Wait, Megamind and the Minions Are Different?
July 26, 2022 10:00 PM Subscribe
This list is missing Skyline and Battle LA
posted by reiichiroh at 11:16 PM on July 26, 2022
posted by reiichiroh at 11:16 PM on July 26, 2022
Wow, I genuinely thought the minions were from Megamind too.
posted by potrzebie at 11:16 PM on July 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by potrzebie at 11:16 PM on July 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
And when Contact came out there was a Charlie Sheen movie about him sitting in a chair and talking about aliens.
posted by lkc at 11:56 PM on July 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by lkc at 11:56 PM on July 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
Mirroring is a risk-adverse strategy by studio execs. You're basically betting that your team (of directors, writers, and actors) will serve a better iteration on the concept, with more star power than the competitor's projects. So you hire a script doctor to adapt a good script that was in the same ball park and steal a march on the rival studio- ideally with a lighter budget.
It makes sense if you're thinking of box office as a zero sum game between studios.
posted by LeRoienJaune at 11:59 PM on July 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
It makes sense if you're thinking of box office as a zero sum game between studios.
posted by LeRoienJaune at 11:59 PM on July 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
And when Contact came out there was a Charlie Sheen movie about him sitting in a chair and talking about aliens.
The Arrival is a very underrated sci-fi movie, imho (and Roger Ebert's opinion too).
posted by fairmettle at 12:21 AM on July 27, 2022 [9 favorites]
The Arrival is a very underrated sci-fi movie, imho (and Roger Ebert's opinion too).
posted by fairmettle at 12:21 AM on July 27, 2022 [9 favorites]
There were lots of nuclear apocalypse themed movies during the cold war, particularly in the 70s and 80s. But 1983/84 stands out with seven English-language movies about nuclear war or major nuclear incidents (with three TV movies focussing specifically on the after-effects of nuclear war in a small city -- and two of those were broadcast in the same month):
Threads
The Day After
Testament
WarGames
Countdown to Looking Glass
Special Bulletin
One Night Stand
posted by theory at 12:45 AM on July 27, 2022 [5 favorites]
Threads
The Day After
Testament
WarGames
Countdown to Looking Glass
Special Bulletin
One Night Stand
posted by theory at 12:45 AM on July 27, 2022 [5 favorites]
This is probably the minority take, but The Illusionist is such a better movie than The Prestige, that I have to remind myself which is which when people praise the other one.
posted by Carillon at 12:46 AM on July 27, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by Carillon at 12:46 AM on July 27, 2022 [11 favorites]
The Illusionist is such a better movie than The Prestige
It's funny because this is another one where I didn't realize they were two different movies.
posted by Literaryhero at 1:40 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
It's funny because this is another one where I didn't realize they were two different movies.
posted by Literaryhero at 1:40 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
Megamind is only tangentially similar to Despicable me.
If you had been conflating the two I would encourage you to watch it.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 2:32 AM on July 27, 2022 [7 favorites]
If you had been conflating the two I would encourage you to watch it.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 2:32 AM on July 27, 2022 [7 favorites]
I like how a comparison of Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter just casually sneaks into the list. I wonder if there are other examples where one is a prestige film and the other is a genre film with a completely different take on the same subject.
posted by graymouser at 3:16 AM on July 27, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by graymouser at 3:16 AM on July 27, 2022 [7 favorites]
Yeah, I'm not sure I'd really count the "Lincoln/Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter" set. They're not really "twins" in the way I think most people find twin movies interesting, which is in the sense of movies which come out at about the same time and are easily mixed up/considered copies of each other (whether or not they actually are). I've never seen Volcano or Dante's Peak. I think if someone told me the plot to one of them and had me guess which it was, I'd only have a 50-50 chance of guessing right.
