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Two examples spring to mind immediately:

  • Batman Begins Ra's Al Ghul is pronounced in the movie as RAHZ AL GOUL whereas in the Animated series it is pronounced RASHE AL GHUL

  • The Last Airbender Changed a few character's names including AANG to AHNG and SOKKA to SOAKA

This, to me, seems a bit of an ignorance taken by directors for truly knowing the character they're bringing to life on the big screen.

Is there any kind of reasoning behind decisions like this in general (or for these examples)?

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2 Answers 2

Some directors take care that is pronounced right and some don't and some want it that way so that it suits the audience that the movie is targeted at.

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There can be a myriad of different reasons why names can be mispronounced, or said in a way that contradicts what some people are expecting. For example, there are so many different types of accents in the world, even with those that are native English speakers. A lot of them will say the same name differently.

Another reason, if there are different cannon ways to say a name, is that a director decided they liked one way over the other, or like one cannon over the other.

Another, rather important reason to change the name, is appealing to the major demographic that a movie is made for. The large American audience could understand and sympathize (or the other way around) depending on how the name sounds.

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