What's in a name?
Titles do matter in the movie business
By Nick Nunziata
CNN Headline News
(CNN) -- The movie marketplace is more crowded than ever, and films are vying for our consumer dollars as aggressively as old-school car salesmen.
You name the space for rent -- whether its television, print, the Internet or billboards -- and there's a movie trying to squeeze into it by any means necessary.
We're entering that phase where the science fiction view of the future becomes a reality, and it's only a matter of time before we're pitched the new installment of whatever franchise is in vogue on the back seat of the chair in front of us at the dentist's office.
We'll be thinking, "I sure wish my mouth wasn't in a constant state of intense pain, but that Colin Farrell sure is stunning."
We're told what toothpaste is the best for us before a movie starts, so perhaps there's some kind of Zen balance to the whole cycle.
With the competition waiting each Friday at the box office, there's another thing to consider. Where do art and commerce intersect? Chip away through all the trailers, advertisements, posters, merchandising and stunt casting, and what remains is indeed art. In the strictest sense, a film like "Agent Cody Banks" ... is art. That hurt to type. Let's move on.
I think that the purest collision of the business and passion of film is in the title of a film. A name has to embody a story. It has to succinctly sell an idea. It has to represent the artistic notion. It has to look good with Julia Roberts' name right above it.
I'm a big critic of those times when Hollywood reaches out into suburbia for feedback on films they're preparing to release, because the horror stories outweigh the creative victories. With that said, how much does the title affect the success and place in history a film has?
Recently, former wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson enjoyed a brief stint as champ at the box office with "The Rundown." Hastily marketed and tested, the film wasn't a big hit, though it was quite entertaining in its own right. Were you aware that for the bulk of that film's development process, it went under the title of "Helldorado"? What about "Welcome to the Jungle"? That's another name it carried for a short while.
What intangibles determine where our consumer dollars will go? Is it what film decided to market itself in the "Friends" time slot? Is it a gut reaction at the ticket counter? Branding is so important to us today, and I wonder if that mentality has permeated into the simple interpretation of the title of a film. If it were titled "Big Ship Sinking," would "Titanic" still be the No. 1 grossing film of all time?
Would a few less confusing titles changes have earned "The Rundown" a little more dough in the long run? It's an intriguing topic to consider.
What's in a name? A whole lot more that you think, if you ask me.
