The impact of movie titles on box office success

Abstract

The movie lifecycle comprises production, distribution, and exhibition factors. In general, the most significant expenses are associated with the production factors. However, the movie title is one of the relatively inexpensive production factors that a studio can use to its advantage. This study examines how an informative movie title, that is, a movie title that contains information about its genre or storyline, affects a movie's box office revenue. This study used an analysis of a 5-year period in the South Korean movie market to show that an informative movie title has a positive impact on box office revenue for an under-promoted movie, where prerelease promotional activities are measured by the volume of prerelease media exposure. However, this impact decreases as prerelease promotional activities increase. This mechanism not only contributes to the understanding of the film industry, but also to the literature on the entertainment industry and brand and firm names.