![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/85378550de2ea601694793c2ca94c4a82e193eba5e254cf179f25b60e85a37b8.gif\")
<\/p>\nNormal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size<\/p>\n
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, We Bought a Zoo, Forrest Gump \u2013 let\u2019s face it, these are not good movie titles, at least upon first glance. Where is this Gump forest they speak of and what\u2019s with the double \u2018r\u2019?<\/p>\n
Then there are titles that aren\u2019t necessarily bad, but they inexplicably throw order out the window. Take Jon M. Chu\u2019s Wicked: For Good, the recently released sequel to Wicked: Part One. It\u2019s a solid name, nodding to one of the musical\u2019s most impactful songs and containing just the right amount of irony, but there\u2019s no \u201cPart Two\u201d in sight.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A movie\u2019s title is probably the first thing you\u2019ll see, but does it really make a difference when it comes to box office and legacy?Credit: Compiled by Stephen Kiprillis<\/p>\n
Shakespeare once famously asked: \u201cWhat\u2019s in a name?\u201d He was, of course, referring to surnames and the loaded rivalry between the Montagues and Capulets in Romeo & Juliet. But the question remains for dubiously titled films. Could a bad title doom a quality movie?<\/p>\n
The art of the title<\/p>\n
Movie titles form a contract with the audience, says Dr Marty Murphy, Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production program convenor at the Australian Film Television and Radio School.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a promise of sorts \u2013 of horror or action and turmoil. The audience wants an answer to the problem that\u2019s presented in the title,\u201d he says. \u201cI remember in 1976, my dad said there\u2019s this new film coming out \u2013 it\u2019s called Star Wars. As a six-year-old, that title immediately hooked me.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"With](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1c66d4d1e25d677913673cfa607d9725e593411f.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
With a name like Star Wars, no wonder children of the 1970s couldn\u2019t wait to get their bottoms on seats.Credit: Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n
The name Star Wars promises some kind of conflict in outer space, which the film then delivers. However, film titles can operate on various levels. Some that are more ambiguous or cerebral can pique the audience\u2019s interest in the unknown.<\/p>\n
\u201cBirdeater \u2013 it\u2019s a film about predatorial males \u2026 But I think the name comes from bird-eating spiders. No birds are harmed in that film,\u201d Murphy says of the 2023 Australian thriller. \u201cIt works, but I really had to think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indie vs blockbuster<\/p>\n
Loading<\/p>\n
For film titles, size does matter \u2013 the size of the budget, that is. According to a 2019 South Korean study<\/a> in the Journal of Business Research, smaller independent films generally benefit more from clear, informative titles compared to big-budget blockbusters.<\/p>\n Take the 2014 indie horror Creep. Not only does the title indicate the film is about a creepy person, it also points to its found-footage style, which mimics the sense of someone surveilling the viewer.<\/p>\n Conversely, major blockbusters such as Wicked and franchises like Marvel generally need not worry as much. For instance, Mission: Impossible \u2013 Dead Reckoning Part One<\/a> is an awful name, but it immediately guarantees an audience by connecting it to the popular action franchise.<\/p>\n \u201cThe second Wicked could be called pretty much anything. As long as the word \u2018wicked\u2019 is in it, the title isn\u2019t going to harm it,\u201d says Dr Luke Devenish, senior lecturer in film, TV and screenwriting at The University of Melbourne. \u201cThey\u2019re working with established IP \u2013 properties that already have high recognition in audience-land.\u201d<\/p>\n The dos …<\/p>\n A quality film will usually overcome a poor title, Devenish says, but that of course requires time and word-of-mouth. A solid title could thus arguably fast-track a great film to box office success.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of thought is put into words that really capture attention, that hit you in the heart,\u201d Devenish says. \u201cWords like \u2018love\u2019, \u2018secret\u2019, \u2018speed\u2019, \u2018murder\u2019 \u2013 they\u2019re used endlessly.\u201d<\/p>\n Murphy says many quality titles also utilise Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s theory of tension<\/a> \u2013 creating suspense by giving the audience knowledge that the characters lack.<\/p>\n \u201cWhite House Down is so explicit \u2026 You could see it as spoiling the movie, but giving away the ending is also the promise of spectacle. And spectacle is the huge attraction of cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n The full title of Stanley Kubrick\u2019s Dr. Strangelove may seem needlessly overwhelming, but it\u2019s serving a greater satirical purpose.<\/p>\n There\u2019s similar spectacle in lengthy titles, such as Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb and Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance). Rather than turn an audience away with their convoluted mishmash of words, Murphy says they signal the satire or over-the-top plot awaiting them, offering a glimpse into the tone or dialogue ahead.