A mockbuster is a film made at about the same time as a big budget film with a similar title and ethos. It’s an attempt to ride on the wave of the big bucks feature, flirting with copyright infringement and plagiarism laws.
I’ve collected a few examples of these low cost direct to DVD (D2D) mockbuster titles for entertainment purposes only. I’m not suggesting you go an watch any of them, and remember, piracy is a crime.
Mockbusters aren’t a new phenomenon, but they seem to have multiplied in recent years thanks to more affordable filming and editing equipment. Some early examples are Star Wars which had a number of these mockbusters including Starcrash and Battle Beyond the Stars; and Gremlins which spawned Hobgoblins.
The makers hope that someone in a hurry will run into Our Price (or wherever the kids go these days) and think they’ve bought Snakes on a Plane but actually they’ve picked up a copy of Snakes on a Train. To be quite frank with you, if someone makes that mistake they deserve to watch the film in full for being so unobservant. It will teach them a valuable life lesson.
As you can imagine, anyone trying to get a cut of Hollywood’s fattest cat’s pyjamas is going to be in for a bit of trouble if they go too far. Movie business behemoths do not take kindly to the idea of sharing, but on the other hand the mockbuster guys try not to break the law, just tickle it. But they do sail pretty darned close the to those tempestuous winds of illegality.
If something isn’t a direct copy then it’s pretty tricky to sue, but Disney had a pop when its film Brave was hammed up and spewed out as Braver. In general these films don’t trick people though, mockbusters have a cult fan base of people who enjoy watching them to rip the mickey out of them. If Disney loses a couple of tupences because of one of these jokey wood fests – good.
Pretty funny hey? Plenty more on the next page, including Almighty Thor and The DaVinci Treasure…
Warner Bros. fought (and won) a case recently when one opportunistic mockbuster-maker – Asylum – attempted to release Age of the Hobbits at the same time as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey readied for its debut. They pushed it too far. Another company got into similar strife over their version of Disney’s Frozen. The company – Phase 4 – produced a film called The Legend Of Sarila which didn’t do very well in the box office, but when Disey’s Frozen was released they decided it might be a good time to re-brand and call it Frozen Land. And to be quite honest they took the mickey. Here are the two covers, original and rebrand:
And here’s the logos of the Disney film and the Phase 4 film… hmmm… yeah, I don’t think they’ll win this battle somehow…
Here’s a random selection of other uninvited attempts to sip from Hollywood’s ample gravy train…
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OLD HORROR FILM TRAILERS PART 1
OLD HORROR FILM TRAILERS PART 2
I reckon this is my favourite:
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HAND DRAWN INDIAN HORROR FILM POSTERS
