A better title?
As a long-time fan of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), people had been telling me for years, "If you love that movie, you really should see Dark City - it has a similar focus on design elements and atmosphere." I have now finally seen Dark City and loved it. It's certainly darker (obviously) than Sky Captain and there are a few things I would have done differently, but overall it's an outstanding success and should be far better known than it is.
So the question comes up as to why I waited so long to see it. Taking into account that the movie was not a runaway financial success and was competing against Titanic in the theatres, I think the title might have dissuaded me and many others from taking a chance on this one. While it's certainly an appropriate title, it leads one to believe that it's a horror/gore/torture film, which Dark City is most certainly not.
So what would be a better title? The only thing I can think of would be The Strangers, but of course that tells the potential viewer absolutely nothing about the movie. Something like City of the Endless Night would be too cumbersome and hard to remember. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what would have been a better title?