Dumbing down films for US release

[kamikazesquid]

So, apparently the Swedish horror film "Let the Right One In" was recently released here in the US, but with a bit of controversy. The subtitles for the film were apparently changed before the release and dumbed down. I don't understand why they would do this, because the people they would dumb it down for are people that won't watch subtitled films anyways.

Anyways, here is a link I came across. Anyone know of any other films this is similar to?

http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/03/23/who-changed-the-subtitles-for-the-let-the-right-one-in-dvd-release/

next they're going to be doing hard subbed pop-up video style things on the screen for people to make sure they understand what's going on.

[jspartan]

Magnolia and First Look Pictures are some of the companies that just do not care about how a film is presented. Dragon Dynasty is also starting to show similar signs.

Basically, it boils down to a few issues:

1. Licensing.
- Believe it or not, some companies have exclusive rights to subtitles and language options.These companies may not want to share those elements with other companies.

2. Cost.
- To save on DVD production or keep the retail price of the product down. Some companies omit languages that are unncessary. This ties into licensing above.

3. Laziness.
- First Look Pictures is so frickin' guilty of this.While the DVDs may offer subtitles for the dialogue only, the BDs offer subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing only. Instead of creating new English subtitles without the sound & music cues, they simply threw on the same subtitles from the DVD.

4. Time.
- This is where Hong Kong is king. Sure, they are pressed for time and need the English subtitles created as quickly as possible. However, in HK...and to an extent Korea and Thailand, someone is actually using a dictionary to ensure the closest subtitles. They may not be grammatically correct sometimes but they are better. In the US, its a whole different story...if the company is pressed for time, screw the translation: Transcribe the dub script to the subtitles!

I can admit that BCI/Eclipse may not have been top tier DVD/BD but they at least cared enough to provide quality releases. Hard Gun, The Tiger Blade, and Vengeance are not dubtitled. Sure some of the translation is different but its closer than just paraphrasing the dialogue.

Dragon Dynasty looked like a shining beacon to me but I have yet to buy ANY of their titles. Why? Their lineage comes from Hong Kong Legends and while HKL may have been top dog in the UK...the two major employees Brian White and Bey Logan are western influenced and worse The Weinstein Company has final say in the products. Infernal Affairs have subtitles that are not just poor but completely dumbed down. Hard Boiled has dubtitles instead of proper English subtitles; Bey Logan even gets the English translation of the original Chinese title wrong. Police Story 3: Supercop is the US theatrical version with Bey Logan stating this is the preferred version while Jackie Chan says in his interview that he wanted the original HK version. And dont get me started on Brian White's need to retitle movies and add art elements that do not belong on the cover.

Magnolia is tied for first as the worst offender for foreign cinema. They are the ones who are selling Let The Right One In in the US. So far, District B13, The Host, and even the 2008 Thai film Chocolate have subtitle issues. These subs are even dumbed down like their recent release.

First Look Pictures ties for first with Magnolia. Sukiyaki Western Django is a truncated version of the film and as a courtesy, they could have included English subtitles only. Paris Je Ta'ime and Priceless do not have English only subtitles just English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.

[jspartan]

And now Magnolia Home Entertainment is officially the number one reason why independent studios get a bad reputation.

From the Digital Bits:


"We've been made aware that there are several fans that don't like the version of the subtitles on the DVD/BR. We had an alternate translation that we went with. Obviously a lot of fans thought we should have stuck with the original theatrical version. We are listening to the fans feedback, and going forward we will be manufacturing the discs with the subtitles from the theatrical version."


That was Magnet/Magnolia's response about Let The Right One In's subtitles. But it gets worse:


"There are no exchanges. We are going to make an alternate version available however. For those that wish to purchase a version with the theatrical subtitles, it will be called out in the tech specs box at the back/bottom of the package where it will list SUBTITLES: ENGLISH (Theatrical), SPANISH."


You read that right. Magnolia will not exchange the title because they believe that if you want the correct version, you have to pay for it. Bullshit.

Magnolia Home Entertainment is making enemies with their customers and retailers. Jeez, even Sony Pictures Home Entertainment let consumers exchange the first pressings of The Fifth Element for the newer pressings with remastered picture and sound.