History Main / AppropriatedTitle

* Although the third and fourth films in the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise, respectively ''Film/{{Alien 3}}'' and ''Film/AlienResurrection'', went under the original title, most spin-off merchandise is known under ''Alien'''s''''', which was [[Film/{{Aliens}} the second movie]].

* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' originally debuted as ''NBC's Saturday Night'' (as ABC already had a show on the air called ''Saturday Night Live'' which flopped not long after). The originally planned version was used as soon as it was available (though the call "Live from New York, it's ''Saturday Night!''" remained as an artifact of the original title), and all seasons of the show are known by that name.

* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' originally debuted as ''NBC's Saturday Night'' (as ABC already had a show on the air called ''Saturday Night Live'' which flopped not long after). The originally planned version was used as soon as it was available (though the call "Live from New York, it's ''Saturday Night!'' remained as an artifact of the original title), and all seasons of the show are known by that name.
* The name ''Series/TheTorkelsons'' sometimes includes the post-retool episodes, which went out as ''Almost Home''.

* The first ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' movie was actually called ''Film/FirstBlood''. It wasn't until the sequel, ''Film/RamboFirstBloodPartII'', that the "Rambo" name was used at all, followed by ''Film/RamboIII''. This enabled them to call the fourth film simply ''Film/{{Rambo}}'', since that title was never technically used.

* ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'' (a.k.a. ''GTO'') was a spinoff of an earlier work by the same author titled ''Shonan Jun'ai Gumi'' (''The Pure Love Gang from Shonan Beach'') and later had its own spinoffs titled ''GTO: 14 Days in Shonan'' and ''Shonan Seven''. When ''Shonan Jun'ai Gumi'' was adapted into English, it was retitled ''GTO: The Early Years''.

* Creator/JudyBlume's ''Literature/{{Fudge}}'' books actually started with ''Literature/TalesOfAFourthGradeNothing''. Of course, since TheProtagonist constantly focuses on the antics of his brother Fudge, it makes sense.

* ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'' (a.k.a. ''GTO'') was a spinoff of an earlier work by the same author titled ''Shonan Jun'ai Gumi'' (''The Pure Love Gang from Shonan Beach'') and later had its own spinoff titled ''GTO: 14 Days in Shonan''. When ''Shonan Jun'ai Gumi'' was adapted into English, it was retitled ''GTO: The Early Years''.

* In an unusual case of entire ''companies'' doing this, Creator/DCComics, Franchise/ArchieComics, and Creator/MarvelComics all got their names from their previous incarnation's most popular title.

* ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' started with ''Film/BatmanBegins'', as all the prior Franchise/{{Batman}} films had [[CharacterTitle the character's name on the titles]]. The sequel was titled ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' so it could stand out on its own and the third film followed suit with ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''

* ''Literature/TheDarkIsRising'' takes its series title from the second book in the sequence.

* Intended for the ''VideoGame/Battlezone1998'' series, whose sequel implemented a subtitle for later appropriation, ''Battlezone II: Combat Commander''. The publisher, Creator/{{Activision}}, licensed the "Battlezone" title from Creator/{{Atari}}, creators of ''VideoGame/Battlezone1980''. The subtitle would have made marketing a third game simpler if Atari refused to re-license the name, so instead of ''Battlezone III'', it would be ''Combat Commander: Whatever''. The gesture proved to irrelevant, because the first game was an AcclaimedFlop and the sequel was a mixed flop courtesy of its ObviousBeta initial release, killing any chance of a third game.

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[[AC: Western Animation]]

* Intended for the ''Videogame/BattleZone1998'' series, whose sequel implemented a subtitle for later appropriation, ''Battlezone II: Combat Commander''. The publisher, Creator/{{Activision}}, licensed the "Battlezone" title from Creator/{{Atari}}, creators of ''Videogame/BattleZone1980''. The subtitle would have made marketing a third game simpler if Atari refused to re-license the name, so instead of ''Battlezone III'', it would be ''Combat Commander: Whatever''. The gesture proved to irrelevant, because the first game was an AcclaimedFlop and the sequel was a mixed flop courtesy of its ObviousBeta initial release, killing any chance of a third game.

