# I've got a great idea for a movie
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 23, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299 "2009-09-23T21:55:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/1 "2009-09-23T21:55:59Z")
Tell me if this _isn’t_ a guaranteed blockbuster success, as measured in popcorn consumed.
The title is _A Million To One_. Not sure if it’s horror, comedy, or both.
Joe Protagonist is cursed by an irritable devil-worshipping Gypsy in an ancient Indian burial ground. Or something like that. Suddenly, all sorts of highly improbably things start happening to him. Winning the lottery, getting hit by lightning- that sort of stuff. Being on a highjacked plane. Collapsing of a rare heart disorder triggered by a slapstick chain of events- right in front of the world’s top expert in rare heart diseases. Meeting the Designated Love Interest (which is begging for some sort of cheesy quote). Of course, many unlikely occurances involve gruesome death from ordinary objects, so Our Hero must find a way to undo the curse before it’s too late. The odds are a million-to-one against him…
What do you think the odds are of this becoming a “major motion picture”?
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### Author:  [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/2 "2009-09-23T22:01:57Z")
You know ideas can’t be copyrighted, right?
_Writes treatment. Pitches to Sony Pictures._
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/3 "2009-09-23T22:21:44Z")
Here’s another one, suitable for a romance novel or a chick flick.
She’s a divorced Mom with two young kids. She started a blog about being a working Mom without a spouse, and it grew into an internet phenomenon for single Moms.
He’s a dour, serious, radical leader of a big mosque.
They couldn’t be more different, but when their eyes met, everything began to change.
**The E-Mom and the Imam.**
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### Author:  [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/4 "2009-09-23T22:33:22Z")
> [@AskNott](#):
>
> **The E-Mom and the Imam.**
Or what about something like:
**Imam & Dad Save the World**
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### Author:  [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/5 "2009-09-23T23:03:58Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> The title is _A Million To One_. Not sure if it’s horror, comedy, or both.
> Joe Protagonist is cursed by an irritable devil-worshipping Gypsy in an ancient Indian burial ground. Or something like that. Suddenly, all sorts of highly improbably things start happening to him. Winning the lottery, getting hit by lightning- that sort of stuff. Being on a highjacked plane. Collapsing of a rare heart disorder triggered by a slapstick chain of events- right in front of the world’s top expert in rare heart diseases. Meeting the Designated Love Interest (which is begging for some sort of cheesy quote). Of course, many unlikely occurances involve gruesome death from ordinary objects, so Our Hero must find a way to undo the curse before it’s too late. The odds are a million-to-one against him…
I don’t know if you’re joking or not, but I think this sounds like a great idea! Write the screenplay.
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### Author:  [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/6 "2009-09-23T23:15:44Z")
A roughneck laborer working in the rural west building roads or what not meets and falls in love with the demure and lovely daughter of a chinese immigrant. He must make a choice between the work he must do to pay for (whatever) and the girl he’s come to love.
We’ll call it **Mei Wei or the Highway**
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/7 "2009-09-23T23:20:08Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> What do you think the odds are of this becoming a “major motion picture”?
I’m pretty certain that Nicolas Cage starred in this film. Maybe more than once. You wouldn’t want your first picture to be [one starring Nicolas Cage](http://www.thejay.com/2007/02/09/bad-nicolas-cage-movie/), would you?
Stranger
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### Author:  [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/8 "2009-09-23T23:40:41Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> What do you think the odds are of this becoming a “major motion picture”?
Well, if you have your protagonist write the film, it’s a guaranteed hit. I’d suggest M. C. Escher as director…
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/9 "2009-09-24T00:02:52Z")
> [@AskNott](#):
>
> **The E-Mom and the Imam.**
Starring Jennifer Aniston and Sasha Baron Cohen.
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/10 "2009-09-24T00:17:30Z")
Here are my two summer comedy entries:
“Baker’s Dozen”. After a failed vasectomy and initiation into a swing club, a man (named Baker of course) now has twelve expectant women naming him as the father.
“Road Runners”. When a terrorist alert grounds all commercial aviation in the US for a week, and with the trains booked solid, a man, his fiance and her oafish brother have 60 hours to drive from Seattle Washington to Miami Florida or else forfeit a million dollar inheritance.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/11 "2009-09-24T00:20:18Z")
If you want to do it low-budget, I have a super-16 camera, lights, and grip gear. 😃
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/12 "2009-09-24T00:21:32Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> What do you think the odds are of this becoming a “major motion picture”?
