The Mockbuster: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Mockbuster - RatatouilleRatatoing 9422.jpg|link=Ratatoing|frame| A clever rat knows how to get the freshest ingredients: by stealing from another restaurant -- or [[Pixar|animation studio]], as the case may be...]]
{{quote|''"Another great knock-off is DVDs. The ones that are slight variations of slightly animated kids' movies. The kind they put right next to the check-out line, so Grandma might accidentally mistake it for the real thing. And they have titles like, ''[[Cinderella (Disney film)|The Secret Princess and Her Oppressive Authority Figure]] [[Sequelitis|4]]'', and the always-popular ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|Jungle Animals in Decidedly Non-Jungle Situations]]''."''
|'''Strong Bad''', ''[[Homestar Runner]]'', Strong Bad Email #190, "licensed"}}
▲{{quote|''"Another great knock-off is DVDs. The ones that are slight variations of slightly animated kids' movies. The kind they put right next to the check-out line, so Grandma might accidentally mistake it for the real thing. And they have titles like, ''[[Cinderella (Disney film)|The Secret Princess and Her Oppressive Authority Figure]] [[Sequelitis|4]]'', and the always-popular ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|Jungle Animals in Decidedly Non-Jungle Situations]]''."''|'''Strong Bad''', ''[[Homestar Runner]]'', Strong Bad Email #190, "licensed"}}
In principle, the Mockbuster is a bit like a movie with an [[Parallel Porn Titles|Alternative Pornographic Name]], but there's generally no nudity. It's not part of a pair of [[Dueling Movies|Battling Films]], because it can't even afford the fare to get to the ring where the shows duke it out. A mockbuster is a movie that is ''suspiciously similar'' to another more popular, more well-known—and, let's face it, more "real"—movie, to the point of being the copy of an entire film. Why? [[Follow the Leader|Trying To Make Money Off A Popular Idea]], of course.
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See also [[Parallel Porn Titles|Alternative Adult Film Names]] (when this is applied to porn), [[Shoddy Knockoff Product]] (when this is applied to commercial products), [[Serial Numbers Filed Off|In Everything But Name]], and [[In Name Only|In Name Only Sequels]] (when old foreign movies have their titles for the re-release changed in order for them to cash-in from current blockbusters).
Has nothing to do with the [[
UK [[Made for TV Movie|Created For Television Film]] channel Movies 24 ran a [[Mockbuster]] season, deliberately confusing the derivatives with the originals and calling out the trope by name. It includes [[Terminator|The Terminators]], [[Alien vs. Predator|Aliens Versus Hunters]], [[Transformers (film)|Transmorphers Fall Of Man]] and [[Snakes on a Plane|Snakes On A Train]].
{{examples|Examples (Pot holes lead to pages of the films being copied unless the copy itself has an article):}}
== Film - Animation ==
*
*
** ''[[Ratatoing|Rata]][[Ratatouille|toing]]'' (pictured)
** ''[[Bee Movie|Little Bee]]''
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* And everything ever made by [[Spark Plug Entertainment]].
* Because of the problems between South Korea and Japan, anime was not available to Koreans. Because of this, in the 80's, the South Korean animation industry produced many films that were ripped off from ''[[Mazinger Z|Mazinger]]'' and ''[[Getter Robo]]'', ''[[Transformers]]'' toys, and even films like ''[[Tron]]''. Later, a fella by the name of Joseph Lai and his company, IFD,<ref>the same folks who brought us the [[Godfrey Ho Ninja Movies]] and, in turn, [[The Cinema Snob|Pierre Kirby]]</ref> bought up the rights to these films, and edited bits and pieces of them together into [[Cut and Paste Translation|new, incomprehensible forms]], with titles like ''[[Space Thunder Kids]]'' and ''[[Protectors Of Universe]]'' and horrible English dubbing. A website called Teleport City does a remarkable coverage of these Joseph Lai chop-jobs.
* And from Thailand, videos released by [
* ''[[Titanic: The Legend Goes On]]'' and ''[[The Legend of the Titanic]]'', both based off [[Titanic|some sinking boat movie]].
