The title perhaps doomed the movie? - Maggie (2015) Discussion

[–] Legendary_Badass 9 years ago

I'm a film festival programmer. I watch about 600 movies a year. Maggie, though a terrible and generic title, is not nearly as bad as some out there in the indie circuit. In the very least it's the name of a character in the movie.

Last season there was a submission to my festival called Fractured. Not a bad title given the way it was edited. However, they then changed the title to Somewhere in the Middle. These vague hipster titles are the absolute worst and so easy to forget. If your title can describe any movie, you need to quit filmmaking.

THE MOST ORIGINAL YOUTUBE CHANNEL YOU'RE NOT WATCHING:
http://bit.ly/1pPzoBc

reply

[–] Prismark10 9 years ago

I thought the movie was about Mrs Thatcher!

It's that man again!!

reply

[–] minime1963 9 years ago

I get Margaret, Maggie ... clever.

reply

[–] daybeausweeper 9 years ago

The title does do a good job of indicating a drama in the so-called "feminine mode." While one cannot fault Arnold from trying to stretch his acting chops, with regards to the subject of this thread a more accurate title would have been something along the lines of Laggie.

reply

[–] Howlin Wolf 9 years ago

I wanted to watch it because I knew it was Arnold doing some serious acting in a quasi-zombie movie... The title had no influence on whether or not I was going to see it.

That's why you should never judge a book by its cover. 



"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?!"

reply

[–] Navaros 9 years ago

Your OP makes no sense.

It sounds more like a chick flick

That's exactly what this film is. So its title is a completely accurate description. This film is a chick flick melodrama and it is titled accordingly. Its title probably did doom it, but that's fine because it was an honest dooming.

But its title just a subset of the larger issues that doomed it, which are:

a> It sucks.
b> It was not marketed as the chick flick melodrama that it is.

reply

[–] minime1963 9 years ago

Hmmm, Netflix listed it as a horror movie. It is not even remotely a chick flick!

So you would put this in a category with The Notebook, and and anything with Jennifer Aniston?!! Nope!

reply

[–] Navaros 9 years ago

What are you talking about man? This is 100% a chick flick. Absolutely it is in the same category as The Notebook or Jennifer Aniston chick flicks. It even apes "The Fault In Our Stars" quite a lot, ROFL!

Netflix listed it as a horror movie

Whoever did that should be fired for false advertising.

reply

[–] minime1963 9 years ago

I think you're genre challenged.

reply

[–] IvyTempleton 8 years ago

Navaros »
Post Edited: Thu May 26 2016 18:51:09
What are you talking about man? This is 100% a chick flick. Absolutely it is in the same category as The Notebook or Jennifer Aniston chick flicks. It even apes "The Fault In Our Stars" quite a lot, ROFL!

Netflix listed it as a horror movie

Whoever did that should be fired for false advertising.

Uh oh. Male afraid of a women getting thrown a bone alert. I can't give up 2 hours of my life for someone who has to be immersed in the male dominated world 24/7. It has to be all male all the time lest I come up with some idiotic label to make sure all guys know it's about a girl.

Good grief. If it weren't for heterosexual sex and procreation you guys would've have killed us all off long ago. SYAAG.

reply

[–] BlueeRain 8 years ago

What are you talking about man? This is 100% a chick flick. Absolutely it is in the same category as The Notebook or Jennifer Aniston chick flicks. It even apes "The Fault In Our Stars" quite a lot, ROFL!

Netflix listed it as a horror movie

Whoever did that should be fired for false advertising.

What if the story was exactly the same but Maggie was a boy named Michael? What would you label it then? Is it a chick flick because she is a girl or because of the story line?

I love that you are ROFL when it's the rest of us that should be laughing at your comment. Bless your heart.

reply

[–] Navaros 8 years ago

What if the story was exactly the same but Maggie was a boy named Michael? What would you label it then?

How is that even possible though? A real boy would never do laughably asinine things like Maggie does in this film, like cut off his own fingers to be melodramatic, or go on a "zombie date night." This film's ludicrous plot points like those are linked to the girl protagonist and to female viewers who find entertainment in such nonsense.

With a girl, those scenes are already unintentionally hilarious! With a boy instead, those scenes would be unintentionally hilarious x 1000 fold more.

I'd label it as a chick flick if it follows the conventions of the chick flick genre. In the alternative version you are proposing, it would still follow the conventions of the chick flick genre so yes, it would still be a chick flick.

reply

[–] lm362 8 years ago

It is a fitting title because that is what the movie is about: the girl and not just what is wrong with her.

"Do All Things For God's Glory"-1 Corinthians 10:31
I try doing this with my posts

reply

[–] Eve_of_Destruction 8 years ago

Would you have preferred a male name in the title so it could be more obviously a Testosterone Flick or a Dude Tube? Making your movie choosing easier?

Oh wait..those labels don't exist for guy movies.

reply

[–] minime1963 8 years ago

Don't spend your whole life being a d o u c h e b a g.

reply

[–] pinktinkerbell07 8 years ago

I think a better title could've been created, however, oddly enough I associate the name Maggie with zombie/zombie culture because I'm a big fan of The Walking Dead

reply

[–] Navaros 8 years ago

I think a better title could've been created

No it couldn't, because most other titles would be misleading and therefore they would be scamming the customers if they went with that (i.e. if they titled it like a zombie film or a horror film, both of which it is not.)

But if they gave it an alternative chick flick title that makes its chick flick genre membership even more clear than the title "Maggie" does, then that would have been better.

Maybe they could have went with:

"A Zombie Walk to Remember" or "The Fault In Our Zombie Date Night" or "The Notebook Dripping With Zombie Blood After I Had a Big Cry and Cut Off My Own Fingers."

reply