History Main / ImportationExpansion

* The UrExample of this trope is probably ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters'', the American version of ''Film/{{Gojira}}'', which was completely re-edited to tell the story from the perspective of [[Franchise/PerryMason Raymond Burr]] as [[HilariousInHindsight Steve Martin]], a foreign correspondent who had been following the story. Notable for actually being very well done, as far as these things go, with considerable care taken to match the Burr footage and the original film.

** ''Film/MothraVsGodzilla'' contains an additional sequence of a missile attack on Godzilla shot by Toho especially for it's American release.

* ''Film/CreatureOfTheWalkingDead'', adapted from ''Film/LaMarcaDelMuerto'', with seemingly endless added footage of a shirtless Creator/BrunoVeSota getting a backrub.
* ''Film/AttackOfTheMayanMummy'', adapted from ''Film/LaMomiaAzteca''
* ''Film/FaceOfTheScreamingWerewolf'', pasted together from ''[[AztecMummy La Momia Azteca]]'' and ''Film/LaCasaDelTerror'' (a ''comedy'', albeit one that featured Creator/LonChaneyJr as a werewolf)
* ''Film/CurseOfTheStoneHand'', pasted together from two Chilean films from the 1940s, ''Film/LaDamaDeLaMuerte'' (an adaptation of ''Literature/TheSuicideClub'' by Creator/RobertLouisStevenson) and ''Film/LaCasaEstaVacía''. Warren's added footage includes Creator/JohnCarradine doing not very much. It should be noted that neither of them are horror films.

** ''Film/KingKongVsGodzilla'' had scenes with "U.N. News Reporters" talking about whatever had previously occurred.

* A truly bizarre example of this occurred when New World Pictures brought over ''Anime/AngelsEgg''. Instead of giving it a straight dub (which would have been more or less impossible given the [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible nature of the film]]), they cut the film heavily and added about 45 minutes of ''live action'' footage. Retitled ''[[Film/InTheAftermathAngelsNeverSleep In The Aftermath: Angels Never Sleep]]'', it was released in 1988 to mixed reviews.

* A truly bizarre example of this occurred when New World Pictures brought over ''Anime/AngelsEgg''. Instead of giving it a straight dub (which would have been more or less impossible given the [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible nature of the film]]), they cut the film heavily and added about 45 minutes of ''live action'' footage. The resulting mess truly must be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6ZBzLLjCX4 seen to be believed]].

** The second Godzilla film, ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain'' (released in the United States as ''[[MarketBasedTitle Gigantis the Fire Monster]]''), managed to avoid this, suffering only the addition of considerable amounts of StockFootage. However, it was almost turned into a film called ''The Volcano Monsters'' that would have been a prime example of this trope. Read about it [[http://www.tohokingdom.com/web_pages/lost_projects/volcano_monsters.htm here]].

* The 4th ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' film, Celebi: The Voice of the Forest added three scenes to the English version. Two of them served to over-explain a plot point in the story. The other was a comedic Team Rocket scene that [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment served no purpose to the plot]].

* The 4th ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' film, Celebi: The Voice of the Forest added three scenes to the English version. Two of them [[ViewersAreMorons served to over-explain a plot point in the story]]. The other was a comedic Team Rocket scene that [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment served no purpose to the plot]].

The method is most viable when the main action is done by PeopleInRubberSuits, (or {{Puppets|hows}},) allowing the adaptation's GreekChorus (or in some cases its ''stars'') [[LeadYouCanRelateTo to have similar sensibilities]] [[CulturalTranslation to the importing country]].

* A truly bizarre example of this occurred when New World Pictures brought over ''Anime/AngelsEgg''. Instead of giving it a straight dub (which would have been more or less impossible given the [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible nature of the film]]), they cut the film heavily and added about 45 minutes of ''live action'' footage. The resulting mess truly must be [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOHelXT3Q1s seen to be believed]].

* ''FraggleRock'' - various markets (including the UK, which didn't redub the Muppet characters) had their own version of Doc. They all had Sprocket, though.

* The 4th ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' film, Celebi: The Voice of the Forest added three scenes to the English version. Two of them [[ViewersAreMorons served to over-explain a plot point in the story]]. The other was a comedic Team Rocket scene that served no purpose to the plot.

