Synchronicity of films
Discussion
texaxile said:
The Last American Virgin and Lemon Popsicle, although the former was a remake of the latter by the same director, but within 4 years of the original, so kind of not a copycat, more of a rehash for a different audience.
Funny you mention Lemon Popsicle, I spent the day at my friends house, and we reminisced about watching these videos in the early '80's (and Hot Bubblegum), and we were both sure than no-one else even knew these late '70's Israeli films existed!
I think that the title is more accurate now, although the youtube video to help people has the name 'copycat.'
All films are released within a year of each other, usually much shorter, months or days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsMPeEk7AK0
Deep Impact and Armageddon is a great example.
Ta, mods!
All films are released within a year of each other, usually much shorter, months or days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsMPeEk7AK0
Deep Impact and Armageddon is a great example.
Ta, mods!
I guess the reason for this is the Hollywood studio system. A script will get pitched to all of the studios, and a few of them will be interested. One will get it, but it's likely that the other studio, who are in possession of the script and some good lawyers, will have a very similar script produced.
Halb said:
I think that the title is more accurate now, although the youtube video to help people has the name 'copycat.'
All films are released within a year of each other, usually much shorter, months or days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsMPeEk7AK0
Deep Impact and Armageddon is a great example.
Ta, mods!
The scripts for deep impact and Armageddon were brought about by the discovery of a large near earth meteor a few years before which ignited the imagination of a number of script writers. There was some fear that this meteor could be deflected towards earth and cause global destruction. Of course it became clear that no such thing was going to happen but it clearly set off some 'what if' stories. Hollywood reacted to something that caught the publics imagination/attention.All films are released within a year of each other, usually much shorter, months or days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsMPeEk7AK0
Deep Impact and Armageddon is a great example.
Ta, mods!
Brilliant synchronicity, not rip offs or remakes,
Hi,
I wouldn't call it "...synchronicity". It is more to do with active competition between rival studios to get a product to market.
Yes 'Deep Impact' and 'Armageddon' is the commonly cited recent example, but this has been going back decades.
Basically the conceit is a) similar plot, b) released at similar time and c) by rival studios.
However, 'LA Takedown' and 'Heat' are not examples of this. They were both directed (produced) by Mann and in effect he just used the former as a guide stick for the latter, when he could exercise his auteur ways with bigger names to star in it. The former was a television movie; 'Heat', the big budget remake (and six years later). To be honest, through 'Thief', 'Heat', 'Collateral' and 'Miami Vice', Mann has been ploughing the same stylistic cops 'n robbers theme for decades....
'Dr. Strangelove' & 'Fail-Safe' - both mid-1964, both aiming to textualise the stupidity of (accidental) nuclear war. One Kubrick, the other Lumet.
'The Gumball Rally' & 'Cannonball' - that's easy enough. Both 1976, both about interstate illegal racing.
'Top Gun' & 'Iron Eagle' - duh. Both 1986. One was phenomenally successful. The other spawned sequels, which I can never quite figure out.
'Platoon' & 'Hamburger Hill'. 1987. Simple. In fact, through the Reagan era, and post the blues of the Ford and Carter Presidencies and a revitalised US of A, Vietnam was the go-to theme for studios. Make the people feel good again. No more 'Deer Hunter' or 'Apocalypse Now' of the seventies, when we're goddam losin' all the time. No sir, we will show those Grenadan bad asses and Panamanian dictators some real American muscle. So if you were a roided out muscleman, then 'Rambo III' worked for you. Wanted something more cerebral, then 'Full Metal Jacket' was the ticket.
'The Conversation' & 'The Parallax View' - scheming, shady government assassination drama, 1974.
A friend of mine produced 'Grace of Monaco' - what a bomb, and he distances himself from it - but he said it wasn't solely about spec scripts being hawked about the various studios by a writer, and then rather than producers taking up the option, working on a rival theme....sometimes it is just because of simple things like anniversaries. 1992 for instance saw the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage. So in the same year you had '1492: Conquest of Paradise' with Depardieu and Weaver. You also had 'Christopher Columbus : The Discovery' with Brando and Selleck also showing over at the Odeon.
"Twin films" are what they are called.
Nothing serendipitous about it. Mere business.
I wouldn't call it "...synchronicity". It is more to do with active competition between rival studios to get a product to market.
Yes 'Deep Impact' and 'Armageddon' is the commonly cited recent example, but this has been going back decades.
Basically the conceit is a) similar plot, b) released at similar time and c) by rival studios.
However, 'LA Takedown' and 'Heat' are not examples of this. They were both directed (produced) by Mann and in effect he just used the former as a guide stick for the latter, when he could exercise his auteur ways with bigger names to star in it. The former was a television movie; 'Heat', the big budget remake (and six years later). To be honest, through 'Thief', 'Heat', 'Collateral' and 'Miami Vice', Mann has been ploughing the same stylistic cops 'n robbers theme for decades....
'Dr. Strangelove' & 'Fail-Safe' - both mid-1964, both aiming to textualise the stupidity of (accidental) nuclear war. One Kubrick, the other Lumet.
'The Gumball Rally' & 'Cannonball' - that's easy enough. Both 1976, both about interstate illegal racing.
'Top Gun' & 'Iron Eagle' - duh. Both 1986. One was phenomenally successful. The other spawned sequels, which I can never quite figure out.
