User:ProhibitOnions/List of films with similar themes and release dates

Wikipedia once again has an article on this phenomenon: Twin films.

In the film industry, two or more films with similar plots or themes may be released within a close period of time. Sometimes, this may be coincidental as the result of two studios independently hoping to capitalize on a current trend.

Other times, however, a script will be bought and put into production by one studio, and a competing studio - which may hear about the production through word of mouth, trade papers (such as Variety), or through the internet - will put into production a film with a similar plotline, in an effort to capitalize on its box office potential.

Concept

These types of films are sometimes referred as copycat-films, and differentiate themselves from similar concepts, like Mockbusters, in that both the original and the copycat are often full-budget Hollywood productions with a theatrical release, while mockbusters are often low budget or low-quality direct-to-DVD imitations (like the films produced by The Asylum film studio).

2020s

• Away (2020) and Proxima (2019) are two movies about long space missions to Mars and on the ISS respectively which female mission commanders who have their relationship with their families strained by the long time of the separation.

2010s

• A Quiet Place (2018) and The Silence (2019) both feature a deaf teenage girl that has to fight an invasion of aliens or creatures that hunt based on sound. The Silence is based on a 2015 horror novel with the story.
• Smallfoot (September 2018) Himalayan Yetis and humans discover each other, try to get along.
  Missing Link (April 2019) A Sasquatch teams with an explorer to find his Yeti relatives in the Himalayas.
  Abominable (September 2019) A young Yeti escapes a compound in Shanghai, befriends kids. Together they trek back to his home in the Himalayas.
• Unbroken and Against the Sun - both are films about survivors of a plane crash during WWII.
• Vice, Ex Machina, Automata and Chappie - 2015 films about robots/androids becoming self aware and dealing with prejudices aimed at artificial intelligence.
• Hercules (2014) and The Legend of Hercules (2014) - both about the legendary hero Hercules.
• Cheap Thrills (2013) and Would You Rather (2012) - two horror/thriller films about decadent wealthy people offering struggling working individuals money in exchange for doing disgusting, self-destructive, or immoral actions.
• The Snow Queen and Frozen - both are animation films based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen
• The World's End, This Is the End and Rapture-Palooza - all are apocalyptic horror comedy films
• Olympus Has Fallen (March 2013) & White House Down (June 2013) When you consider that "Olympus" is code name for the White House, even the titles are the same. Both films feature a violent White House takeover and a hero who must defeat the attackers while defending the president. Released 3 months apart.
• Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Hansel & Gretel Get Baked and Hansel & Gretel In 2013, there were three separate adaptations of the classic Hansel & Gretel fairytale.
• Oblivion and After Earth Both films are set on a nearly deserted earth in the future. They have even a very similar movie poster.
• Oblivion and Elysium Both films feature an earth with adverse living conditions and a totalitarian regime, in both films ideal living conditions can be found in a satellite structure orbiting earth (however in Oblivion this turns out to be a deception)
• Battleship and American Warships - both movies are about an alien invasion attacking and disabling the military defenses on earth and the crew of a 2nd world war ship fighting back. Comparing the trailers both movies use quite similar shots of aliens attacking, while Battleship is a bi- budget movie using CGI images, American Warships (which was initially called American Battleship) looks like a low budget movie
• The Awakening (2011 film) and Red Lights (2012 film) - both go on to try to disprove ghosts
• Frankenweenie and ParaNorman Both films are stop motion-animated horror comedies, dealing with the reanimated dead.
• Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman Both films are modern versions of the Snow White fairytale by the Brothers Grimm. Judging from the trailers, both make heavy use of CGI imagery.

