PLANNING: Film Title

I've been thinking of different titles for my film trailer, trying to work out what makes a film title stand out. From my research I have discovered that the short, catchy titles are the highest grossing horror films. As of October 31st 2012, The Business Insider published a list of the top 20 highest-grossing horror films of all time. Here is the list:

20) Saw II (2005)                                         $87 million

19) Scream 3 (2000)                                     $89.1 million

18) The Haunting (1999)                              $91.4 million

17) The Others (2001)                                  $96.5 million

16) Sleepy Hollow (1999)                            $101.1 million

15) Scream 2 (1997)                                     $101.4 million

14) Scream (1996)                                        $103 million

13) Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)                 $104 million

12) Interview With The Vampire (1994)      $105.3 million

11) Paranormal Activity (2007)                    $107.9 million

10) The Grudge (2004)                                 $110.4 million

9) The Village (2004)                                   $114.2 million

8) Van Helsing (2004)                                  $120.2 million

7) Shutter Island (2010)                               $128 million

6) The Ring (2002)                                      $129.1 million

5) The Blair Witch Project (1999)               $140.5 million

4) What Lies Beneath (2000)                       $155.5 million

3) The Exorcist (1973)                                 $232.9 million

2) Jaws (1975)                                              $260 million

1) The Sixth Sense (1999)                            $293.5 million

From this list, I noticed that all of the titles are between 1-4 words long. It isn't a long winded title like "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street", which people even shorten to just "Sweeney Todd" as it is easier to remember. Eight of these film titles begin with the word "The". Considering as the top grossing film title begins with the word "the", it would make sense for me to use a film title beginning with the word "the". If it was a two word film title such as "The Grudge" or "The Ring", it makes it short, snappy, catchy and easy to remember. 

So far, the best idea for a film title I have is The Rapture. However, there are a lot of indie films which have the same name with a very similar idea to mine so this title is VERY subject to change.


http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-highest-grossing-horror-movies-of-all-time-2012-10?op=1
Here is my source for the above information.