Since there have been blockbuster movies, there have been copies, knockoffs and scams. Hollywood studios are extremely averse to risk – the high cost of filmmaking and the vulnerability of many studio management jobs mean that most would rather produce something that looks like a big hit than take a chance on a concept. original.
In many cases, that means a sequel or reboot, but it’s only an option if you’re the studio that owns the rights to the original film. For others, it’s about making films that attempt to capture everything that made the first so popular, whether it was the script, tone, visual style, or the chemistry between the stars.
Over the past decade, this has expanded beyond imitating single movies to entire franchises. With film series based on popular books such as Harry Potter and The Hunger Games having been so successful, the studios have looked at any similarly themed novels that could be adapted, in hopes that they can find the same one. success.
Of course, that often doesn’t work. In attempting to slavishly copy the formula of a successful film, writers and directors often grossly underestimate audiences and fail to give their films even the slightest spark of originality. Harry Potter is not popular just because he is a child learning magic. It’s the cast, the chemistry between the lead roles, and of course, how JK Rowling‘s world has been translated so well onscreen – something that just can’t be xeroxed (something that even Rowling herself tried and failed to do with the fantastic Beasts spin-off).
So here are some of the more egregious attempts to emulate a popular or influential film. Not all of them are terrible movies and some have even been financially successful. But all of them suffer from a mistaken belief that simply copying another is creating something as beloved as movies that attempt to imitate.
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