Want your movie to hit in Brazil? Great dubs are key for success here
The year is 2017, Netflix made public during its annual event some data putting a new light to an old controversy: What is the preference of Brazillians when it comes to sub vs dub? At the occasion, Todd Yellin, pointed that one of its originals productions – 13 Reason Why – was watched dubbed in Portuguese by 84% of the audience. This number made one thing sure to the Giant of Streaming: investment in audio localization is essential to attract powerful rating numbers.
However, the “House of Mickey”, Disney, have known this fact since the 1990s. All of its content distributed in Brazil has been dubbed in portuguese and this operation is always tailored exclusively for Disney by the best voice professionals and the best audio studios in Brazil. The result? All of their products are among the most watched and best sellings in Brazil.
The first foreign movie to be dubbed in Brazil. | © Disney.
The first Brazilian dub of an animation took place in 1938, to release a Walt Disney Company movie: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Not having high quality equipment, at least compared to other countries such as France or the U.S, local professionals still managed to make a highly praised work – Walt Disney himself showed his appreciation for Braguinha’s, a famous Brazilian composer at the time, work. He was responsible for the adaption of many other Disney movies.
Like in many other countries, dubbing has been a key feature to release foreign shows on TV and cinema, especially when it comes to animations. Big studios were established since Snow White’s dub and the high professional level – both technical and artistic – made Brazil’s dub highly praised. It may sound a bit bold, but it’s very common for Brazilians to say local dubbing is “the best one in the world”.
When it comes to the Japanese entertainment, a lot of now proeminent voice talents started dubbing tokusatsu series, which were hits between 1980s and 1990s. But it was Saint Seiya (Knights of the Zodiac), one of the biggest anime hits in Brazil, that made their names known to the mass audience.
The biggest hit in Brazilian anime History. | © Masami Kurumada / Toei Animation
Saint Seiya brought light to voice actors in a way no show did before – the series actually did many things in a way no show had done before in Brazil. From around 1995, fans started to appreciate the localized anime more closely.
In the same way, Yu Yu Hakusho’s dub is a huge highlight. As the show is a comedy, deeply tied to Japanese humor, the localization studio chose to use typical local slangs and expressions, giving it a “Brazilian identity” admired by fans up to this day.
To Gilberto Baroli, one of the biggest names in the voice acting scene: “Dubbing makes illiterates, blind people and children able to enjoy movies”. The 76-year-old voice actor dubbed many memorable characters such as Alex Loius Armstrong (Fullmetal Alchemist), Don Krieg (One Piece) and the deeply loved and praised Gemini Saga (Saint Seiya).
A great example of localization. | © Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha / Pierrot.
Before the anime boom during the 1990s, Brazilian industry, especially paid TV, overestimated subtitled-content, but today a high-quality dub is considered an important feature to the success of any show.
Recently, Netflix Brazil released a dubbed trailer of the fourth season of The Seven Deadly Sins, a huge hit in its service, with a new, and unknow, voice cast.
Negative reception was so harsh that it made Netflix announce a redub with the former cast. Due to the pandemic, the “first” dub hadn’t even released yet when they announced the redub, and it will remain unpublic, as “lost media”.
With many streaming services popping up, the demand for localization increased. Smaller voice studios also appeared to meet this new demand, sometimes delivering poor quality dubs. We could say there are, today, two types of studios: the Premium Quality studios, more expensive but with talented voice-actors, loved by the fans, and quality material; and the cut-price studios, with objectionable mixing and localizing quality.
But none of this compares to the dreadful dubs from outside the country. Hiring Portuguese-speaking and inexperienced voice actors, some studios in the US have awfully dubbed several shows, such as Blue Dragon and Justice League Dark: Apokolips War — in Justice League case, fans made sure to be heard and Warner ended up redubbing the movie. Blue Dragon wasn’t so lucky and wasn’t able to draw attention from the public.
There is no escape: a good dub, along with a good translation and mixing, is a key element in the Brazilian market and can determine if a show is a hit or a flop. Disney has known this for quite a while and strictly controls the quality of their dubs. Sadly, Japanese-content distributors doesn’t seem to understand it yet.
Fans will keep hoping they come to their senses soon, our ears will appreciate it.
– Leadro Gonçalo, Creative Director.