# Why do films sometimes have different names in different parts of the English speaking world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 11, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962 "2011-09-11T18:44:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/41 "2011-09-13T11:37:57Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > :rolleyes: > > More likely, “Airplane!” sounds like a disaster movie (like “Airport '75” and “Airport 77”);“Flying High” is a better title for a comedy. Airplane! is _supposed_ to sound like a disaster movie, such as Airport 75; it’s a parody of those movies. And don’t call me Shirley. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/42 "2011-09-13T11:50:13Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Acsenray writes: > > \> I suspect that the reason it wasn’t changed is that The Guard is being > \> marketed in the U.S. as an art film and being shown in theaters where the > \> patrons are used to seeing foreign films and are either (1) more likely to catch > \> on to the meaning of “guard” intended (especially after seeing the preview) or > \> (2) not as likely to be put off by a usage that they don’t immediately > \> understand. The relevant consumer market is different from movies marketed to > \> broader audiences. > > That’s true, but it’s consistent with my explanation, which was that the distributors couldn’t think of a better name. What else could it be called? It might be called _The Policeman_ or _The Police_, since that’s the equivalent in the U.S. of _The Guard_, but either one of those would be a rather boring name. What else? _The Corrupt Irish Cop Who Wasn’t As Bad As the Other Corrupt Irish Cops_? _The Big Shootout in Western Ireland_? _Drug Running in Ireland_? Any other name I can come up with is boring or bizarre or stupid. The distributors may have thought about all those names and finally said, “We might as well stick with the original name, since we can’t think of any better name.” Waking Ned was renamed Waking Ned Devine, did that make it sound more Irish? I can imagine the simplest renaming would be something like The Irish Guard. It would sound tautological here but might clue in some Americans as to the subject matter and that Irish dollar, it’s a pretty good dollar. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/43 "2011-09-13T12:01:27Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > I believe “Airplane!” was called “Flying High” in Australia. Perhaps the word “airplane” is too difficult for Aussies to understand? Maybe “Aeroplane!” would have worked? It didn’t make a lot of sense, other than perhaps that airplane is a childish sort of word. Which actually would have been a reasonable choice given the silliness of the film. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/44 "2011-09-13T12:42:07Z")
My favorite example of this is [When the Raven Flies (1984) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087432/) Icelandic title:Hrafninn flýgur UK title: When the Raven Flies US title: Revenge of the Barbarians. I suspect that the US distributors were trying to piggyback on the popularity of _Conan the Barbarian_, which had been released two years earlier. (It’s a pretty good film, by the way. Basically _Yojimbo_ or _A Fistful of Dollars_, but with Vikings.) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/45 "2011-09-13T14:39:59Z")
I have no idea why _Waking Ned_ was renamed _Waking Ned Devine_. I can’t imagine that it sounds to an American more like an Irish title for a movie. I can’t think of any reason that someone might rename the film in that way, except that perhaps the distributor just thought that three-word names were better than two-word names. That doesn’t make much sense, but then many of the cases of renaming don’t make any sense. Many of the original names of films don’t make any sense either. I can’t think of any case where the renaming of a film for the American audience consisted of inserting the name of the country (or the adjective for the country) into the name of the film, so it doesn’t seem to me that the name _The Irish Guard_ would be any better than _The Guard_. In one sense, it would actually be worse. In cases where a movie gets renamed for American audiences, names for which it’s blatantly clear that the name was changed would annoy some of the intended audience. Some of the audience would say, “Obviously this film wasn’t called _The Irish Guard_ in Ireland. Why did they change it from _The Guard_? Do the distributors think we’re too stupid to know that it’s set in Ireland?” I don’t know of any way to figure out if the distributors considered many other names for a film and decided eventually to keep the original name or if they didn’t ever consider other names and kept the original name because they didn’t want to change it. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/46 "2011-09-13T15:08:52Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > And sometimes they just do weird shit with the titles. Apparently in the 70s and 80s every Goldie Hawn film got renamed to (translated) “The girl that …” so you get: > > Tjejen som föll överbord (The Girl that fell overboard - Overboard) > Tjejen som gjorde lumpen (The Girl that did National Service - Private Benjamin) > Tjejen som tog hem spelet (The Girl that, shit, literally “took home the game” but I am sure that can be translated a trifle better than that - Wildcats) > … and so on > > Who on earth thought that was a good idea? Probably someone from marketing. The first film was a success, so they figured that if the audience recognise something as a Goldie Hawn film they will go see it. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > > [@Mogle](#): > > > > They did the same thing with movies directed by Mel Brooks, many of them got the titles changed to ‘Det våras för…’(Springtime for…), I have no idea why or how it how it got started. > > Probably in reference to the song in **The Producers** , “Springtime for Hitler.” True. It was first released as _Producenterna_, but it was no hit. When they changed the title it was a great success. At first Mel Brooks liked the concept of all his films were called _Springtime for …_ (for the same reason as with Goldie Hawn, easy recognition), but eventually he got totally fed up with it, I understand. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/47 "2011-09-13T15:29:51Z")
