Peter G (sinetimore) wrote,
Peter G

Here It Goes, Here It Goes, Here It Goes Again

There's a Hollywood truism -- everybody wants to get into the act.  Do something successful, and you will see more than fans, you will see imitators.  Hell, Roger Corman's whole career is based on, "This is working?  Let's make one of our own."

This, in and of itself, is not a bad thing.  People get inspired.  Sometimes, they can come up with something good.  Sometimes, they can come up with something bad.  But the further you get down the scale, the more hit and miss this becomes.  Piranha was not only a Jaws rip-off, it acknowledged it was a Jaws rip-off (complete with the Jaws video game from the era appearing in one scene).  However, it was a GOOD rip-off, and even introduced a lot of cliches that we take for granted now.  On the other hand, Eragon.  This is a rip off of Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars, and all kinds of other pop culture successes.  And it sucked because of how derivative it was.  It was no more derivative than Piranha was, but that one gets the scorn of people like me while Piranha is not only enjoyed, but celebrated.  I can't explain it myself, just saying it's out there.  As much as I bash Twilight, at least it isn't copying anybody.

Now, movies are the most notorious for this.  The reason is money.  When they see something do huge, everyone figures they can cash in, too.  This is what gave us the reworking of Percy Jackson And The Olympians into Harry Potter 2.0.  And sometimes it can cause territorial problems.  A British movie company was working on a movie version of The War Of The Worlds, intended to be a completely faith remake, with the time period and tripods and all that stuff.  Then Steven Spielberg decided he was going to make a War Of The Worlds movie.  Production continued in secret because, while the book is public domain, Spielberg has enough money to cause legal problems (IIRC, the movie cannot legally be exhibited in England because of Spielberg's WotW claim, but can everywhere else).  A French company had to change the name of its collectible figurine to "The Bellringer Of Notre Dame" because Disney asserted rights after their Hunchback movie came out.  Never mind that the story is public domain.  And sometimes, you can still get away with it.  They are prepping a movie version of The Little Mermaid (no, I haven't ordered advance tickets, and no, I DON'T HAVE MERMAIDS ON THE BRAIN, GODDAMMIT!!!).

Now, the public domain thing is interesting.  Who can exploit something can be a bit hit and miss.  Walk through any department store and you will see "Children's Classics" DVD's with Beauty And The Beast, Pocahontas, The Little Mermaid, and more, all public domain titles and done on the cheap, hoping people looking for kids' stuff and unable to find the official Disney releases because they are out of print will get them instead.  Usually, this is only for people who don't know better.  They are still doing slightly reworked versions of public domain stuff, but not enough to step on Disney's toes and get them sued.

Well, until now.  With a tip of the hat to the folks at Slashfilm, check this shit out....

Yes, this is an unrepentant copy of Disney's Beauty And The Beast.  For extra lulz, look at some of the other trailers this company has on its YouTube channel, such as Snow White.  Actually, the copyright violation isn't the part that worries me.  It's that the company might decide to make a movie version of Faithful Hearts and make DisneyFan01's dream come true.  Then again, for her to work on it, it would get her out of the country.  You know, cloud, silver lining, blah blah blah....

Man, NetFlix is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from becoming


Quick, Disney, stop them before they do a movie version of My Immortal next!
Tags: art, destroying childhood memories, haven't we suffered enough, infernal gall, wtf
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