SDCC: Kevin Smith May Need a New Title for His ‘Dicks’
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on July 26, 2009
During his panel at Comic-Con on Saturday night, director Kevin Smith mentioned that the title of his upcoming film, currently called A Couple of Dicks, might be in for a change before it’s all said and done.
According to our friends at /Film who attended the panel, Smith revealed that major networks are balking at the film’s title, many saying that they will not run advertisements for the film until after 9:00 pm. The networks in question, unfortunately, are the big three (ABC, NBC and CBS). “We’re all still paying for Janet Jackson’s tit,” Smith said during the panel, a Comic-Con Saturday night staple. “That boob haunts me.”
The Warner Bros. film is clearly a story of two detectives, played by Bruce Willis and 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan, but networks are still antsy about advertising for any movie with ‘dicks’ in the title. It’s sad, as this is not the first time that a Kevin Smith movie has undergone this sort of neutering due to a title. Zack and Miri Make a Porno was stripped down to Zack and Miri for many networks and print ads, citing the use of the word ‘porno’ as potentially offensive. The short answer from here is for people to get over it, but it is what it is. Networks look at their bottom line and see the faces of a family-heavy, somewhat conservative daytime audience and they dare not take the risk. You can’t really blame them for protecting themselves financially. Hopefully for Smith, a creative and catchy alternate title can be found.
A Couple of Dicks (or whatever it ends up being titled) will hit theaters February 26, 2010. For more from San Diego, check out our Comic-Con ‘09 Homepage.
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