I’d like to add that Swedish film importers some times come up the most horrible film titles, e.g. _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ is called _Monty Pythons galna värld_ (_The Crazy World of Month Python_), a title the we aficionados will not touch with a ten foot pole. One other good (or bad) example is one of my favourite films _[Breaking Away](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_Away)_, which really is about breaking away from the peloton in a bicycle race. In Sweden it was called _Loppet är kört_ (_The race is over_), which has the connotation of “it’s all over now, there’s nothing to look forward to”. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/48 "2011-09-13T16:00:28Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > In a number of countries, it was simply released as “The First Avenger”. That number was 3. Russia, Ukraine and South Korea. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/49 "2011-09-13T16:43:21Z")
Pat Barker’s novel _Regeneration_ was adapted into a film with Jonathan Price and Jonny Lee Miller. In the UK it was titled “Regeneration.” In the US it was titled “Behind the Lines.” But the weird thing is, I saw it in the US, in a US movie theater, with the title “Regeneration.” That was how it was advertised, and that was how the title appeared in the opening sequence. So sometime between its US theater release and its release onto video, the title got changed. It also got edited, for reasons I can’t fathom. I own the US VHS, and I have seen the UK import VHS conversion, and the US version has cut a number of little moments out of scenes all throughout the movie. It’s irritating. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/50 "2011-09-13T23:30:44Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > My favorite, most nonsensical example from that list has always been “Zwei glorreiche Halunken” for “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. It means “ **Two** glorious scoundrels”, which misses the point on so many levels, the most obvious being the fact that the whole movie revolves around the back and forth between \*\*three \*\*protagonists, none of which is portrayed as having any lick of glory. Whoever chose that title had obviously never watched the movie. To be fair, the English title doesn’t make much sense either. Would you describe Blondie as being particularly Good, or Tuco as being especially Ugly? (I would say that Angel Eyes is pretty Bad, though). And the name doesn’t fit the “dollars” pattern of the previous two. I’ve always thought it should have been called “A Grave Full Of Dollars.” As for 2 vs 3 main characters, I can see a case for it. Angel Eyes is seen at the start of the film, vanishes for a long period, and reappears in the middle, disappears again, and comes back for the climax. I can certainly see a case for Blondie and Tuco as the two main characters, with angel eyes as the antagonist. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/51 "2011-09-14T01:49:24Z")
The renaming of movies in different countries is only one part of the messy business of naming films. A novel will be called T. In country A, where the movie of it is first released, it is called U. When it’s distributed in country B, it is called V. When it is released to DVD in country A, it is called W. When it is re-released years later in country A, it is called X. When it is shown on network television in country A, it is called Y. When it is released in country C, where the language isn’t the same, it is called Z, which happens to be the name U first used for the film plus a subtitle in the language of that country. And so forth. (Here, A, B, and C are countries and W through Z are titles for the movie or novel.) Really, it’s hopeless to try to understand all the changes that titles go through. The distributors think that they know what title would sell best, but sometimes it’s obvious that they have no idea what they’re doing. The IMDb does its best to track these title changes, but even they get confused. Here’s what they say about _Regeneration_: > **[Behind the Lines (1997) - Release info - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120001/releaseinfo/)** > > Behind the Lines (1997) - Movies, TV, Celebs, and more... ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/52 "2011-09-14T03:11:12Z")
