Two Movies W/ Same Script Showing Simultaneously

[Frylock]

Has it ever happened that two movies using the same (or substantially similar) script(s) have been showing in theaters at the same time?

-FrL-

[RealityChuck]

There were two biographies of Jean Harlow -- both names Harlow -- released five weeks apart in 1965. In theory, they could have overlapped, but I believe they were both such flops that the first was probably gone by the time the second came out.

[redtail23]

Weren't those two movies about Truman Capote both out at about the same time a couple years ago? They may not have both been top screen at the same time, but I think they were both available in theatres during the same period.

[neutron star]

Originally Posted by redtail23

Weren't those two movies about Truman Capote both out at about the same time a couple years ago?

Capote was released in early February of 2006, and Infamous was released in mid-November of that year.

[MovieMogul]

Technically speaking, scripts are intellectual property so they are owned by a specific producer (or studio), who is unlikely to spend twice as much money making two movies which he then subsequently releases simultaneously.

So the same script? I'd venture a No. Of course, there are plenty of examples of similarly themed movies (Antz/A Bug's Life, Deep Impact/Armageddon, Capote/Infamous etc.) having release dates near each other, and there are many many threads detailing these quasi-coincidences.

[RedSwinglineOne]

Deep Impact (May 1998)and Armageddon (July 1998) came out around the same time, with similarly themed plots.

And not in theaters, but there were I think three versions of the Amy Fisher story as made for tv movies.

ETA. "damn you ArchiveGuy"

[mobo85]

Again, not same script but same premise- there were two films about the fictional escapades of a daughter of the U.S. President being developed at the same time, both titled First Daughter. One of them was postponed to not make it seem like a ripoff of the other, and one was renamed Chasing Liberty.

[Sage Rat]

In Japan, Metropolis (an anime movie) and AI (by Steven Spielburg) were both playing at the same time.

They were very similar, though Metropolis succeeded at what it was attempting while as AI didn't so much. Neither was amazing, though I'd recommend the former for people to watch well enough.

[The Hamster King]

When the original Bela Lugosi Dracula was filmed a second Spanish-speaking cast used the sets and costumes during off hours to make a duplicate movie for the Spanish language market.

[Frylock]

Originally Posted by ArchiveGuy

Technically speaking, scripts are intellectual property so they are owned by a specific producer (or studio), who is unlikely to spend twice as much money making two movies which he then subsequently releases simultaneously.

Yeah, but I figured maybe back when things were still getting figured out this wasn't such a hard and fast rule. In other words, I thought it possible that in the earlier days of film a single script could be sold to more than one studio or something.

-FrL-

[Frylock]

Originally Posted by Pochacco

When the original Bela Lugosi Dracula was filmed a second Spanish-speaking cast used the sets and costumes during off hours to make a duplicate movie for the Spanish language market.

Bingo!

-FrL-

[MovieMogul]

Originally Posted by Frylock

Yeah, but I figured maybe back when things were still getting figured out this wasn't such a hard and fast rule. In other words, I thought it possible that in the earlier days of film a single script could be sold to more than one studio or something.

-FrL-

Nope, the practice of purchasing rights to already existing properties (books, plays, etc.) is as old as cinema itself. And back in the studio days, you typically didn't shop around a script; all screenwriters had contracts with studios so territorial possessiveness was probably even higher back then....

[alphaboi867]

Originally Posted by ArchiveGuy

Nope, the practice of purchasing rights to already existing properties (books, plays, etc.) is as old as cinema itself. And back in the studio days, you typically didn't shop around a script; all screenwriters had contracts with studios so territorial possessiveness was probably even higher back then....

But that doesn't prevent different studios from adapting the same public domain book or story into a film. The same year Spielberg's War of the Worlds was released two different studios released low budget versions straight-to-video. One of which was actually set in Victorian England (granted it looked like total crap).

[Krokodil]

Volcano/Dante's Inferno
Dangerous Liaisons/Valmont
Aladdin/The Thief and the Cobbler
Never on Sunday/Breakfast at Tiffany's (IIRC, both of these even opened with the female lead singing the theme song, which went on to become a massive international hit)
Mean Girls/Saved
A View to a Kill/Never Say Never Again

None of these pairs were simultaneous, but each was released within a year of the other.

[mobo85]

Originally Posted by Krokodil

Aladdin/The Thief and the Cobbler...
A View to a Kill/Never Say Never Again[/b]

None of these pairs were simultaneous, but each was released within a year of the other.

