History Main / TranslationMatchmaking

** In Finland, ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' is known as ''Hei, me lennetään' (Hey, we're flying). The titles of the following ZAZ movies have had similar translations. The title format has since then spread to other parody movies and everywhere else to the point of MemeticMutation.
** In Mexico, ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' is titled ''¿Y donde esta el piloto?'' (''So Where's the Pilot?'') and subsequent ZAZ movies have been titled accordingly, for instance the ''Naked Gun'' movies are titled ''¿Y donde esta el policia?'' (''So Where's the Cop?''), and ''Film/WhiteChicks'' was titled ''¿Y dónde están las rubias?'' (''So Where are the Blondes?''). Similarly, ''Film/PoliceAcademy'' movies were called ''Loca Academia de Policia'' (''Insane Police Academy''), and the ''Film/HotShots'' movies were therefore titled ''Loca Academia de Pilotos'' (''Insane Pilot Academy''). Even ''Film/{{Repossessed}}'' was retroactively renamed ''¿Y donde está el exorcista?'' (''So where's the Exorcist?'')
** In Germany, ''Airplane'' was [[TheFantasticTropeOfWonderousTitles called]] ''Die unglaubliche Reise in einem verrückten Flugzeug'' (''The Incredible Journey in a Crazy Airplane''). Subsequently, ''Ruthless People'' was renamed ''Die unglaubliche Entführung der verrückten Mrs Stone'' (''The Incredible Kidnapping of the Crazy Mrs Stone''). The titles of the ''Naked Gun'' movies were translated literally; however, the TV show ''Series/PoliceSquad'', which came to Germany ''after'' the movies, was renamed ''Die nackte Pistole'' (''The Naked Pistol''). Also, ''S.P.Q.R. 2000 e 1/2 anni fa'', a completely unrelated Italian movie that had Leslie Nielsen in it, was retitled ''Die römische Kanone'' (''The Roman Gun'').
** In Spain, ''Airplane!'' was renamed ''Aterriza como puedas'' (Land as you can), ''Film/TheNakedGun'' became ''Agárralo como puedas'' (Catch [him] the way you can), and ''Film/SpyHard'' was ''Espia como puedas'' (Spy as you can). In fact, most comedies with Leslie Nielsen follow the "X como puedas" [[FollowTheLeader and even some unrelated ones]]: ''Film/JaneAustensMafia'', for instance, became ''Mafia, estafa como puedas'' ("Mafia, Con [someone] The Way You Can". One explanation might be that ''Mafia!'' features Nielsen's ''Airplane!'' co-star Lloyd Bridges).
** In Israel, Leslie Nielsen's comedies received the same treatment. ''Film/TheNakedGun'' was named ''The Gun Died Laughing'', and its sequels were named appropriately. Since then, other films would be translated as "The [something] Died Laughing"--''Film/SpyHard'' was named ''The Spy Died Laughing'', ''Film/WrongfullyAccused'', a parody of ''Film/TheFugitive'', was named ''The Fugitive Died Laughing'', and ''[[Film/TwoThousandAndOneASpaceTravesty 2001: A Space Travesty]]'' was named ''Space Died Laughing''.