'Platoon' & 'Hamburger Hill'. 1987. Simple. In fact, through the Reagan era, and post the blues of the Ford and Carter Presidencies and a revitalised US of A, Vietnam was the go-to theme for studios. Make the people feel good again. No more 'Deer Hunter' or 'Apocalypse Now' of the seventies, when we're goddam losin' all the time. No sir, we will show those Grenadan bad asses and Panamanian dictators some real American muscle. So if you were a roided out muscleman, then 'Rambo III' worked for you. Wanted something more cerebral, then 'Full Metal Jacket' was the ticket.
'The Conversation' & 'The Parallax View' - scheming, shady government assassination drama, 1974.
A friend of mine produced 'Grace of Monaco' - what a bomb, and he distances himself from it - but he said it wasn't solely about spec scripts being hawked about the various studios by a writer, and then rather than producers taking up the option, working on a rival theme....sometimes it is just because of simple things like anniversaries. 1992 for instance saw the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage. So in the same year you had '1492: Conquest of Paradise' with Depardieu and Weaver. You also had 'Christopher Columbus : The Discovery' with Brando and Selleck also showing over at the Odeon.
"Twin films" are what they are called.
Nothing serendipitous about it. Mere business.
No one has mentioned serendipity
TTmonkey said:
The scripts for deep impact and Armageddon were brought about by the discovery of a large near earth meteor a few years before which ignited the imagination of a number of script writers. There was some fear that this meteor could be deflected towards earth and cause global destruction. Of course it became clear that no such thing was going to happen but it clearly set off some 'what if' stories. Hollywood reacted to something that caught the publics imagination/attention.
Brilliant synchronicity, not rip offs or remakes,
Indeed, brilliant. I think I first noticed it with two Robin Hood films and two Columbus films in 91/92. Brilliant synchronicity, not rip offs or remakes,
Without getting too boringly philosophical, it's not about synchronicity though.
It is simple causal decision theory.
Hollywood, isn't driven by anything other than base economics.
Synchronicity implies some distant parallelism, even, to the unworldy, some sort of happy coincidence (serendipity) and the asteroid films potentially are good implicators of that. But that wouldn't account for the - literally - hundreds of other scripts that bounce around between the studios that only push UA, or Sony, or MGM or whoever to think they need something other to compete.
The Capote story is a case in point. 'Infamous' and 'Capote' came out twenty years after the guy died, but surely Bingham Ray knew why things came to be when he got that phone call
It is simple causal decision theory.
Hollywood, isn't driven by anything other than base economics.
Synchronicity implies some distant parallelism, even, to the unworldy, some sort of happy coincidence (serendipity) and the asteroid films potentially are good implicators of that. But that wouldn't account for the - literally - hundreds of other scripts that bounce around between the studios that only push UA, or Sony, or MGM or whoever to think they need something other to compete.
The Capote story is a case in point. 'Infamous' and 'Capote' came out twenty years after the guy died, but surely Bingham Ray knew why things came to be when he got that phone call
tigerkoi said:
Without getting too boringly philosophical, it's not about synchronicity though.
It is simple causal decision theory.
Hollywood, isn't driven by anything other than base economics.
Synchronicity implies some distant parallelism, even, to the unworldy, some sort of happy coincidence (serendipity) and the asteroid films potentially are good implicators of that. But that wouldn't account for the - literally - hundreds of other scripts that bounce around between the studios that only push UA, or Sony, or MGM or whoever to think they need something other to compete.
The Capote story is a case in point. 'Infamous' and 'Capote' came out twenty years after the guy died, but surely Bingham Ray knew why things came to be when he got that phone call
All the many scripts that get made, all the many that don't. Zeitgeists happen, I can see passing and localised Zeitgeists occurring. Although I didn't mean to imply anything special in my original post, it was just an observation of the many different synchronatic/copycat films that get traction and get made. But something catches hold, and takes root.It is simple causal decision theory.
Hollywood, isn't driven by anything other than base economics.
Synchronicity implies some distant parallelism, even, to the unworldy, some sort of happy coincidence (serendipity) and the asteroid films potentially are good implicators of that. But that wouldn't account for the - literally - hundreds of other scripts that bounce around between the studios that only push UA, or Sony, or MGM or whoever to think they need something other to compete.
The Capote story is a case in point. 'Infamous' and 'Capote' came out twenty years after the guy died, but surely Bingham Ray knew why things came to be when he got that phone call
One is usually an outright winner, the nature of the thing and the whole of the thing the two will normally be compared to each other heavily.
I didn't care for Dispicable Me, but I loved Megamind, thought it was funny, creative, different, shame it is consigned to be a single film.
chris watton said:
texaxile said:
The Last American Virgin and Lemon Popsicle, although the former was a remake of the latter by the same director, but within 4 years of the original, so kind of not a copycat, more of a rehash for a different audience.
Funny you mention Lemon Popsicle, I spent the day at my friends house, and we reminisced about watching these videos in the early '80's (and Hot Bubblegum), and we were both sure than no-one else even knew these late '70's Israeli films existed!droopsnoot said:
Although I'd never heard of one of these, and only the second one through adverts in old music papers, there was quite an interesting film on Film4 the other night about the careers of the two guys that made these films, who also went on to be involved in some (or all) of the Death Wish films, and a lot of other stuff. Electric Boogaloo, the Wild Untold Story of Cannon Films - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125501/
I mentioned that doc in the 'Films I watched' thread - I enjoyed it!Gassing Station | TV, Film, Video Streaming & Radio | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff