Didn't I See That Movie Already?

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Don't you love it when two (or more) movies come out at the same time that seem to be pretty much the same movie? We've seen this before with "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon," "Capote" and "Infamous," and "Dangerous Liaisons" and "Valmont." Well, it has happened again this holiday season with two new adventure movies. The first is "Bedtime Stories" starring Adam Sandler as a guy whose bedtime stories he reads to children magically come true and create all sorts of antics. The second is "Inkheart" starring Brendan Fraser as a guy whose bedtime stories he reads to children magically come true and create all sorts of antics. So what are the studios thinking? Instead of expecting us to see the same movie twice, perhaps we'll go see two versions of the same movie once? Could be just a case of the same story being pitched to both Disney and Warner Brothers, but they know what's in each other's pipeline. Historically, this has not been a recipe for success, as most of these same-plot combo flicks each did not do well at the box office (save "Armageddon"/"Deep Impact"). It seems like they could just pick up the phone and coordinate more, so that we can have more variety when we go (or don't go) to the theaters. Other plot combos have included:

• "Antz" and "A Bug's Life"
• "Tombstone" and "Wyatt Earp"
• "Dante's Peak" and "Volcano"
• "The Prestige" and "The Illusionist"

Please comment on others you can think of.

Comments

[Mark Gollihur]

These were pretty similar:

"The Prestige" and "The Illusionist"
"The Truman Show" and "EdTv"