Beside Animations movie, Americans generally dislike dubbed movie.
For recently years, I only remember "Rumble in the Bronx" did very well.
However, Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio BOMB. Shaolin Soccer's dubbed version got very bad responses from US test screenings.
Now, the horror movies trend is over...... I think that Lions Gate should give this movie "limited release" opening(like House of 1000 Corpses), with NC-17 rating.
More detail of dubbed movies in US.
http://query.nytimes.com/search/restric ... 94D1494D81
FILM; Read Their Lips: Americans Don't Like Dubbing
By LEONARD KLADY (NYT) 1278 words
Published: August 29, 1999
Correction Appended
TONGUES wagging, lips flapping . . . but rarely in sync with the words.
That is the stereotype of foreign movies dubbed into English that has been popularized in countless standup comedy routines. Woody Allen took the joke all the way with ''What's Up, Tiger Lily?'' in 1966 -- a routine Japanese gangster movie re-voiced into an anarchic comedy about spies on the trail of a secret chicken salad recipe.
Americans who love foreign movies generally despise dubbing, unless it's used in a particular genre like Hong Kong action movies, or it's part of a bygone fad like those Japanese monster movies and Italian spaghetti westerns. In Europe, seeing an American film in the local language is the norm, and the voiceover artists who give the likes of Clint Eastwood and Sharon Stone multilingual fluency often become celebrities.
The resistance to dubbing by American moviegoers -- as well as by distributors who acquire non-English language films -- is maddening to Europeans who fell in love with American movies in their dubbed form. Daniel Toscan du Plantier, president of Unifrance, the government agency that promotes French films internationally, has said that industry resistance to dubbing is the primary barrier to getting French films on American screens. He's found few supporters here.
One vocal supporter is Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of Miramax Films. ''My first love is foreign films,'' he said, ''and we all know they are at a disadvantage in the U.S.''
On Friday, Miramax issued a dubbed English-language version of its Italian Oscar-winner ''Life Is Beautiful'' by Roberto Benigni, releasing it in theaters in New York and Los Angeles. Acknowledging the risk, Mr. Weinstein said, nevertheless: ''It's a very good dub. This wasn't done for commerce. We can afford to spend the time and energy to make and market an English-language version, and if it opens the door a crack, that's great.''
Mr. Weinstein also hopes that the new version will be sold to network television -- a feat that eluded such past international hits as ''Il Postino'' or ''Like Water for Chocolate'' in either dubbed or subtitled form.
Though he did not participate in the re-mix, Mr. Benigni supports the English version. ''In Italy, and Europe, you are raised on American movies that are dubbed into your language,'' Mr. Benigni said by telephone from Italy. ''If you are reading subtitles, you cannot see the whole picture, and you miss the eye contact with the actors that is the soul of the movie.''
But even those who applaud the effort doubt that it will change prevailing attitudes about the esthetic and commercial value of English-language voices on foreign films. It may be that the rerelease of ''Life Is Beautiful'' -- at $57 million, the top-grossing non-English language film ever in North America -- is occurring too late to capitalize on its acclaim and that no amount of promotion will secure it a significant first-time audience or attract the curious who saw it with subtitles.
Conversely, dubbed American movies dominate movie screens from Adelaide to Zurich. ''It just isn't a two-way street,'' said Jeff Lipsky, president of Samuel Goldwyn Films, a major distributor of foreign-language movies. ''All over the world they wear jeans and Nikes and even dub our hamburgers. It's natural they should dub American movies, but we are never going to embrace eating snails.''
In the heyday of foreign films, in the 1960's and 70's, movies from Europe and Asia were more risque than anything coming out of Hollywood. Subtitled successes like ''La Dolce Vita,'' ''A Man and a Woman'' and ''I Am Curious (Yellow)'' were routinely dubbed to secure bookings outside of major cities. Neither a great deal of time nor money was spent on the English-language versions, and they acquired a deserved reputation for being inauthentic. As a result, there has not been a foreign art house hit in a dubbed version since ''La Cage aux Folles'' in 1978.
Still, a national poll of moviegoers conducted by Marketcast, one of the few market research firms that tests and tracks moviegoing patterns, last week showed that 31 percent of the audience said they would be more likely to see foreign-language films if the films were dubbed in English while 27 percent said they definitely would not.
The turning point for dubbed pictures occurred in 1984 with a meticulously produced English version of ''Das Boot,'' the Oscar-nominated film about life in a German U-boat. Still considered one of the finest examples of the process, ''The Boat,'' as the movie was retitled for American audiences, was shunned by audiences despite aggressive marketing.
''We got great reviews from the critics,'' recalled Kate Morris, a post-production sound supervisor, who oversaw the English mix. ''But there was a prejudice against the practice. I believe if more films were dubbed well, eventually it would be accepted in this country.''
SUBSEQUENT efforts to dub popular non-English-language movies, by both American and international filmmakers, have been valiant if disheartening experiences. Unifrance and AMC theaters in 1994 planned to present 10 popular French films with English soundtracks, but the two parties could never agree on titles or strategies.
Miramax's experiences before it released ''Life Is Beautiful'' were also disappointing. In 1993, the company acquired France's all-time box office champ, the time travel comedy ''Les Visiteurs,'' and its producer, Gaumont, financed a dub supervised by Mel Brooks. Following a test screening in Burbank, Calif., Miramax executives decided to give the film a limited release in the subtitled version, much to the chagrin of Gaumont and Mr. Brooks.
''I did the absolute best job I could,'' said Mr. Brooks. ''I felt the audience was really with it, but the guys at Miramax didn't see it that way. I don't know what they expected, but they didn't seem to understand that the words of the 'gospel' are dictated by the movement of the mouth.''
A similar fate befell ''Nirvana,'' a 1977 Italian science-fiction yarn that Miramax hoped to remix in English and market as a genre release. But after previewing the subtitled version for a recruited audience, the company scrapped all theatrical plans. The film will make its debut on video later this year in the original Italian with subtitles.
Despite continuing resistance to dubbing, a couple of recent developments could well contribute to making it more acceptable.
Technical advances have made digital morphing, which allows for synchronization of lip movement to soundtrack, less costly. The technique has been used effectively in commercial spots, particularly those with talking animals.
But the biggest plus is an upswing in popularity for foreign fare. The success of ''Life Is Beautiful'' has made Americans only hungrier for non-English language pictures. Such films as the German ''Run Lola Run,'' ''Central Station'' from Brazil, France's ''Dinner Game'' and such mixed-language fare as ''The Red Violin,'' the Spanish-English documentary ''Buena Vista Social Club'' and the American independent ''Three Seasons,'' set in Vietnam, have been in the vanguard of foreign films that have generated more than $100 million during 1999. That may represent only 2 percent of North American moviegoing, but for this special arena, it's the most vital showing in more than two decades.
Correction: September 19, 1999, Sunday An article on Aug. 29 about the dubbing of foreign films misstated the title of Jeff Lipsky of Samuel Goldwyn Films, who commented on the practice. He is head of United States marketing and distribution, not president. The same article misidentified the secret recipe being pursued in Woody Allen's 1966 comic redubbing of a Japanese film, ''What's Up, Tiger Lily?'' It is for egg salad, not chicken salad.
Photos: An English-language dubbed version of Roberto Benigni's ''Life Is Beautiful,'' above, which opened Friday, is the latest attempt to wean Americans from subtitles. (Sergio Strizzi/Miramax Films); The French farce, ''La Cage aux Folles,'' right, released in 1978, was the last dubbed film to become a foreign art house hit in the United States. (United Artists)
