# Two movies released during a year with very similar themes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2008, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353 "2008-03-31T06:55:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grey\_area](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Grey\_area](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey_area)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/1 "2008-03-31T06:55:46Z")
Sorry if this has been done before but, you know what I’m talking about. Deep Impact and Armageddon. Volcano and Dante’s Peak. Antz and A Bug’s Life. Surf’s Up and Happy Feet. Not completely sure if they were all released in the same year as each other but close enough that it warrants some sort of explanation. What gives? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/2 "2008-03-31T06:59:25Z")
Moving to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/3 "2008-03-31T08:23:48Z")
Tombstone (1993) & Wyatt Earp (1994) ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/4 "2008-03-31T08:28:19Z")
Cloverfield and Diary of the Dead. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/5 "2008-03-31T08:38:04Z")
Big and Freaky Friday ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/6 "2008-03-31T08:42:45Z")
Some of it is certain to be coincidence that merely looks like a pattern to human perception. Some of the resemblance is probably trivial, and only looks like coincidence - for example: Surf’s Up resembles Happy Feet in that it’s about an underdog penguin, but ignore the fact that the characters are penguins and you could probably find more striking resemblances to other films - Billy Elliot, perhaps (there was also a movie in the 80s/90s about a neophyte surfer that is very similar to Surf’s up, but the title escapes me). Some of it is probably rooted in developments in technique and technology (two different studios both seeing, say, a new way of realistically modelling ocean waves, then coincidentally dreaming up similar film implementations of it) And yes, some of it is quite likely copycatting and bandwagon-jumping, however, given the lead time in preparing a movie, it can’t just be that folks from one studio watched someone else’s finished movie, then threw their own copycat effort out the door in the same year - at least not in very many cases, and not in many movies with any kind of decent production values. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/7 "2008-03-31T08:55:01Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] ::snip:: ignore the fact that the characters are penguins and you could probably find more striking resemblances to other films ::snip:: [/QUOTE] How can you ignore the fact that they’re about penguins? Yup, penguins. Penguins. You know, silly black and white birds that can’t fly and live in the Antartic. Penguins! Just how abundant are penguin movies? ---
**Author:** ![zuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9c0ed/32.png) [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/8 "2008-03-31T08:55:21Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] Big and Freaky Friday [/QUOTE] I think you mean Big and Vice Versa, and Like Father Like Son… All came out around the same time. Freaky Friday was 10 years before those. Although nobody ever switched bodies in “Big”, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/9 "2008-03-31T08:58:02Z")
Oh, and The Score (2001) and The Heist (2001). ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/10 "2008-03-31T09:05:41Z")
Capote (2006) - While doing research for his book, _In Cold Blood_, Truman Capote develops a bond with one of the killers. Infamous (2006) - While doing research for his book, _In Cold Blood_, Truman Capote develops a bond with one of the killers. It doesn’t get any more similar than that! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/11 "2008-03-31T09:13:35Z")
[QUOTE=Brown Eyed Girl] How can you ignore the fact that they’re about penguins? Yup, penguins. Penguins. You know, silly black and white birds that can’t fly and live in the Antartic. Penguins! Just how abundant are penguin movies? [/QUOTE] Easy - look past the superficial fact that they’re both about penguins and look at other aspects such as plot, characterisation, style etc. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/12 "2008-03-31T09:16:59Z")
The Illusionist (2006) and The Prestige (2006). Both about victorian-era stage magicians who were both, when it came down to it, frauds with a personal agenda. (One of vengeance and one of love, but nonetheless.) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/13 "2008-03-31T09:20:53Z")
[QUOTE=Brown Eyed Girl] How can you ignore the fact that they’re about penguins? Yup, penguins. Penguins. You know, silly black and white birds that can’t fly and live in the Antartic. Penguins! Just how abundant are penguin movies? [/QUOTE] Also - _neither of them are really about penguins anyway_ - they’re about humans, who happen to look a bit like penguins. Penguins don’t really dance, sing, surf, wear clothes, make documentaries, build houses or many of the other things they’re depicted as doing in those movies - so it’s not really about penguins at all - at least not any penguins that inhabit this planet. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/14 "2008-03-31T09:29:14Z")