** One of those had [[In Name Only|some Mexican mice and a rapping dog]]. And the other had a giant talking octopus that saved everybody and magical moon-tears that allow people to talk to dolphins.
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* ''[[Kung Fu Panda|Chop Kick Panda]]'' from Gaiam/Good Times studios.
* ''[[Brave|Kiara the Brave]]'' from Phase 4 Films
== Film - Live Action ==
* ''Battle of Los Angeles'' - obviously referencing ''[[Battle: Los Angeles]]''.
** This one was even on [[Syfy]], thus fully cementing it within the same realm as the other examples of this trope.
* [[The Asylum]] is a company that only makes mockbusters and bad "Christian" movies, and are quite cynical about it. in fact, there's a [https://web.archive.org/web/20130822162213/http://www.theasylum.cc/blog/2009/06/were-moving/ news article] in their website that states (and these are the ''actual words they use'') "We've decided to use some of the billions of dollars we've made ripping people off..." The majority of the examples on this page are Asylum productions.
** Even better, from a blog entry advertising a sale on their films: "You'd have to illegally download to get a better deal than that... but then you'd just be stooping to our level..."
** Their DVD covers have quotes from uncredited sources, which is illegal.
* Following [[The Asylum]]'s footsteps is [[Tom Cat]] Films LLC which includes a major numbers of mockbusters amongst few others that makes [[The Asylum]] look like 20thCenturyFox by comparison, this includes...
** ''Metal Man'', aka ''Iron Hero'', which is a mockbuster of the first ''[[Iron Man]]'' film but features bad characterization, dodgy special effects and suits and even Reggie Bannister of ''Phantasm'' fame who is not only the creator of the Metal Man suit but comes off as an asshole and dickish mentor to the hero of the movie. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131013163025/http://blip.tv/nostalgiacritic/bad-movie-beatdown-presents-metal-man-aka-iron-hero-6139427 See Film Brain and Obscurus Lupa tear this movie apart].
** ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywaR-Lq_ayk The Amazing Bulk]'', notable for having mundane settings such as alleyways and house interiors represented as cheap greenscreen/CGI
** ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA-hOZLGFSQ Aliens vs Avatars]'', aka ''Aliens vs Aliens''
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* ''[[Alien vs. Predator|AVH: Alien Vs. Hunter]]'', which despite it's source pulls out a surprising twist ending {{spoiler|the hunter aliens are humans...from another planet}}
* ''[[I Am Legend|I Am Omega]]'', which even also bills itself as an adaptation of the book ''[[I Am Legend]]''. Their choice of "Omega" is interesting because "The Omega Man" was the title of a previous film adaptation of "[[I Am Legend]]."
* ''[[The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 film)||The Day The Earth Stopped]]''—Notable for prompting Fox to threaten to take legal action, though said threat wasn't carried out.
* ''[[Snakes on a Plane|Snakes On A Train]]''
** Incidentally, that one ''did'' provoke a lawsuit.
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* ''The [[Terminator]]s'' (Again, note the plural).
** Back in 1990, there was ''Terminator II''. Which was actually released before the official sequel. Humorously enough, ''Terminator II'' is actually a remake of ''[[Aliens]]''.
** [[Bruno Mattei]], the director of the aforementioned Mockbuster, also directed ''Jaws 5: Cruel Jaws''. For an extensive look into Mattei's films, check out ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131006054818/http://thecinemasnob.com/categories/263/the-bruno-mattei-show.aspx The Bruno Mattei Show]'', in which [[The Cinema Snob|Brad Jones]] discusses the man's filmography with [[Dark Maze Studios|Ed Glaser]], [[The Spoony Experiment|Noah Antwiler]] and other friends. It's quite insightful into how a mockbuster comes to be. For that matter, Bruno's career consisted almost entirely of [[Nazisploitation]] and Mockbusters, though these were never mutually exclusive. It's almost too bad he's dead - his ripoff of ''[[Inglorious Basterds]]'' would be... something.
