30 Unforgettable Movie Opening Sequences
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Mind you, not all films have the luxury of a great title sequence. Some have budgetary constraints, limiting them to a simple, yet classic, white text on black background. Hey, it’s a style that has served Woody Allen very well for many years. Others prefer to take the minimalist road and omit the titles altogether, taking us straight to the action.
In tribute to all of the wonderful title sequences in film, Smashing Magazine has collected 30 Unforgettable Title Sequences for your enjoyment and inspiration. We have chosen some of our favorite selections from all eras and genres. Of course, there are too many brilliant examples to list them all here. What are your favorites? What is missing in the list? Let us know in the comments!
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Lord of War
The visually pleasing "life of a bullet" sequence is a perfect opening for a film about an arms dealer.
Catch Me If You Can The retro animated intro to Catch Me If You Can perfectly sets the scene and time period.
Se7en A wonderfully creepy title sequence that perfectly sets the mood for the film you’re about to watch.
Superbad It’s amazing how much personality can be expressed in a simple silhouette.
Charade There were a lot of animated opening title sequences in the 60’s — this one is my personal favorite.
Casino Royale (2006) In an effort to re-invent the franchise the infamous James Bond title sequence was overhauled. The result was a visually pleasing intro that still pays its respects to the original.
Sweeney Todd A lot of Tim Burton’s films sport fantastic title sequences but Sweeney Todd’s is especially great. The creepy atmosphere and music combined with the dark imagery sets the tone very nicely.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Vibrant colors, great animation and an amazing score. This title sequence has it all.
Fight Club One amazing sequence starts at a microscopic level and continues to expand outward until we are looking down the barrel of a gun. Unfortunately, the embedding of the opening sequence in this post was disabled by request. You need to watch the video on YouTube.
The Pink Panther (1963) We would be remiss not to include the original Pink Panther in this list. Definitely a favorite.
Thank You For Smoking A very clever title sequence with the credits written on vintage cigarette packaging.
Fahrenheit 451 In a world where the simple act of reading has been outlawed it only makes sense to have the titles read to you.
Delicatessen Just beautiful in all respects. A wonderful use of practical effects — they don’t make ‘em like this anymore.
Alien A very slow paced, minimalist title sequence. The result is nothing but haunting.
Bunny Lake Is Missing The concept is fairly simple but it’s so well done and the final result works beautifully.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Another great example of a contemporary film featuring an old school animated introduction.
Vertigo Vertigo features a masterfully crafted and almost hypnotic title sequence. A perfect opening to the film.
Panic Room This is the third David Fincher movie to make this list, it seems the man can appreciate a great title sequence. This is a very basic concept yet it’s brilliantly executed.
Dr. Strangelove Wonderful imagery combined with the hand written text makes for a very unique and memorably title sequence.
Eurotrip Say what you will about the movie, this is one creative and well-executed title sequence.
Pi This is a great example of an amazing and original title sequence done on a shoe string budget.
North By Northwest A series of intersecting lines form into a skyscraper. Very cool effect, especially for the time.
American Splendor It only makes sense for a film about a comic book creator to have the credits in a comic book fashion.
Reservoir Dogs To this day every time I walk down the street in a suit and sunglasses “little green bag” inevitably pops into my head.
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World A very funny animated sequence to kick off this comedy classic.
Halloween A very simple yet ominous title sequence.
Live and Let Die The James Bond franchise really understood the beauty of a great title sequence. Though we only included one classic in this list, the rest are here in spirit.
American Psycho The credits for American Psycho play as many mind games on you as the film itself. Great attention to typography.Warning: Course Language!
Psycho (1960) This brilliantly crafted title sequence has a lot of fun with typography and presentation.
Spiderman 2 An amazing title sequence that pays its respects to the original source; the comic book.
Honorable Mentions
There were so many titles we wanted to include in this list but didn’t quite make the cut for one reason or another — in most cases because we just couldn’t find a video sequence in the Web or because the quality of the video was not good enough.
- Amelie
- The Third Man
- Anatomy Of A Murder
- Juno
- Napoleon Dynamite
- Casino
- Do The Right Thing
- Superman: The Movie
- Funny Games
- Star Wars (though technically not a title sequence)
- Stranger Than Fiction
Readers’ Suggestions
2001: A Space Odyssey A very simple, yet powerful opening that perfectly sets the atmosphere for the film.
To Kill A Mocking Bird (1962)
Further Reading
- Art Of The Title Sequence A growing collection of high-quality movie opening sequences (HD).
- Forget The Film: Watch The Titles A site with growing catalogue of movie title sequences.
- 7 Beautiful Credit Sequence Designs
- Wikipedia’s ‘Title Sequence’ entry
- Inspiration Series: Movie Credits
- 12 Greatest Opening Credits
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