50 Movie Titles That Got Lost In Translation
Army Of Darkness is Captain Supermarket? Die Hard 3 becomes Die Hard: Mega Hard? And you don’t want to know what Boogie Nights turned up as…
On their journey around the international film markets, films have a habit of changing names, as local distributors target the flicks at their audiences. Sometimes, however, as this list shows, a new title doesn’t always quite capture the meaning of the original when it’s translated back into English.
We’ve hunted round many corners of the Internet for this collection, and credited sources at the bottom. If you’ve got any more to add, do let us know. Meanwhile, we’ll start our tour in China, where they’ve got this little lot…
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CHINA
The Full Monty: Six Naked Pigs
The Blair Witch Project: Night In The Cramped Forest
As Good As It Gets: Mr Cat Poop
Boogie Nights: His Great Device Makes Him Famous (Genius. Just genius)
Leon: This Hit Man Is Not as Cold as He Thought
Fargo: Mysterious Murder in Snowy Cream
Austin Powers: Trump Card Big Liar
Deep Impact: Earth And Comet Collide
Knocked Up: One Night, Big Belly
Nixon: The Big Liar
Risky Business: Just Send Him To University Unqualified
Free Willy: A Very Powerful Whale Runs To Heaven
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GERMANY
Airplane: The Unbelievable Trip In A Wacky Aeroplane or The Incredible Journey In A Crazy Airplane (depending on which translation you believe)
K9: My Partner with the cold Snout
Dragnet : Floppy Coppers Don’t Bite, or Yellow Coppers Don’t Bite (again, depending on which translation you go with)
The Parent Trap: A Twin Seldom Comes Alone
Die Hard: Die Slowly
Die Hard With A Vengeance: Die Slowly, Now More Than Ever
Dodgeball : Full Of The Nuts
Girl, Interrupted: Cuckoo (Succinct and to the point…)
Annie Hall: The Urban Neurotic
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ISRAEL:
Knocked Up: The Date That Screwed Me
Superbad: Super Horny
The Naked Gun: The Gun Died Laughing
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ITALY:
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind: If You Leave Me, I Delete You
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FRANCE:
Fried Green Tomatoes: The Secret Is In The Sauce
Dirty Harry: Inspector Harry
Home Alone: Mom, I Missed The Plane
The Matrix: The Young People Who Traverse Dimensions While Wearing Sunglasses
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SPAIN:
The Dark Knight: Night Of The Knight (we really like this one…)
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PERU:
Knocked Up: Slightly Pregnant
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MEXICO:
Juno: Juno: Grow, Run and Stumble.
Snatch: Pigs And Diamonds
Thelma and Louise: An Unexpected End
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DENMARK:
Die Hard With A Vengeance: Die Hard: Mega Hard (That’s just awesome, to be fair)
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HONG KONG
American Pie : American Virgin Man
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ARGENTINA:
Grease: Vaseline
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PORTUGAL:
Lost In Translation: Meetings and Failures in Meetings
Die Hard: Skyscraper Attack
Die Hard 2: Airport Attack
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CZECH REPUBLIC
Bad Santa: Santa Is A Pervert
Hot Shots! : Warm Shots
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FINLAND
Big Momma’s House: The Cop In Drag
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JAPAN:
Army Of Darkness: Captain Supermarket (WTF?)
The Horse Whisperer: Held by Wind in Montana
Being John Malkovich : The Hole Of Malkovich
Mr Holland’s Opus: The Sunny Classroom
Jersey Girl: I Love My Dad The Best In The World
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TAIWAIN:
Get Smart: Is The Spy Capable Or Not
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LATIN AMERICA:
Rain Man: When Brother’s Meet
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We’re indebted to, and recommend, the following articles:
www.azcentral.com/ent/movies/articles/2008/08/01/20080801movienames.html
http://cinemascopian.com/2008/03/13/how-do-you-say-lost-in-translation/
www.madmind.de//2007/11/20/stupid-german-movie-titles/
http://mrjam.typepad.com/diary/2008/03/dont-ask-who-i.html
http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/2008/11/14/7414821-sun.html
http://bluffcharging.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/the-10-worst-translated-movie-titles/
http://www.myfoxwausau.com/myfox/pages/Entertainment/Detail?contentId=7121798&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=7.2.1
http://www.geocities.com/smvgrey/Titlefun.html
And if you’re looking for a good spoof of all of these, click here.
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Disqus - noscript
The Full Monty: Six Naked Pigs - sheer class.
Great list.
A correct retranslation of the German title for Dodgeball is even better:
A Kick in the Groin
br
More literally it becomes
Head On Into the Balls [or Nuts]
Great list!
The Chinese titles are probably the best. I reckon that if distributors were to use explanatory titles like "The Young People Who Traverse Dimensions While Wearing Sunglasses" to keep it simple for audiences there'd be fewer box office flops.
Dear Den Of Geek,
I love your tone, but this article is so full of shit: Fried Green tomatoes in France came out as Beignets De Tomates Vertes, whiwh means roughly... Fried Green Tomatoes! And for the Matrix, just as anywhere in Europe, it was just Matrix. The proof is on IMDB. I didn't check all the others, but you seem a very imaginative person, so i have a hard time believing the rest of the article. Check your sources better next time!
