Today I finally got around to seeing John Carter and I have to admit that it was quite enjoyable (review here). One thing I did wonder about and have heard mentioned a couple of times is the name of the movie. I think you will agree that if you don’t know anything about the history of this movie (like most people probably won’t), chances are you won’t be able to guess what it’s about based on that title. They could have added “through space”, “of Mars” or anything else and it possibly would make it clear what kind of movie this is.

Disney now considers the movie a flop and although I don’t think the name is the biggest blame to it (there are some examples of movies working with the name of the main character, like Jackie Brown or Forrest Gump), but if you don’t spend enough on marketing to let people know what that name stands for chances are that people won’t go to see your movie. So what if you would apply this technique to other well known movies, would you be inclined to go see them if you new nothing about them? Find out after the break with some new movie posters for some classic movies. Continue reading →