Is This Dead Porn Actress Why Disney Renamed 'Moana' in Italy? The reason for the name change in Italy to Oceania remains more mysterious, however. Disney Italy hasn’t offered any official explanation, but the running theory in Italian media is that Disney was compelled to change the name thanks to the notoriety of Italian porn actress Moana Pozzi, who passed away in 1994 at the age of 33. Like the Disney princess, Pozzi’s first name had Polynesian roots; she was named after a Hawaiian island that means “the point where the sea is deepest.” In addition to her film career, Pozzi was the co-founder of the Italian political movement, the Love Party, and ran unsuccessfully for the mayor of Rome.
The other answer I heard is that a perfume company had previously trademarked Moana in Europe. Same as issue with Zootopia and a zoo in Denmark.
Movies change their names in foreign countries all the time, including occasional head-scratchers where they pick another English title rather than something in the local language. I suppose there's a reasonable chance that she was part of the reason for changing the name in Italy (though she's been dead for 22 years at this point, so I doubt she's especially relevant), but I don't think it's all that unusual that decided to go with something different, for whatever reason
While movies get renamed all the time, it's rare for that to happen with a film that is simply a proper name, I'd think. I suppose they could have renamed "Lilo and Stitch" to "Hawaiian Girl and Weird Blue Thing from Outer Space," but I'm not aware of any country that did so. (Some more knowledgeable LP'er will now show me that exactly that happened in 3...2...1....)
Challenge accepted! According to Mental Floss (great source, I know) the German title for "Annie Hall" was "Urban Neurotic" http://mentalfloss.com/article/31192/31-bizarre-foreign-titles-american-movies I also appreciate that "Lost in Translation" became "Meetings and Failures in Meetings" in Portugal I found another article that said that "The Mighty Ducks" was renamed "Champions" in the UK (where they also speak English), and the sequel "D2: The Mighty Ducks" became simply "The Mighty Ducks". That's not confusing at all.
In Italy, she was known simply as "Moana" and her name was used in some of her films along the lines of Debbie in "Debbie Does Dallas". Because Moana is a unique name in Italy, porn is immediately what Italians think of when they hear it. Disney had to change it for that audience.
The Mighty Ducks is a proper name, and Disney, and it was "translated" to English to boot! Annie Hall is also a proper name, but not Disney, so I guess it doesn't count For the most part, it seems like Disney's recent movies have shied away from simply using a character's name, so it's harder to find examples. Even in older movies, the character names are often part of a longer title, like Oliver & Company. With a little more digging, these were the best I could find of the animated features: Tangled was called Rapunzel through most of the world (as it should have been in the US), and Frozen was some variation on The Snow Queen in many places In much of Europe, Peter Pan was called variations on The Adventures of Peter Pan, and there are a few European countries that had variations on The [Marvelous] Adventures of Pinocchio There a couple instances of The Incredibles getting a subtitle about a superhero family, while in Japan it was just called Mr Incredible Bolt was renamed to Volt in France and Russia, which required changing some visuals throughout the film, since it's one of the few movies that repeatedly shows any character's name
According to IMDb, "Champions" is an alternative title. It was billed as this on VHS Disney The Mighty Ducks Are The Champions Vhs • £0.99
Bolt to Volt is interesting. The Mighty Ducks isn't a proper name in the way I meant that (a person's name), and technically Bolt isn't either, but close enough in an anthropomorphic universe. I was thinking more along the lines of a person's name having to be changed because of some cultural connotation that US Disney never dreamed of (like Moana in Italy) - I'm thinking this is probably still unique, but who knows? I always think of the Chevy Nova, which had to be renamed in Spanish-speaking countries, because in Spanish it means "doesn't go."
Well that kind of gives away the ending, doesn't it? Not that sports movies typically end with a crushing defeat in the final game, but that title has all the suspense of "We Bought a Zoo" Apparently the Bolt change was just that, at least in Russia not sure about France, since "bolt" is a slang word for the male anatomy. I guess the film is still named for the central character rather than a completely new title, but they had to change it for a cultural connotation that doesn't fully translate
Disney Germany is usaully very stupid when it comes to name changes. POTC 5 is a very good example. The original title is Dead Men Tell No Tales. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland it's called Salazar's Revenge.
