Remakes, reboots, and direct inspirations have the benefit of seemingly coming from different generations. At the very least, these identical movies acknowledge their similar formulas at some level and are trying to build from them. However, there are a shocking amount of instances across film where two movies will come around way too close to one another for one to truly be remaking the other.
Whether it's because of parallel thinking, similar cultural trends, or movie executives looking over each other's shoulders, many movie fans found themselves seeing double once they looked up at the marquee titles.
10 This Is The End And The World's End (2013)
2012 (the Mayan omen, not the John Cusack movie) must've been an inspiring time for the movie industry, especially since two movies about the end of the world followed in 2013. Both movies featured ensemble casts from their respective regions. This is The End starred American comedy legends Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, and Danny McBride, all trying to weather the apocalypse as L.A. becomes overrun with demons.
The World's End focuses on British contemporaries Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, and Eddie Marsan trying to survive an alien invasion. To top it all off, both films are also about best friends growing apart yet trying to salvage their relationships.
9 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) And The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
While Italy may have inspired the slasher genre, there is one brand of horror that is truly built on Americana: backwoods horror. This genre focuses on rural citizens trapping unsuspecting travelers within their forest dwellings and hunting them down, either for fun or, in most cases, for their next dinner.
Two of the most influential films in the genre just happen to have been released around the same time. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre follows a group of teenagers being hunted down by a cannibalistic family and their leather-faced berserker, while The Hills Have Eyes has a mountain dwelling family stalk a vacationing family.
8 Turner & Hooch And K-9 (1989)
Dogs have become a motif in cinema as they've been incorporated as pets, best friends, and main characters throughout different films. They started reaching new strides in the 1980's and 1990's when they started being used for anything and everything, including buddy cop films.
In Turner & Hooch, Tom Hanks is a serious police officer who finds himself suddenly owning a gruff, messy dog. In K-9, Jim Belushi is a loner cop who is paired with a drug-sniffing, albeit destructive, dog. Both are at odds with their furry companion until they realize that these dogs can help them with their respective cases.
7 A Bug's Life And Antz (1998)
There might be more to A Bug's Life and Antz' respective releases than just parallel thinking. These films were infamously at the center of an ongoing feud between Disney Pixar and the newly formed DreamWorks. DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg had left Disney a while back on bad terms and was assumed to have stolen the idea to make a bugs-related animated movie, especially given that the creators of A Bug's Life had talked with Jeffrey about the production of the film in great detail.
Jeffrey contests that he already had ideas and pitches for the film dating back a couple years. It's ironic knowing that films about warring ants and bugs highlighted the growing tensions between two warring animation companies.
6 The Truman Show (1998) And EDtv (1999)
These two films comment on the reality and humanity of television, but they approach it from a slightly different angle. In The Truman Show, Jim Carrey plays a man who has been raised in an elaborate film studio lot his entire life, unbeknownst to him. What seems like life to him is just the curated storylines that television executives use to appeal to viewers.
In EDtv, a reality television company decides to film the titular Ed 24/7. While Jim Carrey's character never really had a life to begin with, Ed's was taken away as everything he did became the topic of every television conversation.
5 Armageddon And Deep Impact (1998)
The times have a funny way of influencing their media. The World Wars sparked stories of incredible heroes, the Cold War and its media scared people with internal and nuclear threats, and the drug crisis inspired all manner of stories that exaggerated how drugs work.
Still, it's hard to imagine what exactly inspired 1998 to create two separate films about the United States stopping a comet/meteor from hitting the Earth by sending in space crews to plant explosives on them. Giant meteors are still out there, so it's a wonder why further films haven't been made.
4 The Cave And The Descent (2005)
Exploring deep, dark caves is a pretty intimidating hobby that doesn't require a movie to keep people from doing it. It already combines people's fears of the dark and claustrophobia, yet the mid-2000's had to throw monsters into the mix.
In 2005, The Cave scared audiences with its promises of a hungry, ravenous society living in the world below, and it did so by punishing an overly-ambitious group of cave explorers. The Descent did the same around the same year (albeit with greater critical reception) when it had a group of friends stumble upon similar creatures.
3 No Strings Attached And Friends With Benefits (2011)
Romantic comedies are one of film's most treasured staples, though many still criticize the genre for recycling tropes and premises. Case in point: the industry somehow goes full circle in 2011 when it comes across casual sex. In No Strings Attached, two lifelong friends decide to go to the next level of their physical relationship while still promising to be "just friends."
In Friends With Benefits, two newfound friends who are sick of the dating scene try to have a physical yet still platonic relationship. Both films explore how far either couple can go before something real forms. It's unsurprising that the original title for No Strings Attached was "Friends With Benefits."
2 Despicable Me And Megamind (2010)
To be fair, Despicable Me and Megamind do have noticeable differences in their premise and plot, though they are still both CG animated movies about hyper-intellectual supervillains. In Despicable Me, a mad scientist suddenly finds himself changing his ways when he becomes the adoptive father to three orphaned girls.
In Megamind, the titular character goes through a similar transformation, but only because his arch-nemesis decides to retire and he feels that he can fulfill the hero role (and comes up with some unforgettable quotes along the way). Nobody would mind if DreamWorks and Illumination were to set up a crossover between these two.
1 Paul Blart: Mall Cop And Observe And Report (2009)
2009 was a good year for the action-comedy genre, particularly when it came to funny cops - and specifically mall security. Starting out the year was Kevin James' big return to film. In Paul Blart: Mall Cop, James plays an ambitious mall cop who has always dreamt of becoming a real cop. He has his moment to shine when a group of professional thieves decide to rob his mall.
In Observe and Report, Seth Rogen portrays a similarly incompetent mall cop who also dreamt of becoming a full-fledged police officer. He also finds his time to shine when one person begins terrorizing his mall.
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