competition in the movie business

Ever notice how when a company comes up with a new product or concept all competitors quickly launch their own versions of the thing? this is more or less normal since having many options is what the free market is all about. but more subtle versions of the same phenomenon happen in industries or fields that are supposedly very "creative", such as the movie industry.

Now, in all honesty we have to expect a couple of corny christmas movies to be released every year - that's how things are. we can also expect a number of cheesy "romantic comedies" with the same plot and the same silly gags, as well as a number of action packed "thrillers" with the same story, same special effects and same chase scenes. all of this is to be expected in the course of any given year. this being said, some cases are just too weird not to get more attention.

Let's see now: "Mission to Mars" and "Red Planet" - two movies about mars missions released in the same year - 2002. how coincidental is that? or how creative, for that matter?

"Armageddon" (with its "asteroid the size of Texas headed for Earth") and "Deep Impact" (the comet on the collision course with earth) - both released in 1998. No major space disaster movies for years and suddenly two almost identical ones pop up at the same time.

Disasters will never be quite the same after "Dante's Peak" (which "is being threatened by a volcano that hasn't been live for four years"), but, hey, let's not forget "Volcano" ("A volcano erupts in downtown L.A., threatening to destroy the city"). Both movies released in 1997.

Even highly creative flicks have their own little companions. "The Blair Witch Project" has its "The Last Broadcast" - same concept, with release dates just months apart (in this case "The Blair Witch Project" is a far better achievement than its companion).

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In 1999 "The Matrix" came along with such a fresh and novel concept about parallel worlds and alternate realities. Not to be outsmarted, other studios release "Existenz" and "13th floor" based on the same concept in the same year. Don't get me wrong, all of these movies range from very good to excellent; it's just the "coincidence" of the release dates that puzzles me. distorted realities are no novel concept, though. one year earlier "Dark City" and "The Truman Show" are released. Since we're talking about alternate realities, "Abre Los Ojos" released in 1997 and its remake "Vanilla Sky" released in 2001 should probably also be mentioned here.

"Groundhog Day" is released in 1993 and features a nice little idea. "12:01" is released in exactly the same year and features the exact same nice little idea.

I would probably not complain over too many movies made after Philip K. Dick's novels and his stories about normal lives that are somehow shattered. But, hey, once a trend starts, there's no stopping it: Impostor (2002), Minority Report (2002), Paycheck (2003).

The list goes on and on. Once again, just to make everything clear - I'm not writing about remakes, sequels or anything like that - just different movies with the same concept released around the same date by the highly "creative" and "original" movie industry.

These are just several examples, credited as the more "original" and "creative" movies out there. don't get me started on romantic comedies, historical flicks, thrillers and horror movies.

So, are all these movies bad? not necessarily. are the movie studios bullshitting us? it sure as hell looks like it.

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