Mockbuster

Last updated

A mockbuster (also known as knockbuster or drafting opportunity [1] ) is a film created to exploit the publicity of another major motion picture with a similar title or subject. Mockbusters are often made with a low budget and quick production to maximize profits. "Mockbuster" is a portmanteau of the words "mock" and "blockbuster".

Contents

Criteria

Unlike films produced to capitalize on the popularity of a recent release by adopting similar genre or storytelling elements, mockbusters are generally produced concurrently with upcoming films and released direct-to-video around the time the film they are inspired by is released. A mockbuster may be similar enough in title or packaging that consumers confuse it with the actual film it mimics, but their producers maintain that they are simply offering additional products for consumers who want to watch more films in the same subgenres. [2]

History

Mockbusters have a long history in Hollywood and elsewhere. [3] [4] [5] [6] For example, the 1959 Vanwick film The Monster of Piedras Blancas was a clear derivative of Creature from the Black Lagoon , complete with a creature suit by the same designer, Jack Kevan. Attack of the 50 Foot Woman spawned Village of the Giants, and The Land That Time Forgot spawned Legend of Dinosaurs & Monster Birds .

Such films fit the B movie model, being produced on a small budget and derivative of the target film and other similar projects. The lower costs of using modern video and computer graphics equipment and the tie-in to the mainstream film's advertising have allowed the mockbuster to become a profitable niche in the home video market. Blockbuster, once the largest DVD rental chain, implied support to the concept by buying 100,000 copies of The Asylum's version of War of the Worlds during the theatrical opening week of Steven Spielberg's film based on the same novel starring Tom Cruise. [2]

Most mockbusters capitalize on the popularity of theatrically released films, but some are derivative of a TV series. The 1979 film Angels Revenge bore many superficial similarities to the popular TV series Charlie's Angels; its promotional materials even resembled Charlie's Angels' graphic style. In reverse, Glen A. Larson was accused of producing mockbusters at the height of his career, with his television series plagiarizing popular films of the time ( Battlestar Galactica , for example, capitalized on the popularity of Star Wars , while Alias Smith and Jones was a take on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ). [7] [8]

Blaxploitation films

In blaxploitation filmmaking, it was a common practice to title blaxploitation films after previously successful films starring predominantly white casts, and produce similarly titled films starring predominantly African American casts, as observed in the films Black Shampoo (1976, after Shampoo ), Black Lolita (1975, after Lolita ), The Black Godfather (1974, after The Godfather ). This would arguably also include blaxploitation renditions of classic horror stories, such as Blacula (1974) and Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976). [9]

GoodTimes Entertainment

GoodTimes Entertainment was notorious for distributing animated "mockbuster" counterparts to popular Disney films in the 1990s (such as those made by Golden Films); [10] because Disney was creating its films based on public domain folk tales and historical stories, GoodTimes' actions were legal and survived Disney's legal challenge against it.

Vídeo Brinquedo

Similarly, Vídeo Brinquedo is a Brazilian CGI animation studio that, in 2006, began to produce low-budget direct-to-video films that are for the most part knockoffs of films from Pixar, Disney, and DreamWorks. Their films include Little & Big Monsters (DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens ), The Little Cars series of cartoons (Pixar's Cars series), Ratatoing (Pixar's Ratatouille ), Tiny Robots (Pixar's WALL-E ), What's Up?: Balloon to the Rescue! (Pixar's Up ), and The Frog Prince (Disney's The Princess and the Frog ). [11] In every case, Vídeo Brinquedo's knockoff has been released close to the release date of the more professional, higher-budgeted film that inspired it. [12]

Dingo Pictures

Dingo Pictures was a German animation company founded in 1992 by Ludwig Ickert and Roswitha Haas, and based in Friedrichsdorf. [13] They created traditionally-animated films based on fairy tales and concepts similar to those used by Disney, Pixar and DreamWorks. These cartoons are characterized by low-budget animation, small voice casts, and character designs that are very similar to equivalent characters in more high-profile films. [14] The films have been dubbed into Scandinavian languages, notably Swedish, and also into Romance languages, notably Italian. All of them have been released direct-to-video in Germany in their original languages. [14] European game publishers Phoenix Games and Midas Games released some of them in the early 2000s on home video consoles PlayStation and PlayStation 2. These releases were developed by The Code Monkeys and included the film, as well as a small collection of mini games. Phoenix Games B.V. declared bankruptcy on 3 August 2010. On 27 March 2012, the bankruptcy was suspended due to a lack of income. [15]

