[David Susilo]

Do you guys have any hypothesis on the reasoning behind multiple titles used for the same movie in other parts of the world?

Example:
US(original title): Fists of Steel. Int'l: Hands of Steel
US: Nanny McPhee Returns. Int'l (original title): Nanny McPhee & the Big Bang
US: Karate Kid; Int'l: Kungfu Kid; Japan: The Best Kid; Original title: The New Karate Kid
US: 9 Int'l (original title): Number 9

It seems to me that the NA titles (unless it's the original title), it always gets the dumbed down version of the title.

 

[jayoldschool]

Not always. Canada got Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

 

[eljay]

I've always enjoyed the "urban myth" (which strikes me as more plausible than the official explanation) about the "III" having been dropped from "The Madness of King George III" (which was a good movie) because of "fear that American audiences would think the film was a sequel".

 

[57]

Not always. Canada got Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

As per the book, but the US had a different movie title

http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=harry+potter

I assume this happens to a lot of movies due to certain "context" in a certain country.

 

[wprager]

I think the point was that Canada got the original -- not dumbed-down version -- and Canada *is* part of North America.

 

[57]

Gotcha..

 

[David Susilo]

Not to start an argument, but it's still an exception to the rule.

Another example is "Coco Avant Chanel" that's been anglocized (sp?) to "Coco Before Chanel"... which altough a perfect translation... why translate? The movies were released in various countries that doesn't speak French at all and maintain the title "Coco Avant Chanel".

 

[cfraser]

^ One could ask the same question about American movie English titles being translated for Quebec? Dumb? Often yes, because there's sometimes only a "le" etc. in front of a title, or an "e" added to a word, otherwise it looks identical to English and nobody misses the meaning. Local sensibilities, and (probably) the law in that case... Sometimes the Americans are in a weird state vis a vis their longest ally (France), so best not to have too much French in a title at the time LOL. Or plain marketing. It doesn't have to make sense. People get paid big bucks to make these decisions, so they must be good.

I have some "foreign" titles where the cuts are different, with the different market titles, so there's one not bad circumstance for changing. Might make some type of rights/copyright thing easier too, I don't know...

re wprager's comment: Reminds me of the current Honda dealer ad I hear every day, saying how much better their North American-built cars are than those made in Mexico...

 

[David Susilo]

true, true... although as we all know there are too many people who got paid big bucks and yet they are still clueless regarding their decisions.

 

[cfraser]

^ I am very qualified for any of those jobs, should you hear of an opening...