News
Selecting Movie Titles That Sizzle
May 12, 2008—There’s art and science in picking a title for a film that will propel it in the marketplace, according to a Los Angeles Times article.
“Fox Searchlight Pictures police thriller Street Kings, with a cast including Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker and a screenplay by James Ellroy, had been known as The Night Watchman until this year,” says the article. “Test screening recruiters found that moviegoers thought it sounded like a story about a security guard.”
DreamWorks romantic comedy The Heartbreak Kid, starring Ben Stiller and with a title that doesn’t quite describe the premise a man who meets the perfect woman was a box office disappointment. Alternative titles considered but not used for this 2007 release include Mrs. Right Now, Unintentionally Yours and Damned If I Do.
Note from author Robert Marich. The creative chapter and research chapters in next edition of Marketing to Moviegoers outline consumer research to test titles and also explain how studios warehouse catchy titles that they later trade with other studios get titles they wish to use.
Full full text, click link below:
www.latimes.com/business/custom/admark/la-fi-titles12-2008may12,0,1867330.story