Cinema is more than 100 years old, so directors and scriptwriters are finding it increasingly difficult to come up with new stories. One way or another, but in any film you can find moments similar to another.
Sometimes the creators are so strongly inspired by someone else’s work that they almost completely copy the plot, although some then with an innocent look try to convince everyone that they did not borrow anything.
10. Island | 2005
The plot of the picture of Michael Bay tells the story of a world in which there was a global catastrophe.
The survivors live in an isolated settlement, but everyone knows that somewhere there is a paradise island with clean air that you can breathe. You can get there in only one way - to win the lottery held by the leadership of the settlement.
The director hardly knew that this plot is an almost exact copy of the 1978 third-rate film Parts: The Horror of Clones, but the scriptwriter knew about it. The main difference between the paintings is the budget. They spent $ 130 million on Ostrov, but the film ultimately failed, and the creators still had to pay a seven-figure sum to the authors of The Clone Horror due to obvious plagiarism.
9. Ahead | 2012
The action movie with Guy Pearce in the title role tells of a riot in an orbiting space prison, where at the time of the uprising of prisoners, the daughter of the US president was on a humanitarian mission. Now she is becoming a hostage and for her release they are attracting a former CIA agent, sentenced to 30 years.
This story is very reminiscent of the events of the movie "Escape from New York" by John Carpenter with Kurt Russell. There, too, the main character is outlawed and frees the official’s daughter for his freedom.
Carpenter sued the creators and won $ 80,000, but Luke Besson refused to pay and appealed. The new court again recognized Naprol as plagiarism and increased the amount of compensation to half a million.
8. Alien | 1979
The screenwriter of this cult film never denied that the plot was not completely invented by him. He honestly admitted that he borrowed ideas from many fantastic works, but critics and viewers quickly noticed that “Alien” is very similar to the picture “It! Horror from space. "
The second-rate black and white thriller of 1958 tells a very similar story: an alien creature penetrates a spaceship, which moves through the ventilation system and kills crew members one at a time.
7. Toy Story | 1995
Director John Lasseter, before filming Toy Story, wanted to put on the cartoon The Brave Little Toaster. It refers to the revived technology and electronics, which goes in search of the owner.
Disney Studios did not want to give money for it, so another company took off the adventures of the toaster in 1987. Lasseter, over time, became a prominent figure in Pixar and decided to return to his idea again, replacing electrical appliances with toys.
However, in both projects there are not just similar, but literally identical scenes that Lasseter clearly “ripped off”.
6. Fast and the Furious | 2001
The first part of the adventures of Dominic Toretto and the company is like two drops of water like the 1990 film "On the Crest of the Wave" with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze in the lead roles.
The only difference is that in the "Fast and the Furious" - a gang of street racers, and in the original a gang of surfers. In both action movies, the main character enters the group undercover, starts a relationship with a girl, begins to make friends with the leader and enters into taste.
5. The Hunger Games | 2012
This is a special case, because here you can safely blame not only the authors of the film for plagiarism, but also the writer Susan Collins, who wrote the book.
The story of a bleak future and a group of teenagers participating in a deadly game - all this was shown in 2000 in the Japanese film "Battle Royale", based on the book of the same name.
Collins claimed that she had never read the book, and the filmmakers did not watch the Japanese version. Nevertheless, plagiarism is evident, and not the most successful.
There are a lot of murders and blood in the Battle Royale, which should be in the movie about deadly games, and Hollywood shot a snotty melodrama for teenagers.
4. Mad Dogs | 1992
Tarantino borrowed the idea of his debut film from the 1987 Japanese action movie The City on Fire. A raid on jewelry, a cop undercover, a gang member with an unstable psyche - all this was not invented by Quentin.
However, all the ingenious dialogues and stage setting are entirely his merit. This director often draws (or frankly steals ideas) inspiration from the work of his colleagues, but processes everything in such a way that his tongue does not turn to blame him for plagiarism.
3. Star Wars | 1977
When creating the legendary Star Wars universe, George Lucas was mainly inspired by science fiction TV series of the 50s and books, but most of all he took not from them, but from the film “Three villains in a hidden fortress” by Akira Kurosawa.
The original script looked so much like Kurosawa’s work that Lucas seriously thought about buying the rights to it, but then the story was slightly changed.
Nevertheless, a lot remained in common, although everything was served in fantastic scenery.
2. For a handful of dollars | 1964
The first part of the dollar trilogy, Sergio Leone, tells about the shooter performed by Clint Eastwood, who decides to earn some money from the war of two gangs who settled in a small town.
From this western began the path of Leone to the title of king of the genre, but the joy of victory overshadowed the lawsuit from Akira Kurosawa.
The Leone film is a tracing-paper from the film The Bodyguard, shot by Akira in 1961.
If George Lucas took a lot, but added a lot from himself, then Sergio Leone did not bother and just replaced the samurai from the Japanese film with cowboys in his own. As a result, he had to fork out and give 15% of the box office.
1. The Lion King | 1994
The cartoon "The Lion King" is still one of the best animated projects in history, which brought Disney a lot of money. The irony is that he was positioned as the first cartoon of the studio, shot not on the basis of a fairy tale, but according to the original script.
This could be believed if the Japanese anime “White Lion Kimba”, filmed in 1965, did not exist.
Kimba is a small lion cub that will rule the jungle. He also loses his father, his spirit in the cloud appears to him, the throne of the king of the jungle is occupied by an evil lion with two errand hyenas. A parrot, an eccentric baboon, a sweetheart - all this is in the anime.
When the creators of the Kimba White Lion were asked why they did not sue Disney for such impudent plagiarism, they replied that they could not compete with a multi-billion dollar corporation that has hundreds of experienced lawyers in its staff.