Hey everyone,

Early this year I wrote the script for my next film, which i'm shooting this month. The title is "The Woman of the Woods." A few weeks after i wrote the script and had the title I found out that M. Night Shayamalan's new film was "The Lady in the Water." The story's should be nothing alike, but should i change my title since it is similiar to his title. Are they close enough where it would make people complain that i ripped off Night. I have tried to come up with title changes, but "The Woman of the Woods" is the title that i really want and that fits the movie the best.

I would greatly appreciate any input y'all might have.

Thanks

I'd change it for a few reasons.

You don't want to give the impression you're ripping off someone else and I think it's close enough that you might have a problem.

"The Woman of the Woods" doesn't make me want to see it. It sounds generic. M. Night is allowed lazy titles because he's already famous and has a fan base for his movies that would attend even if he didn't have a title on the movie.

"Snakes on Planes" is a rediculous title, but it grabs your attention and you know what to expect when you see it. For people that would like to see that type of movie it grabs them.
"The Terminator" is another example. You know the type of movie just from the title.
"So I married an Axe murderer"

You could also go the minimalist route with a title and name the film after something that is a side subject or something regarding the main character or characters. An example I can think of is sex, lies, and videotape, which tells you something about the characters in the film and also relates to the plot without sounding generic.

You can come up with a totally random title, play the chance card - cut out random words and arrange them till something strikes a chord in your heart of hearts and bam! You got yourself a title.

yeah you gotta cahnge that, perhpas a metaphoric title would do better. Think of things that this woman is and come up with a title that is original and that grabs your attention.

I personally don't see it as that big a deal (in that they are similar) but I can see why you might want to change. It's certainly not the most attention grabbing title I've heard, but at the same time I've heard worse. Maybe wait until post-production before you officially decide on what to call it.