** Leslie Nielsen's movies also had this happen in Japan. ''The Naked Gun'' was known as ''The Man With the Naked Gun'', a parody of the Bond movie title in Japanese as well as in English. ''Wrongfully Accused'' became ''The Fugitive With the Naked Gun'', ''Men with Brooms'' (a curling movie) was ''The Man With the Naked Stone'', and even his earlier movies were renamed on video, so that 1990’s ''Film/{{Repossessed}}'' became ''The Man With the Naked Crucifix''! Japanese translators went on to rename ''S.P.Q.R. 2000 e 1/2 Anni Fa'' (an Italian film that he starred in) to ''Leslie Nielsen: The Naked Roman Empire'', and ''Santa Who?'' to ''Leslie Nielsen: The Naked Santa Claus''.
** ''Film/TwoThousandAndOneASpaceTravesty'' was retitled in Italy ''2001: Un'astronave spuntata nello spazio'' (literally: "A Dull Spaceship in Space") in order to follow the Italian title of the ''Naked Gun'' movies, ''Una pallottola spuntata'' (literally: "A Dull Bullet").
** ''Film/TwoThousandAndOneASpaceTravesty'' was renamed "The Sixth Element" in Russia in order to cash in on the popularity of ''Film/TheFifthElement''.
** Translators of comedy titles into Latin American Spanish are obsessed with the concept of "Loco" (Insane). The Police Academy case is well-known, but Creator/MelBrooks movies are frequent victims of this: ''Film/HistoryOfTheWorldPartI'' was changed to ''La loca historia del mundo'' ("The Insane History of the World"), ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' turned into ''La loca historia de las galaxias'' ("The Insane Story of the Galaxies"), ''Film/SilentMovie'' was known as ''La última locura'' ("The Last Insanity"), and ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'' was changed to ''Las locas, locas aventuras de Robin Hood'' ("The Insane, Insane Adventures of Robin Hood"). The last one may derive from the fact that "loca" (crazy lady) is a common way to refer to a flamboyant gay man in Latin American Spanish (similar to the use of "queer" in English), making it also a PunBasedTitle.

** Two actor-based examples: a Schwarzenegger one that made sense - ''Film/TheTerminator'' was "The Terminator from the Future", so ''Film/TotalRecall1990'' became "The Avenger from the Future" - and a Creator/MichaelJFox one that doesn't - ''Film/TeenWolf'' became "The Boy from the Future" to cash in ''Film/BackToTheFuture''.

* ''Film/{{Absurd}}'' became ''[[Film/TheAnthropophagusBeast Anthropophagus]] 2'' in Russia.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'' as 玩具總動員 ("Mobilization of the Toys") was followed by ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' (海底總動員, "Mobilization on the Seafloor") and ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' (汽車總動員, "Mobilization of the Cars")).

** In a more conventional example of this trope, the English version of ''Illusion of Gaia'' was originally planned to be released in the US as a sequel to ''VideoGame/SoulBlazer'' before switching publishers from Enix to Nintendo. While they were developed by the same company (Quintet), the two games are vaguely connected at best, with the most obvious connection being the first boss of ''Soul Blazer'' making a cameo appearance as the BonusBoss of ''Illusion of Gaia''.

* Because of ''Sentai Dai Shikkaku'' was themed around {{Sentai}} tropes, Kodansha USA based the English title ''Manga/GoGoLoserRanger'' on "Go Go Power Rangers", the opening theme to ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''.

* While the original ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}'' manga and anime were never adapted to English, the tie-in rubber figure toyline by [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Bandai]] were imported to the U.S. by Creator/{{Mattel}} under the name of ''M.U.S.C.L.E.'', which stood for "Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere". When [[Creator/FourKidsEntertainment 4Kids]] and Creator/{{Viz|Media}} picked up the rights to the ''Kinnikuman'' sequel series, ''Kinnikuman Nisei'', they went with the name ''Anime/UltimateMuscle'' to invoke a connection with Mattel's toyline, although the "Muscle" in ''Ultimate Muscle'' is just a word and not an acronym for anything. Mattel stills holds the rights to the ''M.U.S.C.L.E.'' trademark, but now produces rubber figures based on other properties, such as ''He-Man'' and ''Street Sharks''.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' as 玩具總動員 ("Mobilization of the Toys") was followed by ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' (海底總動員, "Mobilization on the Seafloor") and ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' (汽車總動員, "Mobilization of the Cars")).

* In order to tie it in with the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series, the first installment of the ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' series was dubbed ''Devil Kings'' for its overseas conversion, along with [[CutAndPasteTranslation many other changes.]]