If, however, someone told me the plot to either Lincoln or Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter and had me guess which it was, I'd wager my odds of guessing right would be upwards of 99% +/- 2% (and, yes, that means that my odds could go as high as a 101% chance of answering right).
posted by Bugbread at 3:52 AM on July 27, 2022 [7 favorites]
If, however, someone told me the plot to either Lincoln or Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter and had me guess which it was, I'd wager my odds of guessing right would be upwards of 99% +/- 2% (and, yes, that means that my odds could go as high as a 101% chance of answering right).
posted by Bugbread at 3:52 AM on July 27, 2022 [7 favorites]
A couple of these aren’t really simultaneous - I know movies take a long time to create, so it’s possible enough was in place that they had to keep going, but I think a couple of these sequential-year ones were intentionally piggybacking on others that came before the rather than zeitgeisty accidents. I feel like I remember that To Wong Foo, in particular was made because they didn’t believe American audiences would get or even would have seen Priscilla - and it came out a year and a half later.
posted by Mchelly at 4:16 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Mchelly at 4:16 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]
In the comicbook world we had Swamp Thing and Man-Thing at more or less the same time. I vaguely recall that the creators of the two very similar seeming characters (one working for DC and one for Marvel) were housemates but I never heard this confirmed.
(I was a Swamp Thing fan myself.)
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 4:36 AM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
(I was a Swamp Thing fan myself.)
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 4:36 AM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
Thank goodness television never discovered this strategy.
posted by TedW at 4:37 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by TedW at 4:37 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]
With some of these (particularly the nuclear war ones or the thrillers) this is more a case of convergent evolution than it is copying or mirroring. When you're worried about nuclear war or terrorism or some other Big Major Thing that's got a lot of people worried, you're going to start seeing that kind of thing turn up in the art and literature.
(That's one reason I'm so fascinated by post-apocalyptic fiction - you can hazard a pretty good guess about when the book was written based on "what was the exact nature of the apocalypse". If it was nukes, it was a Cold War book, most likely from the 80s. If it was environmental, it's recent. If it's zombies, it was the late 90s/early aughts.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:40 AM on July 27, 2022
(That's one reason I'm so fascinated by post-apocalyptic fiction - you can hazard a pretty good guess about when the book was written based on "what was the exact nature of the apocalypse". If it was nukes, it was a Cold War book, most likely from the 80s. If it was environmental, it's recent. If it's zombies, it was the late 90s/early aughts.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:40 AM on July 27, 2022
Weird Science, Real Genius and My Science Project (1985) – teen geek comedies
Anyone who thinks Weird Science and Real Genius are the same basic movie clearly was not a young teenager in 1985. While both works feature 'teen geeks' in this essay I will cover the nuance and profound character arcs that separate Lazlo from Chet, Jerry Hathaway from Chet, and most importantly, the Jordan from Lisa ...
posted by DigDoug at 5:21 AM on July 27, 2022 [16 favorites]
Anyone who thinks Weird Science and Real Genius are the same basic movie clearly was not a young teenager in 1985. While both works feature 'teen geeks' in this essay I will cover the nuance and profound character arcs that separate Lazlo from Chet, Jerry Hathaway from Chet, and most importantly, the Jordan from Lisa ...
posted by DigDoug at 5:21 AM on July 27, 2022 [16 favorites]
I hope this means a good adaptation of Persuasion will be released later this year!
posted by Naanwhal at 6:07 AM on July 27, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Naanwhal at 6:07 AM on July 27, 2022 [5 favorites]
It's not only fiction, either - this list doesn't even mention the simultaneous Fyre fest documentaries.
posted by mosst at 6:14 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by mosst at 6:14 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
"Photographing Fairies" and "Fairy Tale: A True Story" were two films released in, respectively, 1996 and 1997, each inspired, in its way, by the Cottingley Fairy hoax. Each features an Academy Award winning actor, with Ben Kingsley in "Photographing Fairies" and Peter O'Toole in "Fairy Tale: a True Story".
