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Twin films

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Twin films are films with the same, or very similar, plot produced or released at the same time in two different studios.[1] The phenomenon can result from two or more[2] production companies investing in similar scripts around the same time, resulting in a race to distribute the films to audiences.[3] Some attribute twin films to industrial espionage, the fact of film makers moving between studios, or that the same screenplays are sent to several film studios. Another explanation is that films often deal with topical issues, such as comets, volcano eruptions, reality TV, terrorist attacks or significant anniversaries, resulting in some sort of multiple discovery (also known as 'simultaneous invention' in science) but in film.[3]

Producer Bingham Ray recalls a conversation where the screenwriter of the 2006 Truman Capote biopic Infamous phoned to announce that his script had been finished. Ray said "I know, I've got it on my desk!" before realising that he actually had the screenplay to Capote, a biopic by a different writer.[4]

Examples

Noted examples of twin films are included in this list:[4][5][6][7]

1st Movie Release Date 2nd Movie Release Date Further Info
Jezebel 1938 Gone with the Wind 1939 William Wyler's Jezebel (1938) was reportedly created for Bette Davis when she failed to win the highly coveted role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). Both films were about feisty, independent Southern belles during the American Civil War.
Young Mr. Lincoln 1939 Abe Lincoln in Illinois 1940 [8][9]
Oscar Wilde 1960 The Trials of Oscar Wilde 1960
Dr. Strangelove 1964 Fail-Safe 1964 Both deal with the concept of accidental nuclear war, although Dr. Strangelove is satire, while Fail-Safe is a drama.
One Version 1965 The Other 1965 Both were based on the life story of Jean Harlow.
You're a Big Boy Now 1966 The Graduate 1967 [10]
Leo the Last 1970 The Landlord 1970 Both deal with issues of class and race and feature an upper-class white man who moves into a lower-class black neighborhood and gets involved with the residents.[11]
The Strawberry Statement 1970 Getting Straight 1970 Also The Revolutionary & R.P.M. (1970), are all dramas about campus revolt.[12]
Bloody Mama 1970 The Grissom Gang 1971 Both based on the life story of Ma Barker.[13]
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song 1971 Shaft 1971 Both are frequently credited as the earliest examples of the blaxploitation genre.
Godspell 1973 Jesus Christ Superstar 1973 Both adaptations of Broadway musicals based on the life of Jesus Christ.[14][15]
The Gambler 1974 California Split 1974 Both portray Jewish protagonists, addicted to gambling on a downward spiral.
The Conversation 1974 The Parallax View 1974 Both are paranoid thrillers about an assassination.
Jaws 1975 Orca 1977 Both about dealing with a deadly sea creature, that is attacking mankind.
Cannonball 1976 The Gumball Rally 1976 Both about the same illegal cross-country race.
Go Tell the Spartans 1978 Coming Home 1978 Also The Deer Hunter (1978) and Apocalypse Now (1979) are all about American involvement in the Vietnam War.
The Warriors 1979 The Wanderers 1979 Both are about gang wars between New York teenage street gangs of various ethnicities.
Border Cop 1979 Borderline 1980 Also The Border (1982)
Nosferatu the Vampyre 1979 Dracula 1979 Also Love At First Bite (1979), all based on Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.
The Howling 1981 Wolfen 1981 Also An American Werewolf In London (1981)
Porky's 1981 The Last American Virgin 1982 Also Screwballs and Losin' It (1983); all are sex comedies depicting a group of young male friends trying to lose their respective virginities or perform another sexually related mission.
Some Kind of Hero 1982 First Blood 1982 Both feature a Vietnam War vet who returns home who then has trouble adjusting to civilian life.
Friday the 13th Part 3 1982 Amityville 3-D 1983 Also Jaws 3-D (1983), all are third installments in 3-D of horror-themed movie franchises