In Japan, there are various ways film titles are adjusted/changed for better understanding: There are the titles that are kept the same but modified to fit Japanese pronunciation: **Rocky** ロッキー “Rokkii” **Titanic** タイタニック “Taitanikku” Others are directly translated: **East of Eden** 東のエデン “Eden no higashi” **The Fugitive** 逃亡者 “Toubousha” Some have certain words removed or completely changed into another English title: **Pirates of the Carribean** パイレーツ・オブ・カリビアン “Pirates of Caribbean” **The Fast and the Furious** ワイルドスピード “Wild Speed” One of my favorites is this one. Apparently, “not forgetting” is more heartwarming than “remembering.” **Remember the Titans** タイタンズを忘れない “Taitans wo wasurenai” (Don’t Forget the Titans) And, if it involves romance or love, it’s often included in the changed title: \*\*Out of Africa \*\* 愛と悲しみの果て “Ai to kanashimi no hate” (The end of love and sorrow) **An Officer and A Gentleman** 愛と青春の旅立ち “Ai to seishun no tabidachi” (The departure of love and youth) \*\*The Fabulous Baker Boys \*\* 恋の行方 “Koi no yukue” (The place love has gone) **As Good As It Gets** 恋愛小説家 “Renai shousetsuka” (A romance novel writer) ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/53 "2011-09-14T03:30:08Z")
Shouldn’t we also mention **Män som hatar kvinnor** the got changed to **The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo** ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/54 "2011-09-14T03:52:53Z")
I generally understand the motivation of these changes – get around odd references, tweak for cultural tastes, etc. The oddest one I ever saw was the Irish tearjerker “Inside I’m Dancing.” In the US, it was retitled “Rory O’Shea Was Here.” The former title is catchy, enigmatic, and perfectly encapsulates the general feeling of the movie (which is about a vivacious young man trying to find an identity despite suffering from ALS). The latter is clumsy, forgettable, doesn’t even hint at the emotional content of the movie, runs completely against American tastes, and _is a spoiler_. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/55 "2011-09-14T04:21:13Z")
Inside I’m Dancing is a great title, and again, WTF? 🙂 Unless there was a similarly titled film released around the same time? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/56 "2011-09-14T04:35:08Z")
**Mad Max** here got changed to **Road Warrior** in the US, no real idea why. **Evil Angels** got changed to\*\* A Cry in the Dark\*\* , allegedly because they feared it would sound like a biker movie. **Crocodile Dundee** got changed to **“Crocodile” Dundee** , allegedly because they feared it would sound like a wildlife movie. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/57 "2011-09-14T10:09:57Z")
To be precise, it was _Mad Max 2_ that was released as _The Road Warrior_ in the U.S., not _Mad Max_ (the first film). ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/58 "2011-09-14T12:57:26Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Slightly OT but: I dunno how many Irish kids are well versed in Arthurian legend but I suppose we’re too small a market to care about. Also what has the philosopher’s stone go to do with Arthurian legend, I didn’t know those two things were related? > [@elfkin477](#): > > Yes, what? The earliest ref on wiki’s page about the philosopher’s stone was during the 8th century, two hundred years after king Arthur’s supposed time frame. > [@blindboyard](#): > > The first mention of Arthur wasn’t until Nennius in the ninth century. > > But I’m not aware of any Arthur/Philosophers’ Stone connection. A Yahoo! search for [“Philosopher’s Stone” AND Merlin] yields 52 pages of results. Granted, most of them are connected to the BBC **Merlin** series or to Harry Potter fanfic, but I’m not the first to make the connection. And according to [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher%27s_stone), “Mention of the philosopher’s stone in writing can be found as far back as Cheirokmeta by Zosimos of Panopolis (c. 300 A.D.).” ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/59 "2011-09-14T23:50:07Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Airplane! is _supposed_ to sound like a disaster movie, such as Airport 75; it’s a parody of those movies. > > And don’t call me Shirley. Do you like renaming gladiator movies? > [@amanset](#): > > And sometimes they just do weird shit with the titles. Apparently in the 70s and 80s every Goldie Hawn film got renamed to (translated) “The girl that …” so you get: > > Tjejen som föll överbord (The Girl that fell overboard - Overboard) > Tjejen som gjorde lumpen (The Girl that did National Service - Private Benjamin) > Tjejen som tog hem spelet (The Girl that, shit, literally “took home the game” but I am sure that can be translated a trifle better than that - Wildcats) > … and so on > > Who on earth thought that was a good idea? Dawn of the Dead (the original) was renamed Zombie (or Zombi, it’s inconsistent) some places. A whole bunch of unrelated movies got tagged as sequels to it. Zombie 2 is fairly notable in its own right with a few scenes like a zombie fighting a shark. I think the last one was about killer birds or something (I’ve never seen any of them but Zombie 2). But the strangest of all, IMO, is Brazil renaming Teen Wolf “O Garoto do Futuro”, (The Boy of the Future), trying to play it off as a sequel to Back to the Future. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962/60 "2011-09-15T05:21:21Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Shouldn’t we also mention **Män som hatar kvinnor** the got changed to **The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo** This is an interesting one, because the Swedish title (Men Who Hate Women) captures the darkness of the themes, while the English title seems to be purely going for a ‘sexy’ feel, and also to fit in with the other titles, I suppose. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-films-sometimes-have-different-names-in-different-parts-of-the-english-speaking-world/595962.md?page=4)