![]() 11 PAIRS OF SUSPICIOUSLY SIMILAR MOVIESOn April 10th, Observe and Report opens, and will be the second mall cop movie released within a few months. We're not saying it's a knockoff of Paul Blart at all. But it's another example of the Hollywood tradition for competing studios to release two eerily familiar movies right around the same time of year. Some say both films benefit from the timing. Some say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. You be the judge of which flicks deserve the compliment. Screen Junkies presents - in convenient chronological order, no less: 11 PAIRS OF SUSPICIOUSLY SIMILAR MOVIES!!!
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April 2nd, 2009 at 01:51 pm Let's not forget that four time theme of adults turning into children: Big, Freaky Friday, 13 Going on 30 and the soon to be released 17 Again with Zac Efron!
April 2nd, 2009 at 01:54 pm
I vote 88 Minutes and Righteous Kill...both Pacino flicks in 2008 that would fit quite nicely into the "has-been actor wishes he was still the edgy, brilliant young actor that he was" category.
April 2nd, 2009 at 02:17 pm
not a movie, but studio 60 on the sunset strip and 30 rock come to mind.
April 2nd, 2009 at 03:13 pm Knowing and NEXT, Capote and Infamous, Breakin and Breakin 2, Made of Honor and that other movie where the same thing happens...
April 2nd, 2009 at 03:14 pm Oh shit, and I forgot, Vice Versa and Like Father Like Son
April 2nd, 2009 at 04:31 pm Schindler's list and Crank 2.
April 2nd, 2009 at 07:30 pm Point Break and The Fast and the Furious. Exact same plot, just different sub-cultures (racers as opposed to surfers). Cop infiltrates culture undercover, falls in love with the bad guy's sister/girlfriend (Vin Diesel's vs. Partick Swayze), at some point busts the wrong bad guys (Anthony Kiedis methheads vs. Zakuza guys with all the DVD players), has to chase the real bad guy who he is becoming friends with, and ultimately lets him go.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:14 pm sillies, these are movies released within a few months of each other
April 3rd, 2009 at 04:29 am How about The Devil's Advocate and The Advocates Devil? Look it up
April 3rd, 2009 at 06:45 am Bruce Almighty and Click
April 3rd, 2009 at 07:53 am
Great Point, Anonymous - on the Like Father, Like Son and Vice Versa link (about a half-year apart). That one all depends on how you like your small-screen to silver screen child actors (for my money Fred Savage>Kirk Cameron) - and for that matter the fathers in that movie (Dudley Moore vs. Judge Reinhold). Tough Call.
April 3rd, 2009 at 08:42 am
LADYDI: You forgot to mention an 80's classic - 18 Again! with the late, great George Burns! Knowing that Zac Efron is going to be playing an old man in his pre-pubescent body probably has old Burnsy spinnin' in his grave.
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:39 am I remembered, Made of Honor is the same movie as My Best Friend's Wedding
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:46 am prestige and illusionist! C'MON!
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:49 am How about Volcano and Dantes Peak?
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:36 am
Independence Day and Mars Attacks!.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:01 pm The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) vs. To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995) Drag queens on a road trip.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:01 pm Aerosmith and Queen should have their own category but under expiration date instead of release date.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:15 pm I like Seth Rogen's description of Observe and Report "It's like Taxi Driver, where the guy sees himself as the last wall between order and chaos, but he's a mall cop." That sounds way better than anything Kevin James has ever done or will ever do.
April 3rd, 2009 at 04:08 pm You DEFINITELY forgot Chasing Liberty and First Daughter. Wow, those films we're seriously like twins.
April 3rd, 2009 at 04:15 pm Joe's Apartment and Twilight of the Cockroaches. Anthropomorphic cockroaches live in some guy's appartment. Total Recal and The Matrix. Choosing whether or not to take a red pill determine's whether the hero lives in the mundane world or the paranoid fantasy "real" world.
April 3rd, 2009 at 04:46 pm Nice list. Another couple to add are: INDEPENDENCE DAY (6/25/96) and THE ARRIVAL (5/31/96). Also DROP ZONE (12/9/94) and TERMINAL VELOCITY (9/23/94). Independence Day's enormous campaign trounced The Arrival, but the latter was a more interesting, character- based alien story, which couldn't compete with a Will Smith SFX blockbuster. Ironically, both these 'losers' starred Charlie Sheen.