• Beautiful Boy and We Need to Talk about Kevin Both films are about parents dealing with the aftermath of their son's campus shooting sprees.
• Melancholia and Another Earth Both films are about a depressed woman and the arrival of a mysterious planet
• Kick-Ass and Super Both feature characters who possess no super abilities/powers who embark on vigilante justice under the disguise of homemade costumes and alter egos. Each confronts the difficulties of fighting evil while lacking special abilities, and both are joined, later in their stories, by characters who share similar vigilante motivations.
• Friends with Benefits and No Strings Attached Romantic comedies both featuring 2 friends attempting to have an ongoing sexual relationship, while avoiding a romantic relationship and its accompanying complexities.
• The Town and Takers Both are crime films from 2010 about a gang of robbers and the FBI pursuing them.
• Megamind and Despicable Me are CG animated films featuring a super hero & super villain in relationship more akin to high school rivalry than good vs evil. Both films feature the antagonist/super villain as the lead and diminish somewhat the virtues of the superhero's character. Villains from both films, experience catharsis and become better people. Despicable Me features a host of sidekicks referred to as minions. Megamind has a single sidekick named Minion.
• Knight and Day and Killers Both films are about a spy in a romantic action comedy
• The Losers and RED Both films are ensemble-cast, comic book properties featuring black ops members.
• While Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a horror parody and Lincoln is a straightforward biography, both were high-profile films about America's 16th president released mere months apart in 2012 after years of no major films on this subject.
• Both Grimsby and Hardcore prominently feature action storylines with fight/action sequences filmed from the lead character's point of view.
• Red Sparrow, Atomic Blonde and Anna are all Cold War thriller action movies focussing on a female spy (also referred to in the film's title).

