Essay: Movies with the Same Storyline

Do you know the feeling? You're watching a movie and all of a sudden you think: "Wait a minute! I've seen this before?" Suddenly you recall a similar plot, characters with identical conflicts or even dialog that you've heard just like that before. Whether it's superhero movies, romantic comedies or horror flicks: The film industry always falls back on tried and tested formulas for success.

But why is that so? Is it a creative stagnation, laziness on the part of the screenwriters or is there perhaps a clever strategy behind it? In this KinoCheck Original, we take a look at movies that tell surprisingly similar stories, analyze the reasons behind them and explore the question: How can we finally get some innovative film ideas?

Huge Budgets and Huge Flops

Reason number 1: Films are expensive. Hollywood in particular is and always has been primarily a huge financial powerhouse. And this factor naturally influences which movies are produced.

The cost of Hollywood productions has risen massively in recent decades. One explanation for this is the increasingly elaborate visual effects. Blockbusters such as "Avengers: Endgame" or "Avatar: The Way of Water" had budgets of several hundred million dollars because they relied on highly developed CGI technology, big sets and elaborate stunts, among other things. However, the high salaries of the absolute top stars shouldn't be overlooked either: Tom Cruise, for instance, is said to have been paid a jaw-dropping 100 million dollars for his role in "Top Gun: Maverick". For this amount alone, you could shoot "The Brutalist" with Adrien Brody 10 times, for example, which had a total budget of just 10 million.

In addition, there are huge marketing costs, which are often almost as high as the production itself. A blockbuster therefore usually has to earn 2 to 3 times its production budget in order to just cover the costs - in fact, only anything above that is a profit for the filmmakers.

So big movies are pretty expensive. But what does this have to do with the fact that many of these movies are so similar? The answer is quite simple: if you rely on tried and tested formulas, you are taking less of a risk. And that's totally understandable: why would you change your usual approach if it has always been a success? Certain stories and narrative patterns have proven to be extremely effective time and again and guarantee at least a certain level of viewer interest and therefore a basic amount of success at the box office.

Because even if the sales figures often seem gigantic, none of the major film distributors could afford to produce several multimillion-dollar flops in a row given the costs involved nowadays. Experiments are thus preferably carried out on small productions - and as soon as something works, attempts are made to replicate the presumed success factors in bigger productions. Do you remember the trend of "found footage" films? After inexpensive surprise hits like "The Blair Witch Project" or "Paranormal Activity", even high-budget productions such as "Cloverfield" tried to adopt the same style.

Twin Films

By repeating certain narrative patterns, styles and themes, studios can draw on an existing fan base and thereby reduce the financial risk. However, this approach leads to similar stories or elements appearing on screen again and again.

An interesting example of the production of similar movies is the phenomenon of so-called twin films: This involves two movies from different studios that are released almost simultaneously with comparable topics. The reason for this can be a current event or anniversary that inspires several authors - or the fact that a subject is in the focus of the zeitgeist. Twin films are often the result of a mix of competition, coincidence and trends in the film industry. Sometimes an unsolicited draft script, a so-called spec script, is passed around various desks in Hollywood. Its ideas are then simply taken up by several studios. Let's take a look at a few examples of twin films that some of you may have already come across.

"White House Down" and "Olympus Has Fallen"

So here's a story: The White House is attacked by terrorists and only one hero can oppose them. Of course it's about "White House Down" - directed by Roland Emmerich! Or rather "Olympus Has Fallen" by Antoine Fuqua? Both movies are from 2013, so they were produced at the same time. In "Olympus Has Fallen", the hero is a former secret service agent who has to save the president. In "White House Down", however, it's a policeman. Both movies differ slightly in mood - one is a bit darker, while the other film is a bit more light-hearted.

But wait a minute: a man who has to single-handedly take on a squad of terrorists in a building ... didn't we also have that in 1988 with Bruce Willis in "Die Hard"? Or in 2018 with Dwayne Johnson in "Skyscraper"? Well, at least Harrison Ford took care of the bad guys all by himself as President in "Air Force One" in 1997 - in an aircraft instead of the White House. How original!

"No Strings Attached" and "Friends with Benefits"

Do you remember "No Strings Attached" and "Friends with Benefits", both from 2011? The movies tell the story of two people who enter into a purely sexual relationship with no romantic attachment, but who would have thought it - they end up falling in love. The central themes are the difficulties of turning a platonic friendship into a romance and the emotional challenges of such a relationship. The difference between the two films lies in the characters and the way the films are told: While "Friends with Benefits" relies more on humor and easy dialogue, "No Strings Attached" takes a more serious approach.

"Antz" and "A Bug's Life"

And let's be honest: who hasn't thought that "Antz" and "A Bug's Life" were the same movie? The fact that both animated films were also released at the same time in 1998 led to even more confusion. The stories are almost identical: Both are about insects rebelling against the existing social order. "Antz" is about an ant that opposes the rigid caste system of its ant colony and fights against a threat.

