Since the theatrical release of Pixar's "Inside Out", eagle-eyed viewers have noticed a few slight changes in international versions of the film.
In one scene, Riley's dad struggles to feed his daughter broccoli. Like most toddlers, she's flat out disgusted by the vegetable, refusing to eat it.
In Japan's cut for the film; however, broccoli is replaced by bell peppers.
Pixar artist David Lally acknowledged the change on Twitter, claiming peppers are more disliked than broccoli there.
It turns out that's the case.
In a statement released by Disney / Pixar to Tech Insider, director Pete Docter explains how they wanted to make sure the complex film about emotions didn't just work domestically, but also for international audiences as well.
“We learned that some of our content wouldn’t make sense in other countries," said Docter in the statement. "For example, in Japan, broccoli is not considered gross. Kids love it. So we asked them, ‘What’s gross to you?’ They said green bell peppers, so we remodeled and reanimated three separate scenes replacing our broccoli with green peppers.”
Here's how the scene looks to American audiences:
And here's how it looks to audiences in Japan:
It wasn't the only scene altered for audiences.
While many viewers saw a hockey sequence playing out in Riley's dad's mind during a dinner scene, others saw soccer on screen.
“We offered a version with soccer instead of hockey since soccer is huge in so many parts of the world,” explains Docter. “But some countries that are into soccer actually decided to stick with hockey since the characters in the movie are from Minnesota and it makes sense that they’d be hockey fans.”
In the statement, Docter says there were a total of 28 graphics across 45 different individual shots which were localized.
One other change Docter noted occurs with the character Bing Bong, Riley's imaginary friend from when she was little.
"Bing Bong reads a sign in the film to Joy and Sadness,” said Docter. “He points at the letters, D-A-N-G-E-R, saying ‘it’s a shortcut.’ Not only did we translate the sign, but we even went so far as to reanimate Bing Bong so that he points to the letters from right to left, instead of left to right to accommodate certain languages.”
While the changes are small, this meticulous attention to detail highlights one of the many aspects which explains why Pixar movies are so good. The studio understands its films need to resonate with its audience.
Swapping scenes in international films isn't anything new.
Disney has done it before, in several Marvel films. "Iron Man 3" added in several scenes to appeal to Chinese audiences, while Steve Rogers was seen viewing different versions of a to-do list in "Captain America: Winter Soldier."
"Inside Out" is currently in theaters and has made over $553 million to date worldwide.