2000s

• Troy (2009), Alexander (2004) were both period action movies portraying Greek and Roman historical events respectively.
• Avatar (2009), Surrogates (2009), Gamer (2009), Sleep Dealer (2008) all deal with people acting through remote robots or life forms to interact with environments as though they were really present. They are actually controlling from remote locations with the aid of technology to which they are connected.
• Battle for Terra (2007) and Avatar (2009) are both computer animated films about humans invading an alien planet wherein a soldier from the human side allies with the planet natives to fight his own people.
• Avatar (2009) and District 9 both portray aliens abused by humans, the protagonist changing sides (becoming gradually pro-alien), turning against the military-minded antagonist and eventually himself becoming an alien.
• Coco Before Chanel (2009) and Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009) both are biopics about fashion designer Coco Chanel.
• Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) and Observe and Report (2009) both feature mall secuity guards that are called in to save the day because the police can't.
• Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) and Repossession Mambo (2009) feature a corporation that genetically manufacture organs to sell on installment plans, and send a brutal repossession man to collect the property if the clients fails to make payments. The director of Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) pitched the idea based on a musical to Universal Studios, who instead wanted a serious movie. In 2010 Universal released Repo Men with the same premise.
• Bedtime Stories and Inkheart, both released in 2008, include stories being told in the movie that come true.
• Ratatouille, No Reservations and Hunting and Gathering released in 2007 all have an ending where the main characters open a small restaurant or bistro.
• Chapter 27 (2007) and The Killing of John Lennon (2006) are both fictional accounts of the days leading to the murder of John Lennon told through the perspective of his killer, Mark David Chapman.
• Hoodwinked (2006) and Happily N'Ever After (2007) are both computer-animated films that send up fairy tales. Both also happen to feature Patrick Warburton and Andy Dick.
• Next (2007) and Déjà Vu (2006) are both about using time manipulation to stop an imminent terrorist attack. Premonition (2007) is also about using time manipulation, but in this case, the main character is trying to prevent her husband's death.
• Apocalypto (2006) and 10,000 BC (2008) both feature prehistoric civilizations where the main characters have to fight for their way of life after their village was raided by other tribes and the majority of villages were taken as slaves.
• The Black Dahlia and Hollywoodland, both released in 2006 only a week apart, revolve around an unsolved homicide that both take place near or in Hollywood in the 1940's resp. 1950's, both based upon true stories.
• Turistas (2006) and Hostel (2006) In both films, unsuspecting tourists are lured into remote locations by locals with malicious intent.
• The Dark (2005) and Silent Hill (2006) are both horror films where a woman enters a strange otherworld in search of her missing daughter. Both also star Sean Bean in a small role, have similar style final scenes, and have been adapted from other media.
• V for Vendetta (2005) and Children of Men (2006) are both sci-fi films set in future where most countries in the world are near-destroyed by natural disasters, riots and war. England has established a totalitarian regime that shields the country from outsiders. In both movies the society is portrayed as extremely racist and xenophobic. In both movies, the main characters are part of an underground movement.
• The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) and Requiem (2006) are both based on the life of Anneliese Michel.
• Asylum (2005) and Notes on a Scandal (2006) are both British dramas about women of similar age who have an illicit affair at a public institution (respectively a mental asylum and a school) while being observed and manipulated by an older person. Both films were adapted from novels by screenwriter Patrick Marber, who has himself commented on the similarity between them. [1]
• Invincible, Gridiron Gang, and Facing the Giants, all movies about underdog football teams or players who rise above expectations, all released in September 2006. We Are Marshall also involves an underdog football program, recovering from a devastating plane crash, and was released a few months later in December Of these, Gridiron Gang, which depicted a true story, also closely resembles 1974 Robert Aldrich film The Longest Yard (which featured Burt Reynolds and was remade in 2005) in that both films were about prison inmates who played football and rose above expectations. Notably, The Longest Yard was remade with Adam Sandler playing Burt Reynolds's character in the film of the same name, and Reynolds was in the remake also.
