History IAmNotShazam / Film

* Although the villain has become known as 'Chucky' (possessed by a man named Charles Lee Ray, the name of the physical doll from the ''Film/ChildsPlay'' series is actually called a Good Guy Doll.

** The family from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' are the Parrs. "Mr. Incredible" is merely Bob Parr's superhero codename. And his wife Helen is Elastigirl, ''not'' Mrs. Incredible. Mirage almost says "You must be Mrs. Incredible," but Helen punches her out mid-sentence.

** The family from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' are the Parrs. "Mr. Incredible" is merely Bob Parr's superhero codename. And his wife is Elastigirl, ''not'' Mrs. Incredible.

* ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'' is not the name of the character. It's "Betelgeuse" but pronounced "Beetlejuice," just like the real-life star.

* The flying alien monsters in ''Film/PitchBlack'' aren't called "pitch blacks". They remain nameless throughout the film, and "bio-raptor" and "demon" are just fanspeak.

* The main character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rio}}'' is named Blu, not Rio. The name refers to the city, Rio De Janeiro where most of the film takes places in.

[[folder:Animation]]

[[folder:Live-Action]]

* The title of ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' refers to Connor (and later Duncan) [=McLeod=]'s origin as a Scottish Highlander, not to the race of immortals (who are simply called that, "Immortals") that he turns out to be part of. Similarly, the villain of that film is not named Kurgan. The Kurgans are a people believed to have lived in the area north of the Black Sea around 4000 BC, and believed to be the source of all Indo-European cultures. All Immortals refer to the character as "''the'' Kurgan". For added GeniusBonus, the Kurgan people are named after the Turkish word for a one-person burial mound.

* Whenever Creator/MelGibson's portrayal of William Wallace in ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' is spoofed, odds are he'll get called "Braveheart" rather than Wallace.

[[folder:Animated]]

* ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' is not the name of the shark in the movies of the same name, despite what a lot of pop-culture (including WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic) would have you believe. The shark doesn't have a name at all, although [[ProductionNickname on the set]] the mechanical shark used for filming was referred to as "Bruce", after Spielberg's lawyer. When it comes to official merchandise as well as film articles, the shark is usually referred to as simply, "The shark from ''JAWS''", or occasionally, "The Great White Menace from ''JAWS''". Peter Benchley called the shark "The Great Fish" or simply "The Fish" in the original novel. The Jaws name was a last second decision for a title before the book went to print. Curiously, the NES game based on the movie actually names the shark "Jaws".[[note]] It's no surprise that an [[Creator/LJNToys LJN]] produced game would make such an error.[[/note]]

* The title of ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' refers to Connor (and later Duncan) [=McLeod=]'s origin as a Scottish Highlander, not to the race of immortals (who are simply call that, "Immortals") that he turns out to be part of. Similarly, the villain of that film is not named Kurgan. The Kurgans are a people believed to have lived in the area north of the Black Sea around 4000 BC, and believed to be the source of all Indo-European cultures. All Immortals refer to the character as "''the'' Kurgan". For added GeniusBonus, the Kurgan people are named after the Turkish word for a one-person burial mound.

* The main character of ''Kikujiro no Natsu'' is not named Kikujiro. We don't know who it is before the ending, which is a simple but brilliant twist. Even if the DVD case [[ItWasHisSled may tell you who it is actually.]]

* The ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' movies have a variation. The name of the protagonist is indeed Indiana Jones, but his famous theme music is officially called "The Raiders March", not "Indiana Jones Theme". His first movie, after all, was simply called ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', without the "Indiana Jones and the..." prefix that subsequent movies would use.

* The protagonists of the [[Film/Scarface1932 1932]] and [[Film/Scarface1983 1983]] versions of ''Main/{{Scarface}}'' are both named Tony (Camonte in '32 and Montana in '83). They are never once referred to as "Scarface", though an officer does ask Tony how he got that "beauty scar" while being questioned at an immigration office in Miami.

* The protagonists of the [[Film/Scarface1932 1932]] and [[Film/Scarface1983 1983]] versions of ''Main/{{Scarface}}'' are both named Tony (Camonte in '32 and Montana in '83). They are never once referred to as "Scarface", though the immigration officer does ask Tony of how he got that scar.

