17 films that had to be changed for showing in other countries (18 photos)

A film can be re-edited for a variety of reasons: from cultural differences to an ending that viewers don't like. Disney and Pixar in particular are famous for remaking their films to increase their appeal outside the US. But many other films we all know and love look a little different depending on where they are shown. Here are a few such cases.





1. For international release, Destroyer changed the restaurant chain from Taco Bell to Pizza Hut



In Destroyer, an event dubbed the "franchise wars" brought an end to food diversity in America. In the movie, it's just a quick joke that culminates in the fact that in 2032, all the restaurants have been replaced by the Taco Bell chain.

However, the creators were concerned that international audiences might not be familiar with the American chain, so every mention and logo of Taco Bell was replaced with Pizza Hut.

2. In the international version of Toy Story 2, Buzz gives his speech in front of a globe rather than an American flag.





Buzz Lightyear's impassioned speech as a waving flag slowly materializes behind him is a pretty funny joke for American audiences, but not for international audiences. To make the joke more accessible to everyone, Pixar replaced the flag with a spinning globe followed by fireworks.

3. Kisses were cut from the British version of Pride and Prejudice, which the British considered “blasphemous” towards Jane Austen.



In the American and Canadian versions of Pride and Prejudice, Keira Knightley's Elizabeth and Matthew Macfadyen's Mr. Darcy kiss at the end: a classic romantic film happy ending. But ardent fans of the books in the UK were not happy. Many considered this ending not only inconsistent with the book (they don’t kiss at all), but also too sexual. So the international version of the film was cut.

4. At the Iranian box office, the film "Ricky Bobby: King of the Road" was "ennobled" with the help of CGI



We're talking about a scene in which Will Ferrell's character is running around in his underwear, thinking he's on fire. In order not to completely cut out the scene, the distributors added a CGI wall that half covered the actor.

5. In the Japanese version of Inside Out, the broccoli was replaced with green peppers.



It turns out Japanese kids aren't so against broccoli after all! However, the vegetable they unanimously voted the most disgusting was the green pepper, so the filmmakers swapped one vegetable for another.

6. Lincoln (2012) took the opportunity to explain US history to an international audience



A film about an influential American president requires the viewer to have at least a minimal knowledge of American history, but, of course, not all viewers went to high school in the United States. To make the film more accessible to foreign audiences, the film included a slide show that quickly recounted facts about the world in which Abraham Lincoln lived.

7. The list of Steve Rogers references in The Other War varied from country to country.



In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Cap keeps a list of references, trends, and events in history that he missed while he was frozen for 70 years. All of these references, as seen above, are quite American (Steve Jobs, Nirvana, I Love Lucy). And while many outside the US are familiar with these things, Disney knew that audiences would enjoy the references to their own countries even more.

8. The first Harold and Kumar movie had to be renamed for other countries.



In the original film, which is known as "Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle" (Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle). But the White Castle fast food restaurant chain exists only in the United States, so in other countries the film was called "Harold and Kumar Get the Munchies."

9. Animals characteristic of the country of release appear as minor characters in different versions of Zootopia



For example, the hosts of the ZNN show are changing. Instead of moose, tanuki (Japan), panda (China), and koala (Australia/New Zealand) appear in other countries.

10. In The Shining, a huge stack of pages with the same phrase was translated and reprinted into four different languages



Remember the famous scene with "All work, no idleness, poor Jack knows no fun"? Stanley Kubrick's assistant, who must have been the busiest assistant in Hollywood given that her boss was notoriously meticulous, personally typed up all the pages of the phrase in French, German, Italian and Spanish.

11. For the German release, the terrorists from Die Hard were turned into Irishmen



At the time of Die Hard's release, Germany was being terrorized by groups such as the Red Army Faction and the Baader-Meinhof Gang, so German audiences were unlikely to want to watch a film where the enemies were German terrorists.

To correct this unfortunate coincidence, the filmmakers replaced the villains with former members of the Irish Republican Army and gave them all English names. So, for example, Hans Gruber became Jack Gruber.

12. The Dubai version of “The Wolf of Wall Street” was shortened by as much as 45 minutes, but it is unclear on whose initiative



If you've never seen The Wolf of Wall Street, just know that it's not surprising that some people found it gross. In the film, different variations of the f-word are used 506 times, drugs are used constantly and a lot of nudity is shown. The version of The Wolf of Wall Street that was shown in Dubai had many of these scenes cut out. It was initially believed that this was done on the orders of Juma Obaid Al Lima, director of media content at the National Media Council. But he later said that the film's distributor, Gulf Films, had recut the film before handing it over to Dubai.

13. Dr. Wu has more scenes in the Chinese release of Iron Man 3



In addition to this, the Chinese version introduces a new character played by Fan Bingbing, and also adds product placement for Gu Li Duo's milk (which Dr. Wu is drinking in the shot above).

14. The third act of The Sound of Music (where the Nazis were) was completely removed from the German release, but was returned when the director found out about it



The Sound of Music tells the story of the von Trapp family's escape from the Nazis, which caused controversy in Germany. The decision to cut the third act is attributed to the manager of the Munich branch of 20th Century Fox, who did not wait for approval.

The edited film was shown in Germany for a while, but once director Robert Wise learned of the cut, the original version was released in the country.

15. For the Irish release of A Streetcar Named Desire, the film was made less erotic.



The film A Streetcar Named Desire is already something of an "alternate version" of the source material. Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire is a complex story that deals with themes of homosexuality and violence. In the film adaptation, Stanley's homosexuality was removed. But the film lost even more when it came to the Irish box office. Scenes showing sexual tension between Stanley and Stella were cut as too stimulating, and a total of 27 such edits were made. It turns a subtle story about domestic violence and manipulation into a twisted film about a woman who gradually becomes more and more psychotic for no reason.

16. The original ending of Fatal Attraction was completely different, but it was only released in Japan.



In the Fatal Attraction ending we all know, Anne Archer's character shoots Glenn Close's Alex. But this ending was filmed six months after work on the film was completed. In the original version of the ending, Alex kills herself by making it look like Michael Douglas' character killed her.

Glen Close was not too happy with the new ending, as it made her character seem much more hysterical. “I didn’t play the ordinary, I didn’t play the cliché. I played a specific, deeply unbalanced, fragile person whom I fell in love with.” But in the end, viewers saw a completely different climax.

17. An alternate ending to 28 Days Later was filmed and almost released for the United States, but the director ultimately found it too dark



At the end of 28 Days Later, the three surviving characters escape to an idyllic cottage. In the end, they are saved by the creation of a huge sign, but in the first version of the script the ending was completely different. In another filmed version, Jim dies in the hospital after Selena and Hannah try to save him. Although this alternate ending was intended to be released in the United States, it was ultimately never released to theaters.