• Happy Feet (2006) and Surf's Up (2007) are both computer-animated films starring penguins. In 2005, the French documentary March of the Penguins, starring real-life penguins from Antarctica, had been an unusual box-office success in the United States. Magician Ricky Jay served as a technical consultant on both productions and briefly appeared on-screen in The Prestige. Similarly, the 2007 film Magicians also follows two rival stage conjurers. Strangely enough, earlier in 2006 Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson, stars of the film The Prestige, also starred in Woody Allen's Scoop (2005), a film set in the present day and also involving murder and stage magic. Also coincidentally, The Illusionist and Next (2007) (which also features a magician in its title role) both star Jessica Biel.
• Capote and Infamous, Capote was released in 2005 and Infamous in 2006. Both are independently produced films about Truman Capote writing his book In Cold Blood.
• Green Street Hooligans (2005) and The Football Factory (2005), both films having a story about the English hooligan community and their meetings to fight after the games. Also in both movies the football club Milwall FC is part of the story, a rivalry against other teams in the F.A. Premier League.
• Æon Flux (2005) and Ultraviolet (2006), both films are about a dystopian future and share a similar stylized sleek setting. Powerful female leads with distinct hairstyles try and undo the wrongs brought upon humanity by a powerful virus.
• Madagascar (2005) and The Wild (2006), both featuring zoo animals navigating the terrain of New York City, and later being introduced to their natural habitat. Madagascar was successful financially and critically. The Wild, on the other hand, was a flop and frequently compared to Madagascar, even though it was initially conceived before that film.
• Sky High (2005) and Zoom (2006), both revolve around special high schools attended by superheroes. The setting is also reminiscent of the X-Men films, and Zoom was released within weeks of X-Men: The Last Stand.
• The Cave, The Descent, both released theatrically in 2005, and The Cavern (originally entitled WIthIN before Sony Pictures altered the title to bank off the success of The Cave) on DVD in 2006. All three films involve spelunking and terrifying subterranean life that hunts down the principal characters.
• Elektra (2005) and Catwoman (2004). Two films, both based on female comic book characters (from Marvel and DC, respectively) who have unsteady love/hate relationships with (more popular) anti-heroes. Both characters started out as villainesses, both were resurrected, then had spin-offs and adventures as "good characters".
• Hotel Rwanda (2004), Shooting Dogs (2005), and Sometimes in April (2005) are all films portraying events that took place during the Rwandan Genocide.
• Finding Nemo (2003) and Shark Tale (2004) are both CGI animated films in an underwater setting.
• Garden State (2004) and Elizabethtown (2005), both feature young men who are miserable in their career when they learn of a family member dying. They return home, fall in love with a woman, and grieve for their dead family member. They must decide whether to return to their life or settle down with their new found love. After initially deciding to go back to their lives, they both change their minds and pursue love.
• Chasing Liberty and First Daughter, released in 2004, both center around the U.S. President's daughter seeking her personal freedom; both met with critical and box office disaster. The film First Daughter was recently mislabeled as Chasing Liberty on the Time Warner Cable Network. Spartan (2004) is also centered around the President's daughter, although in this case, her kidnap by rogue elements.
• Deus é Brasileiro (God is Brazilian) and Bruce Almighty, both of 2003. Bruce Almighty has a sequel, Evan Almighty (2007).
• Phone Booth and Liberty Stands Still, released in 2002, each involved a protagonist pinned to a specific location (a phone booth and hot dog vendor cart, respectively) by a sniper trying to impart their target with epiphanies about their flawed lives. [2]
• Mission to Mars, Red Planet, and Ghosts of Mars were all released in 2000 and 2001, and all have plots that revolve around the planet Mars.
• The Piano Teacher, released 2001, and Secretary, released 2002, are two controversial films revolving around a female protagonist involved in sado-masochism and self-mutilation, with dysfunctional relationships both to her mother and to the male protagonist, who attempts to rescue her. While The Piano Teacher was a serious drama that ended unresolved, Secretary was a black comedy with a happy ending.
• Ditto and Il Mare, two South Korean films released in 2000 in which two people living in different years are able to communicate with each other, using a mailbox and ham radio, respectively. Ditto is also similar to the American film Frequency (also released in 2000), in which a man is able to communicate with his late father via ham radio. Il Mare was later remade as the 2006 American film The Lake House.
• U-571 (2000) and Enigma (2001) are both fictional movies set in World War II about the Germans' Enigma machine.
• The 2000 Geoffrey Rush film Quills came out the same year as the French film Sade. Both depict aspects of the life of the Marquis de Sade.