* The killer in the ''Film/{{Scream}}'' movies is named "Ghostface," not "Scream." Similarly, the iconic ghostface mask that he wears is not called a "Scream mask," as [[OlderThanTheyThink it was sold in costume shops years before the film came out]].

* The flying alien monsters in ''Film/PitchBlack'' remain nameless throughout the film. Sorry, "bio-raptor" and "demon" are just fanspeak.

* The yeti in ''WesternAnimation/{{Abominable}}'' is named Everest, not Abominable.

* There's no Princess WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}; the film's two female leads are called Princess Anna and Queen Elsa. "Frozen" isn't the name of the snowman, either; his name is Olaf.

* A little complicated with ''Film/PansLabyrinth''. While Pan is definitely not the name of the main character, which is Ofelia, it's not the name of the Faun, either--it's English title was just given due to concerns that people would mix up the words "faun" and "fawn," as in a baby deer. The Faun was called "Pan" in English-language interviews, but is nameless in the film, and the original Spanish title is just ''El Laberinto del Fauno'' ("The Labyrinth of the Faun").

* Some people think that Creator/UmaThurman's character in ''Film/KillBill'' is actually Bill. Her character name is never said in dialogue -- only referred as "The Bride" -- but officially it's "Beatrix Kiddo."

* The name of the main antagonist in ''Film/MenInBlack'' is "The Bug," not "Edgar." Edgar is the name of the farmer whom the Bug kills and disguises himself as. (Oddly enough, action figures and even the cartoon spin-off refer to the Bug as "Edgar.")
* ''Film/TheMexican'' refers to the name of the legendary gun at the heart of the story and is not referring to Creator/BradPitt's character.
* ''Film/BennyAndJoon'' does not refer to the romantic leads, but the brother and sister. Creator/JohnnyDepp is NOT the titular Benny (his character is named Sam), but this mistake is made often.
* In ''Film/FreddyGotFingered'', "Freddy" is the name not of the title character (his name is Gord), but of his brother - and the title refers to an incident in the movie [[NeverTrustATrailer that none of the trailers showed]] (which was only an accusation by Gord, and never actually happened in the movie's continuity).
* People who are not familiar with the film tend to assume that David Bowie's character is the eponymous "Mr. Lawrence" in ''Film/MerryChristmasMrLawrence''. Bowie's character is in fact called Captain Jack Celliers. Mr. Lawrence is another POW, the camp's translator and [[spoiler:the only surviving member of the main cast]] at the end of the film.
* The villain in ''Film/{{Wishmaster}}'' is sometimes referred to as being "Wishmaster" by people describing the film. The villain is not called Wishmaster; that's just a role he fulfills. He's the Djinn.
* ''Film/IFrankenstein'' [[PlayingWithATrope plays with]] this trope the same way the original [[{{ComicBook/Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] did. So many beings call Adam Frankenstein he decides to take the name and make it his own, hence the [[TitleDrop title]].
* The protagonist of ''Film/SavingMrBanks'' is not Mr. Banks, but author Pamela Travers. "Mr. Banks" is a fictional character loosely based on her father.
* ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'' features a CovertGroup called MONARCH. However, it was misidentified by the public as being named "M.U.T.O." in the months leading up to the film's release. This confusion can be blamed on the M.U.T.O. Research website set up as part of the ViralMarketing. M.U.T.O. [[FunWithAcronyms stands for]] "Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism" and refers to the {{Kaiju}} that is ''being'' researched. But the name of the website accidentally implied that M.U.T.O. referred to the organization of researchers itself. Funnily enough, some of the text responses refer to certain activities being "reported to MONARCH," but this whole confusion led people to speculate that MONARCH referred to either A) the codename for an individual ''within'' the organization, or B) the name of some fictional security software.
* The hotel in ''Film/HotelRwanda'' isn't actually called "Hotel Rwanda", it's called "Hôtel des Mille Collines" (French for "Hotel of a Thousand Hills").
* ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'' is not the name of the character. It's "Betelgeuse" but pronounced "Beetlejuice", just like the real-life star.
* The vampire's name is not ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}''. It is Count Orlok. Though according to the film itself, Count Orlok is ''a'' nosferatu, [[CallARabbitASmeerp not a vampire]], as the filmmakers mistakenly believed the word "vampire" was copyrighted. Some people even mistakenly say he's Dracula. Admittedly he ''is'', and Orlok is them WritingAroundTrademarks.
* [[Film/SlingBlade Karl Childers]] is not named Sling Blade.
* Specific to France, Chaplin's [[Creator/CharlieChaplin Tramp]] character is known as "Charlot" (the French counterpart to "Charlie", both being a familiar nickname for "Charles"), ''not'' "the Tramp" — presumably because the thing that's written in big letters in the credits of any movie featuring the Tramp is "Charlie Chaplin", not "The Tramp". The name just sounded too funny for people to understand that it was really the name of a person, not the character's.
* The protagonist of the Christmas comedy ''Film/{{Elf}}'' is named Buddy, not "Elf", and technically he's not an elf; he's a human.
* ''Film/AllAboutEve'' puts Bette Davis on the poster and bills her above the title. Davis's character is Margo Channing, but she's mistakenly thought to be Eve.
* ''Film/TheLegendOfFrenchieKing'': Her name is Louise Leroi, not Frenchie King. Sure, Frenchie King IS her RedBaron, but it's still jarring to see how many plot summaries refer to Louise as "Frenchie".
* A little complicated with ''Film/PansLabyrinth''. While Pan is definitely not the name of the main character, which is Ofelia, it's not the name of the Faun, either--it's English title was just given due to concerns that people would mix up the words "faun" and "fawn," as in a baby deer. The Faun was called "Pan" in English-language interviews, but is nameless in the film, and the original Spanish title is just ''El Laberinto del Fauno'' ("The Labyrinth of the Faun").
* ''Film/TheWorldOfKanako'': People have assumed that the protagonist is called Kanako. This is wrong, his name is Akikazu, Kanako is the name of his daughter (she plays an important role but is not the protagonist).
* While ''It's All Gone Pete Tong'' does feature a brief appearance by the real-life DJ Pete Tong, he isn't relevant in any real way to the plot, which is about a fictional DJ named Frankie Wilde. In context, the title is actually a reference to a bit of cockney rhyming slang meaning "It's all gone wrong", which things decidedly do for Frankie very early on.
* ''Film/StarKid'' is about a comic book geek who finds a suit of alien PoweredArmor. Based on that title and description, you'd probably assume that he becomes a superhero named Star Kid, right? Wrong--he's never called that at any point in the movie, and for that matter only has one public act of heroism that doesn't really affect the rest of the plot.
* The mad transvestite scientist from ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'' is named Dr. Frank N. Furter. The "Rocky Horror" on the title refers to his creation, a muscleman he created to serve as his lover. Despite this, most of the promotional imagery feature Dr. Frank N. Furter and very rarely actually show the actual Rocky Horror.
* ''Film/ToWongFooThanksForEverythingJulieNewmar'' refers to the framed photograph Vida steals from a restaurant wall. Julie Newmar does appear briefly at the end, while Wong Foo never appears nor is it explained who he is.[[note]]He was the head bartender at the China Bowl, a popular Times Square Chinese restaurant.[[/note]]
* Mighty Mack in ''Film/BluesBrothers2000'' is sometimes mistakenly referred to as Big Mack.
* Some people think that Creator/UmaThurman's character in ''Film/KillBill'' is actually Bill, her character name is never said in dialogue only referred as "The Bride" but officially is "Beatrix Kiddo".
* Should be obvious but in some regions people think ''Film/TheExorcist'' actually refers to the girl, Creator/LindaBlair's character, and not to the older priest. This is probably because as weird as it may sound, not everyone knows what an exorcist is.
* Jason's cyborg form in ''Film/JasonX'' has the official name of Uber Jason, not Jason X. There ''was'' a comic called ''ComicBook/FridayThe13thJasonVsJasonX'' which does refer to him as that, but his official name is definitely Uber Jason.

