Why did they switch title from 'Alien: Engineers' to 'Prometheus'

I'd have no problem if they renamed and re-released 'Prometheus' as ' Alien:Engineers'. I know i'd rebuy it!! Some one should come up with a cool Blu-ray sleeve for Alien:Engineers, using Prometheus scrren shot.

Worked for 'Edge of Tomorrow' ---> 'Live, Die, Repeat'

Well as Ridley said I think there is more links to alien this time round a back door to alien and origins of things....hence the title.

I think maybe its all about the $$$$$$$$$$$

Originally Spaights Alien Engineers was a movie that on one hand explored the Space Jockey as being Humanoids who created Mankind.... the other showed they also created or at least experimented on Organisms related to the Xenomorph and was a more Alien-y movie....

Fox felt that they should tone down the movie and make it less Alien-y and explore the Engineers more...

Prometheus was released and we have to look at it from three perspectives.... as i have said a number of times....

1) We have the General Public who would maybe not even known Prometheus was a Alien movie, those who may have seen it would maybe see it as a Orginal Sci Fi movie and one that was confusing....

2) We have the Casual Sci Fi Fan, who would know it was supposed to be connected, but they just could not figure out Why or How, or was disapointed with it and found it also confusing..

3) Then we have the Alien Fanboys who was hopping to see a movie that would show connection to the Xeno, how it came to be and who the Space Jockey was and for some... How did that ship get to LV 426!  For these they would have been disapointed with the movie...

Yes we have other fans who saw the movie differently but those 3 general fanbases are maybe why we are seeing a change of plan and a more Alien-y movie...

First!  Adding Alien to the Title, makes the movie stand out to the General Puplic and Casual Sci Fi fans so they know that indeed the movie is connected to ALIEN for example if Prometheus was called Alien: Prometheus  then more people would have known it was supposed to be a Alien movie.... but they would still be confused at what they saw.

Second! by doing sequels that would show off more links to Alien than how vague Prometheus was, would allow the above General Puplic and Sci Fi fans to realise and make connections to Alien... and for the Fanboys to be more Happy.

And overall these Changes could allow more people to want to go and Watch Part 2/3 and maybe a 4.... as opposed to making a Prometheus: Paradise with again no real links as such to Alien.... as general fanbase would be oh its a sequel to that Movie we never understood.... "i think ill pass" or oh its a sequel to that supposed Alien movie that was nothing to do with Alien "not sure i wanna go see that"

So its purely about Brand Recognition and also to kinda of steer away from Prometheus yet cover the Questions posed by it..

"Well as Ridley said I think there is more links to alien this time round a back door to alien and origins of things....hence the title."

Maybe he means regarding eventually.... as well the clues and  comments he made over last few years right up to few weeks ago, seem to point to going away from Alien and Prometheus but somehow showing us some clues but not Spoon Fed Alien Prequel..... but such a thing could be explored in a 3rd movie etc...

Hopefully that is the plan still..... unless they want to change of plan and part Spoon Feed Answers in the next movie so they can then make a 3rd that explores new things, and leave space for a 4th that would Spoon Feed more to Alien

What i am saying is Ridley wanted a more Darker movie for Prometheus... but Fox wanted a less Gorefest and so a movie that could be pushed at a Larger Audience....

Yet not everyone knew this movie was a persudo Alien Prequel... those that did would also have seen it as a movie that well was confusing, and not quite what they may have expected because of how Ambigious it was etc...

So they want to do  a 2nd and 3rd movie... and again want a wider Audience, i therefor think they are using the Alien: name again for this purpose and maybe get people to go see the movie, than if it was called Prometheus:Paradise because maybe some would just think.... oh i never got or liked the first movie.... so ill pass thus by.

I agree with two of the theories here. It seems that BigDave is pretty much right that money is possibly the driving factor. I think though, that it is more because of Ridley Scott going further into how/why the Xeno was made. I at least hope that it was a creative decision before money, but either way I like it!

 Paradise Lost due to a war in Heaven?  The deacon was created to illuminate us on where dinosaurs would be if they hadn't created humans. 

@cuponator3000

Changing direction to give us more Xeno links and a 3rd movie that moves closer to Alien than futher away as Ridley wanted to do after Prometheus, is a good sign that they realised the disapointments with Prometheus as far as how the General Puplic would not be so aware if was a Alien movie and Alien Fans was disapointed it never covered enough of the Xeno as opposed to the Engineers...

Look at the percentage of people who would have known Prometheus was connected to Alien, then look at those who did not and see the movie and its ambiguity from their point of view and it leaves a confusing movie... then look at it from those who knew it was a Alien movie who would feel that it never covered the Alien connection enough....

If Fox felt these things was holding the movie back.... and that changing the Name to Alien would make general Public see it was a new Alien based movie.... they may not know it was connected to Prometheus until after they see it, where as going to see Prometheus they may not have made a connection to Alien...... those who never interested in Prometheus or felt it was a strange movie they never got into.... would see this movie as "not another one them Prometheus movies we never understood"

Changing it to Alien... allows it to attract a wider audience and distance it from any criticism associated with Prometheus brand name...

Also the change to Alien will then lead the Fanboys and general Sci Fi fans who would known Prometheus was supposed to connect to Alien, but was let down by how it was handled.... the change to Alien: Paradise Lost would lead them to the fact the movie would connect the Xeno and Space Jockey more... or at least lay the foundations more for a final movie to conclude such connection.

Just realised yes i repeated what i said earlier ;)

Scott has been pretty vocal about wanting to get away from Gods and Dragons, and to tell stories about Engineers.  But everybody is obsessed about Alien/s, and that's where he gets the funding from.  That's the franchise people at Fox and teh general public know and love and are passionate about.  

But he wants to tell the Engineer Story.  So he has to work through the Fox bureaucracy, and pitch everything with working-title of Alien:This and Alien:That.  It's how he sells it, get's people on board, assures investors, etc.  

My bet is that, like "Alien:Engineers", the "Alien" gets dropped, and left to be "Paradise Lost" when it's finally released.  They may even rename it to something completely different.  But "Paradise Lost" is a pretty great name.  So I hope they keep it, actually.