On 26 May 2021, the independent label Vier Sterne Deluxe Records announced that it is negotiating with the current owners of Dingo Pictures to release the films as radio plays; the new CEO also want to make new films and a documentary behind the studio. [13] In August 2021, the first radioplay released. [16] [17]

Other

The 2011 film Aliens vs. Avatars was named to market it as a crossover to Alien and Avatar, even though the latter two films have no connection outside of director James Cameron. [18] The film follows the intergalactic battle between a quarrelsome alien race and shape-shifting extraterrestrials, while six college friends find themselves in the middle of the interstellar war.

A 1993 science fiction horror film titled Carnosaur, produced by Roger Corman and starring Diane Ladd as a mad scientist who plans to recreate dinosaurs and destroy humanity, is loosely based on the 1984 novel of the same name by John Brosnan, but the two have little in common. It was released by New Horizons Picture Corp two weeks before the blockbuster Jurassic Park.Carnosaur may be considered a mockbuster. [19] (Diane Ladd's daughter Laura Dern starred in Jurassic Park)

In some cases, the knockoff film may bear little or no resemblance to the original. In 2012, Super K – The Movie , an Indian fantasy/science-fiction animated film about an artificially created boy named "Super Kloud" with superpowers, was released direct-to-video in the United States as Kiara the Brave . Its title and cover art focused on an incidental female character with red hair, in an attempt to evoke the design of Brave's protagonist Merida. [20]

In other cases, the knockoff film simply renames an already existing film into a name that is similar to a popular film. [21] For example, when Phase 4 Films acquired the US distribution rights to The Legend of Sarila , the company renamed the film to Frozen Land to cash in on Disney's 2013 film, Frozen , complete with a logo that was made to look similar to the official logo to the film. [22] In another case, a collection of animated shorts from the 90s animated series, Britannica's Tales Around the World , was rereleased under the name Tangled Up by Brightspark to cash in on Disney's 2010 film, Tangled . [23] [24] Brightspark also rereleased the film The Adventures of Scamper the Penguin under the name "Tappy Feet: The Adventures of Scamper" to cash in on Happy Feet .

The Asylum CEO David Michael Latt responds to criticisms about loose plot lines by stating that "We don't have spies at the studios. We have a general sense of what the film is and we make our movie completely original, just based on that concept".[ citation needed ]

Mockbusters are low budget, and their revenue is based entirely on the sales of their DVDs. [25] Low budgets also mean that directors need to think of creative yet cheap ways to achieve the endings that they desire. For example, Snakes on a Train capitalized on the Internet hype surrounding Snakes on a Plane . Consumers wanted what they saw. Latt said, "With only four days left of shooting my partner called and said everyone is really excited about Snakes on a Train, but they're more excited about the poster, which showed a snake swallowing a train. It was meant to be, you know, metaphorical. But the buyers wanted it, so I was given the mandate that the ending had to have the snake eat the train." At the same time, another representative of Asylum, David Rimawi, says that while a handful of their films do have "artistic elements", that's just not something they're concerned with. The Asylum does not claim to be an "artsy" production house. [26]

Released by The Asylum in 2015, Avengers Grimm is a mockbuster hybrid of Avengers: Age of Ultron and Once Upon a Time . Released in 2018, Tomb Invader is a mockbuster based on the Tomb Raider series.

