It’s not unusual for China or other Asian countries to change the names of popular movies and, more often than not, they end up being funnier or more apt than the original English titles. It was announced by James Gunn via Twitter that Guardians of the Galaxy is no exception to the rule and has been renamed Interplanetary Unusual Attacking Team for its Chinese release.
Here’s the tweet:
星際異攻隊 – that is, Interplanetary Unusual Attacking Team -opens Friday in China! pic.twitter.com/9XpSoxqrAU
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) October 6, 2014
However, some have noted over at Reddit that this could actually be the Taiwanese title and the poster in Gunn’s tweet is using traditional Chinese letters rather than simplified ones, which is a big deal when it comes to translation. Should that be the case, the title is actually Interstellar Special Ability Team or Interstellar Different Commandos. Both of which are indefinitely less cool than Interplanetary Unusual Attacking Team.
Guardians of the Galaxy now joins a long list of English-language titles to get great name changes, which has also included Deep Impact (Earth and Comet Collide), Free Willy (A Very Powerful Whale Runs to Heaven) and Boogie Nights (His Great Device Makes Him Famous).
Interplanetary Unusual Attack Team sees Gunn directing a cast that includes Chris Pratt (The LEGO Movie) as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Into Darkness) as Gamora, Dave Bautista (Riddick) as Drax the Destroyer, Bradley Cooper (American Hustle) as Rocket Raccoon, Vin Diesel (Fast & Furious 6) as Groot, Benicio Del Toro (Sin City) as The Collector, Lee Pace (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) as Ronan the Accuser, Karen Gillan (Doctor Who) as Nebula, Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) as Korath, John C. Reilly (Step Brothers) as Rhomman Dey, Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead) as Yondu, Glenn Close (Damages) as Nova Prime Rael and Josh Brolin (Men in Black 3) as Thanos. Read our reviews here, here and here.
Originally published October 8, 2014. Updated October 24, 2022.
