• Pommes_für_dein_Balg@feddit.org
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    10 days ago

    Airplane! doesn’t have a dumb name, but the German dubbed version does:
    “Die unglaubliche Reise in einem verrückten Flugzeug” (The Incredible Journey On a Crazy Airplane)

    And The Big Bus was called “The Hair-Raising Journey On a Crazy Bus”.
    Even though the movies have nothing to do with each other, apart from being comedies set in vehicles.

      • FinjaminPoach@lemmy.worldOP
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        10 days ago

        Yeah and German->English translations have the same problem

        There’s no reason that ‘Fuck you, Goethe!’ had to be Anglo-washed into “Suck me, Shakespeare” which isn’t even how we’d put that phrase in English. “Suck it, Shakespeare” would make more sense - “suck me” is an invitation.

        Interesting film, btw. But English speaking people have probably heard of Goethe - and even if they haven’t, knowing about Goethe is not in the slightest critical to understanding the movie.

      • SavinDWhales@lemmy.world
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        10 days ago

        Hey, we sometimes avoid translation by giving the movie a completely different English title!

        (See Crossroads -> Not a Girl)

    • iturnedintoanewt@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      In Spain, if it had Leslie Nielsen on it, it would be “(whatever action summarizing the movie) however you can!”

      Naked Gun - Agárralo como puedas (catch it however you can)

      Airplane! - Aterriza como puedas (land however you can)

      … And so on. I think it applies to all of the movies with Nielsen.

      • dustyData@lemmy.world
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        10 days ago

        Funnily, it is not a cultural quirk. It was usually part of regional marketing. Copyright and distribution deals of exported movies are very complex. Many countries have laws with mandatory dubbing. Contracts sometimes includes local translation, marketing, and theater distribution deals all in one. So, they would do all that they could to promote the movie for the local culture. It’s akin to how some voice actors have dubbing contracts, so only they are allowed to dub a particular actor for a particular market. Because that market associated the voice with the actor. If it is a big celebrity, changing the voice could sour audiences to the new film. Mix that with a pre-Internet era and you get that sort of quirky name translations. It simply sold more tickets in that market, according to marketers at least.

  • makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    Batman/Superman: Apocalypse

    It’s a movie primarily about Supergirl, that largely takes place on earth and does not threaten the end of the world. It does briefly go to Apokolips, but that’s a different word than the title

    • FinjaminPoach@lemmy.worldOP
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      10 days ago

      Maybe Turkey doesn’t have an expression akin to “now you see me, now you don’t”?

      Could have instead translated the trilogy as “Abracadabra,” "Alakazam, and “hocus pocus” or whatever the turkish equivalent of that is. “Elemtere fiş kem gözlere şiş”

  • whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    10 days ago

    Pontypool, such a bad name for a movie but a really good low budget horror movie

    The guest, good throwback action thriller with an extremely bland, boring name

    Saw 3d: the final chapter is the 7th of 10 in the series

    • FinjaminPoach@lemmy.worldOP
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      10 days ago

      Just based off the title I refuse to watch it, so braindead

      IKR?? Even as an 8 / 9 year old I was crawling out of my skin from the cringe. It was prerty good but i tried to watch it again as an adult and the intro was too bubbly.

      Glad someone else gets it. Looks like “Brainrot: the movie”


      A very very very similar movie is Strange Magic which is actually written by George Lucas. Supposedly. And this one is even more brainrotted, but has a super devoted fanbase. It’s… unique, but tries to be like a musical disney movie, and a lot of the songs don’t actually sound good, or the performance makes your skin crawl. Honestly i liked it overall, the romance was good. I’m just surprised at why this movie has such a devoted fanbase like 11-13 years later, and simultaneously remains so underground like it’s a movie for freemasons.

      The title of that one is just the name of that ELO song. Not sure how i feel about that, but i guess it’s better than “epic.”

  • Blubber28@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Gonna cheat here with a series called The Night Agent. It’s a name that should be given to a parody spy thriller, not something that tries to be serious. “Tries” being the keyword there, as it is atrociously bad. It’s got all the clichés you’d expect. I turned it off early into episode two, I just couldn’t watch it anymore.

  • doesit@sh.itjust.works
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    9 days ago

    In Spain Die Hard was called Jungla de Cristales. Something like “glass jungle”. Didn’t make any sense for the sequels.
    The movie Jude needed a different name in Germany. Translates as “Jews”.