Soundalike titling

Mockbusters often use a title with a similar-sounding name to the mainstream feature it intends to piggy-back upon. For instance, the 2006 mockbuster Snakes on a Train traded on the publicity surrounding the theatrically released Snakes on a Plane .[ citation needed ] Besides the aforementioned film, The Asylum has also released The Land That Time Forgot , Transmorphers , AVH: Alien vs. Hunter , The Da Vinci Treasure , Battle of Los Angeles , Atlantic Rim and Paranormal Entity . In an earlier example, Astor Pictures compiled a collection of early Bing Crosby short films to create Road to Hollywood , a mockbuster of Paramount Pictures' Road to... buddy comedies that featured Crosby with Bob Hope.

Foreign knockoffs and illegitimate sequels

Mockbusters and ripoffs can be filmed and released outside of the original films' countries. Low-budget studios in foreign countries may produce illegitimate sequels to preexisting higher budgeted films series that began in other countries. These sequels are unofficial, and often even unknown to the creators and producers of the original films. These unofficial sequels are rarely, or never, released in the original country, usually due to licensing issues. In other cases, a film released in other countries is renamed as a sequel to another film in contrast to the original title. [27]

Two Italian directors directed unofficial sequels to George A. Romero's 1978 Dawn of the Dead : Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2 sold itself as the sequel to that film (which was called Zombi in Italy), and even used a line originally written for Dawn of the Dead. [28] In a similar, more infamous Italian example, the 1990 goblin-themed Troll 2 was hastily marketed as a sequel to Troll . [29]

The Philippine film industry is also known for its unauthorised adaptations of popular Western films. The popularity of the Batman films, most especially the 1966 TV series, has led to numerous unauthorised remakes and pastiches, such as James Batman starring comedian Dolphy, Batman Fights Dracula , and Alyas Batman en Robin . [30] Dolphy also played leading roles in other mockbusters, including Wanted: Perfect Father, a comedy-drama based on the 1993 film Mrs. Doubtfire , [31] and Tataynic, a 1998 parody of James Cameron's Titanic . Other Filipino knockoffs include Bobo Cop (a parody of RoboCop ) [32] and Rocky Plus V (a spoof of the Rocky series). [33]

Turkish cinema was known, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, for knockoff films done at a cheap, amateur level. The Man who Saved the World became infamous for its theft of clips and songs from Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark , to the point that the film is popularly known in English-speaking realms as "Turkish Star Wars", where it typifies the concept of so bad, it's good. [34] Three Giant Men involved a battle between Marvel Comics characters Spider-Man and Captain America, both unauthorized and dressed in cheap costumes, decades before Captain America: Civil War covered the same concept to greater success.

Legality

Mockbusters based on popular animated films are known as a "drafting opportunity". For example, Kiara the Brave (a mockbuster of Pixar's Brave) and Puss in Boots: A Furry Tale (a mockbuster of Puss in Boots ) use soundalike titling to "draft off" the marketing success ("slipstream") of popular films. "Can you trademark an actual noun? The idea of a battleship?", asks Boxoffice magazine editor Amy Nicholson. [26] The original Puss in Boots was made by DreamWorks Animation by 300 people working for four years at the cost of $130 million. The mockbuster, with nearly exactly the same name was made by 12 people, in six months, for less than $1 million. For these large production houses, it wasn't just a question of free riding on the marketing success of these more popular films; mockbusters have become a source of bad publicity. Customers who had accidentally bought the mockbuster Puss in Boots: A Furry Tale but did not know that it was a mockbuster gave the original film negative reviews. [35] Mockbuster producers have had no legal troubles with drafting off as a result of Disney losing a case against GoodTimes Entertainment, which had used similar packaging for their own version of Aladdin. [36]

Mockbusters have also had legal complications with false advertising. They supposedly tweak the plot lines and the titles just enough to skirt legal trouble and yet ride on the publicity of major blockbusters. Until the Hobbit case, mockbuster production houses have been able to achieve soundalike titling to such an extent that even actors in the films have been confused about which film they are starring in. Some actors starring in the original have gone on to become fans of the mockbuster model. Kel Mitchell was the star in the mockbuster Battle of Los Angeles , the mockbuster to the original Battle: Los Angeles . His friend was in the original and they began promoting both films together. Kel has since then became a fan of the studio's formula: "I laugh out loud when I see that a film is coming out; I wonder what The Asylum is going to do with it. They're going to remix that name and put it out." [26]

