Armageddon & Deep Impact
It is no secret that Armageddon and Deep Impact are basically the same movie. Not only that, but they were released just months apart, and the plot is pretty much the same. Armageddon is about a group of scientists trying to stop an asteroid from colliding with Earth. And, what is Deep Impact about?
Well, it is the same, and the only difference is that it's about a giant comet that is about to hit Earth. Despite their similarities, both did very well in the box office: Armageddon cashed in $201.5 million, while Deep impact took home $140.4 million. The former was clearly more successful, however.
Chasing Liberty & First Daughter
You may only remember one of these movies or might not even remember either because they weren’t big hits anyway. Both Chasing Liberty and First Daughter were your typical early 2000s romantic comedies, and the differences between them were practically… non-existent.
Both movies revolved around the rebellious daughter of the president, one played by Mandy Moore and another played by Katie Holmes. The two girls go on an adventure and fall in love with a boy without the approval of their fathers. Chasing Liberty did a bit better at the box office with $12 million, in comparison with the $9 million made by First Daughter.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop & Observe And Report
For some reason, not one but two movie studios thought it would be a good idea to make a movie centered around a mall cop in 2009, and that’s how we got Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Observe and Report. With a plot so specific, at least one movie was doomed to fail, and that was Observe and Report.
Mall Cop did very well at the box office with $146.3 million, while Seth Rogen’s movie only took home $24 million. The truth is that the former had more of a family-friendly feel while the latter was a stoner comedy, and audiences can only take one mall cop movie at once.
Antz & A Bug’s Life
How suspicious is it that two big studios – Pixar and Dreamworks – came out with an ant-themed animated movie at the same time? The truth is that there is some drama behind the releases of Antz and A Bug’s Life, and it all has to do with Jeffrey Katzenberg, the founder of Dreamworks.
Katzenberg used to work for Pixar, but then left and created Dreamworks. As he left, he knew that Pixar was working on a movie about ants, so he decided to make his own movie about them too. Both movies ended up being very different and Antz is more suited for adults than children. In the end, A Bug’s Life was three times as successful than Antz.
Babe & Gordy
Have you ever heard of Gordy? Probably not. That’s because it was released at the same time as another movie centered around a pig: Babe. The latter was a huge hit all over the world which had such a strong cultural impact on viewers that many people turned to vegetarianism after watching it.
Meanwhile, Gordy was released and nobody noticed. It was a much darker story about a pig saving his family from the slaughterhouse that only made $3 million, which qualifies as a box office failure. Babe, on the other hand, made $63 million and even got a sequel that also did pretty well.
The Prestige & The Illusionist
Who would have thought that magicians would dominate cinemas in 2006? The Prestige and The Illusionist were released just a couple months apart from each other and had pretty similar plots: both were set in the 1800s and featured magicians, played by Christian Bale and Edward Norton, who are battling with their own personal demons as they strive to create the perfect illusion. Oh, and they’re also based on books.
Neither of the films was an extreme hit, but both did pretty well. Still, The Prestige did significantly better, ranking $53 million against The Illusionist’s $39 million, and it also got better reviews. At the end of the day, one can only watch so many 1800s magicians with a beard movies, right?
Turner And Hooch & K-9
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, people couldn’t get enough of movies about adorable animals, which resulted in two dog-centered movies being released in 1989: Turner and Hooch and K-9. The former starred Tom Hanks and became a true classic, but the latter still did pretty well.
Both movies were about a cop with a dog partner solving crimes. The only difference is basically the breed of dog! Despite the clear similarities between both films, audiences turned up to watch both, plus many other animal movies that were also released around the same time. The ‘90s were special, weren’t they?
Olympus Has Fallen & White House Down
Olympus Has Fallen tells the story of a disgraced secret service agent, played by Gerard Butler, who goes on a mission to save the President of the United States and save his own reputation. What is White House Down about? The exact same thing, except that Channing Tatum plays the lead role.
Oh, and another difference is that Channing Tatum also has to save the President’s daughter, but that’s pretty much it. Both movies look like literal copies of each other and their trailers are impossible to tell apart. Still, Olympus came out on top by $20 million at the box office, but both films were pretty forgettable anyway.
The Equalizer & John Wick
Now, The Equalizer and John Wick don’t seem like twin movies at first sight, but when you really think about it, you realize that they essentially have the same plot. The leads – Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves – are different, as well as the cinematography and the setting, but that’s about it.
