In Japan, movies almost certainly receive a brand new, completely different title when they are released in Japan, because Japanese producers believe that they understand the market best, and that new titles will surely be more effective in garnering viewers for these new movies. Strangely, most of the time they will give said movies an English name, even if they already had an English name, as English is cool and audiences like it.

The stupidity of these new titles is often confounding, but hard to express in words. Thus, a few examples have been given below, although you may need some Japanese knowledge in order to understand it better.

English Title Japanese Title 日本語 English Transliteration Miss Congeniality デンジャラス・ビューティー1 Dangerous Beauty Runaway Bride プリティ・ブライド2 Pretty Bride The Last Samurai ラスト サムライ Last Samurai The Incredibles Mr.インクレディブル Mr. Incredible Memoirs of a Geisha SAYURI3 SAYURI The Notebook きみに読む物語 The Story I Read to You

Footnotes:
¹ Apparently, "congenial" was too difficult or too long a word for Japanese audiences, but an "English" title was needed anyway, to garner popularity.
² A transparent attempt to milk Pretty Woman's popularity.
³ WTF?!

Even more strangely, Japanese producers also rename all Chinese movies; one would think that as Japanese can read Chinese characters, there would be no need. But alas! English is better for the market, or young Japanese folks did not study the characters hard enough; but whatever the reason, most Chinese movies get a completely unrelated, Engrish-like name. A few examples are given below for your pleasure.

Chinese Title English Title Japanese Title 日本語 English Translation 精武門 The Chinese Connection ドラゴン怒りの鉄拳 Iron Fist of Dragon Anger 猛龍過江 Way of the Dragon ドラゴンへの道 Way to Becoming a Dragon 龍爭乕鬥 Enter the Dragon 燃えよドラゴン Burn, Dragon 黄飛鴻 Once Upon a Time in China ワンス・アポン・ア・タイム・イン・チャイナ 天地黎明 Once Upon a Time in China Dawn of Heaven and Earth 臥虎藏龍 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon グリーン・デスティニー4 Green Destiny 十面埋伏 House of Flying Daggers LOVERS5 LOVERS

Footnotes:
⁴ Sadly, Japan has their own Chinese proverbs that are different from those used in China, and perhaps this was one reason that they decided to destroy the original title (that any Japanese could read) and replace it with something stupid.
⁵ This is the most absolutely stupid change in titles I have ever seen in my entire time in Japan. WTF?!?! C'mon! That is a complete change in focus and targeted audience! Basically, martial arts movie becomes sappy romance movie in a single title change!

Français English Title Japanese Title 日本語 English Translation La Marche de l'empereur March of the Penguins 皇帝ペンギン Emperor Penguin

In general, you may notice a few things here:

• Japanese producers do not believe in lowercase letters
• Japanese producers do not believe in "the."
• Japanese producers do not believe in difficult English vocabulary
• Japanese producers do not believe that Japanese people can read Chinese characters of more than a basic level
• Apparently, Bruce Lee = Dragon in Japan.