"Photographing Fairies," based on the novel by Steve Szilagyi, came out first, and is by far the darker, riskier film.
posted by Modest House at 6:37 AM on July 27, 2022
"Photographing Fairies," based on the novel by Steve Szilagyi, came out first, and is by far the darker, riskier film.
posted by Modest House at 6:37 AM on July 27, 2022
Prefontaine and Without Limits were two biopics of Steve Prefontaine, a track star from the 1970’s both released in the late 90’s. I think they were both pretty forgettable, but for some reason I saw one of them (not 100% sure which) multiple times. Probably was on HBO a lot when I had lots of time to kill.
posted by skewed at 6:42 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by skewed at 6:42 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
I hope this means a good adaptation of Persuasion will be released later this year!
You know of the 1995 version with Amanda Root and Ciarin Hinds, yes?
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 6:47 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
You know of the 1995 version with Amanda Root and Ciarin Hinds, yes?
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 6:47 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
Yes, that remains my gold standard! Sadly there was a Sarah Snook adaptation of Persuasion planned recently but I believe it was cancelled so as not to compete with the Netflix abomination.
posted by Naanwhal at 7:04 AM on July 27, 2022
posted by Naanwhal at 7:04 AM on July 27, 2022
Anyone who thinks Weird Science and Real Genius are the same basic movie clearly was not a young teenager in 1985.
Yeah but this isn't really about how the movies actually turned out, it's about what elevator pitches the executives who approved them heard.
"Paramount's got this science kid movie in development, what do we have that we can counter with?"
posted by octothorpe at 7:19 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
Yeah but this isn't really about how the movies actually turned out, it's about what elevator pitches the executives who approved them heard.
"Paramount's got this science kid movie in development, what do we have that we can counter with?"
posted by octothorpe at 7:19 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
There are so many versions of Pinocchio coming out soon it's bananas. Pauly Shore had one out last year. Guillermo del Toro has one out on Netflix later this year, and Disney has the live action one coming soon. That's weird. The fact that all of them look terrible is also weird.
posted by nushustu at 7:19 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by nushustu at 7:19 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
When War of the Worlds hit rental, some friends and I went to pick it up for a movie night. But, instead of War of the Worlds (Tom Cruise) we mistakenly grabbed H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds (C. Thomas Howell) and... absolutely MST3K'd the hell out of it. Wonderfully terrible C. Thomas Howell movie (but I repeat myself). Keep an eye out for Red Hoodie Guy in crowd scenes.
posted by xedrik at 7:39 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by xedrik at 7:39 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
→
Hey, we really enjoyed the Dakota Johnson Persuasion: it had the guts to do more than the usual plummy-voiced puppets in period drapery Jane Austen movie. The Wentworth bloke could've been less wooden, but the casting of the very shallow sisters was spot-on and who can't love Richard E. Grant gnawing on the scenery?
posted by scruss at 8:03 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
I hope this means a good adaptation of Persuasion will be released later this year!
Hey, we really enjoyed the Dakota Johnson Persuasion: it had the guts to do more than the usual plummy-voiced puppets in period drapery Jane Austen movie. The Wentworth bloke could've been less wooden, but the casting of the very shallow sisters was spot-on and who can't love Richard E. Grant gnawing on the scenery?
posted by scruss at 8:03 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
Europe 1991. It was a toss up between Robin "Patrick Bergin" Hood vs Robin "Kevin Costner" Hood: Prince of thieves. So we went to see Costner, planning to catch the other one the following week. There was no following week for the Bergin film and, indeed, it apparently never had a theatrical release in the US. Another case of rich-get-richer, winner-takes-all, way of modern media.
posted by BobTheScientist at 8:10 AM on July 27, 2022
posted by BobTheScientist at 8:10 AM on July 27, 2022
Megamind is worth seeing. I personally am a fan of Ferrell's constant mispronunciation of Metro City to something that rhymes with atrocity.
posted by nubs at 8:14 AM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by nubs at 8:14 AM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
If, however, someone told me the plot to either Lincoln or Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter and had me guess which it was, I'd wager my odds of guessing right would be upwards of 99% +/- 2% (and, yes, that means that my odds could go as high as a 101% chance of answering right).