[QUOTE=Brown Eyed Girl] How can you ignore the fact that they’re about penguins? Yup, penguins. Penguins. You know, silly black and white birds that can’t fly and live in the Antartic. Penguins! Just how abundant are penguin movies? [/QUOTE] Didn’t both those films both come out about 1,2 years after _March of the Penguins_ was a surprise hit? Maybe studio execs were trying to cash into the penguin craze sweeping the land. Often, one of a pair of carbon copy movies is never completed. I remember that back when Oliver Stone was working on _Alexander_ some other director - Ridley Scott? Sam Raimi? - announced that he too would be making an Alex the Great flick starring Leo DiCaprio. Stone’s film reached the gate firts, bombed, and the other film was quiety shuffled into oblivion. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/15 "2008-03-31T09:33:30Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Also - _neither of them are really about penguins anyway_ - they’re about humans, who happen to look a bit like penguins. Penguins don’t really dance, sing, surf, wear clothes, make documentaries, build houses or many of the other things they’re depicted as doing in those movies - so it’s not really about penguins at all - at least not any penguins that inhabit this planet. [/QUOTE] Fine - they’re both movies about \*anthropomorphic \* penguins. I’m still not going to confuse either of these movies with the latest Coen Brothers’ film (although the thought of Anton Chirugh as a penguin is… disquieting). ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/16 "2008-03-31T09:40:44Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Also - _neither of them are really about penguins anyway_ - they’re about humans, who happen to look a bit like penguins. Penguins don’t really dance, sing, surf, wear clothes, make documentaries, build houses or many of the other things they’re depicted as doing in those movies - so it’s not really about penguins at all - at least not any penguins that inhabit this planet. [/QUOTE] Exactly, which makes the fact that the characters in both movies are penguins suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/17 "2008-03-31T09:45:11Z")
An old thread where we come up with similar examples of this kind: > **[Name the Movies](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=314388)** > > Sometimes, purely by chance, two or more movies appear at the same time with incredibly similar elements. See if you can name the films (without recourse to the Internet Movie data Base): 1.) In these 1988 movies the villain gets run over by a... ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/18 "2008-03-31T09:51:32Z")
[QUOTE=Brown Eyed Girl] Exactly, which makes the fact that the characters in both movies are penguins suspect. [/QUOTE] Maybe, I guess, except that it is so superficial, it could just as easily be silly coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/19 "2008-03-31T10:19:41Z")
And yet, upon first seeing the trailer to _Surf’s Up_, the first thought appearing in the heads of 99 out of 100 viewers was: “What, another penguin movie? Wan’t this one out a year ago? Oh wait - in that one they were dancing, not surfing. Whatever.” ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353/20 "2008-03-31T11:12:49Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Some of the resemblance is probably trivial, and only looks like coincidence - for example: Surf’s Up resembles Happy Feet in that it’s about an underdog penguin, but ignore the fact that the characters are penguins and you could probably find more striking resemblances to other films - Billy Elliot, perhaps (there was also a movie in the 80s/90s about a neophyte surfer that is very similar to Surf’s up, but the title escapes me). [/QUOTE] This is just ridiculous. The fact is that two movies came out _featuring_ penguins at the exact time that penguins were the cute animal du jour. The fact that they are different in plot is the only reason both were released, and when studios make these weak toy commercials, er…movies they start with the concept and write in a story around it. The plot is the most superficial thing about these two movies. Arguing that they are not alike because one is about dancing anthropomorphic penguins while the other is about surfing anthropomorphic penguins would be the same as arguing that _Volcano_, a movie about an unexpected eruption where no volcano is present in the heart of LA and the attempts to save the city, is hardly anything like _Dante’s Peak_, a movie about a predicted eruption in a rural resort town and the attempts to flee it and abandon the town. Ironically _Armageddon_ and _Deep Impact_ differ similarly in that one is about humanity’s attempts to defend itself from an impact and the other is about us helplessly fleeing one. Obviously these are _totally_ different movies. :dubious: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-movies-released-during-a-year-with-very-similar-themes/443353.md?page=2)