15 Trendsetting Movies That Other Studios Blatantly Piggybacked On
![15 Trendsetting Movies That Other Studios Blatantly Piggybacked On](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/6/9/829269_320x180.jpg)
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:
![BATMAN CRACKED.COM Tim Burton's Batman raked in $411 million and did wonders for the comic book genre. Movies like The Rocketeer, The Shadow, and The Phantom presumed consumer interest, but critically and financially failed to recapture that lightning in a bottle.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/7/2/829272.jpg)
Source: forbes
![THE THIN MAN CRACKED.COM 1934's The Thin Man was a lighthearted mystery that received multiple Oscar nominations. The lead, William Powell, was cast in Star of Midnight and The Ex-Mrs. Bradford to capitalize on the popularity of his character, but none were as successful as The Thin Man, and the trend faded prior to WWII.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/4/829284.jpg)
Source: ranker
![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.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/7/8/829278.jpg)
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.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/7/4/829274.jpg)
Source: ranker
![HALLOWEEN CRACKED.COM In 1978, the 1st of the now 12-film franchise was made for $325k and made $47 million in the U.S. alone. In the early 1980s, studios cranked out similar holiday slasher films like New Years Evil, Mother's Day, and To All A Good Night, but none of them were remotely close to the success of Halloween.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/7/5/829275.jpg)
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.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/0/829280.jpg)
Source: today
![THE EXORCIST CRACKED.COM Raking in 441 million, 1973's The Exorcist is one of the most influential and successful horror films ever made. From 1974 to 1979, imitations like Abby, Beyond the Door, The Devil's Rain, Race with the Devil, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, The Haunting of Julia, Ruby, and The Legacy all paled in comparison.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/2/829282.jpg)
Source: flashbak
![THE SOUND OF MUSIC CRACKED.COM After this 1965 hit, studios rushed to it and made a string big-budget musical flops like Doctor Dolittle, Camelot, Paint Your Wagon, and Darling Lili. The film Lost Horizon in 1973, was the final nail in the coffin, and was called one of the worst films ever made.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/1/829281.jpg)
Source: laweekly
![THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS CRACKED.COM In the early 2000s, after hits like The Fast and the Furious and хХх, brutal knock offs like Biker Boyz, Grind, Torque, and Extreme Ops tried to capitalize on this Xtreme or underground sports movement, but none came close.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/7/3/829273.jpg)
Source: thedrive
![HARRY POTTER CRACKED.COM The Harry Potter franchise was so successful that anyone who scrambled to capitalize on the trend also found success. Children in a magical world, like The Narnia Trilogy, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Percy Jackson found success (nowhere near Harry Potter), but films like Seeker, Stormbreaker, and Seventh Son fell way below the mark.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/7/9/829279.jpg)
Source: screenrant
![TWILIGHT CRACKED.COM After Twilight had hit after hit from 2008 to 2012, basically every teen movie scrambled to throw in a vampire, werewolf, demon, or zombie. Warm Bodies had some success, but movies like I Am Number Four, Beastly, Red Riding Hood, and Mortal Instruments, came nowhere close.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/5/829285.jpg)
Source: theweek
![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.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/7/6/829276.jpg)
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.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/6/829286.jpg)
Source: looper
![THE SEARCHERS CRACKED.COM There had been many westerns before 1956's The Searchers, but it is regarded as the best western (and best movie) of all time. This new outlaw western gave rise to The Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and some good, but countless godawful Spaghetti Westerns.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/3/829283.jpg)
Source: screenrant
![THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE CRACKED.COM 2005's Emily Rose was a highly successful ode to The Exorcist. Its success sparked a new era of followers who changed the name, like The Exorcism of Molly Hartley, Anna Ecklund, or Karen Walker. Or the synonym and the name, like The Taking of Deborah Logan, The Possession of Hannah Grace, or The Possession of Gail Bowers.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/7/7/829277.jpg)
Source: allhorror