As sad as it is, there is not a whole lot of originality exhibited in movies these days. In fact, of the ten top box-office grossing films last year, all but 3 were either a book-to-film, or a sequel to another movie (see for yourself here). Another problem often seems to be so-called 'copycat' films - movies that are released suspiciously close in time to each other, with oddly similar basic plotlines. Just for its own sake, I tried to make a list of as many as I could remember:
vs.
Deep Impact (1998)
Armegeddon (1998)
vs.
A Bugs Life (1998)
Antz (1998)
vs.
The Truman Show (1998)
EdTV (1999)
vs.
Mission to Mars (2000)
Red Planet (2000)
vs.
Bicentennial Man (1999)
A.I. (2001)
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The Illusionist (2006)
Prestige (2006)
And were these five 2005-2006 movies really sperate films? Or just the same one rereleased with different titles? I'm talking about Barnyard, Over the Hedge, The Wild, Open Season, and Madagascar.
Seriously, guys. Even though they're kids, how about putting a little effort into making children/family movies that are actually based on relatively new ideas? Not to sound too negative or anything, this is just something that has bugged me lately.