* Creator/SeltzerAndFriedberg films and their imitators will often do this intentionally with characters because they don't expect audiences to remember character names while parodying movies. Po is called "WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda", Giselle is called "Film/{{Enchanted}} Princess." ''Meet the Spartans'' and ''Vampires Suck'' respectively feature "Series/UglyBetty" and "Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer."
* ''Franchise/ThePinkPanther'' refers to a gem in the [[Film/ThePinkPanther1963 first movie]], not Inspector Clouseau, like some people think. The sequels largely turned the Pink Panther into an ArtifactTitle, with only some of the sequels actually featuring the gem in any capacity. By ''Film/SonOfThePinkPanther'', even the filmmakers have given up; it features the son of Clouseau, and obviously not the son of the diamond.[[note]]Whether or not it refers to the ''actual'' cartoon character of the Pink Panther, who is also seen in the first movie during the credits, is debatable as the very joke of the credits is that instead of showing us the titular diamond seen in the movie, we're being shown a ''literal'' pink panther that has nothing to do with the plot.[[/note]]
* The title of the film ''Film/TheLastSamurai'' actually refers to the entire group of fighters at the end of the movie, but Japanese nouns are both plural and singular. Thus, many think it refers exclusively to [[MightyWhitey Tom Cruise's character]], especially given that [[spoiler:he is the only one to survive]]. This misinterpretation crept into at least one international translation of the title, in a language that ''does'' make a distinction between singular and plural for "samurai".
* The titular "phantom menace" of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' film ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' isn't Darth Maul; it's his master, Senator Palpatine (secretly Darth Sidious). The term "phantom menace" means an unknown evil; in the film, none of the protagonists are aware that Palpatine is secretly [[BigBad the villain]], and his identity isn't revealed to them until the third episode of the saga.
* As with the book, ''Film/TheLastOfTheMohicans'' refers to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwgmTo49LQw&feature=related Chingachgook]], not the hero Hawk-Eye / Nathanael.
* The title of ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' refers to Connor (and later Duncan) [=McLeod=]'s origin as a Scottish Highlander, not to the race of immortals (who are simply call that, "Immortals") that he turns out to be part of. Similarly, the villain of that film is not named Kurgan. The Kurgans are a people believed to have lived in the area north of the Black Sea around 4000 BC, and believed to be the source of all Indo-European cultures. All Immortals refer to the character as "''the'' Kurgan". For added GeniusBonus, the Kurgan people are named after the Turkish word for a one-person burial mound.
* The "Thin Man" referred to in the title of the first ''Film/TheThinMan'' film refers to the victim (due to his being contrasted with another character who's fat), but is often erroneously assumed to refer to Nick Charles, one of the heroes. (That detective Nick Charles was played by Creator/WilliamPowell probably encouraged the confusion.) The sequels included references to "the Thin Man" in their titles to use the misconception to help brand the series.
* The woman from ''Film/ChasingAmy'' is named Alyssa. Amy is Silent Bob's ex, whom he brings up to draw parallels to the main character's relationship with Alyssa.

* The main character in ''Film/OngBak'' is called Ting. Ong-Bak is a Buddha statue in his village temple.

** In point of fact, it's sort of debatable whether it's even the ''same'' shark from one movie to another; the novelizations say no, and this only makes sense since the shark dies in each movie, but in the actual pictures it's left ambiguous enough that a viewer can assume it's the same old monster — which is admittedly more satisfying.
* The Dog-Thing from ''Film/TheThing1982'' is not named "Jed", and neither is "the Norwegian sled dog". Jed is the name of the wolf-dog who played the Norwegian sled dog. "Jed" and "Jed-Thing" are [[{{fanon}} fan names]] given to the character and creature because it's less of a mouthful than "Norwegian sled dog" and "Norwegian sled dog-Thing". It may also be a reference to the fact that John Carpenter and Creator/KurtRussell simply refer to the dog as Jed in the DVD commentary.
* The creatures from the movie (and television series) ''Film/{{Tremors}}'' are called "Graboids". So many viewers have called the creatures "Tremors" that this has been brought into the series; at one point a tourist mentions a "tremor", prompting a main character to exclaim in exasperation, "They're called Graboids!"
* The flying alien monsters in ''Film/PitchBlack'' remain nameless throughout the film. Sorry, "bio-raptor" and "demon" are just fanspeak.
* "Xenomorph" (literally: "alien form") was used as a placeholder term to refer to the then-unclassified ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', but the species is never actually named in the films. Within the ''Alien'' universe, "Xenomorph" is a catchall term for ''any'' unclassifiable alien life form. It has been picked up as a fan term for convenience's sake, since "the aliens from ''Aliens''" is too clunky to use in discussion. Taking this to be the actual name is like thinking "UFO" only refers to the flying saucers from ''Film/IndependenceDay''.

