Inglorious Bastards sells big in the UK!

Wow, a Castellari movie sells over 300,000 copies in the UK! Similar in name alone compared to Tarantino's movie that is still impressive!

From the Guardian:

"An obscure dubbed Italian film from 1978 titled Quel Maledetto Treno Blindato has become a surprise hit on DVD in Britain, selling more than 300,000 copies.

This success is explained by the film’s English title - Inglorious Bastards. Fans of Quentin Tarantino have rushed to buy the movie whose name alone inspired his misspelled second world war fantasy Inglourious Basterds.

Distributor Optimum Releasing picked up the UK rights for next to nothing four years ago, as soon as Tarantino announced plans for his film. It released the DVD last August after Tarantino’s movie premiered in Cannes but before its UK opening.

The strategy clearly paid off. Even at a budget price of £4, Inglorious Bastards has grossed well over £1m. Its sales of over 300,000 units must make it one of the bestselling Italian films ever on DVD in the UK. By way of comparison, Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds has sold 788,000 units, albeit at a higher price.

Yet Tarantino has made clear that the title is the only real connection between the two films. Both are set in the second world war, but Enzo G Castellari’s original is about a group of arrested soldiers who escape when their prison train is bombed in Italy, and decide to fight their way to freedom in neutral Switzerland.

The question is, did anyone buy the Italian movie by mistake? There’s no evidence of that from the comments on Amazon. Most say they bought the film out of curiosity to see the “original” on which Tarantino based his opus. While some admit to disappointment, there are also many reviewers willing to praise its cheap and cheerful charms. The DVD extras include Tarantino interviewing Castellari.

By the way, the Italian title literally translates as That Damned Armoured Train. The Inglorious Bastards was just one of several titles under which the film was released at various times in the US, including Counterfeit Commandos, GI Bro, Deadly Mission and Hell’s Heroes.

Optimum has a track record of releasing DVDs with similar titles to high-profile movies. It pulled the same stunt with Zodiac and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."