25 Things You Didn't Know About The Shawshank Redemption

19. Stephen King's Name Was Intentionally Kept Out Of The Marketing

You'd be forgiven for not actually knowing that The Shawshank Redemption was based on a Stephen King-penned novella, given King's noted deference towards the horror genre and the utter lack of King's name in the film's marketing materials.

This was in fact a totally intentional move on the part of Columbia Pictures, who after seeing the film test screen extremely well, felt that an association with King might harm the film's commercial prospects with more general audiences who weren't much keen on horror.

Despite the attempt to attract mainstream crowds and drum up a steady head of awards hype, the strategy backfired, as the film ended up bombing during its initial theatrical release regardless, and only proved profitable for the studio once it hit home video.