films with no title

Films with no title are those movies whose title is not explicitly stated within their opening credits.

Up until the late 1980s, it was occasional Hollywood practice for a film to omit most of the opening credits and display only the company logo and movie title, such as in The Godfather, Star Wars, and Ghostbusters. However, Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) was the first of the regular summer blockbusters to establish the 'title only' style that would become commonplace for 'event' movies from that point on. (Ghostbusters II actually preceded Lethal Weapon 2 the same year, but didn't display its title — see below.)

This then evolved so that some movies either implied the title with the use of graphics, or discarded it completely.

Title via insignia

Instead of showing the film's actual title written out, a symbol is shown at the start to illustrate the title in some way. The film's full title is usually then seen written out during the end credits. Some examples are:

• Ghostbusters II: instead of an actual title, the Ghostbusters cartoon logo appears where the title would be, holding up two fingers.
• Batman Forever: the word "Forever" simply appears over the Batman logo.
• Summer of Sam: "Summer of Sam" is not shown at the beginning, but instead the words "Son of Sam" appear written with blocks.
• Kill Bill: Vol. 2: only the words "Vol. 2" appear at the beginning (although immediately before this The Bride finishes her opening monologue with the words "...kill Bill!").
• Batman Begins: just after the company logos, a swarm of bats engulfs the screen and the new Batman logo can be seen faintly floating towards the viewer.

Title at the end

The movie's title is left until the closing credits, creating the feeling that the entire film has been a cold open. Some examples of this:

• Apocalypse Now Though the title of the movie appears as graffiti late in the film, which reads, "Our motto: Apocalypse Now".
• Apocalypto
• Collateral
• The Constant Gardener
• Beverly Hills Cop III
• Dreamgirls
• Gangs of New York
• Hot Fuzz
• The Last Action Hero
• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
• Miami Vice
• The Mummy Returns
• Pan's Labyrinth
• The Passion of the Christ
• The Pianist
• Punch-Drunk Love
• The Ring
• The Ring Two
• Robocop 2
• Van Helsing
• Vanilla Sky

Fantasia, also the very first film to not have opening credits, originally premiered without even a title, except for a card appearing over the intermission. However, recent rereleased and video versions remove the intermission and place the title card at the start of the film.

Once Upon a Time in the West is unusual in that it has standard opening credits, including the main cast, writers and director, but the title of the film is not shown until the end.

Extended cold open

The Departed, besides having no opening credits (apart from those of the production companies), does not display its title card until 18 minutes into the film's narrative. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind employs a similar device for its entire opening credits.

No title at all

For its Region 2 DVD release, The Bourne Identity features no title within either its opening or closing credits.

See also

• opening credits
• closing credits
• production logo
• title sequence

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