1990s

• "King of New York" and "New Jack City" released within 6 months of each other near the end of 1990 . Both portray gang culture in New York city.
• Two period films about Scottish heroes - Braveheart (about William Wallace) and Rob Roy (about Robert Roy MacGregor) - were released in 1995. Actor Brian Cox appeared in both films.
• The Haunting and House on Haunted Hill, two films with a similar premise and both remakes of older films, were released in 1999.
• Overnight Delivery (1998) and Road Trip (2000) College boy thinks his girlfriend, attending another college, is cheating, and sends nasty letter. Then thinks she's not cheating, takes goofy friends on a trip to her campus recover the package before she gets it.
• The Curve (1998) and Dead Man On Campus (1998) College roommates try to get roommate to commit suicide in order to get a 4.0.
• Pleasantville (1998), The Matrix (1999), Dark City (1998), The Truman Show (1998) all have to do with a false world guided by an unseen system, and their protagonists trying to escape it.
• Dark City (1998), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), eXistenZ (1999) and The Matrix (1999) all deal with existentialist themes and the concept of a false world. The Matrix uses some of the same themes and visual elements as Dark City.[3]
• Entrapment and the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, released in 1999, both were heist films that involve art theft and a female insurance investigator. Coincidentally, both lead characters, Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan had roles as James Bond, the latter held its current role at that time.
• The Truman Show (1998) and EdTV (1999) are both about people who spend their lives as a reality TV star (both films also happen to feature the actor Harry Shearer). Like the above films, The Truman Show also deals with a false world of sorts. EdTV received a lukewarm response from critics for what they saw as a lighter, less memorable take on the same idea.[4] While the Truman Show was critically acclaimed, winning awards. EdTV was in fact a remake from a movie from Quebec release in 1994 called Louis 19, le roi des ondes (Louis 19th, King of the Airwaves).
• A Bug's Life and Antz, released in 1998, both are computer animated features with individualist ants in colonies under threat.[5]
• Deep Impact and Armageddon, released in 1998, were films that featured ensemble casts, both concerned a celestial body hitting the Earth, and both were major successes on a global scale. [6]
• Sliding Doors and Run Lola Run, released in 1998, explore parallel universes initiated by minor events in multiple scenarios, influenced by the work of Krzysztof Kieślowski. [7] [8]
• Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love, released in 1998, both are set in Elizabethan times with Elizabeth I as a main character. Strangely enough, both also star actors Joseph Fiennes and Geoffrey Rush. The two films competed for multiple Academy awards including Best Picture and Best Actress. As a rare moment in the Academy Awards history, two actresses received nominations for the same role in the same year: Cate Blanchett was nominated the Best Actress for the role of Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth, while Judi Dench was nominated (and won) the Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the same queen in Shakespeare in Love. [9]
• Also in 1998, Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line, both high profile big budget World War II movies from well respected directors, featuring a large ensemble cast of semi-unknowns led by actors who had become famous for comic roles but transitioned into dramas, and featuring various cameos by other famous actors, also competed for Best Picture. [Coincidentally, the fifth film nominated was also a World War II film, Life Is Beautiful.]
• Prefontaine (1997) and Without Limits (1998), both centered around American runner Steve Prefontaine. [10]
• Dante's Peak and Volcano, released in 1997, both deal with people containing the eruption of a volcano. Dante's Peak was successful, while Volcano was a flop domestically. [11]
• The Assignment and The Jackal are both 1997 thrillers based on the life of terrorist Carlos the Jackal.
• Independence Day and Mars Attacks, two alien-invasion movies released in 1996, feature numerous similarities in plot and characters, though Mars Attacks is more of a spoof on old B-movies, whereas Independence Day is a straight sci-fi action flick.
• Powder (1995) and Phenomenon (1996) are both about a misunderstood man with unusual abilities who causes a stir in a small rural town. John Travolta does the same act again that year in Michael (1996), except this time he's an angel, and not a phenom.
• Babe and Gordy, released in 1995, both deal with speaking pigs. Babe was a critical and commercial success, while Gordy was a failure in both arenas.
• Twister and Tornado!, both released in 1996, and both deal with tornado chasers in their line of work. Tornado! was a B-movie, while Twister was a huge box office success.
• Groundhog Day (1993) and 12:01 (1993), both are about an individual stuck in a 24 hour time loop where the protagonist wakes every morning on the same day and experiences the events of that day over and over until they discover how to break the cycle. (12:01 is based on a 1973 short story previously made into a short film in 1990)
• Rookie of the Year (1993) and Little Big League (1994), have as main characters preteen boys who find themselves thrust into pivotal roles (starting pitcher and manager respectively) in poorly-performing Major League Baseball teams (the Chicago Cubs in RotY and the Minnesota Twins in LBL), and turning those franchises' fortunes around.
• Tombstone (1993) and Wyatt Earp (1994), both are dramatizations of the life of Wyatt Earp, his family, and their exploits in Tombstone, Arizona. [12]
• Carnosaur and Jurassic Park both came out in 1993 and dealt with dinosaurs being cloned and wreaking havoc.
• American Me (1992) and Blood In Blood Out (1993) are both films about California prison gangs as well as Chicano life in East Los Angeles. [13]
• 1492: Conquest of Paradise and Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, released in 1992, dealing with Columbus' discovery of the New World. These films were released to commemorate the 500th anniversary of this discovery. [14] A comedic version of the discovery was also released in 1992 with Carry on Columbus.
• Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Robin Hood were both released in 1991. Kevin Costner starred in the former, and Patrick Bergin in the latter. The latter was not released theatrically in the United States.
• Lambada (1990) and The Forbidden Dance (1990), two similarly themed movies about the Lambada dance craze released the same day in March 1990 [15]
• Amy Fisher: My Story (1992), The Amy Fisher Story (1993) and Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story (1993) were all TV movies about Amy Fisher and Joey Buttafuoco. In the role of Amy Fisher, The Amy Fisher Story starred Drew Barrymore and Casualties of Love starred Alyssa Milano. Milano starred in Poison Ivy II: Lily, the 1996 sequel to Poison Ivy (1992), which starred Barrymore.
• Hard Target (1993) and Surviving the Game (1994) were both action movies about homeless people being hunted for sport.
• Drop Zone, Terminal Velocity and Freefall were all skydiving action movies released in 1994. Drop Zone starred Wesley Snipes, and Terminal Velocity starred Charlie Sheen; both actors appeared in the 1989 comedy Major League.
• Repossessed, a parody of The Exorcist (1973), was released to cinemas in 1990 at the same time as Exorcist III. Repossessed was forced to carry the following disclaimer on its advertising: "This motion picture parody is in no way connected to the makers or writers of The Exorcist or any of its sequels."
• Dark Angel, released in the US as I Come In Peace, and Peacemaker (1990 film) were both films featuring alien police officers who chase wanted criminals to earth.
• Romy and Michele's High School Reunion and Grosse Pointe Blank were released two weeks apart from each other in April 1997. While Blank is a crime comedy and Romy is more straightforward, both movies revolve around the main character(s) trying to make a good impression at their 10-year high school reunion.