<\/p>\n Today, Devenish says the new convention is to be unconventional, particularly when naming sequels.<\/p>\n \u201cOriginally, sequels had \u2018two\u2019 on the end of it, but those conventions started in the \u201980s,\u201d he says. \u201cNow, people are playing with the convention so that we understand it\u2019s a sequel, but also understand they\u2019re having a laugh with it or adding a fresh take. A good example is The Naked Gun 2\u00bd: The Smell of Fear.\u201d<\/p>\n The title of the Naked Gun sequel is as ridiculous as the film itself.Credit: Paramount Pictures<\/p>\n Walter Bienz, founder and managing director at film marketing agency The Solid State<\/a>, agrees, noting that numbers in film titles usually lack search optimisation.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n \u201cEvery word in a film\u2019s title is valuable real-estate and is better served telling you something about the film itself. It\u2019s also not uncommon for investment in sequels to only appear after the success of the first film, and you can\u2019t retrospectively name a film,\u201d Bienz says.<\/p>\n And the don\u2019ts<\/p>\n The weakest titles are those that tell you virtually nothing about the film, Devenish says. The worst culprits are arguably films named after a character, for example Todd Haynes\u2019 Carol.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people would think, \u2018that\u2019s not making me want to see that film. I know a few Carols, and they\u2019re lovely, but is that interesting?\u2019. That film relied upon not the title, but Cate Blanchett\u2019s face.\u201d<\/p>\n Alex Munt, associate professor in media arts and production at University of Technology Sydney, also notes a Hollywood superstition<\/a> around the \u201ccurse of the question mark\u201d. Many titles that pose questions \u2013 Who Framed Roger Rabbit!, What\u2019s Eating Gilbert Grape\u2019 \u2013 forgo the question mark, supposedly to avoid bombing at the box office.<\/p>\n What happened to taglines?<\/p>\n Remember when taglines used to be all the rage? Think of Alien\u2019s \u201cin space no one can hear you scream\u201d (written by legendary tagline writer Barbara Gips<\/a> who died in October), and Jaws\u2019\u00a0\u201cyou\u2019ll never go in the water again\u201d.<\/p>\n Now try to think of a recent film\u2019s tagline. Finding it difficult? You\u2019re not alone. Michael Matrenza, head of marketing at Madman Entertainment, says the popularity of taglines has dwindled rapidly over the past few decades.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a pre-internet age, audiences had less access to trailers, clips and other promotional material that could unpack what the film was about or its tone, so a tagline on a poster could go a long way regarding the positioning of a film,\u201d he says. \u201cNowadays, audiences are getting huge amounts of information on that through digital content. Thus, the role of the tagline is arguably diminished, and feels like it\u2019s often the domain of more commercial or comedic content, again to help with tone.\u201d<\/p>\n That being said, Bienz says every Australian title at The Solid State still has a tagline. So, they haven\u2019t necessarily gone anywhere, they\u2019ve essentially just taken a back-seat to social media.<\/p>\n Name change<\/p>\n Bienz says 95 per cent of films that come to his marketing agency (generally indie or auteur-led movies) already have a title in place, whether it\u2019s concrete or ready to be workshopped with a distributor.<\/p>\n Films made via larger studios, contrarily, are often market-tested with focus groups to ensure the greatest response possible. This can sometimes trigger changes, such as for Edge of Tomorrow, which was originally named Live Die Repeat, and Pretty Woman, which nearly went by the title 3000<\/a> after the \u201cprice\u201d of Julia Roberts\u2019 character.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are many nervous Nellies in filmmaking, and particularly those who are linked to the money side of things,\u201d Devenish says. \u201cOn these little contractual things \u2013 the name \u2013 they have a lot of clout, and they flex that clout by fiddling with the name.\u201d<\/p>\n Culture and copyright are also major factors when finalising a title, says Michael Matrenza, the head of marketing at Madman Entertainment. Zootopia, for instance, was changed to Zootropolis in certain European regions to avoid trademark conflicts with a Danish zoo<\/a>. Additionally, the latter (which plays on \u201cmetropolis\u201d) proved more culturally relevant to European audiences than the initial title, which adapts the word \u201cutopia\u201d.<\/p>\n In Australia, the Madman-distributed 2016 film My Life as a Courgette was distributed locally as My Life as a Zucchini. Though many Australians would know what a courgette is, Matrenza says it could still create extra distance between the viewer and the film \u2013 the opposite of what a film title should do.<\/p>\n \u201cWe distribute plenty of foreign language films where the title is being translated from its native tongue, so there\u2019s an element of change anyway. A minor difference in its exact title to one that suits better locally isn\u2019t a stretch.\u201d<\/p>\n Wicked: For Good is in cinemas now.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/9af5c0ba315f3823cbba011c3ab1a0d728a61863.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2ad14511bf9ae04f4ad2ffb24e4156b1f38b504a.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n