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Unlocking the Secrets of the Best and Worst Movie Titles in History

STV — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:15:00 EDT

Apart from the bold statements by movie-titling consultants about the high importance of... movie-titling consultants ("When movie titles don't work, studios are leaving potential earnings on the table," says one), Josh Friedman's LA Times survey of movie titles lost, found, revised and re-revised yields a handful of worthwhile historical nuggets we'd never surmised. Like Annie Hall was originally named Anhedonia — "a term for the inability to experience pleasure" — and our beloved Beverly Hills Chihuahua was conceived with the weak-ass working title South of the Border. After the jump, the experts show off with the good and the bad, and we leave the ugly up to your fertile imaginations.

One of the most notorious examples of a missed opportunity because of an ill-chosen title was The Shawshank Redemption, the 1994 prison drama starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. The film was lauded by critics but landed with a thud at the box office. More recently, the Russell Crowe boxing saga Cinderella Man and the futuristic thriller Children of Men also failed to capitalize on strong reviews, in part because of titles widely seen as turn-offs. ...

The best titles, such as Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Pulp Fiction, are "sonorous," [consultant Seth] Lockhart says. "They just sound right — appealing to your emotions and your senses." Although an awkwardly named movie usually won't reach its box-office potential, Lockhart points to exceptions such as the Hugh Grant comedy Love, Actually, a hit despite a title he calls stilted.

For our money, no film was titled better than the Beastie Boys' Earth-shattering 2006 concert opus Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That (the first title in history to engage a semicolon), and we have yet to find any film with a worse title than Emily Hubley's recent festival darling The Toe Tactic. Awful. And of course, none of this takes into consideration anything in Ira Isaacs' fine scat-fetish oeuvre. Anyway, you can persuade us on either front — what is in a name, anyway?

Some movies are entitled to do well [LAT]

Short Ends: Wolfgang Puck Hep Scare!

Mark — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:24:45 EST

· Yes, there's a hepatitis A scare related to a Wolfgang Puck event, but it's for the Sports illustrated swimsuit issue party at the Pacific Design Center back on February 14th, not the Puck-catered Governor's Ball following the Oscars. Any Academy member experiencing the symptoms of jaundice, fatigue, fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, or diarrhea since Sunday night probably should just place an angry call to their coke dealer about the poor quality of their celebratory Oscar eightball rather than waste the time of public health officials trying to provide immune globulin shots to the potentially infected.
· Gary Sinise as Bones? Yeah, that kind of makes sense to us. He can probably pull off the "Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a [name of occupation for which the physician is not qualified]" lines with no problem.
· 12-year-olds are always at their most adorable while getting a lapdance.
· Even back in 1970, people still sounded ridiculous trying to take the Oscars seriously.
· Want to fill up with righteous indignation about Children of Men's total Oscar fuckage once again? Go watch this.

Awards Round-Up: Web More Popular Than Ever With Oscar And Porn Aficionados

Seth — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:03:27 EST

· Oscars web traffic is expected to be higher than ever this year—possibly even higher than the TV ratings themselves. Why? We're suspecting it has everything to do with convenient, private access to Helen Mirren's rack. [NYT]
· Babel and The Departed tied for this year's Eddie—the American Cinema Editors award. The Eddies anticipated Crash's Oscar win last year, so when Babel and The Departed tie for Best Picture this year, don't say they didn't tell you so! [Gold Derby]
· Emmanuel Lubezki won the top feature honors for his work on Children of Men at the 21st Annual American Society of Cinematographers' Outstanding Achievement Awards. The ceremony itself took Longest Name at the Guild Award Awards. [Variety]
· With still no clear favorite in the Best Picture race, campaigning has reached a "fever pitch," with every movie adopting their own tagline, including Little Miss Sunshine's catchy, "No movie featuring a heroin-OD'd grandpa in a trunk moved you more." [LAT]
· The Cinema Audio Mixing Society, comprised of "550 sound mixers and associates in the film and TV industries," awarded Dreamgirls its top award for excellence in bringing Jennifer Hudson's heffer-lunged belting down to the same levels as her co-stars. [THR]

Short Ends: On Men, Fires, and Courtney Cox's Spankability Factor

Mark — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 21:13:24 EST

· A fan from the Something Awful forums donates some free Oscar stumping to Universal on behalf of Children of Men. Warning: The video contains some spoilers, so watch at your own peril. [via Risky Bix]
· Mel Gibson's beachside kingdom is currently on fire. (Well, probably not his house specifically, just the parts of Malibu he claims to own when he gets liquored up and confronts a mouthy, sugar-titted cop.)
· A TV critic apologizes to Courtney Cox after reversing his position on whether or not she's spankworthy.
· As it turns out, Angelina Jolie is totally fine with Madonna's purchase of Malawian children.
· Our blogging siblings over at Gizmodo and Kotaku are busy nerding it up at CES, while Jalopnik is covering the Detroit Auto Show. Meanwhile, as we previously hinted, we're watching The 'Bu smolder on the local news.