In December 2013, The Walt Disney Company filed in California federal court to get an injunction against the continued distribution of the Canadian film The Legend of Sarila , retitled Frozen Land. In their suit, Disney alleges: "To enhance the commercial success of Sarila, the defendant redesigned the artwork, packaging, logo, and other promotional materials for its newly (and intentionally misleadingly) retitled film to mimic those used by Disney for Frozen and related merchandise." The suit was filed against distributor Phase 4 Films. [22] Phase 4 and Disney settled out of court with Phase 4 paying US$100.000, changing the name of the movie back to The Legend of Sarila and also changing the logos and other promoting material that resembled Disney's. [37]

Intent to deceive

Because mockbusters are deliberately similar to more famous films, some film studios have sued mockbuster studios for allegedly tricking consumers into renting or purchasing the wrong film through intentionally deceptive marketing.

In one such lawsuit, Walt Disney Pictures sued the UK-based studio Brightspark, complaining that the studio was "misleading consumers with numerous releases that confuse and undermine the trust those consumers have in Disney". Among Brightspark's films mentioned in the lawsuit were Braver, Tangled Up, The Frog Prince, and A Car's Life, which resemble Disney's Brave , Tangled , The Princess and the Frog , and Cars , respectively. [38]

Warner Bros. similarly sued The Asylum over their release of Age of the Hobbits. The judge ruled in favor of Warner Bros., writing that "There is substantial likelihood that consumers will be confused by Age Of Hobbits and mistakenly purchase the film intending to purchase The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ." [39]

Most mockbusters follow the trend of releasing their films close to the release dates of the original: [40]

The Asylum defend this practice, stating their intention is not to dupe customers. The Asylum cites reports from both Blockbuster LLC and Hollywood Video that show that less than 1% of customers who rent one of their films ask for a refund. That the low return rate of their films has been used to argue that consumers are renting The Asylum's films deliberately. [41] "There's a segment of people who watch them because they know they're bad and they're funny, and they're fun to make fun of with their friends", says Kyle Ryan, the managing editor of The A.V. Club , a sister publication of The Onion . [25]

The Asylum v. Warner Bros., 2012

In 2012, Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, WingNut Films, and The Saul Zaentz Company (SZC) sued The Asylum for trademark infringement, false designation of origin, trademark dilution, false advertising, and unfair competition. Plaintiffs alleged that defendant's film title Age of the Hobbits infringed the registered trademarks held by SZC in the designation "Hobbit". Unlike fairy tales, which are in the public domain, the J. R. R. Tolkien novels have been exclusively licensed to Warner Bros. and SZC for production and film adaptation. The court described Global Asylum (the defendant in this case) as a low-budget company that makes "mockbusters" of popular films with similar titling. Warner Bros. and SZC submitted evidence to prove that consumers would be confused by the identical title and that they would lose not only ticket sales but also DVD revenue. The evidence included a survey showing that 48 percent of 400 surveyed respondents associated the term "Hobbit" with SZC, d/b/a "Tolkien Enterprises" and Tolkien properties. A separate survey conducted by Nielsen National Research Group showed that approximately 16 to 24 percent of survey respondents were confused about the source of Age of the Hobbits. [42]

The Asylum claimed that they were justified in using the word "Hobbit" as a fair use of scientific terminology after some scientists borrowed the term from the Hobbit stories a few years prior to describe a human species in Indonesia. The Asylum argued that it provided warnings stating that this was not the Tolkien creature. [43] The films also featured major plot differences: "In an ancient age, the small, peace-loving Hobbits are enslaved by the Java Men, a race of flesh-eating dragon-riders. The young Hobbit Goben must join forces with their neighbor giants, the humans, to free his people and vanquish their enemies." [44]

The Federal Court found that Warner Bros. had a valid trademark on the word "Hobbit". The court rejected The Asylum's scientific fair-use claims since there was no evidence to suggest that the film was about a prehistoric group of people who lived in Indonesia. The court rejected all of The Asylum's defenses: (i) that it was permitted to use "Hobbits" in the title of its film pursuant to the free speech test of the Second Circuit's decision in Rogers v. Grimaldi , (ii) that its use of the mark constituted nominative fair use to indicate plaintiffs' films and (iii) that the "Hobbits" mark was a generic name. The court decided that The Asylum had failed to prove its defenses and on December 10, 2012, found in favor of the plaintiffs and entered a temporary restraining order. This restraining order prevented the use by Global Asylum of the title Age of the Hobbits. [45] The Ninth Circuit court of appeals affirmed in 2013. The film was then released under the name Clash of the Empires .

