On a recent flight, I watched a movie that was listed as “Arab Blues”:
When the title screen of the movie appeared, I saw that it was originally titled as “Un divan à Tunis”, which just means “A couch in Tunis”.
Why would they give it a completely different English-language title, instead of just translating the original French title? Are there other movies that have received similar treatment?
I’m guessing it’s marketing reasons, as they do this all the time even between English language countries.
For example “Ford vs. Ferrari” was the US title, and “Le Mans '66” was the UK title of that particular movie, and I’m betting it’s because “Le Mans '66” is more resonant in the UK, while US audiences are somewhat more ignorant of European motorsports, but would recognize “Ford vs. Ferrari” and understand what the movie’s about.
Sometimes it’s due to cultural reasons; “Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle” was titled “Harold and Kumar Get The Munchies” in the UK because White Castle doesn’t do business there.
They change titles for books and movies quite frequently. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone became Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone because they didn’t think American kids would be interested in a book with philosopher in the title. I think the title of Die Heard with a Vengeance was Diehard: Mega Hard in Denmark.
I think it comes down to control. Not art, not translation, not cultural, control. Some low-level weenie decided they needed to put their mark on a movie. They can’t make movies, but they can get their “work” up on the poster.
So Philosopher’s/Sorcerers stone change is some dumbass who changed it because he didn’t get it. Did anyone ask American kids? I’m betting no.
And so we get a movie like The Crying Game becoming Help! My Girlfriend has a Penis!
I understand the title of Airplane! in Spanish countries is: ¿Y Dónde Está El Piloto?
Which translates to And Where is the Pilot?
Has any author or publisher ever polled American kids before deciding on a book title?
Where did this happen?
Which insults the Spanish-speaking audience. The distributors don’t think foreign language speakers can get the simplicity of title, only Americans can? I mean, the pilot is RIGHT THERE! We know what happened to him. And the copilot and flight engineer, too.
Did they retitle Airport as La Novia del Piloto está Embarazada as well? (The Pilot’s Girlfriend is Pregnant.).
Supposedly in Hong Kong. I hope this isn’t the Irish equivalent of The Onion. 
In Hong Kong it was called “哭泣游戏”, which roughly translates to “crying games”. Maybe someone over there lied to him?
I could believe that. But the story still fits the thread. Who CARES if it isn’t true! It has truthiness.
The 2014 comedy Neighbors was released outside of North America as Bad Neighbors, because Neighbors is a well-known Australian soap opera that’s viewed around much of the English-speaking world. I saw it while on holiday in Dublin and that’s what it was called there.
A lot of Hong Kong movies had more generic titles slapped on them for overseas distribution. I’ve seen the title of the classic John Woo actioner The Killer translated as A Pair of Blood Splattering Heroes. Though I just popped the Chinese translation from its wiki page into google translate and it came back with Bloody Duo. A Better Tomorrow is the western name for True Colours of a Hero. And so on and so on…
Scholastic Books changed the title when they acquired the book for the US market in 1998. The film was 2001.
When they released Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs à tire-larigot for English-speaking audiences, they didn’t even bother translating the title, which literally means “shenanigans to fill your piccolo” (or more idiomatically, “non-stop shenanigans.”). Instead, they just shortened it to Micmacs, which means nothing whatsoever to English speakers. (I’d have gone with Whizbangers.)
There is a Schwartzenegger/Stallone style character in Italian movies named Maciste. When his films are released in the U.S., he usually gets re-named as Hercules or Samson.
Most of the sequels to House have little connection to earlier films. The third in the series was released as House III in Europe and Australia, but the U.S. release was re-named The Horror Show.
Hrafninn flýgur was an Icelandic/Swedish film set in the Viking era. It was released in the U.K. as When the Raven Flies. U.S. distributors, hoping to ride Schwartzenegger’s coattails, released it as Revenge of the Barbarians.
Mean Girls was released in France as Lolita malgré moi, or “Lolita in spite of myself.” 
Imagine how successful the books might have been if they left the title alone!
Meanwhile, The Hangover was released in France with a different English title (Very Bad Trip).
Also, fun fact: that 1940s movie with the bicycle that gets stolen is Ladri di biciclette in the original Italian, or Bicycle Thieves. It got an article and made singular in English (although things like Wikipedia and the Criterion Collection use the direct translation of the original title).
Home Alone was released in Latin America as “Mi pobre angelito” (My poor little angel).
In Latin America it was released as “What Happened Yesterday” (Que’ paso’ ayer?) Which is strange because there are plenty of perfectly good words for Hangover.
Even better in Germany: “Die unglaubliche Reise in einem verrückten Flugzeug”, “The unbelievable journey in a crazy plane”. And yes, Airplane II was called “Die unglaubliche Reise in einem verrückten Raumschiff”…(Raumschiff=space ship)
And that’s rather typical, foreign films often get inane German titles that have nothing to do with the original.
ETA: just one example that comes to mind. The western classic “The Searchers”, whose title suggests the main plot of the movie, has the non-informative title “Der schwarze Falke”, “The Black Falcon”.