1980s

• 1981 saw the release of three movies about werewolves: The Howling, Wolfen and An American Werewolf In London.
• Four vampire films involving teenage characters were released between 1985 and 1987: Fright Night (1985), Vamp (1986), The Lost Boys (1987) and Near Dark (1987).
• The Abyss, Deepstar Six, Leviathan, The Evil Below, and Lords of the Deep were all released in 1989 and are underwater thrillers involving explorers discovering strange new (and in most of the movies hostile) creatures in the ocean. The Rift, released in 1990, had the same premise.
• The Secret of My Succe$s (1988) and Working Girl (1989) are 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."
• Big, Vice Versa, and 18 Again! (all released in 1988) and Like Father, Like Son (released in late 1987) portray youngsters who reverse roles with, or as, older men. Another movie of the genre, Dream a Little Dream, was released in 1989. The first of such films was 1976's Freaky Friday starring Jodie Foster.
• An American Tail and The Great Mouse Detective, both released in 1986, are animated feature films starring mice. An American Tail gained a lot of praise and grossed more than The Great Mouse Detective, which was still critically and commercially successful.
• Platoon (1986), Full Metal Jacket (1987) and Hamburger Hill (1987) all featured US soldiers in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Later, Born on the Fourth of July and Casualties of War were released in 1989, with similar Vietnam themes. Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July were both directed by Oliver Stone.
• Turner & Hooch (1989) and K-9 (1989) are both movies where a police officer gets a dog for a partner.
• Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and Valmont (1989) are both versions of the novel Les liaisons dangereuses.
• Back to the Future (1985) and 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.
• Weird Science, Real Genius, and My Science Project, which all debuted in August 1985, featured teens dabbling in mad science and winding up in over their heads. In all three, central character(s) are nerds who are trying desperately to fit in with the popular crowd.
• Three competing 1984 films featured the destruction and difficulties of American farming families. Country starred Jessica Lange and Sam Shepard, while The River starred Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek, and Places in the Heart starred Sally Field and John Malkovich.
• Top Gun and Iron Eagle are both 1986 films about fighter pilots.
• Porky's, The Last American Virgin, Screwballs and Losin' It were all released in 1982 and 1983. All four are sex comedies depicting a group of young male friends trying to lose their respective virginities or perform another sexually related mission.
• 1982 and 1983 saw the release of several third installments in 3-D of horror-themed movie franchises: Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982), Amityville 3-D (1983) and Jaws 3-D (1983).
• Two zombie movies, The Return of the Living Dead and Day of the Dead, were released almost simultaneously in 1985.
• In 1983, two James Bond movies were released by competing studios: Octopussy starring Roger Moore, and Never Say Never Again starring Sean Connery.
• Georges Bizet's opera Carmen was adapted to film by Carlos Saura in 1983, and by Francesco Rosi in 1984.
• Gremlins, Critters (film) and Ghoulies (film series)
• Terry Gilliam's dystopic feature film Brazil (1985) was heavily influenced by George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Michael Radford's film adaptation of Orwell's novel was released in 1984, four months before the release of Gilliam's film.
• The Vindicator (1986) and RoboCop (1987): both movies 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.
• GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords and The Transformers: The Movie were both theatrically released in 1986, and are both animated feature films derived from TV cartoons based on toy lines. Although the GoBots film was released to cinemas six months before the Transformers film, the latter was in production for the better part of two years, before the GoBots film began production (there is also evidence to suggest that the GoBots film was originally intended for television, and was rushed into theaters to beat Transformers).
• Dreamscape and A Nightmare On Elm Street are both 1984 movies about people entering the dreams of others and being able to kill them in real-life by killing them in their dreams. The co-writer of Dreamscape, Chuck Russell, went on to co-write and direct A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987).

