The long-awaited prequel to the 2007 Blockbuster hit 300 is the latest Warner Bros. feature to get a facelift from the studio. According to The Playlist, this facelift has served the purpose of changing the more original working title for the film, 300: Battle of Artemisia, to the less enthusiastic and far more generic official title of 300: Rise Of An Empire.
It seems that the studio has decided to go with the formulaic, bland sounding title to appeal to a wider audience. Even though this is a disappointing update, it should come as no surprise given that it always seems to be about the bottom line in big business.
That being said, just off the top of my head I can come up with a list of films with names that seem eerily similar to the new title, not all of which I imagine the studio would want their film likened to. There’s Rise of the Planet of The Apes (2011), G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), and the upcoming Rise of the Guardians (2012).
This film, like the original 300, is based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller and stars Rodrigo Santoro as Xerxes, the Persian king, and Sullivan Stapleton as the Athenian general Themistocles.
Generic title or not, when 300: Rise Of An Empire hits theaters on August 2, 2013, I’ll still be there. Will you?