Unique or broad title?

[Brian_Rice]

As far as titles go, do you guys generally like titles that are unique and specialized attached to a franchise/branding project, or is it smarter to give your title a very broad title?

Alien, The Thing, Evil Dead, Halloween, Resident Evil, The Craft, The Relic, Phantoms, It...

vs

Blade Runner, Requiem for a Dream, In the Mouth of Madness, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Silent Hill, Ghostbusters, Jurassic Park...

(just completely random comparisons)

For stand-alone works I usually like the dual meaning title and something that captures a story's theme in a single phrase, but when it comes to properties I think it's typically better to go broader or the place/character-specific route. Sherlock Holmes, Jumanji, Batman, etc.

In that subcategory, though, it gets more challenging. Do you call Jurassic Park simply Dinosaurs? Why isn't Batman called Gotham City? If I think of all of the Batman films ever made, Gotham City certainly seems a more apt title as Batman is only the lead, but Gotham supplies all of the characters and means and, like Batman, is an invention of the author.

Why Halloween and not Michael Meyers? Why Alien instead of giving the alien a name?

Why is Indiana Jones Indiana Jones but The Skywalkers is Star Wars?

 

[HorseFilms]

It depends on the movie, as well as the time and place of release.

With Halloween, the title was set before the script existed and was far more recognizable than Michael Myers, at the time.

 

[ugafan]

i usually don't pay attention to the title unless i hate it.

the imaginarium of doctor parnassus
divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood
lemony snicket's a series of unfortunate events
the curious case of benjamin button
mr. holland's opus

 

[Scott F]

i usually don't pay attention to the title unless i hate it.

the imaginarium of doctor parnassus
divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood
lemony snicket's a series of unfortunate events
the curious case of benjamin button
mr. holland's opus

awesome, uga.

adding to the list of hated titles:

-sisterhood of the traveling pants
-how stella got her groove back
-the hudsucker proxy
-i heart huckabees
-ballistic: ecks vs. sever
-the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford
-to wong foo, thanks for everything, julie newmar (no wait, scratch that last one…that's the COOLEST movie title ever) :thumbsup:

 

[HorseFilms]

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind = horrible title