They say that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. The first record of that quote is from Charles Caleb Colton’s bookLacon: or Many Things in Few Words, published in 1820. People often attempt to emulate those that they look up to in the hopes that they might attain the qualities they find admirable.
Often, enterprising individuals look up to movies produced by other studios, not so much for their admirable qualities, but for the absolute boatloads of cash they are able to rake in. While some companies are always chasing the next big thing, some are content simply to set up shop at the current big thing while it’s still fresh in everybody’s minds. This is how society ends up with legally-questionable knockoff toys of the current hot property, and how people browsing the selection of movies to watch end upcoming across little treasures known as “mockbusters”.
RELATED:Creators Behind Mixed-ish Sued For Allegedly Stealing Show’s Idea
Identifying a mockbuster is easy if one is knowledgeable enough about the film it’s clout-chasing. Usually it’s a watered-down looking version of the original, trying it’s absolute best to look the part in all of the areas that seem to count. For instance, if someone were to inquire about a movie wherean alien from outer space accidentally winds upon Earth and is found by a human child who assists the alien in hiding from nefarious government authorities, pretty much everybody knows that the movie in question isE.T. The Extra Terrestrial. However, if that person were to then specify that the movie they’re looking for also features the life-saving properties of Coca-Cola, extended product-placement in a large dance party sequence at a McDonald’s, and the kid (temporarily) dying in an inexplicable shootout with the police, well that person happens to be searching forMAC n Me.
MAC n Me, it should be noted, is a bit of an exception when it comes to mockbusters, though, in thatit received an actual full theatrical releaseand released six years afterET.MAC n Mecan be given credit for at least trying to be somewhat different than its predecessor, even though its director did state that their intention was to makeETfor a newer generation (which is a strange claim considering, once again, thatEThad only come out six years prior). The majority of mockbusters are usually released in straight-to-video format, shying away from the glitz and glamour of large theatrical releases. Mockbusters are usually produced for a fraction of the budget of the major Hollywood studio-produced original.
A lot of mockbusters aren’t content to just be almost the exactly same as their source material, many go as far as to name themselves as similarly to the film they are imitating as is within their legal rights.For instance, there wasAliens vs. Avatars, a movie that was released in 2011 in an attempt to cash in on the massive success ofAvatar, with a healthy dose of hoping people would think it’s a sequel toAlien vs. Predator. The movie currently stands at a 1.5/10 user rating on IMDB, and the director would follow up the massive success of that film withThe Amazing Bulk(pictured below), which would score .02 points better on the site.
Snakes On A Planewas a moviethat garnered a fanbase before it was even released solely based on its name, concept, and the studio’s willingness to schedule an additional 5 days of reshoots so lead actor Samuel Jackson could shout “I’ve had it with these motherfing snakes on this motherfing plane” - a line originally conceived as a meme on the Internet and would only be rivaled in its amazingness by the same line in its edited-for-television format. So, with all the pre-release hype, it only made sense to the production studio The Asylum (more on them in a moment) to work onSnakes On a Trainso they could release their serpent-ladenvehicular thriller on video three days beforeSnakes On A Planewould hit theaters. Despite all its hype,Snakes On A Planewasn’t quite the knockout hit at the box office New Line Cinema was hoping it would be.Snakes On A Train, however, did feature a scene where a giant snake swallows a train whole, so it has that going for it at least.
Speaking of The Asylum, they’re pretty muchthecompany that’s made their mark in the film industry for being the production house of mockbusters. They’ve released such classics as the aforementionedSnakes On A Train,The Da Vinci Treasure,The Day The Earth Stopped,Pirates of Treasure Island,andTransmorphers(which was given a sequel,Transmorphers: Fall of Man). Another of The Asylum’s mockbusters,Atlantic Rim, was featured for scorn on the latest season ofMystery Science Theater 3000, becoming the most recently released film to ever be riffed on in the show’s history. Not surprisingly,The Asylum has had lawsuits filed against itto change its film titles or release dates.
