For example, in Russia “Zoolander” called “Exemplary male”. And “Hangover” called “Bachelor party in Vegas”.

22 comments

  2. We do it with foreign movies here sometimes, so fair is fair. From having lived in Japan for a long time, the results are a mixed bag. “Emma” didn’t really need to be called “Victorian Romance Emma” just as an example.

  3. I don’t have a problem with it. Those titles are a bit clunky in my opinion, but I doubt anyone involved is worried about my opinion.

  4. Foreign films often get different titles for their English release too.

    I’m fine with it– sometimes the original title of a movie is too difficult for speakers of other languages to say, or it doesn’t make sense outside that language/culture, or the marketing team decides to use a title that tells audiences a tiny bit about the movie.

  5. I think it’s hilarious/great.

    On a related note I live in the French speaking part of Switzerland and my daughter’s list to Santa included a… Talkie-Walkie. So I went to a store and asked for a Walkie-Talkie.

    Clerk is confused so I show her the list.

    “Ooh voila un Talkie-Walkie!”

  9. Check out the literal translations of the marketed names of American films in China.

    I will always remember Kindergarten Cop was called “Devil King of Children.”. I can never unlearn that.

  10. I get it. Sometimes the same name won’t have the same connotation in another language or culture. It’s done when films are released here too.

    Sometimes I don’t like the changes, though. The Irish film Calm with Horses was renamed to The Shadow of Violence in the US. The original name was so much better.

  12. I mean… We do the same thing. Sometimes it makes sense cause certain titles and phrases just won’t work in a different language. Sometimes it’s just really stupid though…

    I remember refusing to watch the show “Money Heist” for so long cause the name sounded so dumb.

    Then I found out it was originally La Casa de Papel (The House of Paper) which is a much better name, but they changed it for U.S. release cause they were afraid it would sound too much like another popular Netflix series “House of Cards”.

  13. I find it amusing to imagine the cultural differences/contexts that necessitate renaming movies, both foreign ones release here in the US and our movies released abroad. Good times.

  16. It makes sense. Sometimes there’s no direct translation that makes sense, sometimes there’s a deeper meaning to the original title that needs cultural context to understand which won’t work with foreign audiences, and sometimes even a translation that *does* translate properly doesn’t quite have the same feel as it does in the original language.

    It happens to foreign movies that get released over here too.

  17. Translation is an art form

    You’re never going to get the exact same experience as a native audience. Some words and phrases don’t translate while others pick up or lose connotations that were never intended by the original artist.

    Changing the title is just an extension of this.

    We do this all the time with foreign media. It in no way surprises me that foreign countries would do this with our media.

  19. I especially love that France renamed Home Alone to Mom, I Missed the Plane! and then when Home Alone 2 came out they got super creative and called it Mom, I Missed the Plane Again!

  20. As an Englishman it’s like the USA changing Philosopher’s stone to Sorcerer’s stone.

  21. If I remember correctly, Adventures In Babysitting was re-named A Night On The Town in the UK market which I thought was funny.

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