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- With recent Oscar-nominated films like Everything Everywhere All at Once and highly anticipated upcoming premieres like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (June 2), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30), and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (July 14), it's clear that movies with long titles aren't going anywhere. These wordy masterpieces don't even come close to the iconic films with long titles that are still celebrated and studied today.
Sometimes it's good to keep a title brief and punchy. If a filmmaker can let the viewer know what to expect from just a word or two, it makes the movie easier to sell. A series of movies about a war on a galactic level? Star Wars. A movie about a person wanting to murder someone called Bill? Kill Bill. A movie about a tornado of sharks? Sharknado.
Sometimes, however, filmmakers might need long movie titles to properly convey an idea of what their movie involves, or what viewers can expect. Sometimes, a longer title might be used to emphasize a film's complexity or runtime. Other times, it can be done for the sake of humor. Whatever the cases are, here are movies that have very, very, very, very, very long titles, from a hefty nine words all the way up to 40.
Updated on February 27th, 2023, by Hannah Saab:
With recent Oscar-nominated films like Everything Everywhere All at Once and highly anticipated upcoming premieres like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (June 2), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30), and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (July 14), it's clear that movies with long titles aren't going anywhere. These wordy masterpieces don't even come close to the iconic films with long titles that are still celebrated and studied today.
10 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover' (1989)
One of the earliest examples of long movie names, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is about a chef who runs a high-class restaurant that's frequented by a notoriously violent and offensive leader of a criminal gang, who's trapped his wife in an abusive, oppressive marriage. She herself uses the restaurant trips to have an affair with another man who frequents the place, behind her gangster husband's back. Go figure.
It's a shocking, confronting, yet beautiful-looking film, and something of a cult classic for those that can stomach its disturbing content. It features a great lead performance from Helen Mirren, and a wonderfully despicable turn from Michael Gambon as the titular thief; an actor best known for playing a completely different character – Albus Dumbledore – in all but the first two Harry Potter films.
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9 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' (2003)
The first and easily the best of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, The Curse of the Black Pearl builds up a solid word count from more or less being two titles in one. There was a need to emphasize the fact it was based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, but it's also possible franchise potential was seen straight away, and as such, it used the title + subtitle format.
It's a fun time that mixes pirates, true love, and the undead into a movie that feels a bit like a theme park ride, but in a good way. It's the high point of the series, and also happens to be the one with the longest movie title. Coincidence?
8 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' (2001)
Director Peter Jackson's epic fantasy film trilogy changed the genre forever when the first movie – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – premiered in 2001. Based on the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien, the film introduces audiences to characters they would root for and anticipate in the years to come, which include Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Gandalf the Grey, and more.
Of course, the rest of the films in the trilogy have long titles, too. There's something about the length that manages to convey a bit of the fantastic adventures and wild journeys fans can watch unfold within the beloved films, with the first one setting the high standard the rest of the movies all manage to hit later on.
7 'The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension' (1984)
With a title like The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, viewers are informed beforehand that things are going to get a little weird. And weird things do indeed get in this underappreciated 1980s sci-fi comedy about a scientist/musician/vigilante and his crew preventing aliens from taking over the world.
You have to admire the commitment to the title. It could easily be called Buckaroo Banzai or even The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, and maybe it would have fared better and gotten some sequels. Maybe filmgoers were afraid to say the sentence-long title out loud to the ticket-seller at the cinema. At least it's been appreciated as a cult classic in more recent years, dimension-hopping title and all.
6 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' (2007)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a very good film, and has a plot synopsis that is the title. Really, the only thing it doesn't tell you is that Jesse James is an outlaw (probably doesn't need to, given he's a famous historical figure), but otherwise, that's what happens.
It's probably a well-known story for American audiences, but might be a disappointing title for those who didn't know how Jesse James died and wanted a little more suspense in their downbeat and psychologically intense neo-Western. At least it's a good movie – with two great lead performances from Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt – even with its infamously spoiler-ish movie title that reveals the entire plot.
5 'Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb' (1964)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is one of Stanley Kubrick's best films, and also might have the best title in his filmography. It can also be abbreviated to Dr. Strangelove quite easily, but the full title does a good job of laying out its themes and satirical tone.
It was made while the Cold War was in full swing, and tensions surrounding nuclear warfare were high. With a talented cast - including the great Peter Sellers playing three different roles - Kubrick crafted one of the funniest and darkest satires of war - and the men who start them - revealing horrors and making the audience laugh all at once.
4 'Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood' (1996)
The best joke in Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood is probably its title. As a parody of the sub-genre of hood films that were popular in the 1990s, it crams several titles into its own behemoth of a title, including Menace II Society, South Central, and Boyz n the Hood.
It's not a great film beyond that, but as far as parody movies ago, there are definitely worse out there. It starred and was written by the Wayans brothers, who would continue to find success in parody films with the first two Scary Movie installments.
3 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan' (2006)
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The first feature film with Sacha Baron Cohen's now-iconic character, Borat, has an awkwardly long yet enthusiastic title that does feel like it was written by the title character. It's fitting in that way, and shows just how committed Sacha Baron Cohen was to portraying this particular character.
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is a fake documentary that involves the titular character traveling through America and tricking people who don't know he's a character into revealing their prejudices or sometimes just coming across like fools. It's an edgy and uncompromising movie, but it was a huge deal at the time of release, and still stands as one of its decade's most popular comedies.
2 'Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood' (2003)
Just Easy Riders, Raging Bulls gets the message across pretty well, but the rest of the title gives a little more detail at least. This is a compelling and entertaining look at the "New Hollywood" era of cinema, which lasted from the late 1960s until the very start of the 1980s.
During this time, many iconic filmmakers (including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and George Lucas) made their mark on the film landscape and released a slew of amazing films. Studio interference was low, and the director was king, able to realize an artistic vision on screen with few restrictions. This documentary covers that period and some of the best films made during it, and is a must-watch for cinephiles.
1 'Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Hellbound, Flesh-Eating Subhumanoid Zombified Living Dead, Part 2: In Shocking 2-D' (1991)
If Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Hellbound, Flesh-Eating Subhumanoid Zombified Living Dead, Part 2: In Shocking 2-D counts as a proper movie, then it probably holds the record for the longest movie title, at an unprecedented 40 words.
Why might it not be a "proper" movie? It's a joke dub of an existing movie, Night of the Living Dead – the first true zombie movie, and of the most downbeat – so it's really just that movie, but the characters say silly things. Its title does manage to combine almost every horror movie title cliché out there into one, so good on them for that at least.