Ever see a movie title and think, “Man, they could do better”? Yeah, me too. While Snakes on a Plane may not fall into this category, there are plenty of American titles that could, well, be better. Thanks to a Twitter thread from @juanbuis, we now know that the French would have to agree. In the thread, @juanbuis reveals that the French have a tendency to translate English movie titles into different English movie titles. We can only assume it’s an attempt to appeal to French audiences.
It would seem that the translated titles usually fall into one of three categories: “Crazy,” “Very Bad,” or “Sexy.” The first example OP presents is the translation of The Hangover. Over in France, the movie was released as Very Bad Trip. Guess it has more of a ring to it than “gueule de bois,” the French way of saying you went a little too hard the night before. Cocaine Bear may seem like an attention-grabbing title here in the States, but in France they decided to go with Crazy Bear. The thread shares many more title transformations, and there seems to be a bit of a pattern: most of the translations opt to insert “sex” into the title. Here’s to stereotypes being perpetuated.
While we appreciate the real-life examples featured in the thread, @juanbuis went a step further and shared some suggestions for future translations. We’ve rounded all of the tweets up right here for easy perusal, but there’s definitely more fun to be enjoyed on Twitter. Which American movies do you think could use a little French flair?
