What are films called in other countries?

In America:

Leon - The Professional
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Americans don't like the word 'philosopher')

Also, the play "The Madness of George III" was changed to "The Madness of King George" for the movie because Americans wouldn't understand it wasn't a sequel.

Also, "Dennis the Menace" was changed to "Dennis" in the UK because we already have our own "Dennis the Menace"
 
The last of those is the only one that's actually true; the other reasons are at best apocryphal, and I've always felt those stories are just an excuse for US-bashing - I suspect in the case of the first one it was because some thick Warner Bros. executive thought millions of people wouldn't know what the title meant. And in the case of the second one, if that's true why didn't the film keep the play's original title for its British release, eh? (12 years after its release no one's ever come up with an answer for that.)
 
You're suggesting 'Leon' was not called 'The Professional' in America, and 'Philosopher's Stone' was not called 'Sorcerer's Stone' in America?

I would strongly disagree. I am a big fan of The Professional and I bought it on DVD from America (where the film was released in higher resolution) and it says 'The Professional' on the box. There's no mention of 'Leon'. Conversely, I've seen 'Leon' in shops in the UK, and I never noticed the worRAB 'The Professional' on the cover.

As for Philosopher's Stone, I have read lots of things from America about this movie (and book) and they really do call it "Sorcerer's Stone". The name was changed because Americans do not like the word 'philosopher'. It would be like a book being called "Harry Potter and the Trainspotter's Stone" or "Harry Potter and the Accountant's Stone". Just not cool enough.


As far as I understood it, the title of the movie was changed to "King George" because it was thought that most Americans would think it was a sequel if it was "George III". I can only presume its title was kept the same for its UK release for the sake of uniformity. If I released a movie in two countries, I would personally prefer it to have the same title in both countries, even if that title had been modified to avoid ambiguity with other countries who might not understand the title.
 
Yes, but they changed the title music to a really revolting song that French people will try and sing (dirge) to you at any excuse :(

My husband has just finished recording "un fauteil pour deux" (an armchair for two) better known as "trading places"
 
Definately agree with you on the Harry Potter one. Infact each line of dialogue that mentioned the stone had to be shot twice, once with 'philosopher' and once with 'sorcerer'.
 
In France flushed away is Souris City (mouse city) ,
cool runnings is Rasta rockett,
Shallow hal is L'amour extra large (Extra large love),
Nightmare on Elm street is les griffes de la nuit (the claws of the night)
 
No - he was suggesting the reasons you gave for the alternate titles were not entirely true.

For example:

The U.K.-based Harry Potter Teaching Resources site suggests that the US book was retitled "...to make it sound more magic orientated rather than philosophy orientated", as the original title could be seen as misleading.

and

Snopes/Wiki: An urban legend circulates to this day that the Roman numerals were removed from the title of the film because U.S. test audiences misinterpreted them to mean it was a sequel. In actuality the film was based on the play The Madness of George III. The title change was suggested by Hawthorne himself during a photoshoot at Arundel Castle for the film's poster. The concept was George III sitting on his throne with a sceptre in one hand and a piglet in the other. Sir Nigel was told this was to symbolise both his regality and his insanity. Upset by this over-literal approach, Hawthorne suggested the change to The Madness of King George. This title was used all over the world, not just in America as has sometimes been claimed.
 
The Golden Compass didn't get changed to Northern Lights when it came out over here...

Although to be fair, as it didn't bear much of a resemblance to the book "Northern Lights" I might let them off that one :rolleyes:
 
There are some translated titles I just don't understand.

E.g. The Basketball Diaries(1995) was called "Streets of New York" in Denmark? Why? It wasn't even translated into danish, they just gave it another english title? Doesn't make sense!
They did the same thing with "Die Hard with a Vengeance" it was translated into "Die Hard - Mega Hard" Why?!

Edit: I know it's not a film, but the sitcom Family Ties, was called (directly translated) "The flowerchildren's childrens" in Denmark - I always thought that was funny...
 
Could be a number of reasons. Perhaps the original title sounRAB like something rude in Danish. Or perhaps in Denmark, there is another well-known brand with this name, or similar. Perhaps the word vengance just doesnt tranlsate into Danish.
 
Spanish titles:
La Guerra de las Galaxias - Galaxy Wars (Star Wars)
La Dimension Desconocida - The Unknown Dimesnion (The Twilight Zone)
Solo Ante el Peligro - Alone against the Danger (High Noon)
 
Welcome of the Jungle was called The Rundown for its US release, that was actually the working title but they decided to rename it but kept the original name elsewhere.
 
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