* Thomas Harris's series of books featuring Hannibal Lecter began with ''Red Dragon'', but it's known as the ''[[SilenceOfTheLambs Silence of the Lambs]]'' series due to the [[AdaptationDisplacement popularity of that film]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' was originally a one-word title however has always been more well-known as ''Jem and the Holograms'', which is the name of the in-series band that Jem leads. In the early 2010s the series was officially renamed ''Jem and the Holograms''. The [[ComicBook/JemAndTheHolograms comic reboot]], [[Film/JemAndTheHolograms film reboot]], [=DVDs=], and reruns use the title, though all the text in the cartoons still say ''Jem''.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' was initially titled as such because it was a [=3D=] version of the original ''Franchise/MetalGear'' games, but also to indicate its placement as the third canonical game in the series, following the [=MSX2=] versions of ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake''.[[note]]The Solid is a reference to three-dimensional geometry.[[/note]] The game was a bigger success than Konami expected and the name stuck on for all the sequels, from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' and all the way up to the latest ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain''. Only a few of the odd spinoffs, namely ''VideoGame/MetalGearAcid'' and ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance Metal Gear Rising]]'', were released without the ''Solid'' branding.

* In an unusual case of entire ''companies'' doing this, Creator/DCComics, ComicBook/ArchieComics, and Creator/MarvelComics all got their names from their previous incarnation's most popular title.

* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' series was originally meant to be called ''The Adventures of Luke Skywalker'' and the early tie-in novels (the novelization of ''Film/ANewHope'', ''Literature/SplinterOfTheMindsEye'' and Brian Daley's ''Han Solo'' trilogy) were released under that title. The first film's tremendous success and fame negated this.

* ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' was a spinoff of a short-lived DisneyChannel sitcom titled ''Good Morning, Miss Bliss'', but proved to be more popular than its predecessor, to the point that not only it had two spinoffs that carried on the ''Saved by the Bell'' title (''The College Years'' and ''The New Class''), but the original series it was spun-off from was [[{{retronym}} retroactively retitled]] ''Saved by the Bell: The Junior High Years'' in syndication.

* JudyBlume's ''Literature/{{Fudge}}'' books actually started with ''TalesOfAFourthGradeNothing''. Of course, since TheProtagonist constantly focuses on the antics of his brother Fudge, it makes sense.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' was originally a one-word title however has always been more well-known as ''Jem and the Holograms'', which is the name of the in-series band that Jem leads. In the early 2010s the series was officially renamed ''Jem and the Holograms''. The [[ComicBook/JemAndTheHolograms comic reboot]], [[Film/JemAndTheHolograms film reboot]], DVDs, and reruns use the title, though all the text in the cartoons still say ''Jem''.

* The first ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' movie was actually called ''Film/FirstBlood''. It wasn't until the sequel, ''Film/RamboFirstBloodPartII'', that the Rambo name was used at all, followed by ''Film/RamboIII''. This enabled them to call the fourth film simply ''Film/{{Rambo}}'', since that title was never technically used.

* JudyBlume's 'Literature/{{Fudge}}' books actually started with ''TalesOfAFourthGradeNothing''. Of course, since TheProtagonist constantly focuses on the antics of his brother Fudge, it makes sense.

* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' - The first game in the ''Gyakuten Saiban'' series was localized for the west under title of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' a year after Japan had already gotten the third game. The announcement that the fourth game would star [[VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney a new character]] prompted the English localization team to promote ''Ace Attorney'' as the name of the franchise and downplay the ''Phoenix Wright'' part of the title for the sequels.

* In an unusual case of entire ''companies'' doing this, DCComics, ArchieComics, and MarvelComics all got their names from their previous incarnation's most popular title.