Why are there so many duplicate movies?

TheIrishGrover

Why are there so many duplicate films released at the same time? I mean we
have two films about asteroids on a collision course to earth only to have
teams of astronauts sent up to try to nuke them; two big budget films about
Mars; two computer animated films about ants saving their colonies for
God's sake. Now it seems that there may be two competing versions of 20,000
leagues under the sea.
Now I'm not talking about those cheap and quick knock-offs that used
to come out on VHS months after the most recent Disney hit. And I'm not
talking about films of a particular genre following on from a hit (all the
Vietnam films that came out in the wake of Platoon for example). I'm
talking about big budget, major studio pics with months and years of
preproduction, filming and postproduction involved which come out within
months,sometimes WEEKS of each other.
Is it just a case of million-dollar bandwaggonary?

Fallen Buckshot

I had asked myself that same thing on robin hood for example and the reasoning is different actors/directors portray characters/situations in a different light or want to tell the story in another or more exciting way .. and always if their is enough hype the money will come.

LilMsss

One of the reasons is because scripts, and script ideas are sent to multiple studios in order for someone to buy or option the story or idea. The head honchos at the studios are too busy to read each script idea so employ readers to do it for them and recommend which ones warrant a look.

This basically means that a lot of people can potentially read each script but are under no obligation to buy it from the screenwriter. It means that when a studio does buy it and invests the $$$$ to make it, like Armageddon it's usually a big budget blockbuster, but another studio has the basic premise of the story and can employ someone to change the story just enough as to get away from copyright issues and makes a cheaper version of what is essentially the same story. That's where we get Deep Impact, or Antz and A Bug's Life etc.

But you get the general idea.

LilMsss

I should also add that even the less big budget film will usually still have a lot of studio weight behind it and will probably take almost as long to produce and even if they only make X amount of millions on it, providing it gets a a cinema release, they will most likely make a tidy profit.

At the end of the day, a good story is a good story and they know people will go to see both films.

ztoical

One reason is some of the films are already made or nearly finished but the studio hold back release to try and tie in with the buzz the other film is creating...it's not unusually for a film to have been finished for over a year before it's finally released. You get the same thing with smaller budget films starting Actors who suddenly get very big. The smaller film is usually delayed to try and catch some of the shine off said Actor.

In the case of Antz and A Bug's Life that was part of the Disney/Dreamworks feud as Disney had wanted to develop an ants film since the late 80's, when Katzenberg left he took the idea with him to Dreamworks and started developing it. Pixar pitched a bugs life to disney right after Katzenberg left. Katzenberg said they would stop production on Antz for a time and release it the year after a bugs life if Disney moved the release date of A Bug's Life, which was coming out opposite DreamWorks' The Prince of Egypt. They refused so production on Antz was pushed up and it came out before a Bugs Life.

syklops

Fallen Buckshot wrote: »

I had asked myself that same thing on robin hood for example and the reasoning is different actors/directors portray characters/situations in a different light or want to tell the story in another or more exciting way .. and always if their is enough hype the money will come.

Robin Hood was a remake. What IrishGrover is talking about 2 movies coming out within weeks over each other each with the same theme. The obvious example being Armagheddon and Deep Impact arriving in Cinemas within days of each other.

I suppose it is a race to be the director/production company of the next best thing, which ever one comes out first proclaiming itself to be the original, and the other movie a copy. Often the second movie surpassing the first(Cant think of any examples though).

Duggy747

It's usually a case of the similiar movies captialising on each other, if one is gets a wide reconigtion then there's good chance the other will generate some money and exposure. Deep Impact & Armageddon came out together to feed on that apocalyptic buzz (the millenium clocking over).

Zombie movies a few years ago went along that lines thanks to 28 Days Later back in 2003. After that we had George A. Romero releasing some tired sequels and the pretty good Dawn Of The Dead remake.............heh, I remember being skeptical about that film but ended up enjoying it. :pac:

Sequels to old films was another recent one; Die Hard 4, Rocky Balboa, John Rambo, Indiana Jones 4 (*vomits*)

Miguel_Sanchez

syklops wrote: »

Robin Hood was a remake.

In the 90's two Robin Hood films came out the same year, one with Patrick Bergin, one with Kevin Costner.

mike65

The Bergin movie was made for TV.

In the early 70s there were nearly two films about skyscrapers going up in flames, luckily the two studios in question realised they had similair projects on the slate and merged both into The Towering Inferno.

spank_inferno

2 films close on each others heels about the Roman 9th legions demise in Britania

Centurion and then The Eagle of the Ninth Which is also out this year

Vokes

There's two rom-com-assassain Mr & Mrs Smith type films out in June.

Knight & Day

Killers

I think its fair to say the former will the successful (and better?) one.

CodeMonkey

Another example, Speed and Blown Away. Happens all the time.

thirtythirty

A bug's life <-> Antz
Finding Nemo <-> A shark's tale
Book of Eli <-> The Road

I could go on...