In "A Bug's Life", we experience a similar story from the perspective of grasshoppers and ants, in which an outsider confronts the traditional norms of the community. Despite their similarities, the movies differ considerably in style and animation technique - "Antz" uses a dark, almost adult narrative style, while "A Bug's Life" opts for more humorous and child-friendly elements. However, both films deal with similar topics of individualism, community and standing up to authority.

Star Wars: Forever the Same Story

However, the phenomenon of similar plots and elements also repeatedly occurs outside of twin films. "Star Wars: Episode 4 - A New Hope" and "Star Wars: Episode 7 - The Force Awakens", released in 2015, are excellent examples of this. Both movies start with a young, inexperienced hero who gets caught up in a major galactic conflict. In both movies, he becomes involved in a mission where important information is stored in a droid and must be handed over to the rebellion. With Kylo Ren and Darth Vader, both movies of course also feature masked villains who give the heroes a hard time. In the end, the villains' base has to be blown up as it can destroy other planets.

Put simply, it's the same story: it's about the battle of good versus evil, the rise of a new hero and the oppression of the Empire. "Episode 7" is not only a repetition of the story in large parts, but can also be interpreted as a kind of homage to the classic. The goal: to win over a new generation of fans and continue to satisfy existing fans with the good old "Star Wars" feeling. Obviously that doesn't make it "original and new".

Why It's Always the Same Stories

Of course, "Star Wars" episodes 4 and 7 don't have the exact same plot. The less precisely you look at stories, the more similarities you notice in all kinds of films. Even in ancient Greece, Aristotle tried to find certain key forms of stories, which since then have only ever been modified in detail. George Lucas, for example, deliberately took up the classic "hero's journey" to tell his first "Star Wars" movie - except in outer space, but with motifs from westerns, samurai and world war movies.

Fairy tales, myths and classic stories are deeply rooted in human culture. They deal with universal themes such as love, revenge, power and loss, which are relevant in every era. Directors often draw on these themes because they appeal to a wider target audience. And these stories in turn inspire other storytellers.

But the result does not necessarily have to be the same: Two directors who use the same basic idea can execute it in entirely different manners. A theme such as "The Rise and Fall of a Character" can be told in countless variations: for example, as a brutal gangster story as in "Scarface" or as an entertaining satire like "The Wolf of Wall Street".

Nostalgia plays an important role as well: lots of filmmakers also want to consciously remind audiences of past works or familiarize a new generation of viewers with classic stories. This leads to a revival of old themes and tales that are either reinterpreted or told in a modern context: The successful remake of "Romeo and Juliet" with Leonardo DiCaprio in 1996, for instance, won over a whole new audience for Shakespeare's supposedly outdated classic.

Are We Too Demanding?

Another reason why we are constantly indignant about Hollywood's apparent lack of ideas lies in ourselves. Thanks to the internet, we are better informed about what the media has to offer than ever before. Not only have many of us probably already seen far more movies than our parents combined, there are also many more opportunities to talk about films, exchange ideas and learn about them. In short: we really have a lot of experience with movies. And of course, it's becoming increasingly difficult to offer us anything new that we haven't already seen elsewhere in one form or another.

For filmmakers, this is a dilemma: on the one hand, our expectations have risen, but on the other hand, proven stories are more likely to be successful at the box office. It is therefore not surprising that original stories are more likely to be found in cheaper productions than in the big blockbusters.

Of course, there is also a third category: relatively cheaply produced movies that nevertheless always deliver the same thing - exactly what the target audience enjoys. How many revenge thrillers has Liam Neeson starred in? We have lost count.

One clear advantage of movies with a familiar plot is that they offer a degree of certainty and viewers know what to expect. Often, these types of movies are also much easier to convince potential audiences of: Nobody is interested in complex story twists in a Jason Statham movie. But Jason punching bad guys in the face? That's wonderful! Few fans would want more originality in the plot. They're more interested in the action and the cool lines.

A Vicious Cycle

However, the repetition of the same successful formulas leads to a problem in the long term: if movies follow the same patterns and structures too closely, this can result in a creative stagnation. Directors and screenwriters all too often rely on viewers accepting tried and tested storytelling. But the constant recurrence can also reduce the audience's interest and then it no longer ensures box office success. Take superhero fatigue, for example.

Conclusion

As you can see, the fact that certain themes and stories are repetitive is not a new phenomenon. And there can even be a certain appeal in repeating them if the new interpretations incorporate original ideas of their own. However, viewers are right to lose interest when they realize that filmmakers are merely reusing generic formulas and filling them with arbitrary content.

In contrast, fresh ideas often come from small productions - perhaps precisely because they take a somewhat naive approach to the commercial prospects of their film ideas. Or because they don't need to reach such a large audience due to the low costs involved. Of course, there is also an infinite amount of monotony here. But the sheer mass of films also gives rise to individual pieces that stand out due to their unusual ideas and can also set new trends in bigger productions.

Outro

What do you think of the current selection of movies and series? Are you satisfied with what's available or would you like to see more unconventional stories? And what are your personal insider tips? Movies that hardly anyone is aware of because they really offer something different? We look forward to your recommendations in the comments!