MovieChat Forums > Moana (2016) Discussion > Vaiana?

Vaiana?

posted 8 years ago by Dreamcatcher9000
8 replies | jump to latest

The movie is gonna be released in at least 14 European countries with the title "Vaiana". I read in the trivia:

"In Italy the movie is named "Oceania" and its protagonist "Vaiana". This is both for opportunity and copyright reasons as the original name would be easily associated with Moana Pozzi, a famous Italian porn star from the late-'80s and early-'90s."

What are the "opportunity" reasons?

And also, the confusing part is that it's gonna be titled in Italy not like "Vaiana", but as "Oceania", but in the other European countries is gonna be titled "Vaiana". Why is gonna be titled like "Oceania" only in Italy? And is that Italian porn star famous in all these countries as well? Even so, does the copyright affect all these countries? This is stupid, to change the name of a big new Disney movie because of a forgotten porn star.
And isn't it a funny coincidence (?) that "Vaiana" sounds like "vagina"? :p

[–] seni-2101 8 years ago

I'm from Europe and I never heard about that old porn star. But I know that it is quite common practice in my country and some other european countries that distributors completly change some movie titles from the original.
I guess it happens when they can't translate the movie title well into a certain language, if it sounds wierd in that language or sometimes if there isn't even a word for it in that language then they come up with some other "more fitting" title. Although many times I've found the changed titles to be really stupid and unnecessary.

[–] seni-2101 8 years ago

Also sometimes they change the title if they think it will sound more catchy and appealing than the actual translation of the title. I forgot to add.

[–] seni-2101 8 years ago

I've just checked how they titled Moana in my country and it is also Vaiana. Actually the full title is "Vaiana - potraga za mitskim otokom" (Vaiana - search for the mythical island).

[–] CookieNCreams 8 years ago

I know "Zootopia" gets called "Zootropolis" in a lot of European countries because there’s a Danish animal park of the same name. I understood why the name change in Denmark, to avoid copyright issues, but how does this affect the rest of Europe? Is the park that well-known across Europe?

The porn star story only seems to be an Italian marketing issue. I guess they don’t want Italian children to encounter the wrong source while searching for their favorite Disney movie. Not really sure how Italy ended up with “Oceania” as the alternative title over “Vaiana,” with the main character still being addressed as Vaiana apparently? Maybe Italy has other specific marketing reasons for that title outside of the Pozzi controversy, as you had suggested.

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[–] lgtjanssen 8 years ago

If the trade mark has been issued by the EU Intellectual Property Right Office, then your trademark is valid in the entire European Economic Area. Thus if "Zootopia" or "Moana" are registered in such a way you have to change your trademark in the entire EEA. In case for both "Zootopia" and "Moana" Disney would be unable to sell merchandise as the Danish Zoo has the trade mark for clothing etc (thus it was able to name to movie as such). The same applies to "Moana" and thus had to be renamed in the EEA in order to be able to sell merchandise.

[–] Dreamcatcher9000 8 years ago

I know "Zootopia" gets called "Zootropolis" in a lot of European countries because there’s a Danish animal park of the same name. I understood why the name change in Denmark, to avoid copyright issues, but how does this affect the rest of Europe? Is the park that well-known across Europe?

Exactly! It's so stupid!
I understand if an American title doesn't make much sense to other countries, or can't be translated and make sense, but sometimes they do some changes for no reason.

[–] spider-735-223155 8 years ago

Moana Pozzi (also known only with "Moana") wasn't a forgotten porn star. In Italy she was the most famous porn star ever, and her dramatic personal story inspired some movies and biopic series.
For a parent could be embarassing to ask at the box office some tickets for a "Moana movie".
I'm not a big fan of title changes, but in this situation using the original title could cause some problem to the italian viewers.

[–] Dreamcatcher9000 8 years ago

I'm not a big fan of title changes, but in this situation using the original title could cause some problem to the italian viewers.

Ok, but what about the rest of the Europe? Like I said, they changed the title to at least 14 countries. I live in Greece, and it confused me to watch the trailer with the "Vaiana" title. I guarantee you that ZERO Greek mothers would have a problem with the original title, because none of them knows that porn star. And even if a few of them do, who cares? It's a stupid reason to change the title in any country besides Italy. Even the kids will be confused with the change of the name, because of a stupid reason. Because some of them know that the original title is "Moana", and it will be written like that in the video games and toys and whatever else I guess, so they'll wonder "huh??".
Really, what a stupid thing to do.