25 Examples Of How Hollywood Has Repeatedly Made Almost Identical Films

They're almost the same movie with different actors.

Liezel

• Published in Film & TV
• April 10, 2022

We all know that coming up with an idea for a movie isn't a simple thing, right? There are many great ideas out there but there are also many great ideas that have already been done, that have already been checked off the list.

Plus, with hundreds if not thousands of people thinking of ideas to create into a film, chances are you'll find somebody with almost the same idea. That's why movie ideas go through such extreme vetting processes.

Producers won't sign up to fund your movie and directors won't hop on to bring your vision to life if they've already seen it before because well, there's just no profit in that. Nobody's going to watch something they've already watched once or twice before, right?

For a movie to become a true hit, there has to be a unique element to it so that even if the story can be compared to other movies, it still has an advantage over those other movies. Unfortunately, not all films that get through the vetting process have that.

Some films even look a little too similar to other movies that have been created before. Here are some of those films that have a nearly identical twin film.

1. Turner & Hooch/ K-9

These two films share the comedic story revolving around an experienced cop getting partnered up with a dog to solve crimes.

2. Kalifornia and Natural Born Killers

These two films were both about a couple committing multi-state killing sprees. They both took inspiration from real-life killer Charles Starkweather and both even starred Juliette Lewis.

More interesting is that their release was only 11 months apart.

3. Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat

Hollywood wasn't going to get left behind with the rising interest in video games so these two martial arts action films based on arcade fixtures were released just within 8 months of one another.

4. Showgirls and Striptease

These two were released only nine months apart. Sadly, neither was a hit.

Showgirls is considered as one of the most infamous flops in history while Striptease is a mostly forgotten blip in Demi Moore's career.

5. Dante's Peak and Volcano

There was some kind of obsession with volcanic eruptions in Hollywood in 1997 and these two films starring Tommy Lee Jones and Pierce Brosnan made their way into theatres just two months apart.

6. Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line

These two WWII films were released just five months apart from each other. Both were critical favorites from A-list directors Terrence Malick and Steven Spielberg and both also lost the Best Picture Oscar award to Shakespeare in Love.

7. Antz and A Bug's Life

In 1998, both Pixar and Dreamworks released tales of a non-conformist ant who falls in love with an ant princess, leaves their home, and returns a hero.

8. Armageddon and Deep Impact

In 1998, Hollywood also seems to have a thing about asteroid disasters. These two films were released only two months apart.

9. The Truman Show and Ed TV

These two films starring Jim Carrey and Matthew McConaughey were about a man's life being a 24-hour reality TV show. Again, they were released just nine months apart from each other.

10. Entrapment and The Thomas Crown Affair

In 1999, two Bond actors, Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan, each starred in a film about a male art thief becoming entangled with a female insurance investigator pursuing him.

11. House On Haunted Hill and The Haunting

Both films were based on the same source material and both films were about people getting tricked into staying in spooky homes under false pretenses.

12. The Matrix and eXistenZ

Both films featured stories that questioned whether the world was real or just an illusion. They also both dealt with a virtual reality contained in a computer program.

Unfortunately, only one became a huge hit that launched a franchise.

13. Scary Movie and Shrief If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth

Coming off from the resurgence of teen slasher flicks in the late 90s, these two films hit theatres in 2000. Only one of them got to spawn a franchise though.

14. Chasing Liberty and First Daughter

In 2004, Mandy Moore and Katie Holmes both got to be the rebellious daughter of the President of the United States in two romantic comedies.

15. Red Eye and Flightplan

In 2005, both Rachel McAdams and Jodie Foster starred in their own airplane thriller films.

16. United 93 and Flight 93

Both of these films released in 2006 featured the story of the tragic events that unfolded aboard United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001.

17. The Prestige and The Illusionist

In 2006, moviegoers were treated to not just one but two films about magicians in the 19th century with these two films.

18. Zodiac and The Curse of the Zodiac

Both of these films brought the hunt for the infamous serial killer to life however, only one made it to theatres and the latter went direct to DVD.

19. Despicable Me and Megamind

Both 2010 animated films centered around a villain who only got to the dark side because of a bad childhood who temporarily play on the good side to defeat an even bigger villain.

20. No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits

Romantic comedy fans definitely got a hit with these two films about friends giving casual sex a try only to find feelings develop between them.

21. Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman

These two 2012 films gave the classic Snow White story a try with varying degrees of success. The former which starred Lilly Collins was considered a flop while the latter proved to be a hit.

22. Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down

In 2013, Gerard Butler and Channing Tatum starred in films featuring terrorist attacks on the White House. While Olympus performed well enough to get two sequels, White House Down was a bomb.

23. Yves Saint Laurent and Saint Laurent

in 2014, the life of noted fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent wasn't celebrated in just one but two French biopics.

24. Hercules and The Legend of Hercules

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Kellan Lutz both got the opportunity to play one of the most famous heroes of all time and show off their pecs in 2014.

25. Spectre and Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Both movies saw the heroes of their respective movies chase down secret criminal organizations across the world while their own agencies were shutting down. Rogue Nation was originally planned to be released a month after Spectre but it was bumped up five months to avoid more direct competition between the two.

It's not that movie writers are running out of ideas but sometimes, great minds just think alike we guess. For which is better among these films though, we think it's up to the preference of the audiences.

All films definitely have their perks and their cons and it's up to you watching to decide which one you like better or which one you'd tolerate more. Do you have a pick among these films?

Liezel