This video segment discusses "The Shawshank Redemption" as a marketing failure, despite its current popularity. It highlights that the film initially "bombed" at the box office, partly due to poor timing with the release of other blockbusters. A significant point of discussion is the film's title. Morgan Freeman, who starred in the film, was reportedly unhappy with the final title, "The Shawshank Redemption." He believed the original title of Stephen King's short story, "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," was superior. Freeman questioned why the studio opted for "Shawshank" over "Rita Hayworth," which was prominently featured on the film's poster. The explanation provided is that "Rita Hayworth" was used in the title to signify the long duration of the protagonist's imprisonment, with the name representing different eras or significant figures during his time incarcerated, evolving from Rita Hayworth to Raquel Welch.

Marketing Brilliance

Another great marketing failure is The Shawshank Redemption. Most people agree it's one of their favorite films.

"Wasn't that didn't it bomb at first?"

It absolutely bombed, and it even, you would have thought that word of mouth might have rescued it, but one, they timed the launch badly. So it coincided with the launch of some other blockbuster. But why the hell do they call it that? Okay, because now it's one of the world's most popular films. We can all remember the name of The Shawshank Redemption.

Now, Morgan Freeman himself was livid about the title of the film because he said the original title of the Stephen King short story was Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. And Morgan Freeman's observation was, "You've got Rita Hayworth, you've got the Shawshank Redemption. Why the hell would you go with Shawshank, not Rita Hayworth?" That was the poster. If you remember in the film, the reason it was called Rita Hayworth, a famous actress, extraordinary. So it went from Rita Hayworth to Raquel Welch to show how long he'd been in the prison. Okay.

Why Shawshank Redemption’s Marketing Was a Disaster

Another great marketing failure is The
Shaw Shank Redemption. Most people agree
it's one of their favorite films.
>> Wasn't that didn't it bomb at first?
>> It absolutely bombed and it even you
would have thought that word of mouth
might have rescued it, but one they
timed the launch badly. So it coincided
with the launch of some other
blockbuster. But why the hell do they
call it that? Okay, because now it's one
of the world's most popular films. We
can all remember the name of the Shaw
Shank Redemption. Now, Morgan Freeman
himself was livid about the title of the
film because he said the original title
of the Stephen King short story was Rita
Hworth and the Shaw Shank Redemption.
And Morgan Freeman's observation was
you've got Rita Hayworth, you've got the
Shaw Shank Redemption. Why the hell
would you go with Shaw Shank, not Rita
Hayworth? That was the poster. If you
remember in the film, the reason it was
called Rita Hworth, a famous actress,
extraordinary. So he it went from Rita
Hayworth to Rack Rael Welsh to show how
long he'd been in the prison. Okay.

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Why Shawshank Redemption’s Marketing Was a Disaster

Transcription