Great Minds?

[Junkyard]

... Do they think alike?

Sorry to post two topics right after each other, but I got to thinking: You know how sometimes, two movies of similar themes will come out within a few months of each other? Usually it's driven by some race to get an idea to the theaters first so it'll be seen as the original. Others, especially recently, come out immediately after, straight to video, so gullible people might mistake theirs for the theater version.
In any case, I can only name a couple, but I know they're out there.

Deep Impact and Armageddon (Armageddon seemed more or less a parody of Deep Impact, in my mind. I can't imagine how it did so much better.)

Volcano and Dante's Peak (These ran about equal in my mind, entertainment wise.)

Of the cheap rip offs, the only one that comes to mind at the moment is "Snakes on a Train."

What are some others, either Big Budget racers or Cheap rip offs?

[starfighter]

    Made for tv movies seem to run into this a lot, like two networks racing to do Pope John Paul II movies.   But the first example that came to mind was three networks all making Joey Buttafucuo/ Amy Fisher movies.  I can remember Drew Barrymore and Alyssa Milano as two of the Amys, but I don't remember the third.

[Douglin]

Antz & a bugs life
Madagascar & The Wild

and
Dawn of the Dead remake & Shaun of the Dead (in the UK anyway, they came out a week or 2 apart)

[Junkyard]

There was a straight to DVD Omen ripp off that came out at about the time of Omen's release, but I can't for the life of me remember the name.

[dignan]

I remember there were two Universal Soldier sequels that came out at the same time, one in the theaters, and one straight to video.  Both of those facts boggle my mind.

[Tripe]

Antz & a bugs life
Madagascar & The Wild

and
Dawn of the Dead remake & Shaun of the Dead (in the UK anyway, they came out a week or 2 apart)

Yeah but Shaun of the Dead was an extended version of an episode of Spaced. Although it brings up an interesting thing about production and release. Films can be hanging around for ages and then released at the same time as another similar film that may have gone as straight from production to distribution as any film can.

[Bob]

Wyatt Earp and Tomestone.

[Scrivener]

Mission to Mars and Red Planet bombed within months of each other.

And since when do "great minds" and "Hollywood studio executives" belong in the same sentence? (Without some negative qualifier, that is.)

[Tripe]

Wyatt Earp and Tomestone.

Which one is the inferior one there? I've heard people argue for either.

[Rude]

Yeah but Shaun of the Dead was an extended version of an episode of Spaced.

That's not quite right... There was one episode on Spaced where Tim plays Resident Evil all day long, then has a zombie nightmare or something. But Shaun of The Dead was in no way just an extended version of that episode~ There were a bunch of in-jokes that came from the series though.

Anyway, the theatrical release for Shaun of the Dead was actually held back for two weeks because of the Dawn Of The Dead remake. So, not in this case, but yeah... a lot of these films can be sitting on shelf somewhere until something similar proves to be a success at the box office.

-Rude

[Tripe]

Yeah but Shaun of the Dead was an extended version of an episode of Spaced.

That's not quite right... There was one episode on Spaced where Tim plays Resident Evil all day long, then has a zombie nightmare or something. But Shaun of The Dead was in no way just an extended version of that episode~ There were a bunch of in-jokes that came from the series though.

Anyway, the theatrical release for Shaun of the Dead was actually held back for two weeks because of the Dawn Of The Dead remake. So, not in this case, but yeah... a lot of these films can be sitting on shelf somewhere until something similar proves to be a success at the box office.

-Rude

I know that perhaps I should have said "Is like an extended version"

[Rude]

I know that perhaps I should have said "Is like an extended version"

Yeah, i suppose you could have said that... but then i wouldn't have been able to come off sounding like a nerdy condescending jerk. 

-Rude

[Tripe]

I know that perhaps I should have said "Is like an extended version"

Yeah, i suppose you could have said that... but then i wouldn't have been able to come off sounding like a nerdy condescending jerk. 

-Rude

And far be it from me to stand in the way of that! 

[Junkyard]

They made several TV movies about aquatic monsters all around the same time several years back, I remember, but they've all run together in my head. Which one had the sharks with legs, and which one had the giant amphibian, again?

[Big Blonde]

Here's the movie where the shark gets legs and eats people on land. I'm not so sure about hte other movie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0156205/