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Coincidental similarities


Brian Fowler

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I'm watching The Raid tonight and remembering just how strangely similar it and Dredd are. I know a lot of people thought Dredd ripped it off, but it seems impossible, given that Dredd began filming 9 days before The Raid premiered at TIFF and it seems highly unlikely anyone working on Dredd would know anything about an Indonesian martial arts/action film that hadn't screened yet.

Which makes me think about the other similar ones. Like we got three or four animated movies about Big Foot/Yetis/etc last year. Or Deep Impact and Armageddon coming out six months from each other. 

What else you got?

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Volcano & Dante's Peak (1997)

Antz & A Bug's Life (1998)

Mission to Mars and Red Planet (2000)

The Illusionist & The Prestige (2006) - comparable in theme but the similarities definitely dissolve by the final act of The Prestige.

and I am probably missing one that will come to me later.

I really don't consider Dredd to be a rip-off of The Raid simply because the scenario of good guy vs. bad guy in one major set piece is not a very original idea.  You may as well say that Air Force One or Trespass were rip offs of Die Hard.

Edited by J.T.
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Just now, Craig H said:

Man, you left out Deep Impact and Armageddon!

Fowler gave that as the prime example in his first post.

Edited by J.T.
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3 minutes ago, Craig H said:

I just woke up 15 minutes ago. That's my excuse for not seeing that.

It's all good.

And I just remembered that both of the Truman Capote biographical joints came out within a year of each other.  Capote (2005) and Infamous (2006)

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As is often brought up here, theunderwater triumvirate of The Abyss, Deepstar Six and leviathan. 

Also, the slew of 80s body swapping movies (vice versa, big, ...).

Edited by odessasteps
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1 hour ago, odessasteps said:

As is often brought up here, theunderwater triumvirate of The Abyss, Deepstar Six and leviathan. 

You could make an argument that Deep Rising was a part of that mix.  Lots of sea monster movies around that time.

16 minutes ago, Contentious C said:

Enough people thought The Others ripped off The Sixth Sense that they had to explain that it wasn't the case in the bonus DVD footage.

I could see why people would think that since The Others is pretty much The Sixth Sense from the ghosts' point of view, but that's still stretching it.

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I learned from "Cast Away," "Terminal," and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" that Tom Hanks should never be allowed anywhere near an airport or a jet airplane because disaster will happen.

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8 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

I'm watching The Raid tonight and remembering just how strangely similar it and Dredd are. I know a lot of people thought Dredd ripped it off, but it seems impossible, given that Dredd began filming 9 days before The Raid premiered at TIFF and it seems highly unlikely anyone working on Dredd would know anything about an Indonesian martial arts/action film that hadn't screened yet.

This is either 100% correct or 100% wrong.  This could be completely and totally coincidental, but it could also be one of those scripts/screenplays that caught fire and whoever wrote Dredd was inspired by it.  The movie industry is filled with people who would know if there was an amazing film idea on the other side of the globe.  I'm not saying I think it was a rip off, but it surely wouldn't surprise me.  Movie people can be some of the most obsessive people in the world about their industry.  

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10 minutes ago, supremebve said:

This is either 100% correct or 100% wrong.  

It's wrong.  The principle shooting of both movies happened within 4 months of each other and as I said before, there's nothing new about the old movie scenario of a good guy fending off bad guys in a single enclosed primary set piece.  You may as well say that The Raid and Dredd were rip-offs of Die Hard or that Air Force 1 is a rip-off of Airport '77

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26 minutes ago, J.T. said:

I learned from "Cast Away," "Terminal," and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" that Tom Hanks should never be allowed anywhere near an airport or a jet airplane because disaster will happen.

This is a bit like, "Never send people on a mission to rescue Matt Damon."

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11 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

They're perfect opposites but I always loved the coincidence of John Carpenter's The Thing and E.T. coming out at the same time. 

Ha!  Ironic that you should mention that since ET was first pitched as a horror film.

https://www.businessinsider.com/et-original-horror-designs-2014-5

If ET had remained a horror film, you could draw similarities between it and Xtro (1982).

Hell, you can draw clear similarities between Xtro and Alien or Xtro and The Beast Within (1982)..

 

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6 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Beyond an alien impregnation and gore you can't really draw a line between Xtro and ANYTHING, though. That movie is a trip.

Yes, but the alien impregnation is via face hugger critter in both Alien and Xtro and I have no idea what was so novel about the common theme of women being sexually assaulted by monsters and aliens back then.

  • Xtro
  • The Beast Within
  • Humanoids From The Deep.

The list goes on.

Xtro definitely was not afraid to go full retard though.  I still have no idea what that movie is supposed to be about.

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1 minute ago, odessasteps said:

The 2 volcano movies - dante's peak and volcano.

6 hours ago, J.T. said:

Volcano & Dante's Peak (1997)

Antz & A Bug's Life (1998)

Mission to Mars and Red Planet (2000)

The Illusionist & The Prestige (2006) - comparable in theme but the similarities definitely dissolve by the final act of The Prestige.

and I am probably missing one that will come to me later.

I really don't consider Dredd to be a rip-off of The Raid simply because the scenario of good guy vs. bad guy in one major set piece is not a very original idea.  You may as well say that Air Force One or Trespass were rip offs of Die Hard.

Craig's excuse was that he had just gotten up in the morning.  Given that you have a weird schedule like mine, your excuse must be similar.

Edited by J.T.
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Speaking of Alien, here's a coincidence with Inseminoid: 

Quote

Though he acknowledges similarities to Alien, Warren has denied claims that Inseminoid was made as an imitation, pointing out that the script for his film was completed months before Alien was released in the UK. He has also said that Alien distributors 20th Century Fox were shown the final cut of Inseminoid and that even they discounted the possibility: "... in fact, the head of Fox sent us a very nice letter saying how much he enjoyed the film and wished us luck with the release ... I find it flattering that anyone can compare Alien, which cost in the region of $30 million, with Inseminoid which cost less than £1 million. We must have done something right."[2]

 

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Body of Evidence was roasted for being a Basic Instinct rip-off Madonna vehicle; however, it was actually shot first but released later. It’s still a much shittier movie than Basic Instinct. 

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I forgot one of my favorites; some how, in the late eighties, two studios started shooting adaptations of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. When Dangerous Liaisons beat Valmont to completion, the latter was delayed a year.

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