Art of the Title

Favorite Opening Titles: ‘Superman – The Movie’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

With James Gunn’s long-awaited “Superman” now arriving in theaters everywhere, I am eager to find out if this iteration of the Man of Steel will have any opening credits. And if it does, what will the music to them sound like? The score for the 2025 film is credited to John Murphy and David Fleming, and they both have quite a legacy to live up to which makes the challenge given to them all the more daunting.

Look, it is still impossible to top Richard Donner’s “Superman: The Movie” which brought this symbol of hope to an iconic high, but it will be even harder to top that classic’s opening credits which remain some of the best ever created. Being hurtled to the edges of outer space as the titles stretched out towards the audience was ever so thrilling to me as a youngster, and it has been said that they cost more money to make than most movies back in the day.

And yes, all the visuals were elevated by the opening theme composed by John Williams, a man who has composed so many iconic musical cues and probably still has a couple more left in him. It remains one of my favorite movie themes of all time, let alone one of favorites of Williams’. All of this comes together to create an exhilarating opening to what has long become one of the greatest superhero movies ever made. While this opening could have been “Superman: The Movie’s” peak, something which can result in what I call premature cinematic ejaculation, it instead sets you up and makes clear you are about to watch one of the most entertaining motion pictures you could ever hope to see.

These titles were created by Richard Greenberg of R/Greenberg and Associates (R/GA), and they proved to be his breakthrough into show business. I have included a link for an interview with Greenberg from the Art of the Title website down below in which he describes this opening’s creation, and it can tell you much more than I can in this article.

And, of course, please feel free to watch the high-definition edition of the “Superman: The Movie” opening titles down below.

Art of the Title Superman (1978) article.

Favorite Opening Titles: ‘Enter the Void’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

I will never forget the first time I watched this Gaspar Noe film. “Enter the Void” was screening at the Laemmle Sunset 5 (which has since become another AMC Dine-In Theater), and I had been very, very eager to check out his long-awaited follow-up to his powerful and devastating “Irreversible.”

Noe has always been a playful filmmaker when it comes to title credits, regardless of whether appear at the start or the end of his works. “Irreversible” started with the end credits and went backwards from there, “Climax” did not dare to reveal its title until the film’s final moment and spread its opening credits throughout, and “Vortex” started with its end credits in a solemn fashion which indicated we would be following a pair of characters to their last dying breath.

With “Enter the Void,” Noe zooms through the end credits super-fast to some hypnotic sound which acts like a flashing light. Once they are finished, he thrusts int the opening credits which look like they came out of some kind of modern disco while the song “Freak” by British electro artist LFO plays loudly over the speakers. This is Noe’s way of telling the audience they were about to go on quite the cinematically visual ride.

The opening titles of “Enter the Void” are among my favorites as they are unlike any others I have seen before and after it. Seeing the different visual styles employed for it is endlessly fascinating as it made me wonder just how many styles they came up with. When it comes to LFO’s “Freak,” it proves to be the perfect music cue to score these titles. And when these titles concluded to where we came to “enter” this motion picture, the small but attentive audience at the Sunset Laemmle, including myself, burst into applause. Opening titles are never quite this exhilarating when it comes to your average motion picture.

According to Noe, “Enter the Void” was screened at various film festivals without any titles, be it opening or closing. The title logo was designed by German experimental filmmaker Thorsten Fleisch, and the opening titles were designed by Franco-Japanese filmmaker and designer Tom Kan whose other works include “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions,” “Speed Racer” and “Cloud Atlas.

There is a great article and interview about the “Enter the Void” titles which can be found at the Art of the Title website. Click here to read it.

Check out the opening titles of “Enter the Void” down below.