Caffeinated Clint
Seems the title “Fast Five” isn’t testing so well outside of America (yes, they test such things). Universal have informed us that the film, the fifth in the “Fast and the Furious” franchise, will now be released under the title “Fast and Furious 5” in territories such as Australia.
Seems odd. Did the title cause some kind of confusion? Maybe folks thought it too close to that “Kung Fu Panda” thing, “Furious Five”? Or maybe, just maybe, Uni has the right idea here – skip the clever-pun titles, just ‘say what it is up front’!? Either way, I don’t think it’ll make too much difference – it’ll be one of those releases that leaves tire marks around the competition first weekend – generating enough bank to warrant a further film in the series – before dropping off considerably on the second.
So many flicks have been released under different titles in Australia – and for various reasons. Here’s a few :
“13 Going on 30” – Sony, discovering that older females were turned off by something that had ’13’ in the title, decided to instead release the Jennifer Garner film as “Suddenly 30”.
“Shoot to Kill” – Touchstone, for some reason or another, released the Tom Berenger/Sidney Poiter flick under the title “Deadly Pursuit” down under. Yeah, I think I prefer the latter.
“Adventures in Babysitting” – Another Touchstone release – also released in the late ’80s – snagged a different moniker for it’s downunder debut : “A Night on the Town”. That one doesn’t make an ounce of sense.
“Dutch” – the Ed O’Neill comedy, directed by John Faiman of “Crocodile Dundee” fame, was – rather wisely – retitled “Drive Me Crazy” for local audiences.
“Point of No Return” – the American remake of “Le Femme Nikita”, starring Bridget Fonda in the lead role, was retitled “The Assassin” (simple but effective) for the local market.
“Joyride” – the highly underrated John Dahl thriller, starring Paul Walker and Leelee Sobieski, was released under the title “Roadkill” downunder.
And the list goes on. Seriously. I could be here all day.
“Fast and Furious 5”, starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster and Dwayne Johnson, hits locally in a month.
