Translation

Translations of American Movies' titles into Japanese are sometimes more like paraphrasing. 

For example, when the movie "The Descendants" was released in Japan in 2011, they didn't literally translate its title, but they adopted an another English word for the movie title.  It was named and released as "Family Tree" in Japan.

In like manner, "The Karate Kid "was named as "The Best Kid" and  2015 Animation film "Inside Out" was named as "Inside Head" in Japan. 

Now let's enjoy guessing....what are the original titles of the following movie-titles, released in Japan?

Old Carl's Flying House (2009)　→

Seven Gifts (2008)　 →

Sugar Rush (2012) →

Dangerous Run (2012) →

Three Ghosts (1998) →

Romance Novelist (1997) →

Hamunaptra (1999) →

Leonard's Morning (1990) →

No Country (2007) →

50th First Kiss (2004) →

Ana & Snow Queen (2013) →

Tomorrow World (2006) →

I'm sure it's impossible to answer it without knowing the movie.  Also it is sometimes hard to guess what kind of movie it is, judging from the title.   However if you see two different descriptions of the title, then it becomes easier to guess the contents.   The more keywords you get,  the more we get to know about the movie.

Here are some movies titles both in English and in Japanese.

Up (2009) → Old Carl's Flying House (Japan)

The Mummy (1999, USA) →   Hamunaptra    (Japan)  

Seven Pounds (2008) → Seven Gifts

As good as it gets (1997, USA) → Romance Novelist  (Japan)

Awakenings (1990, USA)  → Leonard's Morning (Japan)

The Karate Kid (2010, USA) → The Best Kid (Japan)

Drag Me to Hell (2009 Horror, USA ) → Spell (Japan)

Children of Men(2006) → Tomorrow World (Japan)

Scrooge (1988) → Three Ghosts (Japan)

Frozen (2013)→  Ana and Snow Queen (Japan)

50 First Dates(2004)→ 50th First Kiss (Japan)

Inside Out (2015) → Inside head (Japan)

Safe House (2012) → Dangerous Run (Japan)

In time (2011) → Time (Japan)

Wreck-It-Ralph (2012 Animation) → Sugar Rush (Japan)

I think translation of the movie title is like rewording of the most important keyword.  It's very interesting to know what word can the most important in the movie.    What word can attract more people? 

It has to depend on the country and there could be many translations!

Then the more we know the different translations, the more we get keywords.   As a result, we can get closer to the essence.