# \[Story/Movie A\] is really just a reworking of \[story/movie B\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 21, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282 "2017-08-21T15:16:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/21 "2017-08-22T01:42:08Z")
**The Money Pit** (Tom Hanks) was pretty much a reworking of \*\*Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House \*\* (Cary Grant) \*\*You’ve got Mail \*\* (Tom Hanks) was pretty much a reworking of **Shop around the Corner** (Jimmy Stewart) **High Society** was a musical reworking of **The Philadelphia Story** \*\*My Fair Lady \*\* was a musical reworking of **[Pigmillian](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030637/)** ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/22 "2017-08-22T01:49:09Z")
Jawbreaker was a rework of Heathers. I see now on the Jawbreaker wiki page that it was ‘inspired’ by Heathers, but I remember see Jawbreakers and being able to tell right away it was basically the same movie. I do also recall not liking it very much. Almost 20 years since I’ve seen it so I couldn’t tell you if I genuinely didn’t like it or if it’s because i like(d) Heathers so much. My recommendation: Heathers is great, but skip Jawbreaker and go right for Mean Girls. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/23 "2017-08-22T01:52:23Z")
_10 Things I Hate About You_ is _Taming of the Shrew_ _She’s the Man_ is _Twelth Night_ ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/24 "2017-08-22T02:08:14Z")
I missed perhaps the most famous one. **West Side Story** is the Musical reworking of\*\* Romeo and Juliet\*\* and much more recently **Warm Bodies** is the Zombie movie rework of **Romeo and Juliet**. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/25 "2017-08-22T02:10:11Z")
Books: \*\*Sword of Shannara \*\*was a deliberate rework of **The Lord of the Rings**. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/26 "2017-08-22T02:11:54Z")
_The Magnificent Seven_ is a western version of _Seven Samurai_. _Godzilla_ was _The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms_. ---
**Author:** ![Nocheins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6de8d8/32.png) [@Nocheins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocheins)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/27 "2017-08-22T02:47:24Z")
Billy Jack Goes to Washington is a rather interesting take on Mr. Smith Goes to Washington… ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/28 "2017-08-22T03:53:55Z")
Cracked just had a pretty good article “[6 Directors Who Secretly Made The Same Movie Twice](http://www.cracked.com/article_24931_6-filmmakers-who-secretly-ripped-off-their-own-work.html)”. It is sort of more efficient to plagiarize from yourself. Unless you’re John Fogerty. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/29 "2017-08-22T13:42:05Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > _The Magnificent Seven_ is a western version of _Seven Samurai_. > > _Godzilla_ was _The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms_. The original _Gojira_ was inspired in part by _Beast_, but it differs enough for me to hesitate to call it a reworking. There were Giant Monster Runs Amok in the City films long before either of these came out, going back to Winsor McKay’s _The Giant Pet_ circa 1920. On the other hand, the 1998 Roland Emmerich/Matthew Broderick _Godzilla_ is pretty clearly derived from _the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms_, much more so that the 1954 original. I’m amazed no one called them on it. The similarities (which aren’t in any other Godzilla film): The Beast leaves a trail of devastation behind it from the atomic site that released/created it It made its way to New York City because of an instinct, akin to salmon and eels, of returning there to spawn It is able to hide from the military hunting it (pretty unbelievably in the case of Godzilla) within the canyons of the city It is trapped and killed at a NYC landmark. One big difference is that in the Godzilla film, the creature actually succeeds in reproducing, giving us the young as an additional headache. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/30 "2017-08-22T14:19:43Z")
_Zathura_ is just _Jumanji_ in space ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/31 "2017-08-22T14:28:31Z")
Alien was a retelling of “It, the Terror from Beyond Space”. Creature gets on board spaceship, kills people systematically. The “It” creature merely drinks body fluids rather than parasitizing its victims. The creatures even get killed in the same basic manner - deprived of air, only Alien went a bit further by spacing the creature and then toasting it for good measure. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/32 "2017-08-22T14:46:33Z")
_El Dorado_ and _Rio Bravo_ - John Wayne with a drunk sheriff, a young sidekick, and an old “character” all against some bad guys. I hate that I know that - my spousal unit loves John Wayne movies, so I get to see them over and over and over and over… ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/33 "2017-08-22T14:53:32Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > There’s this girl who’s the daughter of a tribal chief in pre-colonial America and her father tells her that she needs to grow up and take her rightful place in the leaderarchy. But she’s not super fond of her father’s restricting view of her new role so she goes off by the water which she’s way into and it’s like a metaphor for freedom and independence and she sings a song about it. Then she meets up with a grandmother figure with a strong spiritual insight and reaffirms her belief that there is something more for her in the world. Anyway, a conflict arrives from over the sea and the grandmother character suggests that perhaps this is the girl’s destiny and so she goes off to meet it. Along the way she acquires an antagonist with a fixation on shiny golden things and after some adventures she meets up with a dude who is not particularly respectful of her, really, but then she messes up because she overestimates her ability to solve the conflict and nearly gets the disrespectful dude killed. She decides to reject her destiny because she no longer thinks she is capable but then she talks to spirit grandma who reassures her that she does have the right stuff and the girl goes off and fixes everything, not through might or trickery but through her compassion. Her dad immediately agrees that her initial reservations were correct and lets her define her own role in the leaderarchy and then she guides her people into a new era of peace and prosperity. > > Anyway that’s the story of [del]Pocahontas[/del] Moana. That’s not too far off from the Little Mermaid as well. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/34 "2017-08-22T15:09:58Z")
Kurosawa’s \*\*Ran \*\*is a reworking of _King Lear_. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/35 "2017-08-22T15:34:47Z")
The movie **High Tension** lifted about half the plot directly out of Dean Koontz’s novel **Intensity**. Except for the ridiculous ending. It also just occurred to me that **The Shallows** is basically **Cujo** set in the water. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/36 "2017-08-22T15:55:52Z")
Airplane! is practically a shot for shot retelling of Zero Hour! :p;):D:) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/37 "2017-08-23T05:26:45Z")
The original Star Trek movie (1979) was just a re-warmed expanded re-hash of the earlier “The Changeling” (Nomad) TV episode. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/38 "2017-08-23T06:47:59Z")
Isn’t “Evil Dead II” just a remake of Evil Dead? ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/39 "2017-08-23T14:04:49Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > The original Star Trek movie (1979) was just a re-warmed expanded re-hash of the earlier “The Changeling” (Nomad) TV episode. Also known as “Where Nomad Has Gone Before”. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/40 "2017-08-23T15:55:07Z")
The movie Clueless is Jane Austen’s Emma. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282.md?page=3)