** In Mexico, ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' is titled ''¿Y donde esta el piloto?'' (''So Where's the Pilot?'') and subsequent ZAZ movies have been titled accordingly, for instance the ''Naked Gun'' movies are titled ''¿Y donde esta el policia?'' (''So Where's the Cop?''), and ''Film/WhiteChicks'' was titled ''¿Y dónde están las rubias?'' (''So Where are the Blondes?''). Similarly, ''Film/PoliceAcademy'' movies were called ''Loca Academia de Policia'' (''Insane Police Academy''), and the ''Film/HotShots'' movies were therefore titled ''Loca Academia de Pilotos'' (''Insane Pilot Academy'').
*** Even ''Film/{{Repossessed}}'' was retroactively renamed ''¿Y donde está el exorcista?'' (''So where's the Exorcist?'')

* The Konami arcade game ''VideoGame/{{Jackal}}'' was first released in the U.S. under the title of ''Top Gunner''as a possible nod to the movie ''Film/TopGun''. When it was ported to the NES, they went to back to the original ''Jackal'' naming used in other regions, likely to avoid confusion with their own ''Top Gun'' video game for the NES.

* When Konami released the arcade version of ''VideoGame/{{Jackal}}'' in the U.S., they changed the title to ''Top Gunner'' and slapped on a few American flags, possibly to identify it with ''Film/TopGun''. Konami would go on to make actual ''Top Gun'' game for the NES, which resulted in them ditching the ''Top Gunner'' when ''Jackal'' was ported to the NES.

** Leslie Nielsen's movies also had this happen in Japan. ''The Naked Gun'' was known as ''The Man With the Naked Gun'', a parody of the Bond movie title in Japanese as well as in English. ''Wrongfully Accused'' became ''The Fugitive With the Naked Gun'', ''Men with Brooms'' (a curling movie) was ''The Man With the Naked Stone'', and even his earlier movies were renamed on video, so that 1990’s ''Film/{{Repossessed}}'' became ''The Man With the Naked Crucifix''! Japanese translators went on to rename ''S.P.Q.R. 2000 e 1/2 Anni Fa'' (an Italian film that he starred in) ti ''Leslie Nielsen: The Naked Roman Empire'', and ''Santa Who?'' to ''Leslie Nielsen: The Naked Santa Claus''.

** In México, ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' is titled ''¿Y donde esta el piloto?'' (''So where's the pilot?'') and subsequent ZAZ movies have been titled accordingly, for instance the ''Naked Gun'' movies are titled ''¿Y donde esta el policia?'' (''So where's the cop?''), and ''Film/WhiteChicks'' was titled ''¿Y dónde están las rubias?'' (''So where are the blondes?''). Similarly, ''Film/PoliceAcademy'' movies were called ''Loca Academia de Policia'' (''Insane Police Academy''), and the ''Film/HotShots'' movies were therefore titled ''Loca Academia de Pilotos'' (''Insane Pilot Academy'').

** Leslie Nielsen's movies also had this happen in Japan. ''The Naked Gun'' was known as ''The Man With the Naked Gun'', a parody of the Bond movie title in Japanese as well as in English. ''Wrongfully Accused'' became ''The Fugitive With the Naked Gun'', ''Men with Brooms'' (a curling movie) was ''The Man With the Naked Stone'', and even his earlier movies were renamed on video, so that 1990’s ''Film/{{Repossessed}}'' became ''The Man With the Naked Crucifix''!
** ''Film/TwoThousandAndOneASpaceTravesty'' was retitled in Italy ''2001: Un'astronave spuntata nello spazio'' (literally: "A dull spaceship in space") in order to follow the Italian title of the ''Naked Gun'' movies, ''Una pallottola spuntata'' (literally: "A dull bullet").

* For reasons unclear, ''Film/BatteriesNotIncluded'' was renamed "Miracolo sull'8° strada" ("Miracle on 8th Street"), which sounds just like ''Film/MiracleOnThirtyFourthStreet''. In Latin America it also received the name "Milagro en la calle 8", probably for the same reason.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' as 玩具總動員 is followed by ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' (海底總動員) and ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' (汽車總動員).
%%* The Hong Kong name for ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' is 馴龍記, similar to the common Chinese name for ''Theatre/TheTamingOfTheShrew'' (馴悍記).
%%* The Hong Kong name for ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' is 大英雄聯盟, which has nothing to do with ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' (英雄聯盟). And its name for Baymax is 醫神, same as ''Series/{{House}}''.

