15 Trendsetting Movies That Other Studios Blatantly Piggybacked On

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15 Trendsetting Movies That Other Studios Blatantly Piggybacked On

The act of creation is no easy feat. To come up with something entirely new, groundbreaking and interesting…well, it takes talent, luck and a ton of hard work.' Making movies is no exception to this rule. Movie’s (well, good movies) take a long time to make. So by the time everyone else scrambles to get in on the hot new money-maker, the trend might be over. 

Of course, as they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that's the case, then the major motion picture business is one of the friendliest places around. Whether it be leaning on standard formats, utilizing classic tropes and story arcs, or just plain stealing other's ideas, Hollywood is rife with titles that look suspiciously like one another. Sometimes, this can be more obvious than others, especially when some new trend sweeps the box office.

For example, Tim Burton's Batman was a smashing success--prompting a bunch of copycat films that did not quite land.

These 15 trends came and went, and some movies failed to capitalize:

JAWS CRACKED.COM In 1975, Jaws became the first ever Summer Blockbuster and was the first film to earn $100 million in U.S rentals. Its huge success had studios jumping on the bandwagon with titles like Mako: The Jaws of Death, Orca, Barracuda, and Piranha. Spielberg declared Piranha the best of the Jaws rip-offs.

Source: ranker

DIE HARD CRACKED.COM In 1988, Die Hard earned more than $140 million worldwide. This success led to a many 90s clones where an outnumbered hero is trapped in a single setting. Many (like Air Force One and Under Seige) were highly successful, but 1991's Toy Soldiers and 1992's Passenger 57 were critical and financial flops.

Source: ranker

SHREK CRACKED.COM Shrek made $487 million and led to a slew of adult-friendly CGI movies that poked fun at fairytale tropes. Movies like Hoodwinked and Happily Never After were nowhere near as successful, and failed to recapture Shrek's magic.

Source: today

 

FATAL ATTRACTION CRACKED.COM In the late '80s and early '90s, erotic thrillers like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct turned the genre into a money-making machine. The rise of the internet and HBO really hurt the genre, and box office bombs like Showgirls and Striptease were the nails in the coffin.

Source: looper

 

TWISTER CRACKED.COM In the '90s, countless volcanoes, meteors, and twisters threatened protagonists everywhere. By the early 2000s, Hollywood's priorities shifted to fantasies like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, so disaster movies like The Core did nowhere near as well.

Source: looper

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