Notable studios and directors

The 2022 adaptation of Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers spoofed animated mockbusters with "bootlegged" titles like Flying Bedroom Boy , Pooj the Fat Honey Bear and Spaghetti Dogs . [50] [51]

The cult television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 has featured mockbusters of other films (eg. Atlantic Rim , Pod People ). [52] [49]

Two of Vídeo Brinquedo's productions were parodied in an episode of The Amazing World of Gumball called "The Treasure", in which Gumball picks up a mockbuster DVD called How to Ratatwang Your Panda. The fictional production is a cross between The Little Panda Fighter and Ratatoing, mockbusters based on Kung Fu Panda and Ratatouille . [53]

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<i>Toy Story</i> 1995 Pixar film

Toy Story is a 1995 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the franchise of the same name, it was the first entirely computer-animated feature film, as well as the first feature film from Pixar. It was directed by John Lasseter and produced by Bonnie Arnold and Ralph Guggenheim, from a screenplay written by Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow and a story by Lasseter, Stanton, Pete Docter, and Joe Ranft. The film features music by Randy Newman, and was executive-produced by Steve Jobs and Edwin Catmull. The film features the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, R. Lee Ermey, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, and Erik von Detten.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pixar</span> American computer animation studio

Pixar Animation Studios is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Since 2006, Pixar has been a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, a segment of the Walt Disney Company.

Modern animation in the United States from the late 1980s to the early 2000s is frequently referred to as the renaissance age of American animation. During this period, many large American entertainment companies reformed and reinvigorated their animation departments, following the dark age, and the United States had an overall profound effect on animation globally.

The word hobbit was used by J. R. R. Tolkien as the name of a race of small humanoids in his fantasy fiction, the first published being The Hobbit in 1937. The Oxford English Dictionary, which added an entry for the word in the 1970s, credits Tolkien with coining it. Since then, however, it has been noted that there is prior evidence of the word, in a 19th-century list of legendary creatures. In 1971, Tolkien stated that he remembered making up the word himself, admitting that there was nothing but his "nude parole" to support the claim that he was uninfluenced by such similar words as hobgoblin. His choice may have been affected on his own admission by the title of Sinclair Lewis's 1922 novel Babbitt. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey has pointed out several parallels, including comparisons in The Hobbit, with the word "rabbit".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brad Bird</span> American filmmaker (born 1957)

Phillip Bradley Bird is an American writer, director and producer. He has had a career spanning forty years in both animation and live-action.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walt Disney Animation Studios</span> American animation studio

Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene from its first synchronized sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie (1928). Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney, it is the oldest-running animation studio in the world. It is currently organized as a division of Walt Disney Studios and is headquartered at the Roy E. Disney Animation Building at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Since its foundation, the studio has produced 62 feature films, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to Wish (2023), and hundreds of short films.

<i>The Brave Little Toaster</i> 1987 animated film directed by Jerry Rees

The Brave Little Toaster is a 1987 American independent animated musical drama film directed by Jerry Rees. It is based on the 1980 novella of the same name by Thomas M. Disch. The film stars Deanna Oliver, Timothy E. Day, Jon Lovitz, Tim Stack, and Thurl Ravenscroft, with Wayne Kaatz, Colette Savage, Phil Hartman, Joe Ranft, and Jim Jackman in supporting roles. It is set in a world where domestic appliances and other consumer electronics come to life, pretending to be lifeless in the presence of humans. The story focuses on five anthropomorphic household appliances, which include a toaster, a lamp stand, an electric blanket, a radio and a vacuum cleaner, who go on a quest to search for their owner.

