Hollywood for Brazilians

Versions of foreign language film titles for the Brazilian market have always sparked heated discussions among critics and film lovers, who regret some choices made based exclusively on the commercial aspect. This paper aims to analyse Brazilian versions of English-language film titles, focusing on the linguistic, cultural and marketing aspects taken into account when choosing the title for a Brazilian audience, as well as discussing the relevance of these versions in relation to their functions as paratexts. Using American cinema classics as paradigms for translation or title version situations and based on literature on Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Textual Genres and Cinema, this study can not only serve as reference material for translators, linguists, critics and film lovers, but also signal to film distributors the need to involve professionals in the areas of Languages and Translation in the process of choosing versions of film titles for the Brazilian market.