The first of these two comparisons, though apt, is a little unfair- The Thief and the Cobbler was in production for over 30 years. When it was releases, Disneyesque musical numbers were added and the title was changed to Arabian Knight, making it seem like a poor ripoff of Aladdin (at least that's what I thought when I saw the ads).

And A View To A Kill and Never Say Never Again don't really have much in common other than they're about James Bond (in fact, Never was a remake of Thunderball by one of the writers of that film who claimed to have invented the movie Bond). As such, You Only Live Twice and Casino Royale could also be listed, even though the latter was a parody of Bond movies.

[RealityChuck]

The Lugosi Spanish-language Dracula was SOP in the early 30s. Laurel and Hardy made movies for the Spanish market the same way: reshooting them with Spanish dialog (which they spoke phonetically, which made them even funnier, since it came across as though they had some bizarre comic accent).

[Moirai]

Originally Posted by RedSwinglineOne

Deep Impact (May 1998)and Armageddon (July 1998) came out around the same time, with similarly themed plots.

And I thought Morgan Freeman's POTUS character delivered a line about "There will be no armageddon."

[Rachael Rage]

The Exorcist Prequels

Although Harlin would claim his version to be quite different and Schrader would later campaign to allow his version to have a release, the two films are remarkably similar. The basic plotline is identical and, except for a few changes in the way the story plays itself out, the end result is the same.

[Sir Rhosis]

Originally Posted by Krokodil

A View to a Kill/Never Say Never Again

None of these pairs were simultaneous, but each was released within a year of the other.

Nitpick: it was actually Octopussy and Never Say Never Again which were both released within a few months of each other in 1983. AVTAK was the only Bond film released in 1985.

Sir Rhosis

[mbh]

Would you count re-releases? Many of the early sound films were shot-for-shot remakes of old silent films. Many of the early color films were shot-for-shot (and often word-for-word) remakes of old black-and-white films. While the newer film was playing in the prestige theaters, I would be highly surprised if the studio did not have the older version playing the "grindhouse" circuit.

I do know of anything specific to the OP, but I have read that in 1952, when the Flash Gordon TV show was on the air, Universal took the old Buster Crabbe serials and re-released them. They would take twelve 15-minute episodes, edit them down to a single 2-hour episode, and release that to the theaters.

If they would do that for a cheesy kid's TV show, they would surely do that for something like Beau Geste or The Prisoner of Zenda.

[Krokodil]

There were two versions of Paddy Chayefsky's Marty released about two years apart, one for TV in 1953 (starring Rod Steiger) and one for film in 1955 (starring Ernest Borgnine). Each version has its partisans, but I have to go with the Borgnine.

[CalMeacham]

The Lugosi Spanish-language Dracula was SOP in the early 30s.

I keep hearing this, but I'm not familiar with any other examples of a film being shot over with a different cast by Universal for export. Your mention of Laurel and Hardy in this respect is new to me. Can you name titles?


I've heard of European examples of such multiple language shooting --


l'Atlantide
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178250/
Die Herrin von Atlantis
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023002/
and

Mystery of Atlantis
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210844/


are three differemnt language versions of the same story, all starring Brigette Helm



Another example is Kurt Siodmak's

F.P.I. Antwortet Nicht
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022869/

F.P.I.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023996/

and

I.F. 1 ne Repond Plus

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024168/


All with different casts

[CalMeacham]

There were two versions of Paddy Chayefsky's Marty released about two years apart, one for TV in 1953 (starring Rod Steiger) and one for film in 1955 (starring Ernest Borgnine). Each version has its partisans, but I have to go with the Borgnine.

It depends on your definition of "released". Other TV dramas have been turned into movies as well, including Nigel Kneale's Quatermass serials (although Quatermass and the Pit had a gap of almost ten years between serial and film) and Rod Serling's Requiem for a Heavymweight

[aldiboronti]

Originally Posted by Rachael Rage

The Exorcist Prequels

They weren't released simultaneously. Schrader's version was shelved at first as the producers were so disappointed with it. They then hired Harlin to shoot basically the same script but with more special effects. That version was released to the cinemas. Later the producers released Schrader's version to DVD, although it did have a limited showing at festivals, etc, it was not given a general cinema release.

[DigitalC]

Then there was CB4 and the much better, though less popular Fear of a black hat.

