Making a movie penned by 12 Years A Slave writer John Ridley and staring Leslie Odom Jr., Cynthia Erivo, Orlando Bloom and Freida Pinto can certainly get expensive. Maybe it even leads to budget cuts in other areas. Like, say, marketing or audience testing. Sometimes, that means you just have to release your art into the world and be ready to accept whatever public interpretation follows.
Surely that’s the case with Lionsgate’s latest project as everything about it looks epic until you get to the title reveal. If you don’t know where this is going—or if you’ve already forgotten the headline to this post—do yourself a favor, watch the trailer and experience what the Internet has been collectively losing its mind over.
shh. (puts a soft finger on your lips) just watch this movie trailer without knowing the title and let the feeling move youpic.twitter.com/HisBoujCyU
— Jenny Yang's touring the Northeast Oct 20-23 (@jennyyangtv) October 14, 2021
Needle in a Timestack.
That’s it. That’s the name.
After two minutes of watching Leslie Odom Jr. live his best life, lose it, then try to piece it back together, that’s all anyone who’s watched the trailer can seem to talk about.
Needle in a Timestack is of course followed by Fish in a Time Barrel
— Doc Ocktober (@colonelnemo) October 14, 2021
This movie is going to SLAP and I am going to have to tell people “Yeah, I absolutely loved Needle in A TimeStack” like that’s a normal name for a movie https://t.co/712nzqJRlK
— Penzi Hill (@HillPenzi) October 14, 2021
I’m honor of Needle in a Timestack, I’d like to change the names of great sci-fi movies to something silly…
The Matrix ➡️ Jesus, Take the Pill
Dune ➡️ The Spice Boys
Interstellar ➡️ It’s Not Rocket Science
28 Days Later ➡️ Reality Bites— Joey Rhode (@RufioJones) October 14, 2021
dying to know if the entire concept of Needle In A Timestack was reversed engineered, creatively or just what
— 🎃quiet storm enthusiast👻 (@clintonyates) October 14, 2021
Throwing open the windows and shouting “Needle in a Timestack” at passers by like Ebenezer Scrooge when he got a new lease on life
— Erin Somers (@SomersErin) October 14, 2021
Everyone's making fun, but the struggle is real. Finding a needle in a timestack is *impossible*.
— Josh Spiegel (@mousterpiece) October 14, 2021
Tracy: "Liz Lemon, this stolen wife scenario reminds me of that time travel movie I was in! Needle in a Timestack!"
*cutaway*
"HOW AM I EVER GONNA FIND MY WIFE, WHEN THERE'S SO MANY NEEDLES? AND SO FEW STACKS OF TIME?"— land of conniefusion (@mamatiresias) October 14, 2021
2021: NEEDLE IN A TIMESTACK
2023: PIG IN A TIMEBLANKET
2025: EARLY BIRD GETS THE TIMEWORM
2027: DON’T CRY OVER TIMEMILK
2027: A STITCH IN TIMETIME wait dammit start over— Glen Weldon (@ghweldon) October 14, 2021
To be absolutely clear: this movie looks awesome. Great cast, intriguing plot and the trailer leaves more questions than answers. It’s just going to be difficult to get past the name.
The title comes from a 1966 short story of the same name by Robert Silverberg which served as the basis for the film. Yet it’s not unlike Hollywood to pluck a previously published story and change the name for the big screen.
With that in mind, here are a few other options the studios should have consider titling this project before it releases on October 15.
- Love Isn’t Always On Time
- Time Of My Wife
- Back To The Altar
- There Goes The Bride
- Bride And Prejudice
- No Time To Love
- Time is on My Bride
- Pirates of the Consummation
- Leslie Odom Jr’s New Movie
If none of those suffice, Twitter users seem more than prepared to workshop a few other potential titles.