Octopussy 1983 Never Say Never Again 1983 Both were James Bond movies released by competing studios.
Carmen (1983 film) 1983 Carmen (1984 motion picture) 1984 Both are adaptations of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen.
Country 1984 The River 1984 Also Places in the Heart (1984)
Dreamscape 1984 A Nightmare On Elm Street 1984 Both are about people entering the dreams of others and being able to kill them in real-life by killing them in their dreams.
Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984 Brazil 1985 Both were heavily influenced by George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Gremlins 1984 Ghoulies 1985 Also Critters (1986), all involve small destructive, evil creatures.
The Return of the Living Dead 1985 Day of the Dead 1985 Zombie movies, released almost simultaneously.
Weird Science 1985 Real Genius 1985 Also My Science Project (1985), all feature teens dabbling in mad science and winding up in over their heads.
Back to the Future 1985 Peggy Sue Got Married 1986 Both feature protagonists who go back in time and meet high school versions of their family members, played by the same actors.
Fright Night 1985 Vamp 1986 Also The Lost Boys and Near Dark (1987); all are vampire films involving teenage characters.
Top Gun 1986 Iron Eagle 1986 Both films about fighter pilots.
An American Tail 1986 The Great Mouse Detective 1986 Both are animated feature films starring mice.
GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords 1986 The Transformers: The Movie 1986 Both are animated feature films derived from TV cartoons based on toy lines.
The Vindicator 1986 RoboCop 1987 Both are about an innocent man who is left mutilated and near-dead by villains, is reconstructed into a cyborg by a special-weapons company, and seeks revenge on the people responsible for his fate.
Platoon 1986 Full Metal Jacket 1987 Also Hamburger Hill (1987); all featured US soldiers in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
The Secret of My Succe$s 1987 Working Girl 1988 Both about people starting new lower-level jobs in New York City, pretending to be executives, coming up with great ideas regarding takeovers, and getting the girl/guy that was "out of their league".
Like Father, Like Son 1987 Big 1988 Also Vice Versa and 18 Again! (1988); all portray youngsters as, or who reverse roles with, older men.
Dangerous Liaisons 1988 Valmont 1989 Both versions of the novel Les liaisons dangereuses
Turner & Hooch 1989 K-9 1989 Both are where a police officer gets a dog for a partner.
DeepStar Six 1989 Leviathan 1989 Also The Abyss, The Evil Below, Lords of the Deep and The Rift (1989); all are underwater thrillers involving explorers discovering strange new (and in most of the movies hostile) creatures in the ocean.
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves 1991 Robin Hood 1991
1492: Conquest of Paradise 1992 Christopher Columbus: The Discovery 1992
Loaded Weapon 1 1993 Last Action Hero 1993 Both films lampoon action movie clichés.
Jurassic Park 1993 Carnosaur 1993 Both are science fiction films that involve cloned Dinosaur rampaging. Jurassic Park is based on a novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. Carnosaur is based on a novel of the same name by John Brosnan.
Tombstone 1993 Wyatt Earp 1994
Rookie of the Year 1993 Little Big League 1994
Terminal Velocity 1994 Drop Zone 1994 Both are action films that involve skydiving.
Braveheart 1995 Rob Roy 1995 [5]
Babe 1995 Gordy 1995 [5]
Showgirls 1995 Striptease 1996 [16]
Powder 1995 Phenomenon 1996 Both deal with outcasts that develop telepathic powers.
Dante's Peak 1997 Volcano 1997 [4][5]
Kundun 1997 Seven Years in Tibet 1997 [5]
Prefontaine 1997 Without Limits 1998 Both are biographical sports films about distance runner Steve Prefontaine.
Antz 1998 A Bug's Life 1998 [5] Some people believe Antz's idea was stolen when Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney when Pixar become its major animation studio.
Deep Impact 1998 Armageddon 1998 [4][5]
Saving Private Ryan 1998 The Thin Red Line 1998 [5]
The Truman Show 1998 Ed TV 1999 [5]
