cold open

noun

variants or less commonly cold opening

plural cold opens also cold openings

: a scene of a film or television episode that precedes the title sequence or opening credits and that typically takes place in medias res

Cold opens are a bold move in any medium. When a movie or TV show drops the audience into its world without so much as a "here's the title," it speaks to a confidence that whatever's about to happen on screen is sufficient enough to immerse, intrigue, and otherwise hook them.—

Alexis Nedd

For fans of NBC's "The Office," the cold open from season five's "Casual Friday"—where Kevin spills his famous chili—is one of the show's most beloved scenes.—

Addy Bink

The film lost me right from the overacted cold opening …—

Alexa Chipman

Examples of cold open in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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Beyond Saturday Night trailer, released Tuesday, features SNL alums Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Kenan Thompson, Seth Meyers, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and more recalling their favorite sketches and reciting SNL’s famous, cold open outro. —

Kalia Richardson, Rolling Stone, 7 Jan. 2025 The episode began with a cold open starring hosts Akbar Gbajabiamila, Amanda Kloots, Natalie Morales, Jerry O’Connell and Sheryl Underwood. —

Nick Caruso, TVLine, 16 Dec. 2024 Saturday Night Live's cold open tackled accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO . —

Khaleda Rahman, Newsweek, 15 Dec. 2024 Earlier in the season, for the Season 50 premiere cold open, Maya Rudolph portrayed Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris alongside James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump, Bowen Yang as JD Vance, Jim Gaffigan as Tim Walz, Andy Samberg as Doug Emhoff and Carvey as Joe Biden. —

Andrés Buenahora, Variety, 15 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for cold open