During his panel at Comic Con, Kevin Smith revealed that he may well have to change the name of his upcoming movie, A Couple Of Dicks. No stranger to upsetting censorship bodies, it appears this time he’s fallen foul of TV’s rules about what can be advertised when.
Apparently US TV networks ABC, CBS and NBC have said that they won’t allow a film with such a suggestive title to be advertised before 9pm (although Fox and TBS don’t have a problem with it). As the studio feels that things such as sports broadcasts are the best way to get to the teenage audience the film is aimed at, they’re likely to force a name change so they can advertise before the watershed.
While you might be wondering why someone who could release a film called Zach And Miri Make A Porno is suddenly having to alter his film because of nervous networks, it’s because that was an independent film, while A Couple Of Dicks is a full-on studio effort, with all the extra oversight that comes with that. As many have blamed to underperformance of Zach And Miri to mainstream audiences getting put off by the word ‘Porno’, you can see why they’re worried about a bit of double entrendre (or technically triple entendre). There’s no news on what the new title will be, although the movie is due in UK cinemas next February 26th.