The Asylum is an American film production and distribution company based in Burbank, California. The company is known for producing low-budget, direct-to-video films, in particular mockbusters, which capitalize on the popularity of major studio films with similar titles and premises. The Asylum's business model revolves around producing as many low-budget films as quickly as possible, and earn around $150,000 to $250,000 in profit. Since the company produces dozens of films every year, this model generates millions of dollars, and the company claims to have never lost money on a film. The Asylum spends around 4-6 months making a film, and since the company is not affiliated with any industry guilds other than SAG-AFTRA, this means their employees will sometimes work upwards of 22 hours a day.

GT Media, Inc. was an American home video company that originated in 1984 under the name of GoodTimes Home Video. Though it produced its own titles, the company was well known due to its distribution of media from third parties and classics. The founders for the company were the brothers Kenneth, Joseph and Stanley Cayre of Salsoul Records. Its headquarters were in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company had a distribution facility in Jersey City, New Jersey and a duplication facility in Bayonne, New Jersey, known as GTK Duplicating Co..

<i>Brave</i> (2012 film) American computer-animated fantasy film

Brave is a 2012 American animated fantasy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman, co-directed by Steve Purcell, and produced by Katherine Sarafian, with John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Pete Docter serving as executive producers. The story was written by Chapman, who also co-wrote the film's screenplay with Andrews, Purcell, and Irene Mecchi. The film stars the voices of Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd, and Craig Ferguson. Set in the Scottish Highlands, the film tells the story of Princess Merida of DunBroch (Macdonald) who defies an age-old custom, causing chaos in the kingdom by expressing the desire not to be betrothed. When Queen Elinor (Thompson), her mother, falls victim to a beastly curse and turns into a bear, Merida must look within herself and find the key to saving the kingdom. Merida is the first character in the Disney Princess line to be created by Pixar. The film is also dedicated to Pixar chairman and Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, who died before the film's release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vídeo Brinquedo</span> Brazilian animation studio

Vídeo Brinquedo is a Brazilian animation studio, located in São Paulo, known for producing animated films widely viewed as cheap mockbusters of comparable, more successful films from studios such as Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, DreamWorks Animation, 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios. The company was founded in 1995 as a Brazilian subsidiary of American distributor Spot Films, to distribute animation with the intention of distribution in its home market of Brazil, then seemingly split up and became Vídeo Brinquedo in 2004; later on, in 2006, they expanded to North America with the falling costs of DVD duplication and packaging, and easier access to language translation services. Most of Vídeo Brinquedo's films are still available on DVD and streaming services, though it is unclear who the current owners of the studio's output are.

<i>Monsters University</i> 2013 film by Dan Scanlon

Monsters University is a 2013 American animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It was directed by Dan Scanlon, produced by Kori Rae, and written by Scanlon and the writing team of Dan Gerson and Robert L. Baird. John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich served as the film's executive producers. The music for the film was composed and conducted by Randy Newman, making it his seventh collaboration with Pixar. Monsters University tells the story of the main characters of Monsters, Inc., James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski, and their time at college where they start off as bitter rivals but slowly become best friends. They are paired in a series of competitive scare-oriented events with their fraternity, and Wazowski ultimately learns that some things cannot be taught. John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, Bob Peterson, and John Ratzenberger reprise their roles as James P. Sullivan, Mike Wazowski, Randall Boggs, Roz, and the Abominable Snowman, respectively, while the new cast were joined by Helen Mirren, Alfred Molina, Peter Sohn, Joel Murray, Sean Hayes, Dave Foley, Charlie Day, Nathan Fillion and Aubrey Plaza, while Bonnie Hunt, who voiced Ms. Flint in the original film, voices Mike's teacher Mrs. Karen Graves.

<i>Cars</i> (franchise) Disney media franchise

Cars is an animated film series and Disney media franchise set in a world populated by anthropomorphic vehicles created by John Lasseter, Joe Ranft and Jorgen Klubien. The franchise began with the 2006 film, Cars, produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was followed by Cars 2 in 2011. A third film, Cars 3, was released in 2017. The now-defunct Disneytoon Studios produced the two spin-off films Planes (2013) and Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014).

