Warner Bros., the film's copyright holder (New Line Cinema, a division of Time
Warner, distributed it), objected to the title Dark City early in the film's
production.
They felt the title would confuse audiences with Mad City, Warner's
soon-to-be-released film starring John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman, which they
predicted would be a commercial hit. The filmmakers changed the title to Dark
World, but the estate of Steven Spielberg threatened legal action, feeling the
title was too similar to their film The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
The title was then changed to Dark Empire, but legal action was again
threatened, this time by Lucasfilm, who felt the title was too similar to
their own well-known sci-fi film The Empire Strikes Back (and was an exact
match for the Dark Empire comics that had been made about Star Wars).
However, by the time the film was completed and ready for release, Warner's
Mad City had come and gone from theatres and was not the hit they hoped it
would be, and the filmmakers were allowed to use their original title.
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