Will Smith? Okay, okay, it's not so crazy now. But this was one of his first "real" acting roles, and it was a risky move at the time.

But the takeaway star of the film was Stockard Channing, who originated the role on Broadway. It's a complex, meaty role that requires serious acting chops, as a woman is forced to question her assumptions about class, society, and her connection to her fellow man. For her efforts, she was nominated for an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and a Tony.

You know what doesn't put asses in seats? Prestige.

After the Rebranding:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

MGM tried to make it look like Will Smith was bringing some funky fresh realness to the crusty-ass Upper East Side. The studios tried their damnedest to market Six Degrees as a goofy, fish-out-of-water story about some rich people who take in a charismatic young man from the streets. Sound familiar? For anyone who primarily knew Will Smith from The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, it sounded like the exact same premise, only with 90 percent fewer black people. They wanted to trick audiences into thinking it was the kind of movie where a stuffy rich dude learns to breakdance, not the kind of movie that breaks down the hidden caste society of America.

After the Rebranding:

StudioCanal

And according to this DVD cover, it's the next installment of the Twilight franchise.

Summit Entertainment

Pale-skinned broody boy vampire, innocent girl human, their forbidden love -- you know the drill. This updated cover could not be further, atmospherically speaking, from the movie itself. We can't help but picture hormonal, tween Twilight fans grabbing the movie in search of their next romantic monster fix, only to find Bill m***********g Paxton's crazy, people-eating grin...

StudioCanal

And Lance Henriksen's weathered mullet.

StudioCanal

...And their duels to the death.

MGM/UA Entertainment Company

...And their encounters with a creepy owl that will scar any children witnessing it for life.

MGM/UA Entertainment Company

It was a dark and complex film, more Watership Down than Rescue Rangers.

After the Rebranding:

MGM/UA Entertainment Company

Well, that looks like a wacky good time! The DVD release of NIMH really pushed it as a movie about a family of friendly mice and a goofy crow who go around having adventures. Now, there was a crow in the movie for comedic relief, and there was a family, and we suppose if "trying to move your home so your sick child doesn't get caught in the farmer's thresher" counts as an adventure, we guess it had that, too. But it's all about tone, and any parent renting the film based on that bright, cartoony charm-fest of a cover up there is in for a surprise when, after watching, their kids can only ask "Mommy, what's LSD?"

And when we say, "dark," we mean "a descent into madness and obsession from the guy who wrote The Wrestler." It's a good flick, and funny in its way. It's just that that "way" is more Requiem For A Dream than Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

After the Rebranding:

First Independent Pictures

That cover makes Big Fan look like everything that it isn't: a bright and sunny film full of football action, in which Oswalt finds his spirits uplifted by the team he loves. There's absolutely no footage of football in the movie at all. It's kind of one of the points of the story: It's not about the sport, it's about obsession.

First Independent Pictures

But that dark, poetic take on the nature of fandom didn't stop the studios from slapping some stock sports photo on the DVD cover, picking the one frame where Patton looks like Rudy, and hoping audiences interpret that one scene where Oswalt sadly jerks off into a sock as base physical comedy.

If it has a plot at all, it can be summed up thusly: Teens try to have sex with each other, a van is around, and Danny DeVito plays a minor character. It's basically half-assed softcore porn, and that's somehow much more offensive than regular porn. It's Porky's, but in a van! Sometimes!

Crown International Pictures

Just look at this. You can practically hear the slide whistle.

After the Rebranding:

Crown International Pictures

Somehow the "we filmed a van" genre failed to make its mark on history, so whichever poor soul paid $1.50 and a gas station sandwich for the home-video rights to The Van had to do some creative rebranding. Strangely, they went for more of a The Hills Have Eyes vibe.

The new cover has so little faith in the original movie that not only is Danny DeVito's head blocking all the actual major characters, it isn't even Danny DeVito as he appears in the film. On the new cover is Danny DeVito as we best recognize him today, but The Van is from 1977. This was Danny DeVito back then:

Crown International Pictures

So they picked a bit character in the film who just happened to find eventual success, ripped a still from one of his movies filmed decades later, and then tinted the whole thing "kill you orange." If somebody was grabbing The Van based on that leering, horror-toned cover, they probably weren't hoping for some chuckles and light masturbation material. Unless it was Danzig. And he was almost certainly disappointed with what he got.

Nathan Kamal lives in Oregon and writes there. He co-founded Asymmetry Fiction for all your fiction needs.

Also check out 5 Superheroes Rendered Ridiculous By Gritty Reboots and If Every Kids' Show Got A Gritty Live-Action Reboot.

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