After nearly a year of calling the
Man of Steel sequel "Zack Snyder's upcoming as-yet-untitled
Man of Steel sequel," or
Batman Vs Superman for short, Warner Bros. has gone and given the film an official, goofy title:
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.
As is the case with
all of the news surrounding the film, the reaction from fans has been both diversive and surprisingly snarky. However,
Dawn of Justice is only the latest film to fall victim to a rising trend in Hollywood: the franchise movie subtitle.
The origins of this phenomenon are hard to track, though you could easily point to the rebranding of the
Star Wars and
Indiana Jones franchises. When the original
Star Wars trilogy was released, the films weren't referred to as "Episodes," and rather had some pretty great titles of their own:
Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and
Return of the Jedi. Likewise,
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark wasn't quite the mouthful it is today, and was simply the badass sounding
Raiders of the Lost Ark.
However, somewhere down the line some Hollywood executives decided that subtitles were the way to go, in order to tie the films together for the clueless moviegoer who needed things spelled out for them. So, we now have
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and
Episdoe VI: Return Of The Jedi. The trend continued when the prequel trilogy arrived, and the rest was history. We've already heard rumors about what the upcoming
Episode VII could be called, and I feel terrible for the person who has to make that decision.
Movie subtitles are, by all accounts,
not a very big deal. In all honesty it doesn't really matter what a movie is called, what matters is how good it is. However, over the years as more and more high-profile, big budget blockbuster tentpoles are released, studios have found it more prevelant to give their movies subtitles to set them apart from past franchise installments.
Not only that, but simply giving your film a numeral at the end of the title gives it the negative stigma of being a sequel. People grow more tired of sequels year by year - though we keep going to them - so one way Hollywood has found to soften the blow is by not calling something
Shrek 4, but calling it
Shrek Forever After instead.
What we're left with is a sort of franchise title version of Mad Libs; as the small vocabulary of Hollywood executives becomes clear and words like Age, Dawn, and Rise crop up again and again.
So, while I get that
Dawn of Justice is a goofy subtitle, I get why it's there. What I don't get is why people are being so negative about it, or claiming that Warner Bros. has taken "two steps back" with their cinematic universe by not simply calling the film
Batman V Superman. We're getting a movie with Superman and Batman in it, for the very first time! And you guys are upset about what some studio executive decides to call it? Who cares? We all know we're going to buy tickets either way, and will continue calling the film
Batman Vs Superman on Twitter anyway. The one thing we
should be upset about is that now every time we write about it or tag it in a blog post, we have to use six goddamn words instead of three.
To close out, here are a list of bad movie subtitles. It's like a choose your own adventure journey through franchise filmmaking!
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Transformers: Age of Extinction
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
Superman IV: The Quest For Peace
Spy Kids: The Island Of Lost Dreams
Spy Kids: Game Over
Spy Kids: All The Time In The World
X2: X-Men United
X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men: First Class
X-Men: Days Of Future Past
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Marvel's Avengers Assemble
Avengers: Age Of Ultron
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
Star Wars Episode I: he Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
The Chronices of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Terminator: Rise of the Machines
Underworld: Rise of The Lycans
Underworld: Awakening
The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Thor: The Dark World
Star Trek Into Darkness
Percy Jackson And the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters
The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones
Ice Age: The Meltdown
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Ice Age: Continental Drift
Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance
G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra
G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans
The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day Of The Fliers
Harry Potter and Oh God Just Make It Stop