25 Times European Countries Translated Hollywood Movie Titles for No Reason and Gave Us Comedic Gold
How many times have you rolled your eyes at dubbed movies or the title of a foreign film translated into your native language? Well, if your answer is "countless times," this epic Twitter thread made by @juanbuis is guaranteed to be a nightmare for you. Juan compiled a list of popular Hollywood films whose titles were unnecessarily translated upon their release in some European countries.
As ridiculous as it might look, these movie posters with translated titles are equally hilarious. Was it necessary to translate these English movie titles from the English language to, well, the English language? Technically, no. But since the European countries released them in this peculiar fashion anyway, we are here for the sake of entertainment. Movie lovers beware, this just might make you cringe and laugh at the same time and you are in for a "very bad trip" indeed.
1. Literally spoiling the movie
for some *ridiculous* reason the french love to translate movie titles from english to... english
— juan (@juanbuis) March 8, 2023
here's a thread with my all-time favorites, starting with "the hangover"
...i mean VERY BAD TRIP pic.twitter.com/YoPzIb0pq1
2. No nice cops available here
"the other guys" should work for a french audience, right?
— juan (@juanbuis) March 8, 2023
france: non. VERY BAD COPS pic.twitter.com/TMMn36J2eJ
3. The cringe is real
"not another teen movie" is pretty simple english, right?
— juan (@juanbuis) March 8, 2023
france: non. SEX ACADEMY pic.twitter.com/RjueQCAQvz
4. That's one way to sell a movie
"step up 2" would be easy to understand by the french, right?
— juan (@juanbuis) March 8, 2023
france: non. SEXY DANCE 2 pic.twitter.com/9xk3mcZF5G
5. Just put the word "sex" in everything
"no strings attached" could be a nice, subtle title for this romantic comedy?
— juan (@juanbuis) March 8, 2023
france: non. SEX FRIENDS pic.twitter.com/65aDGj7nEw
6. Here we go again
"what's your number?" works well for this cute romcom, right?
— juan (@juanbuis) March 8, 2023
france: non. SEX LIST pic.twitter.com/DmSJnOeXrc
7. Matrix is enough!
There is also one thing with French titles. They don't like "The".
— Bloobz (@Bl00bz) March 9, 2023
The Matrix? No, no, Matrix. pic.twitter.com/VXHpT5c4lD
8. We wanna jump off the plank now
9. As if the film wasn't dirty enough
Very nice thread👌🏻 In Norway we have a few good ones too, like my favourite: «Austin Powers - the spy who shagged me» became «Austin Powers - the spy who came on me»(actually spermed me which is the literal translation) pic.twitter.com/kZIuuf1JOq
— Odd Bjørn Salte (@OddBjornSalte) March 9, 2023
10. Yes they do
The french know how to spoil a movie title don’t they pic.twitter.com/WvIHGTFCIw
— Donald (@dondanbury9) March 8, 2023
11. They thought the world and kingdom is the same thing?
Germans also do that, and they do it in even more ridiculous ways.
— Xebtria (@Xebtria) March 9, 2023
English: German: pic.twitter.com/3JWwABAWRZ
12. Yes, we appreciate it
This one is Spanish, but I think you'll appreciate it anyway pic.twitter.com/7iXn2uncAt
— m0d (@m0d) March 9, 2023
13. Where is the "own"?
Ze Germans are also very fond of this art (sans the sex, because Germany). And if I live to be a thousand years old, I will never understand this, my favorite localization of a movie title into „german“. pic.twitter.com/S32WIsrXZP
— Leo Schmidt (@ZeGermanGuy) March 9, 2023
14. Literally nightmare-inducing
This one is great too. We went from "The Purge" to "American Nightmare" when the french word for purge is ... purge. pic.twitter.com/BmWnjjM215
— Saint Caillou (@PhoqueMaster) March 9, 2023
15. What's the difference?
I remembered watching this years ago as a student: "Up in the Air" was renamed to "In The Air" in France... I doubt the word 'Up' would have been too difficult for a French person 🤔 pic.twitter.com/gZmNmjjsKT
— The B (@t_h_e_B) March 9, 2023
16. We are dying here too
So take a look at the Polish title of the 'Die Hard' movie🤣🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/T7GhjVLhOz
— Fakes Forge (@FakesForge) March 9, 2023
17. We support the demands
Yesss, germans also do this, this is my favorite example, left is the original, right is the german title pic.twitter.com/YX7Otx0ug8
— 🐗🔍 (@Triooops) March 9, 2023
18. Too literal of a title
19. Sexy thrillers become translation victims again
Becauze we love ze sexe, ouf course pic.twitter.com/sImF7SNkkd
— Fab Gordon (@FabG0rdon) March 8, 2023
20. Once you see it, you can't unsee
I saw this once in a French video store and think about it every day pic.twitter.com/QSFJxECiB7
— Lucy Huber (@clhubes) March 9, 2023
21. Feeling dead inside yet?
22. Well, Kevin did miss the plane
French : Mom, I missed the plane... pic.twitter.com/nYUaeMPbb8
— Psych0pompe🏳️🌈 (@SchwarzyKant) March 9, 2023
23. No chance of mixup with that Disney film
"tangled" is a mysterious thriller! how do we keep the same vibe in french?
— juan (@juanbuis) March 8, 2023
france: SEX TROUBLE pic.twitter.com/XHUlj9kUGH
24. We need therapy as well
this one's just incredible
— juan (@juanbuis) March 8, 2023
"a short history of decay" looks like a slow, moody movie... how could we make it work for a french audience?
france: SEXY THERAPY pic.twitter.com/8DFwVli3Hq
25. We wonder how the bear went crazy
"cocaine bear" can't possibly be misunderstood by a french audience, right?
— juan (@juanbuis) March 8, 2023
france: non. CRAZY BEAR pic.twitter.com/rUIrDm1PiE
European countries translated English movie titles