I’ve seen Home Alone 1, 2, and 3 a dozen times growing up, but never in English. My father bought a cheap Hindi-dubbed copy while we were visiting India, and it was the only version I saw as a kid. The whole family was white, but they only spoke Hindi! I understood the story and felt all the right emotions because the movie runs on slapstick and visuals, which are a universal language.
The textbook debate is standardization versus adaptation, but my experience points to a better question: how culturally specific is the film? The more a film depends on its own culture, the more it has to adapt to travel. Past a certain point, adapting stops working.
Universal story, Local title
Project Hail Mary sits near the Home Alone end of that spectrum. A space-survival story crosses borders easily. The one very American part is the title: a “Hail Mary” is a last-second, long-shot football throw. So the title is what each market changed, as a breakdown by the localization agency Very shows. Germany released it as Der Astronaut and France as Projet Dernière Chance (“Project Last Chance”). Spain chose “Project Salvation” while Argentina chose “Project End of the World.” Same language, opposite emotional pitch.
Local Story, Universal Appeal Attempt
Ne Zha 2 sits at the other end. The Chinese animated film grossed over $2 billion worldwide, yet its subtitled version made only about $20 million in North America. A24 released an English dub with Michelle Yeoh in August 2025 (Associated Press). It opened to about $1.5 million in more than 2,200 theaters, versus $7.2 million in 660 theaters for the subtitled version (The Numbers).
The dub didn’t solve the problem, because the real barrier was Western unfamiliarity with the mythology, not the language. Cineasts and connoisseurs of foreign culture might see that as a reason to watch, but they aren’t the broad audience a wide release needs.
Takeaway
Dubbing works depending on the project. A film carried by action and visuals travels on little more than a dub. A film steeped in folklore and complex dialogue needs much more, and sometimes no amount of localizing is enough. For marketers, the first step isn’t choosing between standardization and adaptation. It’s figuring out how much of the film belongs to one culture.
AI Disclosure
I used AI to organize my thoughts from rough ideas into coherent structured thoughts. I also used AI to find reputable sources to provide evidence for my claims.
Sources
- Sakai, Kristy. “Project Hail Mary’s international titles and the art of making a film travel.” WE ARE VERY, April 4, 2026.
- Associated Press. “Michelle Yeoh brings Chinese blockbuster ‘Ne Zha 2’ to life in English dub.” August 15, 2025 (AP wire copy on WSLS).
- The Numbers. “Ne Zha 2 (2025): Box Office and Financial Information.” Accessed October 17, 2026.