That one is notably not a coincidence.
Not a movie, but there was an episode of the shortlived X-Files spinoff series The Lone Gunmen that dealt with a government conspiracy to hijack an airliner and crash it into the WTC via remote control. It aired six months before 9/11.
The new Judge Dredd movie is superficially similar to the movie The Raid which was released about the same time.
No, no, no. Deep Impact is about a comet. Totally different.
The Abyss came out just after two lower budget rip-offs featuring mysterious undersea creatures terrorizing undersea installations: Deep Star Six and Leviathan.
You’re right! It’s the same as the major differences between Dark City and The Matrix!
On TV, Babylon 5 and Deep Space 9 were very similar in general concept – a giant space station that’s at the center of intrigue by many alien races. There’s some debate as to whether they were coincidental or not.
Actually, it happens often on TV when they imitate some successful movie. Tales of the Gold Monkey and Bring 'em Back Alive were two series from 1982 that tried to capture the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
And, when Steve Speilberg was given carte blanche for Amazing Stories in 1985, other networks suddenly created anthology series (which hadn’t been on TV in a decade) like The New Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The two Lincoln films last year? (The zombie one, and some other one.)
This half-decade includes the 150th anniversary of Civil War era events, so maybe it’s not entirely a coincidence, but probably mostly it is.
Weird Science and Real Genius both came out in 1985.
Prefontaine and Without Limits are both biopics about US distance runner Steve Prefontaine. They weren’t out at the same time, but they were released about a year apart.
Dangerous Liaisons released in December 1988 and Valmont the following November, both based on the same 18th C. novel, not a sequel (Dangerouser Liaisons?)
Paul Blart: Mall Cop and **Observe and Report **(2009).
I think what happens is that a studios get wind of another similar topic and rush to get theirs out first. The compressed schedules contribute to the release dates being closer together.
Two movie versions of A Doll’s House were released in 1973.
“Shortly” is putting it mildly. China Syndrome came out twelve days before TMI. Life imitating art, with a vengeance.
Not exactly what the thread has in mind, but I was struck by the coincidence of two fantastic movies released in 1984 starring Kate Capshaw as the heroine, in both of which she witnesses the Bad Guy reach into the chest of his victim with his bare hand and pull out his victim’s heart. And the victim doesn’t immediately die.
Dreamscape and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
A long time ago I read a point-by-point comparison of Die Hard and Lethal Weapon that made a strong argument for them having at one point in pre-production having been the same film. I’ve searched repeatedly for it, but never have found it again.
Seems like there was more than one of those “teen and parent switch bodies” movies in theaters a while back.
I suspect this phenomenon can be traced back to the initial pitches for these films. A studio exec hears a pitch for a film and he says, “No thanks!” A short time later hears a similar pitch that gets him wondering if he’s missing a profitable trend. He green lights the second pitch, meanwhile the initial pitch has been picked up elsewhere.
Real Genius and Weird Science seem pretty different but there was a movie from the same time called My Science Project that was very similar to WS.
The Poseidon Adventure and Poseidon, both remakes of The Poseidon Adventure, came out within months of each other, though one was made for TV and the other theatrical.