An alternative title is a media sales device most prominently used in film distribution.
An example is Italian director's Sergio Leone's 1971 film Duck, You Sucker!, initially released with this title as he was convinced it was a well-known English saying.
When Scholastic Corporation bought the U.S. rights to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, they thought that a child would not want to read a book with the word "philosopher" in the title and,[1] after some discussion, the American edition was published in September 1998[2] under the title author J. K. Rowling suggested, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
[3] Rowling claimed that she regretted this change and would have fought it if she had been in a stronger position at the time.
[4] Academic Philip Nel, who specialises in children's literature, has pointed out that the change lost the connection with alchemy.