** Later in 2010, Eric Parkinson, who used to be president of Hemdale (which also made the first ''Terminator'' movie), tried to make a cheap CGI animated spin-off of the franchise called ''Terminator 3000'', but production on that movie is being halted due to a cease-and-detest letter he received from Pacificor, the recent owner of the ''Terminator'' franchise rights. However, Eric [[Word of God|has spoken]] that he kept the animation rights to the franchise under Hemdale when he sold the live-action sequel rights to Carolco in 1990, and that he took those rights with him when Hemdale closed down.
* ''[[The War of the Worlds (novel)|The War of the Worlds]]'' (the title is public domain now)
** ''The War of the Worlds'' actually got two mockbusters to go with the Spielberg film. One of which apparently actually follows the book and sets the invasion in [[Victorian Britain]].
* ''[[Twister|Tornado!]]''
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** ''8213: [[Monster Clown|GACY]] HOUSE'' is apparently some kind of ''Paranormal Activity 2'' rip-off.
*** So much so that it was actually released in the UK as ''Paranormal Entity 2'' (though it's more likely that it was due to the John Wayne Gacy case not being as well known outside the US).
* Certain ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''-featured films such as the ''[[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]]''-inspired ''[[Cave Dwellers|Ator]]'' series, ''[[Escape 2000]]'' (in which people try to {{
** Oh, and ''[[Operation Double 007]]'' (a.k.a. ''Operation Kid Brother''), featuring an all-star cast of ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'' veterans and starring ''Neil'' Connery ([[Sean Connery]]'s brother).
* Everything ever made by [http://www.branscomeinternational.com/ Branscome International]. Keep 'em coming, we're not going anywhere.
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* Italians also made the [[Star Wars]] ripoff ''[[Starcrash]]''. Which somehow had [[John Barry]]'s music, and starred Christopher Plummer - and [[David Hasselhoff]]!
** ''Starcrash'' may be more (in)famous, but ''The Humanoid'' beats it for sheer plagiarism. Whenever possible, props and costumes (and even entire ''scenes'') are copied wholesale from ''A New Hope'', to the point that ''Starcrash'' seems completely original in comparison.
* A number of [[Bruno Mattei's films]]. The best known are:
** ''Terminator II'', as stated above (It's actually more of an ''Aliens'' ripoff.)
** ''[[Predator|
** ''[[Jaws]] 5 ( Fourteen More to Go)'', ripping it off almost word for word
** ''Hell Of The Living Dead'', not content with trying to shoe horn this movie into Romero lore, Bruno Mattei lifted most of the soundtrack from ''[[Dawn of the Dead (film)|Dawn of the Dead]]'' to score this.
* And now - ''[[Titanic]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20150707034102/http://www.theasylum.cc/product.php?id=174 2]! That's not a sequel to ''Titanic'', though, but a ''new'' film about a ''totally different'' ship called the ''[[Tempting Fate|Titanic 2]]''!
* [[High School Musical|High School Musical: Sunday School]], which is also a blatant rip-off of Sunday School Musical.
* ''[[Sherlock Holmes (film)|Sherlock Holmes]]'' ([[wikipedia:Sherlock Holmes (Asylum film)|Asylum, again]]), which can use the name since he's a [[Public Domain Character]]. [[Hey, It's That Guy!|With]] Gareth David-Lloyd who played Ianto in ''[[Torchwood]]'' as Dr. Watson. [[Cool vs. Awesome|Holmes investigates a case with tentacle monsters, androids, dinosaurs, and robot dragons setting fire to Parliament.]] Attempts [[Rule of Cool]] to the twenty-third power.
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* This was a big problem in Italy during the [[Spaghetti Western]] craze of the Sixties. The relaxed copyright law in Italy at the time meant as soon as a character got popular, knockoff movies would appear seeming to star that character. Django, Sabata and Sartana were famous for having their names recycled in knockoffs. (They couldn't do this to the most popular [[Spaghetti Western]] character ever, for [[No Name Given|reasons which are]] quite obvious if you think about it a little, but it didn't stop one film claiming to be "The Return of Clint the Stranger".)