Both movies revolve around a man who is trying to put his dark past as a spy behind, but due to a tragic incident, he is forced to get back in the game and set things straight. The Equalizer did much better with $101.5 million while John Wick earned only $43 million. However, the latter has now become a pop-culture favorite.
Mirror Mirror & Snow White And The Huntsman
You may wonder why classic fairytales like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty keep getting remade, and the truth is that, because there is no copyright on them, studios can milk them as much as they want. In 2012, two studios decided to come out with Snow White adaptations, but only one was actually a hit.
Mirror Mirror was a lighter adaptation with a comedic twist that was centered around the Evil Queen, played by Julia Roberts. Snow White and the Huntsman, on the other hand, was a darker, more action-focused film that totally overshadowed Mirror Mirror and took home the cash.
Cop Out & The Other Guys
If you stop and think about it, pretty much all buddy cop films are the same. You’ve got a serious cop and a funny, silly sidekick, and the two get into a lot of trouble but yet end up saving the day. In 2010, studios decided to release two buddy cop movies that not only are the same cliché we’ve seen a million times, but are also identical to each other.
There are, however, two differences between Cop Out and The Other Guys. Firstly, the actors are different, and secondly, The Other Guys grossed significantly more money at the box office with $119.2 million, while Cop Out took home $44 million.
After Earth & Oblivion
Sci-fi movies became more and more popular in the 2010s, so studios decided to take advantage of that and release a bunch of sci-fi films one after another. But in 2013, the move became just too obvious, because two films with the same premise were released just weeks apart from each other.
Both After Earth and Oblivion deal with the same existential question: what would happen if the planet became uninhabitable? In After Earth, Will Smith gets stranded on a mission to Earth, while in Oblivion, Tom Cruise purposely comes back to get resources. The latter was much more successful, while the former got very poor reviews.
Megamind & Despicable Me
At first sight, these movies don’t seem to have much in common, aside from the fact that they are both animated. However, upon closer inspection, it is clear that they have the same premise. The main character is a villain who slowly becomes the good guy. That’s it.
The difference is how this change happens. In Megamind, the titular character defeats the hero and realizes he has no purpose in life after that, while in Despicable Me, the main character ends up adopting three girls who warm up his cold heart. Both movies did very well, but Despicable Me came out on top.
Open Season & Over The Edge
Not only are Open Season and Over the Edge visually similar, but also their plots are. In both films, we follow the stories of animals that have to team up against humans who are destroying their natural habitat.
In Open Season, the main characters are fighting against hunters, while in Over the Edge, the animals are threatened by humans moving into their environment. Neither of these movies were memorable, perhaps because the plots, on top of being identical, just weren’t right for children at that time. Over the Edge did a bit better at the box office, however, with $115 million versus $85 million.
Hercules & The Legend of Hercules
Now, what is there to say about these two movies? Unlike most films on this list, Hercules and The Legend of Hercules even have the same title. Needless to say, they are similar in many more ways. After all, there's only so much you can change on an adaptation from the same Greek myth, is there?
The story of Hercules has been done many times over the years and audiences clearly had enough, so not many showed up at the cinema to watch either of these movies. Hercules did much better, however, thanks to the star power of main man Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, making $72 million at the box office, while Kellan Lutz couldn't manage to bring many people to see his version.
No Strings Attached & Friends With Benefits
Every year we get countless twin movies thrown at us, but not many people seem to care. However, in 2011, when No Strings Attached and Friends with Benefits came out just days apart from each other, people knew they were literally the same movie - and they weren't wrong. Both studios got a lot of criticism for their lack of originality.
Still, they got away with it, probably because of the amount of star power concentrated in both movies. On the one hand, there is Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher and on the other, Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake. The latter couple was more successful by $20 million, but neither was a big hit anyway.
This Is The End & The World's End
Again, we have a case of the same movie, with the same story, the same type of characters, and even the same title. Of course, they still had their differences, and those differences are what caused one of these movies to be far more successful than the other. This Is the End is a story about a group of people trying to survive the apocalypse.
While The World's End also revolved around the end of the world and a group of people trying to make the best out of it, it didn't have the budget or star power that This Is the End had. The latter had many famous faces making surprise appearances, such as Emma Watson and Rihanna, and it totally overshadowed its twin movie, which only made $26 million.