* The newer ''VideoGame/KunioKun'' games have been localized under the ''River City'' branding (e.g. ''River City Soccer Hooligans'', ''River City Sports Challenge'') in the west since the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS entries, despite the series no longer receiving the same Americanization treatment that the original ''VideoGame/RiverCityRansom'' received during its localization. Likewise, the Canadian-produced sequel ''VideoGame/RiverCityRansomUnderground'' became ''Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari Underground'' for its Japanese localization.

** ''Film/TwoThousandAndOneASpaceTravesty'' was renamed ''Y a-t-il un flic pour sauver l'humanité?'' (Is there a cop who can save humanity?) although it's not part of the Naked Gun series.

* The [[DuelingDubs second Italian dub]] of ''WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat'' tries to turn the movie into a sequel of ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'', stating early in that Fritz is actually O'Malley under a pseudonym.
** The first ''WesternAnimation/HappilyNEverAfter'' movie was translated as ''Deu a Louca na Cinderela'' ("Cinderella's Gone Crazy") and the sequel became ''Deu a Louca na Branca de Neve'' ("Snow White's Gone Crazy"), to fit the way ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoodwinked}}'' was translated, ''Deu a Louca na Chapeuzinho'' ("Little Red Riding Hood's Gone Crazy").

* Simka Entertainment's dub of the Hong Kong film ''Sky Force'', which was renamed ''Wings: Sky Force Heroes'' in a feeble attempt to pass it off as a sequel to ''Wings'', their earlier dub of the Russian ''WesternAnimation/{{Planes}}'' MockBuster ''Ot Vinta''. Despite both being about anthropomorphic planes the two films could not be more different, and aside from changing two of the characters' names (That ''Sky Force'' already had a protagonist named Ace seems to have been a lucky coincidence) absolutely no effort was put into connecting ''Heroes'' to ''Wings''. To make things more confusing, [=TriCoast=] Studios released a more faithful dub of ''Sky Force'' in the same year.

* For its North American release, the UsefulNotes/Sega32X ShootEmUp ''Parasquad'' was retitled ''VideoGame/­{{Zaxxon}}'s Motherbase 2000''. The game has little to do with ''Zaxxon'' beyond being an isometric shooter developed by Sega.

* Although part of ''Neo-Tokyo'' was directed by Creator/KatsuhiroOtomo, it's not related to ''Manga/{{Akira}}'', and its original title is ''Anime/MeikyuuMonogatari'' (''Labyrinth Tales''), also known as ''Manie-Manie''.

* ''Anime/NinjaResurrection'' wasn't a sequel to ''Anime/NinjaScroll'', but you could be forgiven if the box text and the distributor misled you. The only similarity was the main character's name, Jubei. ''Ninja Scroll''[='s=] protagonist is an homage to UsefulNotes/YagyuJubei, one of the most famous ninja and folk heroes in Japanese history. ''Ninja Resurrection'', based on the novel ''Makai Tensho'', actually uses Yagyu Jubei as its protagonist.

* When Konami released the arcade version of ''VideoGame/{{Jackal}}'' in the U.S., they changed the title to ''Top Gunner'' and slapped on a few American flags, possibly to identify it with ''Film/TopGun''. Konami would go on to make actual ''Top Gun'' game for the NES, which resulted in ditching the ''Top Gunner'' name for the NES version.

* The NES game ''Contra Force'' was actually a localized version of a canceled Famicom game titled ''Arc Hound''. The game has no actual ties with the rest of the ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'' series, although the people in charge of localizing ''Contra III: The Alien Wars'', which was released a few months earlier on the SNES, would try to fix this around by claiming that the ruined post-apocalyptic city in the beginning of the game, which is unnamed in the Japanese version, was actually Neocity, the setting of ''Contra Force''.