# Rip Off, fake movies on Netflix and other places **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 25, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297 "2012-06-25T21:34:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/41 "2012-06-26T16:04:16Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > 28 Days and 28 Days Later…nothing to do with each other. My Secret Garden by Nancy Friday The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Read 'em both. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/42 "2012-06-29T14:50:35Z")
Huh… I contributed to **Ascenray’s** thread, too. What the heck is it that draws me in here? _Still_ haven’t seen that shark/octopus movie with Debbie Deborah Gibson… > [@ftg](#): > > One thing to keep in mind is that there a _lot_ of people out there who assume that no one is trying to rip them off. If Redbox is carrying a _Puss in Boots_ movie, it has to be the one they heard about. My mother is one of these people. She is also not stupid in the least. It’s just a world view she has. I think what the OP’s after, **ftg** is that ripping off big films with mockbusters is _evil_, and he’s wondering why nobody does anything about it. Maybe it’s not the place of the government to crack down on producers like this (perhaps because they’re not actually breaking any laws), but mor importantly, why does Redbox sully themselves by make this excrement available when, as the OP so deftly notes, they only have a limited capacity in their machines? The only thing I can gather is that it must be profitable, and the bottom line _is_ the bottom line… … although I must admit that my six-year-old daughter does like some of the knock-off princess movies based on public-domain fairytales. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/43 "2012-06-29T14:53:54Z")
> [@psiekier](#): > > Maybe it’s not the place of the government to crack down on producers like this (perhaps because they’re not actually breaking any laws) Yes, it doesn’t violate any laws. You’re allowed to have a similar story with a similar title, especially if it’s based on public domain material. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/44 "2012-06-29T15:25:58Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I am quite surprised at the posts in this thread assuming that people who rent the knockoffs are stupid or something. > > Not everyone is 100% well informed about movie titles, dates, studios and all that. If fact, very few people are. And cover art? You’ve got to be kidding me. I know a lot about movies and I can’t tell the cover art of the various _Battle LA/Transformers_, etc. knockoffs/real thing apart. > > One thing to keep in mind is that there a _lot_ of people out there who assume that no one is trying to rip them off. If Redbox is carrying a _Puss in Boots_ movie, it has to be the one they heard about. My mother is one of these people. She is also not stupid in the least. It’s just a world view she has. My thoughts exactly. My mom exactly, too. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/45 "2012-06-29T17:48:37Z")
At a retailer I used to work for we were not supposed to return opened movies. This led to a lot of problems when customers would return to us with their mock titles, explain they thought they were buying something else, and we were supposed to turn them away. We usually helped them out and let them return it but it led to us eating the cost of the movie since the distributors refused to take them back opened. We had a huge box in the back filled with opened mock titles for employees to take if they wanted them. Nobody of course did so we would throw them away. Eventually we had the media department keep an eye out for these titles when we received them and then they were presented at morning team meetings to all the cashiers so they could inform the customers at the registers BEFORE they bought them that it was a mock title. It cut waaay back on our returns and customers were always very thankful that we let them know. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/46 "2012-06-29T18:00:13Z")
Just a FYI about Redbox and one of these films: “Kiara the Brave” is now listed as just “Kiara”. The [user reviews](http://www.redbox.com/movies/kiara) are … not good. There is a recent 5 star review in there. It couldn’t possibly be anyone associated with studio, as that would be wrong and these studios are as pure as the driven snow. [Abraham Lincoln Vs Zombies](http://www.redbox.com/movies/abraham-lincoln-vs-zombies) has much better reviews by comparison. In related [news](http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/another-harry-potter-movie-believe-it-29355), there’s going to be a new Harry Potter movie. Right. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/47 "2012-06-29T18:11:34Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > My favorite has to be [Snakes on a Train](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_on_a_Train). I’m shocked that anyone is ever misled. _30,000 Leagues Under the Sea? The Da Vinci Treasure? Nazis at the Center of the Earth? Sunday School Musical? The Terminators?_ This really confuses people? I guess they probably watch these films on their Sorny televisions and Panaphonics DVD players. While chowing down those McDowell’s hamburgers. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/48 "2012-06-29T19:06:32Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > While chowing down those McDowell’s hamburgers. When Breyers ice cream started showing up in the stores here on the west coast, I thought it had to be a cheap knock-off of [the real thing.](http://www.dreyers.com/) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/49 "2012-06-29T19:47:58Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > When Breyers ice cream started showing up in the stores here on the west coast, I thought it had to be a cheap knock-off of [the real thing.](http://www.dreyers.com/) Interesting! Around here, we call it Edy’s. Dryer (California, 1920s) and Breyer (Philapdelphia, 1860s) really were two different people. Mostly a coincidence, I guess, unless there is some prediliction for German-Americans (?) toward the ice cream business. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/50 "2012-06-29T20:36:40Z")
