You probably already know that F9 – the latest instalment in the Fast and the Furious franchise has absolutely taken the box office by storm, generating around $405 million dollars in global box office receipts so far.
But did you know that, in Japan, the movie is called Wild Speed: Jet Break? That’s right, it seems the entire franchise exists under the “Wild Speed” banner in the East Asian country, with other titles in the catalogue going by Wild Speed: Super Combo (2019’s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), Wild Speed: Ice Break (2017’s The Fate of the Furious) and Wild Speed MEGA MAX (2011’s Fast Five) just to name a few.
In honour of these delightful foreign translations of the Fast and Furious titles, we decided to pay homage to some of the other overseas title interpretations that bring us joy.
Airplane!
German title: The Unbelievable Trip in a Wacky Aeroplane
When science declared Superbad as the funniest movie of all time, our team at The Latch had to respectfully disagree. After all, 1980’s Airplane! starring comedy great Leslie Nielsen has consistently been considered the best in its genre.
While the movie is hilarious enough, the German title is not only funny but perfectly sums up the plot of the film too.
The Sixth Sense
Chinese Title: He’s a Ghost!
Who could forget the creepiness of Haley Joel Osment declaring that he saw dead people or the brilliance of our very own Toni Collette’s performance in 1999’s The Sixth Sense? In fact, both of them were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances and the film itself was also up for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.
Of course, the film carried the tragic twist that Bruce Willis’s character, Malcolm, was dead the entire time and we can’t help but feel that the Chinese title for the film kind of gives it all away up front. Having said that, we totally dig the directness of the translation and the addition of the exclamation mark conjures up the image of an exasperated woman trying to explain the plot of the film to her dimwitted mate for the hundredth time.
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Malaysian title: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Behaved Very Nicely Around Me
We have to award a thousand points for this cinematic castration. Let’s be honest, Austin Powers, while a very funny parody of James Bond, is extremely problematic in the #MeToo era with many of the franchise’s gags not passing muster by today’s standards.
Thankfully, Malaysia had the answer in their too pure for this world translation of the 1999 title.
Jaws
French title: The Teeth from the Sea
In 1975 Steven Spielberg made us question if it was safe to go back in the water (and also made us question if our water vessels were large enough) with Jaws – the film that spawned three sequels and a theme park ride.
In France, however, it spawned something different: a whole new title and we can’t decide if it is more terrifying, or less, than the original.
Cruella
Latin American title: The Night Of The Cold Noses (La Noche De Las Narices Frías)
One of the best films of 2021 has definitely been Cruella, starring Emma Stone and Emma Thompson. The Disney film explores the origin story of Cruella De Vil who had a rather unfortunate proclivity for wanting to turn adorable puppies into designer coats.
While worldwide Cruella is nothing but a stone-cold villain (and someone PETA would no doubt like to have a stern conversation with) in Latin America she didn’t get the honour of having the movie title bear her name. Instead, the film goes by the rather cute The Night Of The Cold Noses (La Noche De Las Narices Frías).
The Matrix
French title: Young People Who Traverse Dimensions While Wearing Sunglasses
Man, it would have been the absolute worst to be a French entertainment reporter in 1999 when The Matrix came out. The film smashed box office records, won a ton of awards and become the absolute stuff of legend, but imagine saying Young People Who Traverse Dimensions While Wearing Sunglasses every single time you had to reference it.
Quelle injustice!
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