For most movies, the opening credits are just going through the motions; they're just something that has to happen at the beginning, and they’re usually strung onto a bunch of establishing shots or simply thrown onto a blank, black screen.
However, some filmmakers like to get creative with them, molding the cast and crews’ names around some flashy edits, atmospheric still shots, or jokes that are just funny as anything found in the film itself. Many of these opening credits have become iconic, but some are still resoundingly overlooked due to being foreign language films, even though they’re just as creative as the most well-known intros.
Run Lola Run (1998)
The people who worked on Run Lola Run might be too creative, as there are so many different ideas thrown into a single opening sequence. The movie portrays Lola in three alternate realities as she has 20 minutes to collect money in order to save her boyfriend’s life in each one, and there is so much surreal imagery in the opening titles.
The are so many different art styles in the sequence, from the clay-looking animated clock to the sped-up imagery of passers-by, to Lola running through a dream-like hallway while punching the credit titles. It gets viewers’ adrenaline pumping and prepares them for the short but sweet German-language movie.
The Naked Gun (1988)
All of the best comedy movies make use out of every single shot, and that’s exactly what The Naked Gun does, and it does it arguably better than any other comedy. There are loads of different visual jokes going on in any one scene, but what’s most iconic about the movie is its opening credits.
With a camera mounted on the roof of a cop car just behind a sliding police siren, audiences are taken on a journey to some wild places. The car loses control, going on to the sidewalk, then a car wash, then inside a mansion, and even on a rollercoaster. It’s just ridiculous, but still hilarious, and, though a remake has been in development for years, we can't imagine this sequence any other way.
Raging Bull (1980)
Raging Bull has possibly the classiest opening credits scenes in cinema history. The incredible sweeping classical song “Intermezzo” by Pietro Mascagni, the black and white cinematography, and Robert De Niro’s presence all equate to one of the most breathtaking shots ever made.
The intro shows Jake (De Niro) practising in the corner of the ring as the title appears in a blood-red font, and it foreshadows the entire movie, as the biggest fight he has is with himself. The black and white makes it look so sharp, which is ironic given that the movie wasn’t always going to be in black and white, but that decision was made so that the film could distinguish itself from Rocky.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)
David Fincher is the king of gothic filmmaking, and it reached its apex with the dark and mentally draining crime thriller The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. In the opening sequence, a rollicking cover of Led Zeppelin’s “The Immigrant Song” from Karen O soundtracks absurd visuals of a girl being made out of, and drowning in, some mysterious metallic-looking liquid. Violence, technology, and sex all come in to play during the cacophonous sequence, all of which are themes in the movie, and it captures the tone of the film perfectly.
Fargo (1996)
Like Raging Bull, the opening credits sequence in Fargo is more atmospheric than anything, and it really gives the audience a sense of isolation in the town of Fargo with its snowstorms, given that it’s a brutal winter movie.
At first, it looks like a blank white screen with black credits—that is until a car’s headlights in the distance shine on the snowy roads. The haunting violin-led score just adds to how poignant the three-minute still shot is.
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
The opening credits of Dr. Strangelove were edited together by Pablo Ferro, and it features his signature hand lettering. It may look familiar to viewers, as the penmanship was requested by so many other filmmakers and has featured in so many other movies in the time since, including Stop Making Sense and American Heart. Not only that, but the lettering appears in front of a B-52 getting refueled in midair, which was apparently chosen because of how strangely sexual it seems.
Enter The Void (2009)
Not many people have seen Enter The Void, the experimental foreign language film from controversial director Gasper Noe, but it boasts special effects from the guys who worked on The Matrix and is set in a neon drenched Tokyo. And the jarring opening credits sets the scene perfectly.
The opening sequence is like an adrenaline shot, as names of the cast and crew and production companies pass by in milliseconds, and the colors and fonts change just as quick. It’s a spectacle, and, when the intense techno track “Freak” by LFO shoots in halfway through, it prepares viewers for a hallucinogenic, dream-like trip of a movie.
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Being one of the best cat and mouse movies ever made, the opening of Catch Me If You Can plays out almost the entire movie in just a couple of minutes with stick figures. The art style is wonderful, as the colors change to match globe-trotting backdrops seen in the movie, and, paired with one of John Williams’ most underrated scores, which is almost jazzy, it’s a work of art.
The style should even be a movie itself, and even Spielberg himself must have loved it, as he replicated the opening titles in The Adventures of Tintin nine years later.
Deadpool (2016)
Being as fourth wall breaking as Deadpool is, the credits tell it as it is. Instead of it saying “Starring Ryan Reynolds,” it says, “Starring God’s Perfect Idiot," and it’s apparently written by “the real heroes,” which surely got an applause from any writers who first saw it, as they notoriously don’t get the credit they deserve. The joke was continued in the second movie, and with Deadpool 3 finally in development, it’ll probably be done again.
Do The Right Thing (1989)
Do The Right Thing was Spike Lee’s break-out movie for so many reasons. It had a strong message, fun characters, and a vibrant color palette, and the opening credit sequence sets the mood perfectly. It almost comes off like a fan-made music video as Rosie Perez is being shot while dancing to Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power” in front of different New York backdrops. Both the song and the dancing are in-your-face, and it’s part of what makes it Spike Lee’s best movie.