@droidguy1119 wrote:

Item: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Extra Details: The title is "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit." Editing is locked but someone should re-add "Wallace & Gromit:" to the front of the title.

Thanks for your report!

Did you see the 2 old issue reports about the title change-and-change-back? It's here:

https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/533-the-curse-of-the-were-rabbit/discuss/57b78c7bc3a36834e80025f8

And here:

https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/533-the-curse-of-the-were-rabbit/discuss/58138a5fc3a3687477021386

I agree with this decision -> the title on the official website is presented without "Wallace & Gromit:" I don't think we should change it again.

I'll keep this discussion open for other users and moderators to weigh in.

The official Wallace and Gromit website, which is not for the film but for the characters in general (which have spanned both TV and film), and carries the presumption that you know The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a Wallace and Gromit movie. I would not take that website, which is not the film's website, as gospel.

On the official US billing block for the movie, which carries legally-approved credits with an order that is carefully negotiated and refined, the title is "Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit." http://www.dvd-covers.org/d/75099-3/2078Wallace_Gromit_Were_Rabbit.jpg You can also see this billing block on what appears to be a Chinese poster here: http://www.impawards.com/2005/wallace_and_gromit_the_curse_of_the_were_rabbit_ver4.html and a Japanese poster here: http://www.impawards.com/2005/wallace_and_gromit_the_curse_of_the_were_rabbit_ver5.html

Note that also every single one of the IMP Awards posters feature "Wallace and Gromit" above the title. There is simply no way, from a plain old marketing standpoint, that DreamWorks released a Wallace and Gromit film that did not officially have Wallace and Gromit in the title.

@droidguy1119 wrote:

The official Wallace and Gromit website, which is not for the film but for the characters in general (which have spanned both TV and film), and carries the presumption that you know The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a Wallace and Gromit movie. I would not take that website, which is not the film's website, as gospel.

I admit, that's a valid point! If this isn't and/or wasn't the official website for the film during the initial release, we should in fact look for a better source than this one.

On the official US billing block for the movie, which carries legally-approved credits with an order that is carefully negotiated and refined, the title is "Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit." http://www.dvd-covers.org/d/75099-3/2078Wallace_Gromit_Were_Rabbit.jpg You can also see this billing block on what appears to be a Chinese poster here: http://www.impawards.com/2005/wallace_and_gromit_the_curse_of_the_were_rabbit_ver4.html and a Japanese poster here: http://www.impawards.com/2005/wallace_and_gromit_the_curse_of_the_were_rabbit_ver5.html

Note that also every single one of the IMP Awards posters feature "Wallace and Gromit" above the title. There is simply no way, from a plain old marketing standpoint, that DreamWorks released a Wallace and Gromit film that did not officially have Wallace and Gromit in the title.

This might all be true -> but take a look at our title rules in the Contribution Bible:

"The original title is usually the title of the original version of the film when it is first released locally. [... T]he correct original title for big-budget American movies is the title used during their initial run in U.S. theaters. When there is an official title change before the theatrical release, the festival or working title should be moved to the alternative titles. [...] We usually prioritize the accuracy of the titles over a consistency between the titles of a series."

What we need is proof of the initial local theatrical release in the US and/or UK in October 2005 -> only this release matters. The US poster is a good start, but not enough proof, in my opinion. So, I did some research via waybackmachine and made 3 screenshots of my findings:

1.) https://picload.org/view/ddpoladi/dreamworksoldflashwebsitewalla.jpg.html -> February 26, 2006

That's the old website of the production company "Dreamworks Animation" during the time when the movie had just won an Academy Award. Unfortunately, the website is programmed in flash, and I get an error message when I want to look at older versions of this page. Title of the movie here is: "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit".

2.) https://picload.org/view/ddpolair/dreamworksnewercmswebsitewalla.jpg.html -> April 10, 2006

That's the newer website of "DreamWorks Animation" after they implemented a new cms -> and here I'm able to access the full page for this movie. Title of the movie is: "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit".

3.) https://picload.org/view/ddpolcca/ukreleasewebsitewallaceandgrom.jpg.html -> October 22, 2006

That's the older official website of the initial release in the UK, including the old web-url (www.wandg.com) for the film that now re-directs to http://www.dreamworksanimation.com/rabbit. Title of the movie again: "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit".

So, yes, given this much evidence, the original title of this movie should be the long version "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit". I'm going to change the title in a sec, but I'll still keep this discussion open for other users and moderators to respond and/or comment on the decision.

I'm off to But I just wanted to add very quickly that the original opening credits are usually our #1 source and according to the evidence listed above, I think it's very very likely that "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" is the original title.

@banana_girl wrote:

I'm off to But I just wanted to add very quickly that the original opening credits are usually our #1 source and according to the evidence listed above, I think it's very very likely that "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" is the original title.

I'm confused about your reply: How do you determine the correct original opening credits of the first theatrical (!) release? The only way(s) would be if you attend(ed) a screening yourself, or watch an illegal cam recording of a theatrical screening. Because a (later) DVD release might change the title, and a trailer might change the title, and releases in different countries can differ, too.

For example, I just took a quick look at the DVD UK release in 2006, and the opening title credits are split in 3 parts :

Wallace & Gromit [pause and new title card] in [pause and new title card] THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT

Compare this with the official US trailer and how they display the title in one step:

https://youtu.be/tcIi2yz8o1s?t=1m49s

I just don't understand why you wrote "that the original opening credits are usually our #1 source"?

@janar72 This is the guideline relevant for cases like this one:

When the promotional material use slightly different titles (e.g. Twelve Monkeys vs 12 Monkeys), we try to use the title as it is written in the original on-screen opening credits.

There is always the possibility that the title might be different for the original theatrical release. But that's okay. Looking at things like billing block on the posters, the original trailers and the opening credits of first physical/digital release usually give us a pretty good idea of the title that was (most probably) used in the original credits.

In an attempt to clarify this problem the 'Official' website of the creators (and copyright holders) gives the original title history as:- "The original film title was ‘The Great Vegetable Plot’ but this was later changed to appeal to a wider, international audience. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit went on to be nominated for 37 awards internationally and topped the worldwide box office for three weeks." Unfortunately it does not clarify if the change was made before or after release. However neither title includes 'Wallace and Gromit'. See https://www.aardman.com/film-tv-games/the-curse-of-the-were-rabbit/ which should probably replace the existing dreamworks url which no longer mentions the film in any obvious way. Note also that the BBC always refer to it as "Wallace and Gromit in" whereas all the others are refered to as "Wallace and Gromit: ....."