Gone With The Wind & Jezebel
Most people have heard of Gone With the Wind, but not many have heard of Jezebel. The former is actually the highest-grossing movie in history (adjusted for inflation). It was released in 1939 and broke records because it was something people had never seen before at that time.
The problem with Jezebel was that the plot was almost exactly the same, and people just weren't interested. Both movies told the story of a rebellious girl from the south during the Civil War, and these similarities were intentional. Bette Davis hadn't gotten the role on Gone With the Wind, so Jezebel was written just for her. Davis might have been happy, but nobody cared for that movie.
Rought Night & Girls Trip
Rough Night and Girls Trip are a classic case of twin movies that were desperately obvious, so much so that everyone was talking about it when the two movies came out in 2017. However, one movie was significantly more successful than the other, and that was Girls Trip.
Both movies were about a group of girl friends going on a wild vacation away from their husbands, children, and responsibilities. The main difference was that Rough Night took place during a bachelorette party. Girls Trip grossed $115 million and skyrocketed Tiffany Haddish to fame, while Rough Night took home $22 million.
Batman v Superman & Captain America: Civil War
Marvel worked really hard to create its own universe with dozens of interconnected movies and it paid off - some of the highest-grossing films of all time belong to Marvel - so DC didn't want to be left behind and tried to emulate the same strategy. So, when Marvel decided to pit two of its most famous superheroes against each other, DC did the same thing.
In Captain America: Civil War, we see Captain America fight Iron Man because they have different ideas about how to save the world. And, what happens in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice? The same thing. Marvel's movie made $408 million, while the DC film grossed $330 million. Captain America did better, but both films took home a load of cash.
Zootopia & Sing
Movies about anthropomorphic animals singing and dancing are not new, and the formula has proven to be a hit with children and adults alike. However, it was all too obvious when both Disney and Universal came out with films with the same theme in 2016. The plots weren't so similar, but their essence was the same.
Both movies are about animals who want to break with the status quo and prove to have what it takes. In Zootopia, we follow the story of a bunny who wants to become a tough police officer, and in Sing, we see a group of animals who want to be the best singers around. Both films were great, but Zootopia did much better at the box office.
The Amityville Horror & The Shining
The Amityville Horror and The Shining are clearly twin movies, but not many people realized that because they were released one year apart. Listing all the similarities between them would take ages, but let's take a look at the main ones: they are both based on books which are supposedly based on true stories. We follow the stories of two families, and the main character is the patriarch. Then, for some reason, the man goes insane.
Then, the father goes on a murderous rampage and tries to kill everyone. What is different is how the men actually go insane, but that doesn't matter all that much. At the time of release, Amityville was much more successful, but over the years, The Shining became a cult classic and inspired many horror films that came after it.
Dreamscape & A Nightmare On Elm Street
When thinking about these 1984 films, probably only one rings a bell, right? We all know about A Nightmare on Elm Street and how it tells the story of a group of youths who are haunted by a scary murderer named Freddy Krueger, who gets into their dreams and kills them as they sleep.
Then, Dreamscape came out and nobody was impressed since the idea had been done just months before. The main difference is that this film focuses on a sleeping disorder study where things get out of control, and the whole thing has a scientific explanation rather than a magical one, which makes it significantly less scary and therefore, less interesting. The Freddy Krueger movies ended up being a staple of the horror genre, while Dreamscape was forgotten fairly quickly.
Gremlins & Ghoulies
Gremlins is a beloved movie from the 1980s that everyone remembers fondly. But, what in the world is Ghoulies? Basically, a cheaper, less entertaining version of the former. Gremlins tells the story of some adorable pets known as Mogwai that unfortunately have to be subject to three important rules, otherwise they turn into the monsters we know as Gremlins.
You can't get them wet, you can't expose them to the water, and you can't feed them after midnight, or else they will turn into vicious monsters. What makes Ghoulies different is that the monsters don't start out as cute little pets but are simply small demons that just want to destroy everything for no reason. Ghoulies did have a few sequels but they were all pretty forgettable from the beginning.
Back To The Future & Peggy Sue Got Married
The 1980s were obsessed with sci-fi and that's why we got some of the best science fiction movies of all time during that decade. One of them was the legendary Back to the Future, which tells the story of Marty, a teenager who travels back in time and changes the past so much that almost makes himself disappear. He then has to try to get his parents to fall in love with each other so he can be born in the future.