More from Japan (from memory):
Butch Cassidy - Tomorrow, we face and shoot
Runaway Bride - Pretty Bride
Billy Elliot - Little Dancer (bit boring - sorry)
Hollow Man - Invisible
Loved the article. My favourite was 'Die Slowly, Now More Than Ever'. Would also suggest that any information culled from the 'IMDB' be treated with a certain amount of suspicion. It's not necessarily going to be accurate.
Devildaria - I'll double check on those again, and make any necessary amends...
[b]Army Of Darkness: Captain Supermarket (WTF?)[/b]
This actually does kind of make sense, considering that Ash is a superhero-y kind of guy who works at S-Mart, which could be considered a supermarket, I suppose.
A quick check of Amazon.fr shows that The Matrix in France was indeed just Matrix, so while this article initially amused me I'd take most of it with a pinch of salt.
Russia:
There Will Be Blood -> Petroleum
Hitch -> The pick up rules: Hitch's method
Wanted -> Specially Dangerous
Homeland Security -> My mom's new guy
The Deer Hunter -> Dear Mr. Hunter
Die Hard -> Tough Nut
I want to see a triple feature of A Twin Seldom Comes Alone, Warm Shots and The Hole of Malkovich.
Some movie titles from Israel (They're REALLY good at screwing up titles here)
Bring It On: Cheek to Cheek Cheerleaders
The Naked Gun: The Gun Dies Laughing
Camouflage : The Detective Dies Laughing
George of the Jungle : The Jungle Dies Laughing
Wrongfully Accused: The Escapee Dies Laughing
Going Greek: Dude, Where's The College?
Honest : F**king Love Story
She's The Man: She's Got
She's The Man : She's got Balls
I can attest to the Army of Darkness Japanese title being correct. There's a very cool photo of the japanese movie poster at /film where the title, written in Katakana, translates to "Kyaputen Suupoomaaketo" or "Captain Supermarket."
Gee. Thanks, six years of Japanese.
I remember Mike Meyers saying on a talk show that one country took Wayne's World and retitled it "Don't Count Them Out, But They Are Idiots Nonetheless."
The Full Monty: Six Naked Pigs - sheer class.
Great list.
Great list!
The Chinese titles are probably the best. I reckon that if distributors were to use explanatory titles like "The Young People Who Traverse Dimensions While Wearing Sunglasses" to keep it simple for audiences there'd be fewer box office flops.
Dear Den Of Geek,
I love your tone, but this article is so full of shit: Fried Green tomatoes in France came out as Beignets De Tomates Vertes, whiwh means roughly... Fried Green Tomatoes! And for the Matrix, just as anywhere in Europe, it was just Matrix. The proof is on IMDB. I didn't check all the others, but you seem a very imaginative person, so i have a hard time believing the rest of the article. Check your sources better next time!
A correct retranslation of the German title for Dodgeball is even better:
A Kick in the Groin
br
More literally it becomes
Head On Into the Balls [or Nuts]
More from Japan (from memory):
Butch Cassidy - Tomorrow, we face and shoot
Runaway Bride - Pretty Bride
Billy Elliot - Little Dancer (bit boring - sorry)
Hollow Man - Invisible
Devildaria - I'll double check on those again, and make any necessary amends...
Loved the article. My favourite was 'Die Slowly, Now More Than Ever'. Would also suggest that any information culled from the 'IMDB' be treated with a certain amount of suspicion. It's not necessarily going to be accurate.
[b]Army Of Darkness: Captain Supermarket (WTF?)[/b]
This actually does kind of make sense, considering that Ash is a superhero-y kind of guy who works at S-Mart, which could be considered a supermarket, I suppose.
A quick check of Amazon.fr shows that The Matrix in France was indeed just Matrix, so while this article initially amused me I'd take most of it with a pinch of salt.
I want to see a triple feature of A Twin Seldom Comes Alone, Warm Shots and The Hole of Malkovich.
Russia:
There Will Be Blood -> Petroleum
Hitch -> The pick up rules: Hitch's method
Wanted -> Specially Dangerous
Homeland Security -> My mom's new guy
The Deer Hunter -> Dear Mr. Hunter
Die Hard -> Tough Nut
Some movie titles from Israel (They're REALLY good at screwing up titles here)
Bring It On: Cheek to Cheek Cheerleaders
The Naked Gun: The Gun Dies Laughing
Camouflage : The Detective Dies Laughing
George of the Jungle : The Jungle Dies Laughing
Wrongfully Accused: The Escapee Dies Laughing
Going Greek: Dude, Where's The College?
Honest : F**king Love Story
She's The Man: She's Got
She's The Man : She's got Balls
I can attest to the Army of Darkness Japanese title being correct. There's a very cool photo of the japanese movie poster at /film where the title, written in Katakana, translates to "Kyaputen Suupoomaaketo" or "Captain Supermarket."
Gee. Thanks, six years of Japanese.
I remember Mike Meyers saying on a talk show that one country took Wayne's World and retitled it "Don't Count Them Out, But They Are Idiots Nonetheless."
You should include in the Portugal section: Forgetting Sarah Marshall - A Nice Pair of Rollerskates. Believe me, it's true
I have no idea where you heard Grease was called Vaseline in Argentina, but it isn't true. It was left untranslated and to this day it is still remembered as "Grease".
it is so amusing~ I am a college girl in China, I am looking for some reference materials for my graduate paper, it is talking about the different translation of the English movie titles between China mainland and Hongkong, Trust me, there are more funny translation from china.