April 3rd, 2009 at 04:47 pm Nice list. Another couple to add are: INDEPENDENCE DAY (6/25/96) and THE ARRIVAL (5/31/96). Also DROP ZONE (12/9/94) and TERMINAL VELOCITY (9/23/94). Independence Day's enormous campaign trounced The Arrival, but the latter was a more interesting, character- based alien story, which couldn't compete with a Will Smith SFX blockbuster. Ironically, both the 'losers' starred Charlie Sheen.
April 5th, 2009 at 01:16 pm ...Or one of the most famous rip-off movies of all time, the terrible talking-pig movie Gordy, released shortly before the excellent talking-pig movie Babe, both in 1995.
April 7th, 2009 at 10:54 am Awesome list - I remember seeing Deep Impact and Armageddon in the same week, and now I have trouble remembering what happened in which movie.
April 15th, 2009 at 03:12 pm ET and Mac & Me...
April 16th, 2009 at 09:27 am Regarding 2001's "Heist" vs. "The Score": "Trading Places" was directed by the great John Landis and "Ronin" by the late John Frankenheimer, who also happened to be a close friend of Ron Jeremy. Do your homework.
April 16th, 2009 at 09:40 am truman show and biodome
April 21st, 2009 at 03:41 am Actually, the Matrix was "in my opinion" borrowed in part from the movie "Dark City"
April 21st, 2009 at 03:35 pm 1990 "Joe vs the Volcano" and "Back to the Future III" - You couldn't wait for either of them to end!!! Then you were mad you sat through it.
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:42 am "Need for Speed" and "Point Break". Exact same story line just different genres
May 21st, 2009 at 11:13 pm Dangerous Liaisons and Valmont.
June 8th, 2009 at 07:26 pm Cars and Doc Hollywood!
June 27th, 2009 at 05:09 pm Dark City and The Matrix, as already suggested. Different execution but ultimately the same. DC > Matrix though.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:32 am I don`t believe you missed the following twins: The Matrix & Dark city Illusionist & Prestige
July 22nd, 2009 at 03:37 pm abyss - 1989
September 11th, 2009 at 02:49 am 1492: conquest of paradise is a pretty good film. I think it wins by a year over the trash that is Christopher columbus: the discovery.
January 14th, 2010 at 03:33 pm Prefontaine (1997) and Without Limits (1998) both curiously about runner Steve Prefontaine
January 26th, 2010 at 10:15 am The most recent. Avatar and Terra. One may be animated and the other well animated to look real, but they both have almost the exact same story.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:25 am There was another movie that came out about the same time as the movie "Big" with Tom Hanks. Very similar story and half-comedic actor, but I can't remember the name of it. Big was the clear victor.
March 10th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
I'm sorry, Dangerous Liason's and Valmont are basically the same story because, they are that... The same story, I could go on and make a new dangerous liasons, because it is just that, a story... Now if you had said Cruel Intentions, then... I might have agreed...
Some of the ones that have been put forward have been balls, Total Recall and The Matrix???? I'm sorry, I don't think either production company had either of those films in mind when released.
One of the worst is Basic Instinct and Body of Evidence, they are basically (no pun intended), the SAME DAMN FILM! :)
April 2nd, 2010 at 04:02 am
The Prestige and The Illusionist must be added to the list. Those are THE movies I refer to when I try to explain the ridiculously-similar-movie-plots-at-ridiculously-close-time-frames thing.
April 24th, 2010 at 11:04 pm
I think it's pretty clear that studios know what the competition is doing. When one studio accepts a script and starts production, another studio will accept a similar script to compete, hopefully getting theirs to the screen before the first. It's a safe bet. Maybe the second studio's flick won't be the huge hit, but it still might pull away customers from the first. After all, who wants to see another volcano action movie after just seeing one, no matter how good the new one is. Smart business. Not so much to do with art. I think Rob Roy and Braveheart, both 1995 Scottish sword flicks, can be added to this list.
July 13th, 2010 at 05:09 pm
How about: The Girl Next Door and National Lampoons Barley Legal