My guess is that either A) one movie studio comes up with a deadly idea, and the another one eventually gets wind of it and quickly comes up with a similar (normally inferior) idea. Or studios are in cahoots and decide to release films of "X" genre to get the public when theyre in a certain mindset and hopefully "into" those film types, rather than releasing at a random time and hoping there are enough people with an interest in whatever the film's theme is about.

Turtyturd

spottyelephant wrote: »

My guess is that either A) one movie studio comes up with a deadly idea, and the another one eventually gets wind of it and quickly comes up with a similar (normally inferior) idea.

I think thats the most likely scenario.

Never actually realised how many of these immitations there were until people started mentioning them. The Prestige-The Illusionist are two more.

LittleBook

The Losers = The A-Team

Edit: Found this:

List of Films With Similar Themes & Release Dates

Some of the connections are a bit tenuous but:

Dangerous Liaisons = Valmont
The Descent = The Cave
Tombstone = Wyatt Earp
Dante's Peak = Volcano
Truman Show = EdTV
Madagascar = The Wild

it goes on .... :eek:

ziedth

Would I be right in saying that though deep impact had a totally different ending filmed that the asteroid did actually hit and the world was destroyed but because armagedon had the blow it up with a nuke story they changed it?

I think the last scene in deep impact was Morgan freeman in the bunker listening to the chaos through the radio or something.

constitutionus

nope.

both asteroids got taken out by people commiting suicide, but a small peice blown off the one in deep impact hit the sea effectively flooding vast areas so we could get some devestation goodieness.

the main characters survived by basically being up a mountain.

on the OP this has bugged me too.

there actually WAS two cinema releases for that robin hood back in the 90s its just no one bothered their arse going to the bergrin one. its one of the reason i wont go near the new robin hood as even if its a brilliant film i wish to god that NO MORE get made for a gereration.

theres plenty of heroic fantasy books out there that could be made into amazing films that never will because some hack in the studios wants to inflict another robin bleeding hood on us

syklops

constitutionus wrote: »

there actually WAS two cinema releases for that robin hood back in the 90s its just no one bothered their arse going to the bergrin one. its one of the reason i wont go near the new robin hood as even if its a brilliant film i wish to god that NO MORE get made for a gereration.

theres plenty of heroic fantasy books out there that could be made into amazing films that never will because some hack in the studios wants to inflict another robin bleeding hood on us

Amen to that. IMO prince of thieves was a great movie, and no production company should(should have gone) go near that for a very long time. There are so many other great stories that are still waiting for their first decent trip to the movies, and they keep re-making the same stories.

King Arthur deserves a trip. I know there was one, but a king arthur that is less like how it actually was, and more fantastical and true to the original story is whats needed. The last Ivanhoe movie was in 1952. William Tell could be done. How many fecking Zorro movies have their been and they only did one Dick Turpin movie(1979).

I sometimes feel about the movie industry like I do about the toy industry. The people who make the decisions seem to have no sense of imagination. When I was a kid some of the toys I had were pretty good, and I looked ahead to what they would be like when i was an adult, and I did the same with movies, but nothing has changed really.

15 years ago, 1995 these are some of the Top Movies:

Apollo 13
Goldeneye
Braveheart
Crimson Tide
Heat
Die hard with a vengeance
Congo
Bad Boys
Pocahontas

Top toys were Playstation Stuff, Pocahontas stuff and Satr wars action figures.

Top Movies of 2009(I used 2009 because 2010 is not over yet and may still wow us with something new)

Avatar
Up
Ice Age(Dawn of the dinosaurs)
Sherlock Holmes
Harry Potter
The Hangover
2012
Angels and Demons

Top Toys were Star Wars figures(Clone wars), Transformers, barbie, and Wii Games.

God looking at that list, its not just that things have stayed the same, its more like they are getting worse.

My post also comes off like a bit of a rant. Sorry :mad:

constitutionus

i think fear has alot to do with it as well.

alot of studios are owned by companies whos core business isnt entertainment that are only concerned with profits . for an exex in that eniviroment its easier to recycle something that they know was a hit once than take a chance on something new.

more and more ive noticed that if a film isnt backed by a speilberg it wont get made unless the people involved go indie.

kick ass and hot tub time machine are classic examples.

they wouldnt have gotten made without the people involved with it putting their money on the line

even iron man wouldnt have been made without marvel setting up its own studio.

its kinda depressing when ya think about it but then again it does mean theres a place for new studios willing to be bold so there may be hope yet (personally id kill to see david gemmel "legend" book done , or a john shannow film )

Vinny-Chase

Capote & Infamous

Sleazus

constitutionus wrote: »

alot of studios are owned by companies whos core business isnt entertainment that are only concerned with profits . for an exex in that eniviroment its easier to recycle something that they know was a hit once than take a chance on something new.

Yep, that's why you see so many recycled concepts. It's the reason why comic books are so big right now and why every television show seems to be trying to be Lost. My most depressing news story from last year was Frank Darabont recalling how a studio executive turned down his script for Fahrenheit 451 (which the exec loved) beacue he didn't know how they'd get 13 year olds to see it...