So, like, what’s your day job?
🙂
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### Author:  [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/13 "2009-09-24T00:23:03Z")
> [@picker](#):
>
> A roughneck laborer working in the rural west building roads or what not meets and falls in love with the demure and lovely daughter of a chinese immigrant. He must make a choice between the work he must do to pay for (whatever) and the girl he’s come to love.
>
> We’ll call it **Mei Wei or the Highway**
I would go watch this purely because of it’s title. Much like _Snakes on a Plane_. 🆒
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### Author:  [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/14 "2009-09-24T00:40:02Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> What do you think the odds are of this becoming a “major motion picture”?
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> _A Million To One_.
😛
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### Author:  [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/15 "2009-09-24T02:23:09Z")
I feel like I’ve read this plot somewhere, and I’m trying to figure out where. It was a book or a comic where the character’s ability was exactly as described- able to twist the odds, but only when they were ridiculously skewed. Except in order to do anything, they HAD to be around a million to one odds- I just can’t think of where it was. But it was an amusing story…
Gah. I know it’s not Hitchhiker’s improbability drive, it’s not the guy from the X-Men (Longshot), and it’s not Scarlet witch from there either…
I just recall a scene where the characters look at each other as they realize the odds of success are a “million to one…” and it dawns on them that this person’s talent finally might come in handy- and that’s how they get out of the situation.
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/16 "2009-09-24T02:26:16Z")
> [@Ro0sh](#):
>
> I feel like I’ve read this plot somewhere, and I’m trying to figure out where. It was a book or a comic where the character’s ability was exactly as described- able to twist the odds, but only when they were ridiculously skewed. Except in order to do anything, they HAD to be around a million to one odds- I just can’t think of where it was. But it was an amusing story…
>
> Gah. I know it’s not Hitchhiker’s improbability drive, it’s not the guy from the X-Men (Longshot), and it’s not Scarlet witch from there either…
>
> I just recall a scene where the characters look at each other as they realize the odds of success are a “million to one…” and it dawns on them that this person’s talent finally might come in handy- and that’s how they get out of the situation.
**Guards! Guards!** , by Terry Pratchet?
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/17 "2009-09-24T02:34:53Z")
Okay, okay, here’s my idea.
This guy gets yesterday’s paper…_today_ thinking it’s tomorrow’s!
He goes out on stupid errands, thinking he is on a mission from G-d to prevent tragedies, only to be ridiculed or cursed because it’s already happened! But he keeps on, because, what if he’s right this time?
I’ll call it _Late Edition._
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/18 "2009-09-24T02:50:41Z")
> [@Ro0sh](#):
>
> I feel like I’ve read this plot somewhere, and I’m trying to figure out where. It was a book or a comic where the character’s ability was exactly as described- able to twist the odds, but only when they were ridiculously skewed. Except in order to do anything, they HAD to be around a million to one odds- I just can’t think of where it was. But it was an amusing story…
>
> Gah. I know it’s not Hitchhiker’s improbability drive, it’s not the guy from the X-Men (Longshot), and it’s not Scarlet witch from there either…
>
> I just recall a scene where the characters look at each other as they realize the odds of success are a “million to one…” and it dawns on them that this person’s talent finally might come in handy- and that’s how they get out of the situation.
There was an episode of “Red Dwarf” featuring a “good luck” virus that caused the person who caught it to temporarily experience a run of extremely good fortune. Lister injected himself with it to get out of a particularly tight spot.
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### Author:  [@RhapsodyInBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RhapsodyInBlue)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/19 "2009-09-24T03:34:53Z")
_Intacto_ is a Spanish film in which four people survive million to one odds and then discover it’s because they have the power to rob other people of their luck. The more people they’ve touched, the more luck they’ve accumulated. They end up playing a kind of high stakes poker, the winner gets to take all the luck the losers have accumulated through their lifetime. It’s suspenseful and surreal. (And it stars the _OMG_ hawtness that is Leonardo Sbaraglia.)
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### Author:  [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-a-great-idea-for-a-movie/511299/20 "2009-09-24T03:56:18Z")
> [@Lumpy](#):
>
> **Guards! Guards!** , by Terry Pratchet?
YES! THATS IT! And it’s one of my favorite novels too! :smack:
A Thousand thanks and a meat pie for you, sir!
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