# Amazingly Similar Movies that Premiered Within Weeks of Each Other **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 15, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678 "2005-07-15T17:43:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/21 "2005-07-15T21:01:35Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > **Mission to Mars** with Tim Robbins and > **The Red Planet** with Val Kilmer > > both in 2000. It’s hard for me to say which of those were worse. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/22 "2005-07-15T21:06:43Z")
Steven Speilberg’s _War of the Worlds_. (June 2005) David Latt’s _H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds_. (June 2005) ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/23 "2005-07-15T21:11:08Z")
The 13th floor. Dark City. The Matrix. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/24 "2005-07-15T21:14:10Z")
[Prefontaine](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0119937/maindetails) and [Without Limits](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0119934/) - both about cross-country runner Steve Prefontaine, both released within a year of each other, both equally underwhelming at the box office. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/25 "2005-07-15T21:51:15Z")
An eight month period of 1987/1988 saw 4 adult/child body-switching movies. “Like Father, Like Son”, “Vice-Versa”, “18 Again”, and “Big”. Suprisingly, nobody did a direct remake of “Freaky Friday” at the time. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/26 "2005-07-15T22:27:48Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > The 13th floor. > Dark City. > The Matrix. Also _eXistenZ_… ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/27 "2005-07-15T22:37:11Z")
Baz Luhrman made an aborted effort to film his own Alexander the Great biopic at the same time that Oliver Stone was making _Alexander_. The spirit of Alexandros Megalos can only be greatful that the world had to endure but one really awful rendition of his life at a time. ---
**Author:** ![meara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@meara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meara)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/28 "2005-07-15T22:56:02Z")
Entrapment and The Thomas Crown Affair ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/29 "2005-07-15T22:57:00Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > **Deep Impact** , a big budget summer release about astronauts and folks on Earth trying to stop the destruction of civilization by a comet, came out just before **Armageddon** , a big budget summer release about astronauts and folks on Earth trying to stop the destruction of civilization by an asteroid. There were almost three of those flicks that summer, the folks that did ‘Godzilla’ were going to do comet/asteroid flick originally but changed their minds. Kind of a “damned if you, damned if you don’t” situation, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/30 "2005-07-16T00:07:35Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > Baz Luhrman made an aborted effort to film his own Alexander the Great biopic at the same time that Oliver Stone was making _Alexander_. The spirit of Alexandros Megalos can only be greatful that the world had to endure but one really awful rendition of his life at a time. There is an [Alexander Project](http://www.alexanderthegreatmovie.com/teasers.htm) in development, but I can’t figure if it’s documentary or movie. (If the latter it only seems to have one actor.) Such a pity that so far the best telling of his story remains a [BBC documentary](http://imdb.com/title/tt0272979/) or that eccentric anime retelling. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/31 "2005-07-16T00:16:12Z")
**Braveheart** and **Rob Roy** were released fairly close together, weren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/32 "2005-07-16T00:48:10Z")
Braveheart and Rob Roy are set several hundred years apart. They are both set in Scotland, but I don’t see them as being all that similar. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/33 "2005-07-16T01:03:01Z")
Hey, they both had men in kilts. Sometimes, that’s really all I need. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/34 "2005-07-16T01:34:36Z")
The film adaptations of _Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorceror’s Stone_ and _The Fellowship of the Ring_ were released within two months of each other in late 2001. Both made massive amounts of money. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/35 "2005-07-16T01:39:22Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > **The Abyss** and > **Deepstar Six** > > both 1989. Don’t forget [Leviathan](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097737/) the same year. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/36 "2005-07-16T01:42:54Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] and don’t forget **Leviathan** and the novel “Sphere” (although the movie came much later). It was an undersea monster free-for-all, with only The Abyss being any good.[/QUOTE :smack: this is what happens when I don’t taske the time to fully read the thread :smack: again (for luck). ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/37 "2005-07-16T02:05:59Z")
> [@Sam Lowry](#): > > **The Incredibles** and **Fantastic Four** released within 9 months of each other. Well, heck if “within weeks” can be stretched to 9 months, then we might as well include **Fail-Safe** and **Dr. Strangelove** , both in 1964. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/38 "2005-07-16T03:07:22Z")
How about pretty much every war film made from 1942 through 1945? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/39 "2005-07-16T03:27:43Z")
“Two-Minute Warning” in late 1976 and “Black Sunday” in early 1977. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678/40 "2005-07-16T05:03:03Z")
“The Sixth Sense” and “Stir of Echoes” were released close to each other. They had the general theme of the supernatural/ghosts. TSS, IMHO, really hurt SoE’s box office take. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-similar-movies-that-premiered-within-weeks-of-each-other/312678.md?page=3)