* ''Film/ComicBookTheMovie'' features an in-universe example of the trope's title example: a woman is condescendingly corrected by her four-year-old that the action figure his father has just bought is Captain Marvel, not Shazam.
* In ''Film/BrideOfReAnimator'', the eponymous Bride is being constructed for Herbert West's heartbroken assistant, ''not'' for Herbert West the Re-Animator himself.
* In all three versions of the movie, ''Film/KingKong'' is the show name for the giant gorilla when he is brought back to New York -- his real name is just "Kong". The same thing goes for the "Mighty" part of ''Film/MightyJoeYoung''; the character also being referred to as "Mr. Joseph Young", or "Joe" (in the remake, it's just "Joe").
* A strange inversion: while ''Film/IchiTheKiller'' is the name of the main character in the film, the character who appears predominantly on the posters, DVD covers, and other promotional images is actually the antagonist Kakihara, who is often mistaken for Ichi.
* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPriscillaQueenOfTheDesert'': Priscilla is the bus, not one of the main characters. Of course it makes role association jokes easier (a Brazilian magazine once said that [[Film/TheMatrix Agent Smith's]] greatest flaw is: "Honestly, can you trust on someone who dressed himself as ''Priscilla, Queen of the Desert''?")

* The monster in ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'' is ''not'' named Cloverfield. It was called "Clover" in film production and "LSA" for "Large-Scale Aggressor" by the military in the film.
* Pop culture osmosis of the Creator/BorisKarloff version of ''Film/{{Frankenstein 1931}}'' is what brought the masses to assume that the creature is called Frankenstein rather than the scientist who creates him. The creature has no name, but is commonly called "Frankenstein's monster." He's never referred to as a "monster" in the original novel. He's referred to as a "creature," and Mary Shelley also referred to him as "Adam." This trope was acknowledged in the 1939 film ''Film/SonOfFrankenstein'' when the character of Wolf von Frankenstein directly states that people had begun to refer to the monster by the name Frankenstein. As it happened, with the exception of film titles, the only major film in which the monster appears and is referred to ''directly'' by the name Frankenstein was the 2000s homage/mashup ''Film/VanHelsing''.
* ''Film/JohnnyMnemonic'' is not the name of its main character - he's just Johnny. Or "Just Johnny."
* An interesting in-movie example occurs in ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters''. During one scene, when all the monsters are attacking various cities, a news reporter claims that Baragon is attacking Paris, France. The problem? That's ''not'' Baragon attacking Paris but rather Gorosaurus. Interestingly enough, Toho ''did'' originally want to use Baragon in the scene, but the suit was too badly damaged so they used Gorosaurus instead. Though, why they still mistakenly referred to Gorosaurus as "Baragon" is unknown.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Zatoichi}}'' series, the protagonist's name is Ichi, Zato refers to a historical guild for blind men. Ichi should be called Zato-no-Ichi, but this is shortened to Zatoichi

* Whenever Creator/MelGibson's portrayal of William Wallace in ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' is spoofed, odds are he'll get called "Braveheart" rather than Wallace.

* Film/TheGeneral is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General_%28locomotive%29 the train]], not Buster Keaton's character. In fact, [[spoiler: Johnnie Gray is only shown enlisted to be a lieutenant at the end.]]
* The killer in the ''Film/{{Scream}}'' movies is named "Ghostface", not "Scream". Similarly, the iconic ghostface mask that he wears is not called a "Scream mask", as [[OlderThanTheyThink it was sold in costume shops years before the film came out]].
* Similar to the above: many people think that ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' or by extension, Jigsaw, is the name of the main villain, or even of the puppet appearing in the films, becoming a sort of mascot for the series. The puppet is named Billy, and the name given by the press to the killer is Jigsaw.
* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'': [[FandomEnragingMisconception The Na'vi are not avatars]]. Jake is not the only person with one, neither is he one all the time.
* The main character of ''Kikujiro no Natsu'' is not named Kikujiro. We don't know who it is before the ending, which is a simple but brillant twist. Even if the DVD case [[ItWasHisSled may tell you who it is actually.]]
* The movie ''Film/BreakfastAtTiffanys'' has the same problem as [[Literature/BreakfastAtTiffanys the book]] with people thinking Tiffany is the main character, instead of a company. Holly Golightly is the name of the main character.
* The name of the main antagonist in ''Film/MenInBlack'' is "The Bug", not "Edgar". Edgar is the name of the farmer whom the Bug kills and disguises himself as. (Oddly enough, action figures and even the cartoon spin-off refer to the Bug as "Edgar".)