Did Ballerina’s title spell box-office disaster?

Action Blockbuster from the World of John Wick: Ballerina has been one of the big summer flops so far, and its confused title may be responsible.

Last week we saw a release from John Wick: Ballerina World – a spin-off of the Keene Reeves Gun Who series – but you’ll be forgiven for not realizing it. The film spent an overwhelming opening weekend at the US box office, earning just $24 million (£17.8 million). That amount has since risen to $41.8 million (£31.3 million), but given the $90 million (£66.8 million), it is still a disappointing figure for film studio Lionsgate. Several factors may be responsible.

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is Anna de Armas’s vehicle, and female-centered action films are a difficult sale. The release was pushed back to make time for re-shooting: If they were approaching De Armas’ explosive turn in the 2021 Bond film, the film’s audience could have been more intrigued, as originally planned. Additionally, last year’s John Wick television spinoff, Continental, went on to do three episodes before being cancelled. This is not a sign of franchise fatigue, or the world he occupys, but a central figure in Reeves, the fans love in these films. However, there is another factor that cannot be ignored: title.

“Ballerinas don’t scream action movies,” the film industry news site wrote deadline With their analysis. “If you want to make a lot of money, maybe don’t call your hardcore action movie ballerina,” said Echo film commentator. Mark Harris. fan reddit A similar conclusion has been reached: “Your average movie fan is [media] Did you know that the hype is packed with scenes from the Kick-Ass battle from the film “Markey” from that word on the poster? ”

A glimpse into the film’s marketing suggests that Lionsgate had anticipated this exact problem during its production. The film was about a Pirouette murder machine directed by Underworld’s Len Wiseman, but was entitled Ballerina when it was purchased as a Spec script in 2017. Last year, the official title of the film was changed from ballerina to John Wick Presents. Finally, John Wick: From the World of Ballerina – Reeves’ beloved hitman front and center, has only a small cameo in the film.

But it still leaves the word “ballerina.” Now, just “ballerina” is bolted over many other words. Tom Lashley of Gower Street Analytics, a company that tracks and predicts box office performance, believes this could have contributed to TumbleWeeds’ playing in a Ballerina screening last weekend. In the title, “There’s a shortage of all sorts of sales,” he told the BBC. “So the studio started pasting the name John Wick in a more aggressive way, in a more aggressive way. For me, when things are renamed that way, it’s never a good sign.”

When it comes to Hollywood Studios, there is a precedent that mistakenly thwarts your own release by failing to land on the title with proper appeal. Edge of Tomorrow (2014), starring Tom Cruise, was adapted from a Japanese novel titled All You Need Is Kill, but as a producer of Time Twist’s science fiction thriller Edwin Stoff He told the Hollywood Reporter At the film’s premiere, “I think the word ‘kill’ in the title is very difficult in today’s world. “However, it’s easily replaced by a title that’s wrong with Lady Gaga’s track, releasing most of the film’s “Groundhog Day During an Alien Invasion.” Even fans of the film were unhappy, so when Edge of Tomorrow was released on DVD, the title was given something less noticeable than the catchphrase “Live. Die. Repeat.”

On the other hand, you can pay dividends if you exchange bad titles at the right moment. The cute woman was originally called 3000 and then 3000. Because that’s the amount that the sex worker is paid by her employer. At that point, the film was “a dark skewer of economic imbalances…it wasn’t as much sex work as an attack on out-of-control capitalism,” said screenwriter JF Lawton. I explained it 2020. But Disney executives thought it sounded like a science fiction movie. When Lawton’s script was reconstructed as a romantic comedy of fairy tales, it was a catchy title referring to Roy Orbison’s song, Ah, Pretty Woman, and was renamed the catchy title used to describe Julia Roberts in countless articles about the film’s breakout star.

For Lashley, some of the best and most effective titles in film and TV as a whole are simple, unlike ballerinas, distilling the story in one word as long as the words are appropriate. “[1990s sitcom] My friend originally had a title that went beyond the hall. It’s hard to imagine it succeeding with that name,” he says. The same may be said about iconic aliens. Or the same thing is Star Beast, Star Beast, until screenwriter Dan O’Bannon realizes that his name promises something more fantastic and Star Wars-esque than the lean Brutal Horror Ridley Scott is creating. Warner Bros. Beetlejuice is a film that chased the director to release under the ghost of the title house without imagination.

Sometimes, the distinctive name of the protagonist, whether Annie Hall or not, could be changed from Anhedonia, or the answer from Amery, Moana, and Barbie. Let’s take a look at an example of a movie in the vague working title, Keicorn. It was filmed, edited and prepared for release, but the star kept mistaking its name in interviews and instead referenced it by the name of his character. It’s not a good sign. The studio’s fundraising executives have decided to change the title now that Buzz is building. The star was Keanu Reeves. The film was eventually called John Wick.