Deja Vu

 

Do you believe in déjà vu?   Well, after this summer movie season, you definitely will.  There is a slew of curiously similar movies hitting theaters very soon that might leave you saying, “Haven’t I seen this before?”

First, many of you have probably already seen Olympus Has Fallen starring Gerard Butler. You might also have caught the trailer for the upcoming Channing Tatum/Jamie Foxx film entitled White House Down. Same basic plot, different cast.

Second, there are two films coming soon about Somali pirates attacking cargo ships in the Indian Ocean. Captain Phillips is a domestic film by Paul Greengrass starring Tom Hanks. The other is a more obscure Danish film called A Hijacking directed by Tobias Lindholm which has already gotten acclaim from the London, Venice, and Toronto Film Festivals.   Same basic plot, different cast.

Third, there are numerous films hitting theaters soon with a home invasion theme. You’re Next, The Purge, and the bizarre horror-comedy Fresh Meat are three examples. AND…There are TWO movies creatively titled Home Invasion! One came out last year and another is due out soon.

But this is not a new phenomenon. Most recently we saw this with last year’s Snow White battle royale. Mirror, Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman, although taking dramatically different approaches, brought the classic Disney character to the big screen.

If you go back a few years, you might remember Armageddon versus Deep Impact,  The Illusionist versus The Prestige, and Tombstone versus Wyatt Earp just to name a few.  So how does this happen?

We all know that Hollywood is a cut-throat place. It might appear to be all sunshine and lollipops, but that place is an absolute shark tank. Greed, jealousy, and ego are out of control. I can just imagine a production company catching wind of a script through the grapevine, stealing the idea from the original creator, and rushing to finish the film before its competition. Sort of like a real–world Gentlemen Broncos.

However it happens, the bottom line is that we, the consumers, are the victors (or victims, depending on the film I suppose) in these Rumbles of Redundancy.  Sure, we may occasionally bemoan the lack of creativity. We may complain that no one is exploring new ideas. But at the end of the day, we get to decide which of these redundant films is better. We get to place our stamp of approval on the final product. And for all of us movie addicts out there, that’s a pretty good deal.