Tale of the Mummy 1998 The Mummy 1999
Dark City 1998 The Matrix 1999 Also The Thirteenth Floor & eXistenZ (1999) [5]
Entrapment 1999 The Thomas Crown Affair 1999 [5]
End of Days 1999 Stigmata 1999 [5] Also Lost Souls; all are supernatural religious horror films involving the Catholic Church. Gabriel Byrne is in both movies.
The Legend of the Titanic 1999 Titanic: The Legend Goes On 2000 Both are Italian animated films involving the maiden voyage and sinking of the Titanic. Both these films involve a romantic relationship between a young man and woman of different social backgrounds, and both feature anthropomorphic talking mice who are emigrating to America, as well as other talking animals.
Scary Movie 2000 Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth 2000 [5]
Mission to Mars 2000 Red Planet 2000 [5]
Wonder Boys 2000 Finding Forrester 2000 [5]
Gone in 60 Seconds 2000 The Fast and the Furious 2001
Heist 2001 The Score 2001 [5]
Joe Dirt 2001 Run Ronnie Run! 2002 Both are crude humor stories about lovable-ish rednecks. There are jokes that are nearly identical in each movie. However, RRR is based on a Mr. Show character that first appeared in 1995.
Stealing Harvard 2002 Orange County 2002
Finding Nemo 2003 Shark Tale 2004 Both are computer animated films that take place in the ocean and involve fish characters; some people believe "Shark" idea was stolen by Jeffrey Katzenberg when he left Disney when Pixar become its major animation studio.[citation needed]
Chasing Liberty 2004 First Daughter 2004 [6]
The Cave 2005 The Descent 2005 [5]
Flightplan 2005 Red Eye 2005 [5]
Madagascar 2005 The Wild 2006 Both are computer animated films involving similar animal characters from New York's Central Park Zoo being introduced to the wild. See The Wild#Madagascar similarities.
Capote 2005 Infamous 2006 [4][5]
United 93 2006 Flight 93 2006 [5]
The Prestige 2006 The Illusionist 2006 [5]
The Zodiac 2006 Zodiac 2007 Also Curse of the Zodiac (2007)[17]
Surrogates 2009 Avatar 2009 Also Gamer (2009)[2]
Observe and Report 2009 Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2009 [2]
The Road 2009 The Book of Eli 2010
Skyline 2010 Battle: Los Angeles 2011 Both are alien invasion movies that primarily take place in Los Angeles; Sony Pictures, the studio of Battle: Los Angeles, later sued the producers of Skyline because their company was hired to develop the visual effects of Battle: Los Angeles and allegedly stole the idea of the movie during this process.[citation needed]
Despicable Me 2010 Megamind 2010 Both are about super-villains who turned evil because of bad upbringings, finding themselves seduced to the good side to defeat an even badder guy.[18]
The A-Team 2010 The Losers 2010
No Strings Attached 2011 Friends with Benefits 2011 Both are romantic comedies about casual, non-romantic sexual relationships between two people who eventually fall in love, and draw their titles from references this kind of relationship.
Mirror Mirror (film) 2012 Snow White and the Huntsman 2012 Both Snow White films.
A Hijacking 2012 Captain Phillips 2013 [19]
Olympus Has Fallen 2013 White House Down 2013 [20]
Oblivion 2013 After Earth 2013
The Machine 2013 Automata 2014 Also Ex Machina (2015)[2]
Jobs 2013 Steve Jobs 2015 [21]
Yves Saint Laurent 2014 Saint Laurent 2014 [20]
Hercules 2014 The Legend of Hercules 2014 Also Hercules Reborn (2014)[2]
The Equalizer 2014 John Wick 2014 [22]
Life After Beth 2014 Burying the Ex 2014 [23]
Unfriended 2014 Friend Request 2016 Both are horror films with social media plots.
Freaks of Nature 2015 Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse 2015 [24]
Rock the Kasbah 2015 Whiskey Tango Foxtrot 2016 Both are comedies about an American citizen that somewhat unexpectedly ends up in Afghanistan.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 2016 Captain America: Civil War 2016 Both are films dealing with superheroes coming into conflict with each other.
The Jungle Book 2016 Jungle Book 2018 Jungle Book is a British production of the Rudyard Kipling classic, while The Jungle Book is a live-action adaptation of the Disney version.[25]

