Instant expert
The imitation game…
Fancy a cheap thrill? Then gen up on ‘Mockbusters’.
The ‘mockbuster’ is pure cinematic larceny, borrowing liberally from a prior hit’s high concept, publicity buzz and even title. Arriving hand-in-hand with the B-movies of the 1950s, its roots can be traced back to a time when conveyor-belt companies were punching out genre pics with lurid titles and posters. Famously, 1959 sci-fi The Monster Of Piedras Blancas aped Creature From The Black Lagoon, with producer Jack Kevan, who’d worked on the ‘Creature’ suit, creating the ‘Monster’ outfit here. The ‘mockbuster’ was born. Coupled with the advent of home video, the early George Lucas/Steven Spielberg blockbusters inspired a host of imitators. Some were passable – like the Star Wars rip-off Battle Beyond The Stars, with effects by James Cameron – while others were risible. Other Spielberg efforts like Jaws and Raiders Of The Lost Ark were so popular, a veritable cottage industry sprang up around them. Foreign companies also got involved – such as 1982’s Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam, dubbed the ‘Turkish Star Wars’ for using unlicensed footage of the real thing. Californian production company The Asylum initially focused on low-budget straight-to-video fare until, in 2005, it hit paydirt with the release of H.G. Wells’ War Of The Worlds shortly before the Spielberg version. Since then, The Asylum has been behind Transmorphers, The Da Vinci Treasure and Sunday School Musical, not to mention B-movies like 2013’s Sharknado and the Mega Shark Vs… series. In the wake of 1992’s Aladdin, Disney sued GoodTimes Entertainment after the company had been allegedly packaging its titles to resemble Mouse House product. Crucially, Disney lost, but it didn’t stop studio litigaion. Brightonbased company Brightspark faced the wrath of Disney for its own copycats, while Uncle Walt’s outfit also took Phase 4 to court, for renaming its cartoon from The Legend Of Sarila to Frozen Land. The Asylum has also been in the dock, for its films American Battleship and Age Of Hobbits. Cartoon mockbusters are common, with Pixar, Disney and DreamWorks titles particular victims of hype piggybacking. So Happy Feet led to Tappy Toes; Kung-Fu Panda became Chop Kick Panda; Brave was re-jigged as Kiara The Brave and so on. Brazilian company Video Brinquedo is prolific – producing the likes of Ratatoing ( Ratatouille), The Little Cars ( Cars) and What’s Up: Balloon To The Rescue ( Up). Not that the product has proved too popular; one critic dubbed them “the laziest/ cheapest movie studio of all time”. JM