high concept

noun

1. a simple and often striking idea or premise, as of a story or film, that lends itself to easy promotion and marketing.

high concept

noun

1. 1. popular appeal
   2. high-concept ( as modifier )

      Baz Luhrmann's high-concept Romeo and Juliet

Word History and Origins

Origin of high concept¹

First recorded in 1980–85

Example Sentences

Embracing the increasingly cinematic aesthetic of stand-up specials, his new hour, which he directed and is actually closer to 50 minutes, takes his act and wraps it around an intricate high concept.

From New York Times

The difference between a beat tape by Kendrick Lamar and his most recent high concept polish, for example.

From Los Angeles Times

The limited-edition soda is the latest in the company’s Creations line, which has featured other short-time soda offerings around other high concept “flavors,” including Coca-Cola Move, Coca-Cola Dreamworld, and Coca-Cola Soul Blast.

From Washington Times

The epitome of low-budget high concept, this impressively sustained but often irritatingly overwritten real-time exercise features an ever-assured Johnson as a streetwise young traveler and Sean Penn as her very loquacious cab driver.

From Los Angeles Times

The 2021 comedy “Vacation Friends” had a premise so thin that it scarcely counts as high concept: One couple befriends another couple on holiday, only to realize that the other couple is a little too wild.

From New York Times