Evonisia said:
I thought the issue was that it was just a long title with a rather blunt beginning. "Batman v Superman" just sounds incredibly off and makes the film (had I not done any research into it), sound like a two hour long fight scene between two enemies which realistically shouldn't be able to put on a fight for that long. Then "Dawn of Justice" which is just added fluff to what we know about the film thus far (yes, I know the film is a Justice League prequel). It's not a Justice League movie and if it's a prequel then I doubt the film's story will revolve around the forming of it (especially when two members of the trinity are fighting each over).
OT: There's going to be an Alice in Wonderland 2? That's sad, and a little late isn't it? It will have been over half a decade between movies.
There are quite a few problems with BvS
oJ besides its length, and they become more apparent when you attempt to make a more cohesive title.
1) Just say Batman v Superman. On its own, the concept is one that gets the point across, but of course, it's always less what you say and more how you say it. This feels like a monster bash title, like Godzilla vs. Mothra, and gives it more of a B-movie feel, one that's only offset because of its A-list icons. Then, as has been pointed out in this very thread, the "v" versus, well... "vs" makes it sound more like a legal battle than a physical one, which could very well happen (and might actually be awesome), but could potentially be misleading depending on what type of trailer DC/WB decide to go with. Very few movies survive or even thrive off of misleading presentation. Audiences don't usually like going in to one movie expecting to see another, even if that movie was good (this coming from someone who genuinely liked "The Village" even with all of its Shyamalan-esque problems).
2) Just say Dawn of Justice. This is easily the better selling title, but considering the content of the movie, it feels contradictory to what audiences will actually see. The emergence of the Justice League seems like it will be a by-product of the more immediate clash between Batman and Superman. Perhaps the League will form in the final act, or the foundations for the League will be set in the final scenes, but that's not what the movie's about. Dawn of Justice, while a solid title, would have been better for an actual Justice League movie, not its build-up.
3) Rearrange them to be Dawn of Justice: Batman v Superman. Strangely enough, the problems with BvS
oJ disappear significantly when you reverse them, and here's why. Batman v Superman, while shlocky, actually makes a better subtitle than it does a main. Also, because most people when talking about works that have subtitles tend to drop the subtitle in casual conversation for the sake of brevity, you get the full weight of the title (DoJ:BvS) with the better main title (DoJ), rather than their current title (BvS
oJ) leaving you with the sillier but more factual main title (BvS). The semantics of word order don't seem like they should be that important, but they actually are. It rolls off the tongue better than the opposite, even though it's the same words and the same exact amount of syllables, and it somewhat negates the issue that just saying Dawn of Justice by itself would have (A movie advertising the emergence of the League that's actually just about a clash between Batman and Superman) because of the modifying subtitle. Of course, as Zontar pointed out, Dawn of Justice is undermined by the amount of related movies that will come out before the actual Justice League movie does.
I initially thought the issue
was the length of the title, but then I switched them. And it sounded so much better. Instead of a "Batman and Superman duke it out, something, something... yada yada... and now Justice League" title, it instead pitches a "The unprecedented and major alliance of superheroes worldwide was catalyzed by the historical event of two major superhero figures in conflict with one another" title.