Every time I see these, I am reminded of a former roommate of mine regularly ended up getting the wrong movie from Netflix (and other places) due to not really paying attention. Once, trying to rent [Inside Man](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454848/), the Clive Owen/Denzel Washington heist film, he ended up with [The Inside Man](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088133/), a cheesy submarine-based spy film with Dennis Hopper. He accidentally rented the shot-for-shot Gus Van Sant remake of Psycho. But my favorite was when he was excited to watch Tootsie, the cross-dressing Dustin Hoffman comedy, then was disappointed to realize that he had actually added [Tsotsi](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468565/) to his queue (although that was a good movie, just not the movie he thought it was). I don’t like what these film producers are doing, but I’m comfortable with their actions being legal. Dreamworks shouldn’t have any exclusive claim to the character _Puss in Boots_, simply because they have a big budget. It seems to me that the place for this to be stopped is in the curators. Redbox is doing its customers a disservice by stocking these movies. If people complain enough, they’ll probably stop doing it. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/51 "2012-06-29T20:46:21Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > One thing to keep in mind is that there a _lot_ of people out there who assume that no one is trying to rip them off. If Redbox is carrying a _Puss in Boots_ movie, it has to be the one they heard about. My mother is one of these people. She is also not stupid in the least. It’s just a world view she has. Stupid is not the right word, but the adage “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me” is surely in play on this front. Like the OP, very early in my life I fell for a knockoff bargain that was exactly what I was looking for, only to discover it had indeed been “too good to be true”. Of nearly exactly the same type, too: I used my stash of saved allowance money to buy an LP record entitled **Disco’s Greatest Hits!!** or something like that [_forgive me, it was 1979 and I was maybe 8 years old!_], only to discover said hits were orchestral instrumental covers with a beat, kind of like _Hooked On Classics_ but for then-contemporary music. No wonder I was able to pick it up for $3 or something like that. The letdown was memorable and since then, I have always been on the lookout for the knockoff angle whenever the price or availability of something I know to be popular, expensive or rare is surprisingly within reach. And I learned that lesson when I was _eight_. So for your mother, may blessings be upon her, it is to her credit that she is not jaded and cynical. I assume it’s because she either has not experienced the outraged disappointment of receiving a cheap ersatz version of what had been expected for one’s money and/or time, or genuinely isn’t that bothered about it (“Eh, so it’s the story of Pocohantas told a little differently, it’s still _Pocohantas_ right?”) Hmm, maybe it’s time to dust off my longstanding pet project, a fantastic alt-history WW2 movie called _Inglorious Bastards_. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/52 "2012-06-29T20:46:55Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > It seems to me that the place for this to be stopped is in the curators. Redbox is doing its customers a disservice by stocking these movies. If people complain enough, they’ll probably stop doing it. +1! I think that’s the heart and soul of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/53 "2012-06-29T23:32:30Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I am quite surprised at the posts in this thread assuming that people who rent the knockoffs are stupid or something. [nm too snarky] ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/54 "2012-06-30T00:17:48Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > How about [War of the Worlds(2005)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407304/) and [War of the Worlds(2005)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449040/)? I preferred the C Thomas Howell one. Closer to the book. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/55 "2012-06-30T01:36:35Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > While chowing down those McDowell’s hamburgers. [You mean these guys?](https://foursquare.com/v/mcdowells-hamburgers/4f9c9b34e4b0b38d2fc3ca14) > [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > … shot-for-shot Gus… Am I the only one who first read that as ShotFromGuns? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/56 "2012-06-30T02:08:35Z")
> [@](#): > Re: McDowell’s…ha! And I thought it was just a joke from a meh Eddie Murphy film (_Coming to America_.) Or maybe the Milwaukee joint is trying to make sly reference to the same film. Whoa, meta! ---
**Author:** ![Beastly\_Rotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/57 "2012-06-30T02:21:45Z")
Yeah, I rented _The Iron Lady_ and there wasn’t a chick in a flying robot suit in sight. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/58 "2012-06-30T02:32:59Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > It seems to me that the place for this to be stopped is in the curators. Redbox is doing its customers a disservice by stocking these movies. If people complain enough, they’ll probably stop doing it. But what about the people who legitimately want to watch these “films.” Surely, someone like that must exist. To jump off one of the titles above, Sunday School Musical wasn’t marketed as a mockbuster, it was pushed as it’s own separate movie that fans of High School Musical and/or Christian kids would like. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/59 "2012-06-30T13:58:18Z")
> [@Beastly\_Rotter](#): > > Yeah, I rented _The Iron Lady_ and there wasn’t a chick in a flying robot suit in sight. You should check out [_Bubblegum Crisis_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOYZhUlISt8), [_Appleseed_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ilZlS6rbuQ), or [_Gunbuster_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5RxD62OynY&feature=related). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297/60 "2012-07-01T01:23:47Z")
I didn’t know there was a current Asylum thread when [I wrote in praise](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=656980) of their _American Warships_, better than _Battleship_, not that it’s a high bar. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-off-fake-movies-on-netflix-and-other-places/626297.md?page=4)