Clash of the Empires is an American fantasy/adventure film produced by The Asylum and directed by Joseph Lawson. It stars Christopher Judge, Bai Ling and Sun Korng.

<i>Finding Nemo</i> (franchise) Film series and media franchise

Finding Nemo is a CGI animated film series and Disney media franchise that began with the 2003 film of the same name, produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The original film was followed by a sequel, Finding Dory, released in 2016. Both films were directed by Andrew Stanton. The film series received widespread critical acclaim from critics and audiences with two films released to-date, the series has grossed $1.9 billion worldwide.

<i>Britannicas Tales Around the World</i> US television program

Britannica's Tales Around the World is a direct-to-video animated educational series that was released in 1990.

References

  1. ↑ Fritz, Ben (June 24, 2012). "Low-budget knockoff movies benefit from Hollywood blockbusters". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2012-06-25. The animated knockoff is what's known in the film industry as a 'drafting opportunity.' ... The Asylum, a production company in Burbank that built much of its business with what staffers lovingly call 'mockbusters,' ...
  2. 1 2 Potts, Rolf (October 7, 2007). "The New B Movie". The New York Times . Retrieved February 6, 2009.
  3. ↑ Editorial Writer(s) (January 21, 2000). "Faux Film Festival". Suck.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2009.
  4. ↑ Gagliano, Rico (March 17, 2008). "Bollywood's copycat film industry". Marketplace. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
  5. ↑ Lovece, Frank (May 7, 1993). "Faux Lee Artists". Entertainment Weekly . Archived from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
  6. ↑ Baby, Sean. "Turkish Star Wars, E.T., Wizard of Oz". Wave Magazine . Archived from the original on November 12, 2006. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
  7. ↑ Delaney, Sean; Bryant, Chris (2002). "Battlestar Galactica" (PDF). BFI National Library – TV Sci-Fi Source Guide. British Film Institute: 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 22, 2008. Retrieved Nov 3, 2011.
  8. ↑ Hughes, David (March 2011). "Glen A. Larson does Star Wars!". Empire Magazine. No. 261.
  9. ↑ Strausbaugh, John (2007). Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in American Popular Culture. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 261. ISBN   9780312131494.
  10. ↑ Edwards, C. (January 8, 2014). "The Ultimate Guide to Animated Mockbusters". Cartoon Brew.
  11. ↑ "Animated Knock-offs #1: The Real 'Mockbusters'! |". cartoonresearch.com.
  12. ↑ "The History of the Mockbuster". Archived from the original on 2021-12-12 – via Filmmaker IQ on YouTube.
  13. 1 2 "Final negotiations with Dingo Pictures". vsdeluxe. 26 May 2021.
  14. 1 2 "The Insanely Strange Lion King Knockoff and Other 'Mockbusters' You Must See". The Village Voice. October 14, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Phoenix Games (holland) BV | Faillissement". April 10, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-04-10.
  16. ↑ "Wabuu - der Freche Waschbär" [Wabuu the cheeky raccoon]. Vier Sterne Deluxe Records. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  17. ↑ Dingo Pictures - Wabuu - Der Freche Waschbär (in German), 2 August 2021, retrieved 2022-06-18
  18. ↑ "Does Anyone Know The Way To MOCKBUSTER? - Warped Factor - Words in the Key of Geek". www.warpedfactor.com.
  19. ↑ Raftery, Brian (21 December 2009). "Now Playing: Cheap-and-Schlocky Blockbuster Ripoffs". Wired . Archived from the original on 2010-04-07. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  20. ↑ Brent Lang (2012-06-14). "Low-Budget 'Kiara the Brave' Capitalizes on Similarities to That Other 'Brave' Cartoon". The Wrap . Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  21. ↑ "Animated Knock-Offs #2: Not Quite 'Mockbusters'! |". cartoonresearch.com.