[chorpler]

Originally Posted by Krokodil

Volcano/Dante's Inferno

Is that supposed to be Dante's Peak, the one with Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton?

[Krokodil]

Originally Posted by chorpler

Is that supposed to be Dante's Peak, the one with Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton?

Yep. Damn that degree in English!

[lissener]

Does this count? In 1929 Raoul Walsh filmed The Big Trail with a new 70mm process called Fox Grandeur. And since theaters that weren't specifically outfitted for the new film stock would not be able to play it, each scene was filmed twice: once for 70mm and once for 35mm. As far as I can tell from the material accompanying the recent DVD release, these were released simultaneously. (There were also, according to Wikipedia, at least four foreign-language versions filmed as well, although I'm pretty sure those were in 35mm.)

[fluiddruid]

Braveheart and Rob Roy came out in pretty close succession (April and May 1995), and both were period movies about Scottish heroes.

[CalMeacham]

Does this count? In 1929 Raoul Walsh filmed The Big Trail with a new 70mm process called Fox Grandeur. And since theaters that weren't specifically outfitted for the new film stock would not be able to play it, each scene was filmed twice: once for 70mm and once for 35mm. As far as I can tell from the material accompanying the recent DVD release, these were released simultaneously. (There were also, according to Wikipedia, at least four foreign-language versions filmed as well, although I'm pretty sure those were in 35mm.)

The same thing happened with some of the exotic wide-screen formats in the 1950s, like Todd-AO and Cinerama.

[fachverwirrt]

Another multi-language release was the 1933 Don Quixote, filmed in English, French, and German, with the same script (translated, obviously), and all starring Fyodor Chaliapin (the great Russian bass) as the Don.

[WarmNPrickly]

I think Tombstone and Wyatt Earp were released pretty close together. Possibly Wyatt Earp was released first, but certainly by the time the movie was over Tombstone had been out for a while.

[Annie-Xmas]

Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar came out at the same time, the height of the Jesus Rock Movement.

[Jophiel]

Not at the same exact time, but 1492: Conquest of Paradise came out just over a month after Christopher Columbus: the Discovery

I don't think either did all that well, much less to have two movies about the same basic thing.

[mbh]

A couple more multilingual pictures:

The 1979 remake of Nosferatu, starring Klaus Kinski as Dracula. I have heard that the cast filmed each scene twice, once in German and once in English. The imdb listing shows a French version as well. Maybe they did each scene three times.


The Leopard, starring Burt Lancaster. When they filmed it, Burt Lancaster spoke all of his lines in English. Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale did their lines in French. The rest of the cast did their lines in Italian.
The English version uses Lancaster's voice, with the rest of the cast dubbed.
The French version uses Delon's and Cardinale's voices, with the rest dubbed.
In the Italian version, Lancaster, Delon, and Cardinale are dubbed, the rest have their natural voices.

[vibrotronica]

Frylock, you've just given me an idea for an art project.

[Walloon]

Originally Posted by mbh

Many of the early color films were shot-for-shot (and often word-for-word) remakes of old black-and-white films. While the newer film was playing in the prestige theaters, I would be highly surprised if the studio did not have the older version playing the "grindhouse" circuit.

I can't think of a single example of an early color film (I assume you're talking about three-strip Technicolor) being a shot-for-shot remake of an older black-and-white film. Can you name a few that were shot-for-shot remakes?

As for the idea of a studio having an older version still playing while its new version was released: never. In fact, the studios went to great lengths to prevent older versions from competing with their remakes.

[mbh]

Walloon, I was thinking of the 1937 version of The Prisoner of Zenda (black and white, starring Ronald Coleman), and the 1952 version (Technicolor, starring Stewart Granger).

I will admit, the shots were slightly different, but the scripts were almost word-for-word identical. (Both were based on the stage play.)

Are you telling me that when Hammer was raking in the bucks from Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, Universal did not try to get more mileage out of their Lugosi and Karloff franchises? That astonishes me.

[Walloon]

There were no more theatrical releases of Universal's horror films from the 1930s and '40s after they were licensed for Screen Gems' "Shock!" package in 1957. So, yes, I am telling you that "the studio did not have the older version playing the 'grindhouse' circuit." Not to mention that none of the Hammer horrors of the late 1950s were at all like the 1930s Universal movies, much less scene-for-scene remakes.

[lissener]

Not quite shot for shot, but Easy to Wed is a remarkably faithful remake of Libeled Lady: I'd estimate that at least 80% of the script remained intact between versions.