1970s

• Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and Shaft were released two months apart in 1971. Both are frequently credited as the earliest examples of the blaxploitation genre.
• The Gambler and California Split portray Jewish protagonists, addicted to gambling on a downward spiral. They were released two months apart in 1974.
• The Conversation and The Parallax View are paranoid thrillers about an assassination that were released in April and June of 1974. Executive Action, which dramatized the assassination of John F. Kennedy as a conspiracy, had been released a few months earlier.
• Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar, released within months of each other in 1973, are both adaptations of Broadway musicals based on the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ Superstar, the darker, more rock-oriented piece, was more successful from both critical and financial standpoints than Godspell.[16][17]
• Cannonball and The Gumball Rally, both released in 1976, about the same illegal cross-country race. (Also inspired the 1980s Burt Reynolds' movies, The Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II.)
• John Boorman's Leo the Last and Hal Ashby's The Landlord were released in the United States a week apart in May 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.[18]
• The Strawberry Statement, Getting Straight, The Revolutionary and R.P.M. are all dramas about campus revolt released between May and September of the year 1970.[19]
• The Warriors and The Wanderers are both 1979 films about gang wars between New York teenage street gangs of various ethnicities. The films have somewhat similar titles and share several minor actors and crew members.
• Bloody Mama (1970) and The Grissom Gang (1971) are both based on the life story of Ma Barker, although only the first film refers to Barker by her original name. Both take place in the American South of the 1930s and feature a gang of criminals led by a domineering mother.[20] Big Bad Mama, a more fanciful retelling of the Barker myth would follow in 1974. See 1930s nostalgia films.
• In 1979, three movies based on Bram Stoker's novel Dracula were released simultaneously around the world: Werner Herzog's arthouse re-telling Nosferatu the Vampyre (starring Klaus Kinski), John Badham's horror/romance film Dracula (starring Frank Langella), and Stan Dragoti's comedy Love At First Bite (starring George Hamilton).
• Go Tell the Spartans (1978), Coming Home (1978), The Deer Hunter (1978) and Apocalypse Now (1979) are all about American involvement in the Vietnam War.
• Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind were both released in 1977. Both movies were written by their respective directors (George Lucas and Steven Spielberg), earned more money than any other science-fiction film of the 1970s, and are regarded as two of the most influential sci-fi movies of all time, especially for their groundbreaking use of special effects.

1960s

• Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove and Sidney Lumet's Fail-Safe were both released within months of one another in 1964 and deal with the concept of accidental nuclear war, although Dr. Strangelove is satire, while Fail-Safe is a drama. Dr Strangelove was originally slated for release in November 1963 but was postponed due to the death of President John F. Kennedy.
• Two films based on the life story of Jean Harlow were released in 1965, both titled Harlow. One version was released in May 1965, was directed by Alex Segal and starred Carol Lynley as Harlow and Ginger Rogers as her mother. The other was released in June, was directed by Gordon Douglas and starred Carroll Baker as Harlow and Angela Lansbury as her mother.
• You're a Big Boy Now (1966) and The Graduate (1967) are offbeat comedies about late-blooming young men simultaneously rebelling against their parents and being torn between two women. [21]
• Two Oscar Wilde biopics were released in 1960: Oscar Wilde starring Robert Morley, and The Trials of Oscar Wilde starring Peter Finch.

1940s

The 1946 Bugs Bunny cartoon Rhapsody Rabbit and the 1947 Tom and Jerry cartoon The Cat Concerto both feature a character (Bugs in the first, Tom in the second) trying to play Hungarian Rhapsody on the piano while being thwarted at every turn by a mouse (unnamed in the first, Jerry in the second).

1930s

• John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) and John Cromwell's Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940). [22]
• 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). However, the movie was filmed and released before the part of Scarlett was even cast in 1939. In fact, the character of a Civil War debutante that Davis played harmed her chances of landing the Gone With the Wind role, because it was felt she had already played the Scarlett character the year before. Both films were about feisty, independent Southern belles during the American Civil War. [23]

See also

• Look-alike (film)
• Mockbuster
• Multiple discovery
• Historic recurrence

Sources

• IMDb - release dates, plot summaries, misc. details

External links

• Washington Post article If All This Seems Familiar, Well, It Should
• Cracked.com Attack of the Clones: Suspiciously Similar Movie Showdown
• 11points.com 11 Damn Near Identical Movies That Were Released at the Same Time
• "Dueling Movies" from TV Tropes