Was the title you are suggesting ever used for promotional purposes of any kind (press material and similar)? A quick google search gave 124 results... while the current title gave almost 95,000.

The title used most frequently seems to be "The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans", so with that in mind I think the current title is the best option.

Well, the promotional title (posters and trailers) omitted the article too, so it was usually "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" (albeit with "Port of Call" and "New Orleans" in different font styles, arguably suggesting the dash used in most plain text sources).

But according to the guidelines the onscreen title is the preferred one. https://www.themoviedb.org/bible/movie#59f3b1749251414f2000000c "When the promotional material use slightly different titles (e.g. Twelve Monkeys vs 12 Monkeys), we try to use the title as it is written in the original on-screen opening credits."

You are correct that the article is missing for the most part. I noticed that IMDb is using "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" as the "World-wide (English title)", but our current title as the original title (suggesting that it was the on screen title at the Venice world premiere, or perhaps they simply use that style manual for such titles). However, since we go by first theatrical I would be curious to find out if anything changed in between or if it's just a human decision by someone at IMDb.

I guess that your screenshot is from a later release (Blu-Ray or digital). However, if a new title is used for such a release it's usually a completely new one so we should assume it's the same version as the theatrical I guess.

Yeah, I would assume so. I don't see any reason they'd change only the punctuation. I've submitted the same correction to IMDb, so it'll be interesting to see if they accept it.

I'll wait for another moderator or two to weigh in before deciding. Thanks for communicating.

I definitely think we should change the original title, but I'm a bit ambivalent.

I usually favor the opening credit title... But the promo title also make a lot of sense because most if not all of the promotional material uses "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans". (x)(x)

But the promo title also make a lot of sense because most if not all of the promotional material uses "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans".

I'm leaning this way too...

But what's the argument for favouring the promo title over the onscreen title in this case when the guidelines say to do the opposite when they differ?

I would say the problem here is that the on-screen title is not in use anywhere. And that the format is wrong. I assume format rules is why IMDb has their original title (as previously mentioned). Also, since there is no dash in the on screen title, I assume you are also just following style rules, no? And in that case, why not follow them all the way like the IMDb title? Just thinking out loud here.

(Edit: I know I just argued against myself, but that was after I noticed that the suggested title is also a stylized version due to general style rules saying one should avoid a title like "The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call: New Orleans".)

But what's the argument for favouring the promo title over the onscreen title in this case when the guidelines say to do the opposite when they differ?

We can assume the title was changed and they were too lazy to change the opening credits.