European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 4, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                M 1 trl 3�fl a a to 1 _ Quot a Quot it Aca Bethe name of the game can in the titles.  a a a a ��/.-��. By Bob Thomas associated press in today a film world of High concepts most movies appear to fit tabloid headlines. Cop gives waitress $2 million tip seemed a per feet title until the research people decided it could happen to you would sell More tickets. Titles titles titles. The movie world has been a twitter about titles since the first Ever film which has been called Fred Otto a sneeze. It was the Lusty exhalation of one of Thomas Edison a assistants. Movie titles can be Short like Costa Gavras z. They can be Long As with Stanley Kubrick a or. Strange love or How i Learned to Stop worrying and love the bomb. They come in colors Blue reds Pinky a clock work Orange yellow sky the purple Rose of Cairo. A. A it a a a a. .  they also come in sizes big slim giant the tall Guy the fat Man the incredible shrinking woman.  a Over a Century a Span movies have consumed More than 30,000 titles and still new ones Are found. How much influence a title can have on a films sue Cess or failure has been debated just As Long. Historians enjoy citing gone with the wind As a meaning less title yet the movie was an All time hit. J a a title can be part of the chemistry that makes a picture desirable a a notes John Krier Veteran Indus try observer who computes grosses with his exhibitor relations co.  / a a my old Boss liked to cite mrs. Miniver. It was an innocuous title of a Book but Combine it with Greer Garson who was hot at the time and the Story about the Battle of Britain and wartime and you had a big hit and an Academy award winner.�?�. Other films that flourished with Book titles that conveyed Little to the average moviegoer now voyager this above All All the King s men from Here to eternity a Farewell to arms of mice and men to kill a mockingbird. A on the other hand studios have improved on literary titles. The Short Story the Wisdom of eve. Became All about Eye. Night bus evolved into it happened one night. Krier believes movies can be Hurt by titles and he cites so i married an a murderer. Despite his popularity with Wayne a world the Mike Myers comedy grossed a Mere $10 million in 30 Days. A film marketeer Mike Gray who claims to have to tied three dozen movies including All the right moves and somewhere in time comments a a Good title conveys the Energy flavor and color of a movie and reflects what the audience wants to see. A bad title dispositions the movie its Dull in word age or a Downer and does no to represent what the audience wants to  Quot Gray cited Honey i shrunk the kids As a a great  the 1989 comedy fantasy was the biggest Sleeper hit of recent times with a $130 million Gross. Would it have been a hit As teeny weenies that was the Walt Disney  original title. Would you Rush out to see a movie called 3,000? that was what pretty woman was first called. The figure referred to the Dollar Price Richard Gere paid for Julia Roberts sexual favors. Another inspired change shoeless Joe a baseball fantasy with Kevin Costner was switched to Field of dreams. Veteran producer Howard Koch the Odd couple air planet cites sleepless in Seattle As a title that might Puzzle the average ticket buyer. A but it helps create word of Mouth a he adds a and when people see the movie it makes  a my feeling is that if people talk about the title Fonda Cage and Rosie Perez hit the Jackpot and a pot Fiill of strife in it could happen to ibo. Tel Star its wonderful but a picture does no to succeed or fail because of a title a says Harry Clein of the Clein and White publicity Agency. Quot a Good title helps the marketing people focus on what the film is about especially when the film is difficult to define. Annie Hall is a Good example. The original title reflected Woody Allens angst. Annie Hall had a Nice rhythm and a kind of lightness. A -.  a a v a a a a Quot a Good movies can overcome difficult titles. Take sex lies and videotape. It was a Small movie with no names and a first time director Steven Soderbergh. But the unusual title together with lower Case an winners and losers a selection of what could be considered the Best and worst of movie titles Over the years the Good v the Best years of our lives Yankee Doodle Dandy. A last tango in Paris Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid Jfe a a wonderful life divorce italian style _ a a Honey i shrunk the kids rain Man. _ the towering in Ferno fatal attraction the bad a Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick attack of the killer tomatoes Quot a a Callaway went that away Duck you sucker the hard boiled Canary. The laughing policeman Scudda Hoo Scudda Hay or. Gold foot and the Bikini machine the poppy is also a Flower the All time loser can Hieronymus Mirkin Ever forget mercy humps and find True happiness Bob Thomas the two commas helped make it a conversation  the sex part did no to Hurt either. T a a a Bruce Feldman Cleint a former partner and now a Universal pictures marketing executive cites the kiss of the spider woman. A in the Early stages we had discussions about whether the title was marketable. It was from a Well known and much admired Book but would the Public realize it was a serious drama and not a horror movie we decided that we could create an awareness of the films real nature. A we had discussions about dirty dancing. Them was some apprehension that the title might indicate something salacious instead of the wholesome musical that it was. The picture worked Well in spite of the  Quot _ when studios become edgy about a title the marketing people swing into action. Alternative titles sometimes hundreds of them Are proposed. Sometimes they Are tested on a Cross Section of the Public in different cities. Paramount pictures worried about searching for Bobby Fisher a drama with no big names about a child chess Prodigy. Producer Scott Rudin told the new York times a Paramount hired a marketing company to come up a with a different title. We got titles like Knight moves pieces of dreams Battlefield in a Box. All these terrible ideas. So we stuck with searching for Bobby  a Quot. A it despite Good reviews the movie plummeted to no. 20 on the Box office list after just three weeks. Sometimes news events can prompt a title change. Disney was about to release a movie about East , gangs blood in blood out when the los Angeles riots broke out. The title and the timing were feared to be inflammatory and the film was released months later As bound by Honor. Universal had the same experience with Walter Hills gang oriented the looters ice cube ice to. It was released months after the riots As trespass. Like bound by Honor it quickly disappeared Hollywood is filled with experts but the truth is a that to one knows what makes a title work. For years studios avoided Quot love in a title fearing it might turn off the male audience. In 1970, love Story proved an enormous hit destroying previous misconceptions. V september 4.1994. 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