If you have ever paused mid-sentence wondering whether to italicize a movie title, underline it, or wrap it in quotation marks, you are not alone. The rules are simple once you know them — and they change slightly depending on where the title appears. Here is everything you need to format film titles correctly.
Do you italicize movie titles?
Yes. In modern writing, movie titles are italicized. This is the standard in the two most common American style guides:
- MLA style italicizes movie titles.
- Chicago Manual of Style italicizes movie titles.
- APA style also italicizes movie titles.
So in an essay or article you would write: The film Oppenheimer was released in 2023. The title Oppenheimer is italicized; the surrounding sentence is not.
When to underline instead of italicize
Underlining movie titles is an older convention from the typewriter era, when italics were not available. If you are handwriting an essay or working in a format that does not support italics, underlining is an acceptable substitute. In any digital document, use italics rather than underlining.
Do movie titles go in quotation marks?
No. Quotation marks are reserved for titles of shorter works that are part of a larger whole — a single episode of a TV series, a song on an album, or a short story in a collection. A feature film is a complete, standalone work, so it takes italics. The episode title goes in quotation marks; the series title is italicized.
How to capitalize a movie title
Movie titles use title case, which means you capitalize:
- The first and last word, always.
- All major words: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
You generally do not capitalize short articles, prepositions, and conjunctions (a, an, the, and, but, or, of, to, in) unless they are the first or last word. For example: The Lord of the Rings, No Country for Old Men, Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Formatting movie titles on screen
Writing a title in an essay is one thing — designing one for the screen is another. When a title appears in a film, music video, or YouTube edit, the typography itself does the work: the font, spacing, and animation set the tone before a single frame of the story plays.
If you are building title cards, a clean preset saves hours. MoonBear's title presets give you drag-and-drop animated titles for Premiere, Final Cut, and DaVinci Resolve, while our display fonts cover everything from bold modern type to handwritten styles for posters and album art.
Quick reference
- In an essay or article: italicize the movie title.
- Handwritten or no italics available: underline it.
- Never: put a feature film title in quotation marks.
- Capitalization: use title case — first, last, and all major words.
Get the formatting right and your writing looks polished. Get the on-screen type right and your edit looks professional.