Title Tongue Twisters

There are movie titles that are hard to pronounce correctly (take two current examples, “Kundun” and “Amistad”) and movie titles that are comically confusing. Listen to this story, told by Miguel Mendez, who works in the box office of the AMC Santa Monica 7.

“Two foreign tourists came late one night to see a movie. The only one yet to start was ‘Tomorrow Never Dies.’ ” But when he told them “Tomorrow” was the only movie they could see, they said, “No, we want to see a movie today.”

“It took a while for me to get through to them that ‘Tomorrow’ was a movie they could see today,” Mendez said. “When it finally got through to them, they burst out laughing.”

Well, at least “tomorrow” is something most of us can say without great difficulty. Not so with many titles. Martin Scorsese’s “Kundun,” which opened wide last weekend, isn’t “KUN-dun,” or “KUN-din,” it’s “kun-DOON.” Nevermind, though. If you watch the movie, you’ll notice slightly different pronunciations of the word as well.

And Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad,” which also widened to 1,000 theaters this past weekend, is pronounced “AH-me-STAD,” according to a DreamWorks spokesman.

Those who work with the movie-going public have learned to respond to anything that’s close to the movie they’re showing at the moment.

Allan Talavera, assistant manager of the Monica 4 Laemmle Theatre, said people especially have trouble with foreign films, like “Les Voleurs” (lay vo-LAIR) and “Erotique” (arrow-teak). “For ‘Pret-a-porter’ [PRET-a-pour-TAY], people asked for “PRET-a-PORT-er,” he said.

But Talavera says even a lot of English titles get mangled. “For ‘Deconstructing Harry,’ we’ve had requests for ‘Deconstruction Harry,’ ‘Reconstructing Harry’ and ‘Deconstructing Henry,’ ” he said. “With Woody Allen’s earlier film, instead of ‘Mighty Aphrodite,’ I had people ask for ‘Mighty Afro-dee-tee.’ ”

Alex Fuentes, supervisor at the AMC Santa Monica 7, said it makes his day when people get confused over movie titles. “I’ve had people who wanted to see ‘The Postman’ ask for tickets to ‘The Post Office,’ ” he said. “And when ‘Men in Black’ was here, people would say, ‘Gimme a “Black Man.” ’ “

Then there was last summer, when “Wishmaster,” “Peacemaker” and “Matchmaker” were playing at the same time. “We had customers asking for ‘Peacemaster’ and ‘Wishmaker,’ ” said Kurt Porter, the theater manager at the AMC Santa Monica 7.

Or how about the moviegoers who wanted to see Robert Downey Jr. in “Respiration” (it’s “Restoration”), or Jason Alexander in “Love! Velour! Compassion!” (it’s “Love! Valour! Compassion!”). Or those who came to see the documentary “Waco: The Rules of Engagement” but asked for tickets to “Wacko.” “Then again, they might have meant ‘wacko,’ ” Talavera mused.

But Talavera admits he isn’t perfect. “We recently had ‘Ulee’s Gold’ [YEW-lee’s] here, which people pronounced ‘Ooh-lee’s Gold.’ In fact, I made the same mistake when I recorded the telephone message announcing our schedule. I had to tape it all over again.”

Recalled Robert Laemmle (LEM-lee), owner of the Laemmle Theatres chain, which features many foreign offerings: “I was once warned to listen to our recorded telephone message that customers call to learn our current features, stars and show times. I was surprised to discover that one of my employees had recorded that we were featuring a film starring the noted French actor Gerard ‘Depar-doody.’ ” That is, Gerard Depardieu (DEP-are-DOO).

“I’ve laughed about it for many years,” Laemmle said.