** Similarly, Zeman's ''The Deadly Invention'' got a new introduction by an introduction was added featuring the television host Hugh Downs, of ''Series/TwentyTwenty'' and ''{{Series/Concentration}}'' fame, when it came to America as ''The Fabulous World of Jules Verne''.

* When ''Journey to the Beginning of Time'' was released in the United States, it got an entirely new beginning for the film. The new footage featured lookalike actors (carefully shot to avoid showing their faces) going to the [[CulturalTranslation New York Museum of Natural History and taking a boat ride in Central Park]] before segueing to the original Czech footage.

* Marvel UK's reprint series of ''Comicbook/{{The Transformers| Marvel}}'' added a huge amount of extra stories by Simon Furman in order to avoid {{overt|ook the manga}}ing the main series, which occasionally required editing the American material to avoid {{plot hole}}s. This bonus material was of such high quality that not only did Furman get to take over writing the American series when Bob Budiansky [[{{Creator Breakdown}} burned out]], American fans actually subscribed to the UK series to get the bonus material.

In the past, it was reasonably common practice for producers to add new scenes to foreign films that they were importing. This was done for several reasons: to add name actors to what would otherwise be a cast of unknowns, to disguise the fact that the film was foreign ([[NeverTrustATrailer at least for the duration of the trailer]]), to [[{{Padding}} increase the running time]], or any combination of the above.

This has been a DeadHorseTrope since the mid-1970s, when distributors realized that most audiences didn't actually care enough to justify the time and expense of shooting new footage. This is in danger of becoming a ForgottenTrope in the United States, with the near-disappearance of foreign films from mainstream theatrical releases and television airings.

Note that to be an example of this trope requires '''substantial''' original footage; simply adding insert shots of translated signs or the like doesn't count.

For whatever reason, Japanese films seem to be particularly prone to this treatment.

* ''Film/VaranTheUnbelievable'' was subjected to a particularly extreme case of this. Its American version was completely rewritten around newly shot American footage with Myron Healey. ''Varan'' is an excellent example of a film that ended up ''shorter'' despite its ImportationExpansion; the original Japanese version runs 87 minutes, while the American version, despite adding 40 minutes of newly shot footage, runs only 70 minutes.

* ''GammeraTheInvincible''

[[AC:Non Japanese Films]]
* The GodfreyHoNinjaMovies. Godfrey Ho was pretty much the king of this - by his own account he made about 40-50 movies this way. He and producer Joseph Lai would buy up the rights to various 70s/80s Asian films which would usually be unmarketable elsewheren (or sometimes were unfinished or never saw release at all), shoot between 10 to 30 minutes of original footage with Western actors (usually as TechnicolorNinjas), then attempt to tie the whole thing together into an vaguely coherent plot via a HongKongDub. Needless to say this was [[SoBadItsGood usually unsuccessful]].
* Jerry Warren
* Soviet Science Fiction films
** ''Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet''
** ''Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women''
** ''Battle Beyond the Sun''
** ''Queen of Blood'', although similar in genesis, doesn't really qualify, since it only really used footage from the original Russian film as stock footage for its original story.
* When ''Journey to the Beginning of Time'' was released in the United States, it got an entirely new beginning for the film. The new footage featured lookalike actors (carefully shot to avoid showing their faces) going to the [[CulturalTranslation New York Museum of Natural History and taking a boat ride in Central Park]] before segueing to the original Czech footage.
* ''Horror of the Blood Monsters'' started life as a black and white Filipino caveman epic called ''Tagani''. To make it saleable to American drive-ins, hack director ''extraordinaire'' Al Adamson added color scenes with American actors (including JohnCarradine) as astronauts exploring a "prehistoric planet". The fact that said "prehistoric planet" (the ''Tagani'' footage) was black and white was solved by tinting the film day-glo colors, which, the newly added footage explaned, was caused by [[HandWave "Involuntary shifts ]][[TechnoBabble in Spectrum Radiation"]].
* That shot of Margot and La Môle on the American DVD of ''Film/LaReineMargot''? That whole scene was shot for the American release to strengthen the love story.
* Because ''Film/IronMan3'' was partially funded by China's DMG Entertainment, bonus scenes were added to the Chinese release of the film, primarily focusing on the character of Dr. Wu (who is briefly introduced at the 1999 party and can be glimpsed in the [[spoiler:surgery scene]] in the American version). In a scene that occurs just before [[spoiler:Tony's surgery]], Dr. Wu talks to one of his assistants, played by Fan Bingbing (who will make her American debut in ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast''). Though this caused some discontentment from Americans, the deal seemed to [[http://www.boxoffice.com/latest-news/2013-05-01-china-iron-man-3-sets-new-record-for-midnight-shows pay off handsomely]] for [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel]].