There was another time travel movie released at the same time, Peggy Sue Got Married, only this time, it was about a girl who has the chance to go back to high school and change all the mistakes she had made so that she gets a better future. It didn't have the same success as Back to the Future and it certainly didn't become a beloved classic, but it is still a good watch.
The Vindicator & Robocop
Almost everyone on the planet has at least heard of Robocop, the story about a police officer who is murdered and then revived by a super corporation that turns him into a half-human-half-robot super cop. The film was an instant hit and it spawned sequels, video games, a remake, and more. But, did you know that a twin movie was actually released earlier?
The Vindicator was released almost a year before Robocop, but it was a huge failure. Unlike any of the other films on this list, this movie only made $12,000! The main difference is that in this movie, it is a scientist who is reborn as a cyborg instead of a cop. Somehow, Robocop is the one that stole everyone's hearts, while The Vindicator almost destroyed its studio.
Kalifornia & Natural Born Killers
Now, this one is inexplicable and unprecedented. In 1993, the movie Kalifornia was released, which told the story of real-life murderers Charles Starkweather and Carli Ann Fugate, who went on a murder spree in the 1950s. The movie starred Brad Pitt as Starkweather and Juliette Lewis as Fugate. But now, things get weird.
Less than a year later, Natural Born Killers was released. The movie was about the same murderers, going on the same killing spree, and it starred Juliette Lewis playing Fugate again. How did Hollywood get away with it? Well, Kalifornia barely had any success, ranking $2.3 million at the box office, so we are guessing they really wanted to make this story work. Natural Born Killers did much better, making $50 million.
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves & Robin Hood
The legendary story of Robin Hood has had many adaptations over the years, but during the 1990s, basically everyone wanted to make their own version of it. Not only was there a TV show titled The New Adventures of Robin Hood, but two almost identical movies were released in 1992: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Robin Hood.
The former, starring Kevin Costner, was not only a commercial success, cashing in $165 million at the box office, but it also was critically acclaimed. The latter Robin Hood adaptation, however, was ignored so hard that barely anyone remembers it. As it turns out, you can't always make it right by adapting a beloved story, because people get tired of seeing the same thing over and over again.
Rookie Of The Year & Little Big League
The 1990s were filled with movies about sports, especially baseball. But two almost identical baseball movies were released only a few months apart from each other: Rookie of the Year and Little Big League. Both movies tell the story of a 12-year-old who somehow becomes part of the MLB after getting involved in some crazy shenanigans.
The biggest differences are related to how these boys make it big in the baseball world. In Rookie of the Year, the boy has a broken arm that heals in such a way that allows him to throw balls unusually fast, which makes him a superstar. In Little Big League, the boy inherits a whole baseball team from his dead uncle. The former was a bigger hit, but both did pretty well with audiences.
Street Fighter & Mortal Kombat
Video games were becoming increasingly popular in the early 1990s, and Hollywood really wanted to take advantage of that. Unfortunately, video game sales don't translate into ticket sales, but studios learned that the hard way. In 1994, two movies based on popular video games with the same name were released: Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat.
The problem was not only that they were both based on games, but that the games themselves were already pretty similar. They are both about martial arts and both take place in China. Critics ripped both films to shreads, but Mortal Kombat came out on top in terms of viewership, making $70 million against Street Fighter's $33 million.
The Usual Suspects & Primal Fear
Both The Usual Suspects and Primal Fear were commercial and critical successes because they put the same twist on the usual crime movies everyone was used to. But the problem was exactly that: they had the same twist. In The Usual Suspects, we see the interrogation of a man who tells an elaborate story in order to be set free, but it all turns out to be a lie.
In Primal Fear, we also have a suspect who fabricates stories in order to be released, but the circumstances are different. Despite their similarities, the fact that these crime movies actually showed the perpetrators being caught instead of being all about solving a mystery and finding the killer was a refreshing take that was a big hit with audiences.
Finding Nemo & Shark Tale
Another classic case of twin movies is Finding Nemo and Shark Tale. Anyone who has seen both movies knows that the plots are different, but the fact that two animated fish movies were released so close to each other was too much for audiences to handle. Also, despite their different plots, there were some similar details, for example, fish and sharks teaming up.
However, Finding Nemo was more family friendly than Shark Tale, which was essentially about a fish getting involved with the shark mob, which is not something many kids can understand. In the end, the former did much better at the box office, with $339.7 million, while Shark Tale got $160 million, which is still a pretty good number.