To The Asylum’s credit, they have found moderate success with some of their original properties. TheSharknadoseries of movies has become something of a cult-hit because of the sheer ridiculousness of its concept, and the studio would eventually make six movies for the franchise. They also produced a TV series,Z Nation, which ran for five seasons before being cancelled, though it’s obvious the series was made to counter the massive success ofThe Walking Dead.Both of these IPs were SyFy originals, the network actually being quite the purveyor of a fair number of mockbusters such as The Asylum’sBattle of Los Angeles, a mockbuster ofBattle: Los Angeleswhich aired on the network a day after the Columbia Pictures film’s theatrical release. The poster forBattle of Los Angelesevokes the iconic imagery of Independence Day, and the mockbuster’s trailer would evoke the popular imagery ofCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, mostly because the trailer actually used gameplay footage from the military FPS.
Even Netflix has gotten somewhat inon the mockbuster game.A Quiet Placewas a critical and financial success, and Netflix clearly wanted to benefit. They bought the rights toBird Box, a twin film, shortly after John Krasinski was brought on to directA Quiet Place. They also began principal photography on what is very akin to a mockbuster,The Silence, shortly after that. Though the book the movie is based on was released in 2015, Shane Van Dyke, who adapted the screenplay forThe Silence, had also writtenThe Day The Earth Stopped,Transmorphers: Fall of Man, andParanormal Entity, so comparingThe Silenceto a mockbuster is not unfair.
Pixar movies are big money-makers too, not least of all because they have some ofthe most talented people in the industryproducing high-quality, heartfelt films that are enjoyable for all ages. So it only makes sense that people want to rip them off.Ratatouilleis a delightful movie about a rat with an advanced palate who controls a human like a mech in order to serve delicious French cuisine at a restaurant in Paris, where everybody inexplicably speaks English.Ratatoing, on the other hand, is something entirely different. Animated by Brazil-based Vídeo Brinquedo, known for such classics asLittle Cars(Cars),The Little Bee(Bee Movie), andThe Little Panda Fighter(Kung Fu Panda, more on that in a moment),Ratatoingwas released the same year asRatatouilleno doubt in order to capitalize on its inevitable success.Ratatoingis a movie about a group of rats who own a restaurant and the hijinks they get into, which mostly involves stealing food from the human kitchen they get their ingredients from. A group of rat spies do try to usurp the restaurant and its owners for their own business venture, but they are met with the not-at-all grim fate of being captured and sent to a laboratory to be experimented on. Just standard, run-of-the-mill, average kids' movie stuff.
On the topic ofKung Fu Panda, it should be noted that the franchise was a massive success. The first wasthe second-most successful animated film of 2008(closely followingWALL-E), the second the most successful animated film of 2011, andKung Fu Panda 3was just pretty successful. So, with every success comes a wannabe who thinks they’ve found fish in a barrel. Hence the existence of 2008’sThe Little Panda Fighter,2011’sChop Kick PandaandLegend of Kung Fu Rabbit, and 2012’sThe Adventures of Panda Warrior.Kung Fu Rabbitfeatures a veritable who’s who of vocal talents with Michael Clarke Duncan, Jon Heder, Tom Arnold, and Rebecca Black.The Adventures of Panda Warriorhas Rob Schneider, Norm Macdonald, and Tom Kenny comprising a large amount of its voice cast.Chop Kick Pandais a notable example in that group of mockbusters for being the only one being a 2D animation despite its poster making it look very much so like it is 3D animated and a DVD back cover that gets the name of its own characters wrong.
It should be noted that the average viewer isplenty discerning enough that they won’t be fooledby a mockbuster when trying to find their preferred choice of film on video. Somebody looking to watchAvatarwill not be fooled by the DVD cover ofAliens vs. Avatars. Those going to Netflix to watchThe Silencearen’t doing so because they have it confused withA Quiet Place. Rather, the most successful mockbusters seem to revel in their B-movie aesthetic, understanding that it’s part of their charm. A lot of folks enjoy watching these movies because they’re so half-baked, with a lot of folks usually arranging viewing parties (well-stocked with alcohol) so everybody can have a good time shouting at the screen.
Oscar Wilde would go on to eventually add to that Charles Caleb Colton quote, stating “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness”. Perhaps that’s a bit harsh considering how much fun some of these imitations provide. Entire websites arededicated to showcasing knockoff brands of toysbecause it’s funny to see how many different variations ofThe Justice Leaguecash-grab companies can come up with while never using the word “justice” or “league” (at least, not in that order). In the case ofMystery Science Theater 3000, they made their bread and butter on enjoying the spectacle of the vain attempts of independent filmmakers to dress their films up in another’s clothes. Sometimes it’s fun to watch a train wreck when the only casualty is the dignity of everybody involved.