  22. 1 2 Koch, Dave (28 December 2013). "Disney Acts To Freeze Out Competition". Big Cartoon News. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  23. ↑ Prentice, Verity (6 September 2012). "Disney threatens legal action against 'copycat' DVDs" . Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  24. ↑ Acuna, Kirsten (12 September 2012). "Disney's Going After A UK Company For These Knockoff Films" . Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  25. 1 2 Del Barco, Mandalit (2012-09-10). "The Straight-To-DVD World Of 'Mockbusters'". NPR. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  26. 1 2 3 "Mockbuster Video «". Grantland.com. 10 October 2012. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  27. ↑ Roland-Martin, Tré (9 March 2015). "Some more quasi-mockbusters that some people might confuse for the real movie". Moviepilot . Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  28. ↑ Glenn Kay (2008). Zombie Movies . Chicago Review Press. p.  95. ISBN   978-1-55652-770-8.
  29. ↑ "10 Strange Things You'd Better Not Eat or Drink!". Bloody Disgusting. 2010-03-24. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
  30. ↑ "The Unauthorized Batman Films of the 1960s". Nothing But Comics. 28 May 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  31. ↑ Oca, Alysa. "5 Filipino knock-off versions of Hollywood blockbusters". Pacifiqa. Archived from the original on 27 June 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  32. ↑ "Bobo Cop". Internet Movie Database . Retrieved 2015-04-17.
  33. ↑ "Rocky Plus V". Internet Movie Database . Retrieved 2015-04-17.
  34. ↑ "Reviews - Film Threat - Part 2341". www.filmthreat.com. Archived from the original on 2010-03-12. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  35. ↑ Fritz, Ben (June 24, 2012). "Low-budget knockoff movies benefit from Hollywood blockbusters". LA Times.
  36. ↑ Nichols, Peter M. (September 10, 1993). "Home Video". The New York Times.
  37. ↑ Gardner, Eriq. "Disney Knocks Out 'Frozen Land' Film By Settling Lawsuit". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 7 December 2023– via uk.sports.yahoo.com/.
  38. ↑ Smithers, Rebecca (September 6, 2012). "Disney challenges UK film company over 'misleading' DVDs". The Guardian. London.
  39. ↑ Patten, Dominic (2012-12-10). "UPDATE: Warner Bros Hails 'Hobbit' Victory Over "Cynical" Mockbuster Producers". Deadline. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  40. ↑ Curry, Sean (2013-02-26). "Mockbusters: Way Worse Than The Worst Blockbusters". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  41. ↑ "In Defense Of Mockbusters". The Asylum . 2011-04-14. Archived from the original on 2011-09-18. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
  42. ↑ "Trademark Suit Blocks "Age of the Hobbits" Mockbuster Release". Sullivan Law. 11 December 2012.
  43. ↑ Belloni, Matthew (2012-11-07). "'The Hobbit' Producers Sue 'Age of the Hobbits' Studio for Trademark Infringement (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  44. ↑ Moore, Trent (2012-11-08). "Warner Bros. officially trying to kill that Hobbit mockbuster". blastr. Archived from the original on 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  45. ↑ "IP/Entertainment Law Weekly Case Update for Motion Picture Studios and Television Networks". Loeb & Loeb, LP. 2012-12-20. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  46. 1 2 "20 Mockbusters You Might Confuse for the Real Movie". www.mentalfloss.com. March 3, 2014.
  47. ↑ AFM: How The Asylum Used Schlock and Awe to Create a B-Movie Empire The Hollywood Reporter
  48. ↑ John Squires (February 11, 2019). "20 'Pet Sematary' Gets a Bootleg Mockbuster With Upcoming 'Pet Graveyard'". Bloody Disgusting.
  49. 1 2 From Grizzly to Great White: The Death of Film Ventures International - Paste
  50. ↑ The 6 Best Jokes Disney's 'Chip N Dale: Rescue Rangers' Makes About Disney Itself|The Wrap
  51. ↑ Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers Is an Irreverent, Intelligent Piece of Disney Necromancy - Paste
  52. ↑ Mockbusters: The Art of the Knockoff Film - Game Rant
  53. ↑ "The Amazing World of Gumball" The Treasure (TV Episode 2012) - Connections - IMDb
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.