What the trailer had a picture of John Calhoun? Man...or vampire?
posted by kirkaracha at 8:21 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
What the trailer had a picture of John Calhoun? Man...or vampire?
posted by kirkaracha at 8:21 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
The title of this posts hurts me.
Good content, though!
posted by brook horse at 10:41 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
Good content, though!
posted by brook horse at 10:41 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
“Drop Zone” & “Terminal Velocity”, both 1994
posted by librosegretti at 1:04 PM on July 27, 2022
posted by librosegretti at 1:04 PM on July 27, 2022
The Arrival is a very underrated sci-fi movie, imho
Agreed!
This is probably the minority take, but The Illusionist is such a better movie than The Prestige
Yes! Yes! Yes!
My hot take: G.I. Joe Origins: Snake Eyes is a much better film than Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. I'm not sure if they met the criteria to make the list, but I feel like they should have.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 1:43 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
Agreed!
This is probably the minority take, but The Illusionist is such a better movie than The Prestige
Yes! Yes! Yes!
My hot take: G.I. Joe Origins: Snake Eyes is a much better film than Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. I'm not sure if they met the criteria to make the list, but I feel like they should have.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 1:43 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
I remember The Raid: Redemption (2011) and Dredd (2012) got a lot of comparisons. Both are action flicks about the cops fighting their way up through a tower full of baddies. Sure one is Sci-Fi and the other is Indonesian but they have a lot in common. It was an unfortunate coincidence, even if a certain segment of film fans accused Dredd of being an Americanized rip-off. Dredd was filming the The Raid blew up and they saw the obvious parallels.
I am a geologist, so I did dutifully watch Dante's Peak and Volcano. Dante's peak was the more "realistic" film. Volcano was an LA disaster film. Sorry, the La Brea Tar Pits are not going to start spouting lava. It also was spackled over with some overly heavy handed racial equality messages. To the point that the theater collectively groaned at one particular example.
posted by Badgermann at 2:02 PM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
I am a geologist, so I did dutifully watch Dante's Peak and Volcano. Dante's peak was the more "realistic" film. Volcano was an LA disaster film. Sorry, the La Brea Tar Pits are not going to start spouting lava. It also was spackled over with some overly heavy handed racial equality messages. To the point that the theater collectively groaned at one particular example.
posted by Badgermann at 2:02 PM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
No mention of my two favorites, The Secret of My Success/Working Girl and Ferris Bueller/Adventures in Babysitting.
posted by Melismata at 5:42 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Melismata at 5:42 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
Speaking of Charlie Sheen, I just had a brief thought, "Didn't The Chase have a twin movie?" only to remember it came out right around O.J. Simpsons "Chase".
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 6:27 AM on July 28, 2022
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 6:27 AM on July 28, 2022
Megamind is worth seeing. I personally am a fan of Ferrell's constant mispronunciation of Metro City to something that rhymes with atrocity.
My wife and I both almost always say "melancholy" this way because of this film.
posted by DigDoug at 5:25 AM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
My wife and I both almost always say "melancholy" this way because of this film.
posted by DigDoug at 5:25 AM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
xedrik I'm reasonably certain that some movie studios exist solely on the basis that enough people will make exactly this mistake to keep them afloat. Asylum (pre-Sharknado, certainly) would be one example. They survive entirely off a sort of cultural backscatter.
posted by regularfry at 7:46 AM on July 31, 2022
posted by regularfry at 7:46 AM on July 31, 2022
« Older Zuck Goes To The Mattresses | Somerton Man mystery solved? Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
1 1988
2 1987
3 1987
posted by kirkaracha at 10:19 PM on July 26, 2022 [2 favorites]