How a film’s name can make or break it
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, We Bought a Zoo, Forrest Gump – Let’s face it, these are not very good movie titles, at least at first glance. Where is this Gump forest they talk about and what’s with the double ‘r’?
There are also titles that aren’t necessarily bad, but they inexplicably throw order out the window. Get Jon M. Chu’s Bad: For Goodrecently released sequel The Bad: Part One. It’s a solid title with just the right amount of irony, referencing one of the musical’s most affecting songs, but there’s no “Part Two” in sight.
A movie’s title is probably the first thing you’ll see, but does that really make a difference when it comes to box office and legacy?Credit: Compiled by Stephen Kiprillis.
Shakespeare once famously asked: “What is the meaning of a name?” He was, of course, talking about surnames and the intense rivalry between the Montagues and the Capulets. Romeo and Juliet. But for movies with questionable titles, the question still stands. Can a bad title ruin a quality movie?
art of the title
Australian Film Television and Radio School Production program organizer Dr. Marty Murphy says movie titles form a contract with audiences.
“It’s a kind of promise of horror, action and mayhem. The audience wants an answer to the problem presented in the title,” he says. “I remember in 1976 my father said there was a new movie coming out. Star Wars. “As a six-year-old, this title immediately impressed me.”
With a name like Star Wars, it’s no wonder that kids of the 1970s couldn’t wait to get into the seats.Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
name Star Wars It promises some sort of conflict in space, and that’s what the movie conveys. But movie titles can work on a variety of levels. Some that are more obscure or cerebral can draw the viewer’s attention to the unknown.
“bird eater – a movie about predatory men… But I think its name comes from bird-eating spiders. For the 2023 Australian thriller, Murphy says no birds were harmed in this film: “It works, but I had to really think about it.”
Independent and blockbuster film
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Size matters for movie titles; that is, the size of the budget. compared to 2019 South Korea research Small independent films often benefit more from clear, informative titles than big-budget blockbusters, the Journal of Business Research found.
Take 2014’s indie horror film Creep. The title not only indicates that the film is about a creepy person, but also hints at the found footage style that mimics the feeling of someone spying on the viewer.
Conversely, like major blockbusters Bad and franchises like Marvel usually don’t need to worry that much. For example, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One It’s a terrible name, but by tying it to the popular action franchise, it guarantees an instant audience.
“Second Bad Almost anything can be said. The title won’t hurt it as long as it has the word ‘bad’ in it,” says Dr Luke Devenish, senior lecturer in film, television and screenwriting at the University of Melbourne. “They’re working with established IP properties that already have high recognition with audiences.”
Dose…
Devenish says a quality film will usually overcome a bad title, but that of course takes time and word of mouth. So a solid title can quickly catapult a great movie to box office success.
“A lot of thought goes into words that really stand out, that hit you in the heart,” Devenish says. “Words like ‘love’, ‘secret’, ‘speed’, ‘murder’ are used constantly.”
Murphy says many quality works also draw on the works of Alfred Hitchcock tension theory – To create tension by giving the audience information that the characters lack.
“The White House Has Fallen It’s so obvious… You can see this as spoiling the movie, but giving the ending is also a promise of spectacle. And spectacle is the great appeal of cinema.”
Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. The full title of the book Strangelove may seem unnecessarily depressing, but it serves a larger satirical purpose.
There are similar views in long titles, for example Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. And Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). Instead of alienating the audience with complex words, Murphy says, they offer a glimpse of the tone or dialogue ahead, pointing to the satire or exaggerated scenario that awaits them.
Today, Devenish says the new contract should be unorthodox, especially in naming sequels.
“Originally sequels had a ‘two’ at the end, but those traditions started in the ’80s,” he says. “Now people are playing with tradition so we understand it’s a sequel, but we also understand they’re laughing with it or adding a new perspective. A good example of this is: The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear.”
The title of the Naked Gun sequel is as ridiculous as the movie itself.Credit: Paramount Pictures
Walter Bienz, founder and managing director of the film marketing agency Solid Statehe agrees, noting that numbers in movie titles often lack search optimization.
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“Every word in a movie’s title is valuable real estate, and it’s better served when it tells you something about the movie itself. It’s also not uncommon for investments in sequels to occur only after the success of the first movie, and you can’t retroactively name a movie,” says Bienz.
And what not to do
Devenish says the weakest titles are those that tell next to nothing about the film. The worst offenders are probably movies named after a character; for example, Todd Haynes’ movie. Carol.
“Most people think: ‘This doesn’t make me want to see that movie. I know some Carols and they’re lovely, but is this interesting?’ This movie was based on Cate Blanchett’s face, not the name.”
Alex Munt, associate professor of media arts and production at the University of Technology Sydney, also notes: Hollywood superstition around the “curse of the question mark”. Many headlines that raise questions – Who Framed Roger Rabbit!, ‘What Eats Gilbert Grapes’ – Omit the question mark, supposedly to avoid bombing at the box office.
What happened to slogans?
Do you remember when slogans were very popular? think Foreign’“In space, no one can hear you scream” (written by the legendary slogan writer) Barbara Gips those who died in October) and jaws “You will never go into the water again.”
Now try to think of the slogan of a recent movie. Are you finding it difficult? You are not alone. Michael Matrenza, director of marketing for Madman Entertainment, says the popularity of slogans has declined rapidly over the past few decades.
“In the pre-internet era, audiences had less access to trailers, clips and other promotional materials that could reveal a film’s plot or tone, so a tagline on a poster can go a long way in positioning a film,” he says. “Audiences today receive a huge amount of information on this subject through digital content. As such, the role of the catchphrase has arguably diminished and again seems to be generally the domain of more commercial or comedic content to help with tone.”
However, Bienz says every Australian game in The Solid State still has a motto. So they don’t have to go anywhere, they actually just took a backseat to social media.
name change
Bienz says 95 percent of films that come to his marketing agency—usually independent or auteur-led films—already have a title, whether concrete or ready to work with a distributor.
In contrast, films made through larger studios are often market tested with focus groups to ensure the highest possible response. This can sometimes trigger changes such as: Border of Tomorrow, What was its original name? Live Pattern RepeatAnd beautiful woman, Which was almost next to the title 3000 After the “price” of Julia Roberts’ character.
“There are a lot of nervous Nellies in filmmaking, especially those connected to the money side of the business,” says Devenish. “They have a lot of clout in these little contractual things — the name — and they flex that clout by playing with the name.”
Michael Matrenza, director of marketing at Madman Entertainment, says culture and copyright are also important factors in finalizing a work. zootopiafor example changed to: Zootropolis in certain parts of Europe Avoid trademark disputes with Danish zoo. Additionally, the second one (which played up “metropolis”) proved to be more culturally relevant for European audiences than the first title, which adapted the word “utopia”.
2016 film distributed by Madman in Australia My Life as a Zucchini distributed locally My Life as a Zucchini. Although many Australians know what a squash is, Matrenza says it can create extra distance between the viewer and the film; Which is exactly the opposite of what a movie title should do.
“We distribute a lot of foreign language films where the title is translated from the native language, so there is still an element of change. A slight difference in the full title versus the more locally appropriate title is nothing to overdo.”
Bad: For Good in theaters now.
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