** Actually, the so-called "Man With No Name" is named in each film, only it's different each time (Joe, Manco and Blondie, in order).
* While [[Curse Of The Ring|Curse of the]] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387541/ Ring] doesn't have anything to do with the ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' movies, and is in fact originally called ''[[Der Ring Des Nibelungen|Ring of the Nibelungs]]'' - the plot being based off of the Sigfried/Brunhilde/Fafnir saga - the movie's marketing and even logo font really, REALLY tries hard to be mistaken for a Lord of the Rings movie.
* [[2012|2012: Doomsday]]
* ''[[The Exterminator 2]]'' and ''The Executioner Part 2''—no ''Executioner Part 1''.
* Almost everything released by Video Asia, the masters of [[In Name Only|In Name Only Sequels]]. One of the worst offenders, they don't even make their own mockbusters: they just re-release old foreign movies with different titles.
** Late 80s ''Hells' Heroes'' was changed to ''Inglorious Bastards 2: Hell Heroes''. [[The Cinema Snob]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20131009045827/http://thecinemasnob.com/2009/08/28/inglorious-bastards-2-hells-heroes.aspx reviewed it.]
* ''Mac and Me'', a 1988 movie that badly rips-off [[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|E.T.]], and is basically [[Product Placement|an 80 minute-long commercial for McDonald's, Coke, and some other stuff.]]
* [[The Man Who Saves the World]] and many other Turkish rip-offs of then popular movies.
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* A [[Tomorrow AD|modern]] adaptation of ''[[Moby Dick]].'' Ahab ([[The Rocky Horror Picture Show|Barry]] [[Spin City|Bostwick]]) is a Navy captain who repurposes his [[Cool Sub|high-tech submarine]] to track down Moby Dick, here a prehistoric whale the size of an aircraft carrier, after it took his leg decades ago. Despite being made by [[The Asylum]], [[Better Than It Sounds|it's not half bad]] and features [[Shown Their Work|many references to the original story]].
* ''[[Godzilla (film)|Gargantua]]''.
* Somewhat unfairly, [[Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)|the original ''
* [[Distaff Counterpart|Lady]] [[Terminator]]—basically the same as its namesake, but instead of an android, it's an archaeologist possessed by the Queen of the South Sea. Other than that, according to [[The Cinema Snob]], if you haven't seen Terminator, but you've seen Lady Terminator, you've pretty much seen Terminator.
* ''[[Cowboys and Aliens]]'' was ripped off by ''Cowboys And Vampires'' and ''Cowboys And Zombies''.
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== Theater ==
* Since the source novel is in the public domain, musical versions of ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'' ran rampant in the 1990s (regional tours, community theaters, etc.) to cash in on [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]'s adaptation—enough so that [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]] did [http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,977856,00.html a whole article] on the phenomenon. But not ''all'' of them qualified as this trope: Ken Hill's version was the one that inspired Lloyd Webber to take his own stab at the story in the first place, and Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit's ''Phantom'' was actually written around the same time as Lloyd Webber's but couldn't get produced until afterwards due to the competition. One of the mockbusters was videotaped and later released on DVD, and the Phantom Reviewer [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9MwZiSrx4M took it on].
* Similarly, a few stage musical versions of ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (novel)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' appeared around 1996, perhaps hoping to compete with a [[Screen to Stage Adaptation]] of the Disney movie, which was considered likely in the wake of ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]''. Disney's version had a successful [[Screen to Stage Adaptation]] in Germany in 1999 but has not been staged elsewhere.
* [http://www.cirqueproductions.com Cirque Productions] and [
* If a popular fairy or folk tale gets adapted into a [[Disney Animated Canon]] film, expect a knockoff stage version to tour the children's theater/school group circuit soon after, and perhaps be available to community theaters after that. ''[http://www.pioneerdrama.com/searchdetail.asp?pc=ENCHANTMEN The Enchantment of Beauty and the Beast]'' is a good example.
== Video Games ==
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[[Category:Follow the Leader]]
[[Category:Film Tropes]]
[[Category:The Mockbuster]]▼
[[Category:Self-Demonstrating Article]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mockbuster, The}}
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