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Is there some kind of regulation when it comes to movie names?

I clearly see the downsides of including in the movie title emojis or any o̹̥̱̪̹t͔͕̞h̖̻̞è̳̩̗͎r̼̣̹͔̞ ҉͇̟̲͍̟̠s̮̖͓̣͔͈̺t͏͈̩̰͍r͔̣͈̘̙͍ͅa̧͇n̤̳̬̹̖͓g̷͈͇͇̦̗̮e͔̻͕̠ ̗̫̱͉̫a̛̝͖̫̞nd̳̟̠̙̩̱͕ ͍̗̝̳͜u̢n̮̰co̬͕̠̝̣m̻̼̦͞m̡̭͉̙̝̟̹͈o̙n̠̩͈͖̥ ҉̣̜͔c̫̜̠̮̳h̬͇̮̱a̸̻̝̙̲̙͈̖ṟa͏͙̩̯̲̮͎̥c̼̣̦̮̣̲͟te̗̦ŗ̜s̰͖̹̙̖, but are there any rules?

Ivanka Todorova
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    One would imagine that in these days of IMDB & internet searches it would be counter-productive to use unsearchable characters, so I doubt it needs a rule. It's hard enough trying to get results searching for "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." because of all the punctuation. – Tetsujin Jun 08 '19 at 10:46
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    @Tetsujin There's a tendency to spell the movie title Se7en wrong too, which messes with search results. – BrettFromLA Jun 08 '19 at 11:22
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    “I ♥ Huckabees” comes to mind. – GendoIkari Jun 08 '19 at 21:49
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    I think in the end this is inherently a business and legal question related to trademark and copyright and text searches, etc. Of course a studio or producer can artistically do whatever they want, so the real thrust of the question is what are the legal and financial consequences of a title that can’t be written with language centered Unicode characters? – Todd Wilcox Jun 09 '19 at 11:23

2 Answers2

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Interestingly the spec script for the movie "The Package" was called, "Eggplant Emoji" when Netflix had purchased it, it was renamed to 'the package' and Netflix continues to advertise it solely as the eggplant emoji.

The package

However, of course once mousing over, it gives its actual title, so likely this is just a kind of easter egg. But with that said, I remember it vividly as the only movie I've ever seen that didn't have a title with it, besides the eggplant emoji.

As far as specific regulations go, no amount of googling has let me find a naming regulation, advised or forced otherwise that explicitly prohibits naming of films in any sort of meaningful way, besides changing its potential rating. (Namely going from say, PG, R, X, or XXX).

As such, It appears that no, there are no limits on using odd symbols or emojis. Besides the fact a person would probably forget the title of the film, or hard to find.

Some Regulations:

britishfilm commission

CFC Film regulations

Motion Picture Act Regulations

DrMrstheMonarch
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    Remember when Prince changed his name to 'squiggle' & everybody had to refer to him as "The artist formerly known as Prince"? – Tetsujin Jun 08 '19 at 11:49
  • yes, however I'm not sure about the connection...Prince was a musician and not a movie title. If you're referring to my comment on "..probably forget..."...symbols have different meanings depending on cultural and social circles. Had I not mentioned the title of the movie "the package" it could easily be thought of as...anything penis related or just plants or ???. Things would quickly get out of control, become unmemorable and annoying if symbols were rampant . I don't look forward to a day to discuss a movie starting with "remember ʕ·͡ᴥ·ʔ?" – DrMrstheMonarch Jun 08 '19 at 12:10
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    Prince's 'squiggle' wasn't from any alphabet, it was a completely invented logo/icon & therefore couldn't be written at all. It was just the ultimate in unsearchable 'names'. – Tetsujin Jun 08 '19 at 12:14
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    That is true...though, i didnt do much googling in the early 90s. – DrMrstheMonarch Jun 08 '19 at 12:17
  • Yeah, it was Alta Vista back then ;) but for sure, it was far less of a concern. – Tetsujin Jun 08 '19 at 12:32
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How about $?

Considering it was released in 1971, it doesn't technically use an emoji. But the right emoji exists: .

For more see TV Tropes: Lucky Charms Title.

Laurel
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