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
* ''BattleOfThePlanets'', in addition to the heavy {{Bowdlerisation}} that it suffered underwent when it was imported, featured additional animated footage of the AmusingAlien 7-Zark-7, who cracked lame jokes and explained how [[NeverSayDie everyone got away safely]].
* A truly bizarre example of this occurred when New World Pictures brought over ''AngelsEgg''. Instead of giving it a straight dub (which would have been more or less impossible given the [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible nature of the film]]), they cut the film heavily and added about 45 minutes of ''live action'' footage. The resulting mess truly must be [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOHelXT3Q1s seen to be believed]].
* The 4th ''Pokemon'' film, Celebi: The Voice of the Forest added three scenes to the English version. Two of them [[ViewersAreMorons served to over-explain a plot point in the story]]. The other was a comedic Team Rocket scene that served no purpose to the plot.
* The English dub of MapleTown had live-action segments added to the beginning and ending of each episode, featuring a human person named Miss Maple.

* ''FraggleRock'' - various markets (including the UK, which didn't redub the Muppet characters) had their own version of Doc. They all had Sprocket, though.
** This was actually part of the plan for the series, however.

[[AC: Music]]
* Albums released in Japan usually have Bonus Tracks, a lyric booklet in Japanese and an exclusive Obi Strip. This is to justify the high cost of new [=CDs=] (and previously vinyl records) in Japan. Record companies quickly discovered this was a lucrative business and albums in Australia and the UK often have bonus tracks as well (albeit without the additional booklet and obi strip). It rarely happens in the US and mainland Europe, but has been known to on occasion.

* Because ''Film/IronMan3'' was partially funded by China's DMG Entertainment, bonus scenes and footage was added to the Chinese release of the film, primarily focusing on the character of Dr. Wu (who is briefly introduced at the 1999 party and can be glimpsed in the [[spoiler:surgery scene]] in the American version). In a scene that occurs just before [[spoiler:Tony's surgery]], Dr. Wu talks to one of his assistants, played by Fan Bingbing (who will make her American debut in ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast''). Though this caused some discontentment from Americans, the deal seemed to [[http://www.boxoffice.com/latest-news/2013-05-01-china-iron-man-3-sets-new-record-for-midnight-shows pay off handsomely]] for [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel]].

* When [[RogerCorman New World Pictures]] picked up the rights to the disaster epic ''Japan Sinks'', they cut it down by 40 minutes, added scenes of [[{{Series/Bonanza}} Lorne Greene]] sitting at a desk, and released the resulting mess as the legendarily awful ''Tidal Wave''.

* The UrExample of this trope is probably ''GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters'', the American version of ''Film/{{Gojira}}'', which was completely re-edited to tell the story from the perspective of [[Series/PerryMason Raymond Burr]] as [[HilariousInHindsight Steve Martin]], a foreign correspondent who had been following the story. Notable for actually being very well done, as far as these things go, with considerable care taken to match the Burr footage and the original film.

* When [[RogerCorman New World Pictures]] picked up the rights to the disaster epic ''Japan Sinks'', they cut it down by 40 minutes, added scenes of [[{{Bonanza}} Lorne Greene]] sitting at a desk, and released the resulting mess as the legendarily awful ''Tidal Wave''.

* ''PowerRangers''
* ''Series/VRTroopers''
* ''BeetleBorgs''
* ''MaskedRider''
* ''SuperhumanSamuraiSyberSquad'' - from ''Gridman''

* ''Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight''

* ''KamenRiderDragonKnight''