Other meanings

The term "twin films" has also been used for films produced by the same production company with the purpose of telling the same story from two different points of view:

It has also been used for films produced with the purpose of making the same film in two different languages:[28]

  • Whispering City (1947) and La Forteresse (1947) have the same director with different sets of actors speaking English or French.
  • Orions belte (1985) and Orion's Belt (1985) have different directors but the same set of actors speaking Norwegian or English.
  • Raavan (2010) and Raavanan (2010) use similar casts filming the scenes in both Hindi and Tamil.

See also

  • Mockbuster, direct-to-DVD films with similar titles and/or theme as blockbuster films,[29] created with the apparent intention of piggy-backing on the publicity of the major film and are often made with a low budget.

References

  1. ^ Jasper Rees. "Hooray for Bollywood", Evening Standard, 12 October 2001. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d e Fredrik Strage. "Tvillingfilmer resultatet av ängsliga filmbolag", Dagens Nyheter, 28 September 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2011. (In Swedish)
  3. ^ a b Henrik Arvidsson. "Först till kvarn i Drömfabriken" Dagens Nyheter, 11 July 2008. Retrieved 22 June 2011. (In Swedish)
  4. ^ a b c d e John Seabrook. "Tru, Two", The New Yorker, 25 September 2006. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Henrik Arvidsson. "Tvillingfilmer vi minns", Dagens Nyheter'', 11 July 2008. Retrieved 22 June 2011. (In Swedish)
  6. ^ a b "11 Damn Near Identical Movies That Were Released at the Same Time", 11points.com, 13 March 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  7. ^ "Double Headers", mutantreviewers.com. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  8. ^ "Cinema: New Picture: Jun. 12, 1939". TIME. 12 June 1939. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  9. ^ "Cinema: Popeye the Magnificent". TIME. 28 March 1938. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  10. ^ Roger Ebert (17 July 1968). "You're a Big Boy Now". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  11. ^ "Cinema: This Property Is Condemned". TIME. 1 June 1970. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  12. ^ "Cinema: Andy Hardy Gets Busted". TIME. 6 July 1970. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  13. ^ Roger Ebert (14 July 1971). "The Grissom Gang". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  14. ^ Roger Ebert (15 August 1973). "Jesus Christ Superstar". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  15. ^ Roger Ebert (21 March 1973). "Godspell". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  16. '^ Gary Dudak. "Twin Movies: A History of Two Similar Films Coming Out at the Same Time" Mandatory', 14 April 2014
  17. ^ "Crime Profiles: The Zodiac Killer - The Aftermath". Citv.com.au. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  18. ^ http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20101103/articles/101109832
  19. ^ Guy Lodge (12 October 2013). "On Captain Phillips, A Hijacking and the year of movie twins". HitFix. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  20. ^ a b Roger Wilson. "Tvillingfilmer", Godmorgon, världen!, Sveriges Radio P1, 18 May 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2014. (In Swedish)
  21. ^ http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/the-critical-distinction-of-steve-jobs.php
  22. ^ Geoffrey Crété. "film reviews - John Wick - Cineman". Cineman.ch. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  23. ^ Sara Stewart. "Zombie rom-com 'Burying the Ex' is D.O.A." New York Post. Retrieved 6 December 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  24. ^ MrDisgusting (20 October 2015). "Sony's Alien, Zombie, Vampire Horror Movie 'Freaks of Nature' Gets a Red Band Trailer!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  25. ^ Chaka Phillips (23 August 2014). "Race to Make the 'Jungle Book' Movie: Disney Versus Warner Bros". Latin Post. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  26. ^ Bosley Crowther. "My Days with Jean Marc Screen: Participants Testily to a Broken Marriage:Twin Films by Cayatte at Two Theaters Charrier and Miss Nat Star as Couple", New York Times, 27 October 1964. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  27. ^ "With twin films, Japan and US let go of Iwo Jima scars", breitbart.com, 21 October (2005?). Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  28. ^ Associated Press. "Rai calls twin films tough challenge", LJWorld.com, 9 October 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  29. ^ Rolf Potts. "The New B Movie" The New York Times Magazine, 7 October 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
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