# \[Story/Movie A\] 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:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/41 "2017-08-23T15:56:15Z")
^ As if! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/42 "2017-08-23T16:47:01Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > _The Magnificent Seven_ is a western version of _Seven Samurai_. > > _Godzilla_ was _The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms_. So was _Three Amigos_. And _A Bug’s Life_. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/43 "2017-08-23T16:55:09Z")
The Fast and the Furious is Point Break with cars instead of surfing. ---
**Author:** ![ralfy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ralfy/32/600_2.png) [@ralfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralfy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/44 "2017-08-23T17:01:32Z")
More examples here: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_modernized\_adaptations\_of\_old\_works](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_modernized_adaptations_of_old_works) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/45 "2017-08-23T17:21:41Z")
_Knight Rider_ was just _The Dukes of Hazzard_. I mean, really, two guys with a car that can jump over obstacles, operating outside of the law under the leadership of an old dude and a hot babe who never has any romantic entanglement with the guys. All they changed was making the car itself one of the guys. ---
**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 23, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/46 "2017-08-23T18:36:57Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > So was _Three Amigos_. > > And _A Bug’s Life_. And **Battle Beyond the Stars** – which actually had Robert Vaughn re-playing the role he had in **The Magnificent Seven** ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/47 "2017-08-23T20:42:28Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > _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… Also, _Rio Lobo_. Supposedly, a reporter once asked John Wayne about making the same movie three times. He replied, “Next time, I’ll play the drunk.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/48 "2017-08-23T23:13:40Z")
Rich dude dresses all in black, including cape and mask, to use his wealth and finely-honed skills to secretly fight for the disadvantaged. A group of wise and benevolent Ancient One aliens recruit heroes, pure of heart, from all of the sapient races of the Galaxy, into an elite corps dedicated to upholding justice, and gives all of them magic jewelry that can only be used by them to accomplish that mission. ---
**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 23, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/49 "2017-08-23T23:17:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Rich dude dresses all in black, including cape and mask, to use his wealth and finely-honed skills to secretly fight for the disadvantaged. > > A group of wise and benevolent Ancient One aliens recruit heroes, pure of heart, from all of the sapient races of the Galaxy, into an elite corps dedicated to upholding justice, and gives all of them magic jewelry that can only be used by them to accomplish that mission. OK, I get the first recurring theme but I don’t get the second. What movies are covered by that scenario that are close? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/50 "2017-08-23T23:20:51Z")
Neither of the stories in the second one is a movie. It was a series of novels and then a comic book. Well, OK, the comic book was eventually made into a movie, but it was a pretty bad one. ---
**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 23, 2017, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/51 "2017-08-23T23:24:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Neither of the stories in the second one is a movie. It was a series of novels and then a comic book. Well, OK, the comic book was eventually made into a movie, but it was a pretty bad one. Oh, Lensmen series to Green Lantern? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/52 "2017-08-24T00:18:50Z")
Yup. The comic book eventually acknowledged it by having a member of the Corps named “Arisia”. ---
**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 24, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/53 "2017-08-24T00:22:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yup. The comic book eventually acknowledged it by having a member of the Corps named “Arisia”. Never knew that, that is cool at least. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/54 "2017-08-30T00:24:49Z")
_The Island_ (2005) was a blatant “re-working” of _Parts: The Clonus Horror_ (1979), so much so that the producer of the latter sued Dreamworks for copyright infringement. Dreamworks settled out of court. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/55 "2017-08-30T00:48:12Z")
Saving Ryan’s Privates is a ripoff of Saving Private Ryan. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/56 "2017-08-30T13:29:13Z")
The Lion King is basically Kimba the White Lion …which is all also Hamlet. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282/57 "2017-08-30T13:47:48Z")
It really bothers me when people say, specifically, that Pixar’s _Cars_ is just _Doc Hollywood_, or _Avatar_ is just _Ferngully_. 1. Why does that matter? Shakespeare’s stories were borrowed from elsewhere, nobody complains about that. Having a coincidentally similar, or even suspiciously similar, storyline is not that big a deal. 2. Who the fuck watched _Ferngully_? About 100 8yr olds in 1992. It was not a successful movie. And _Doc Hollywood_ was one of Michael J Fox’s lesser movies by quite a margin. Is it so bad they got remade, significantly added to, and reworked? 3. Just enjoy a movie on its own terms. Stop comparing them with earlier versions, reworked storylines, inspiration, or the novels/comics they are adaptations of. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-movie-a-is-really-just-a-reworking-of-story-movie-b/794282.md?page=2)