The Most Influential/ Copied Movies of All Time

[levcore]

Which movies have been copied the most? Which movies came out and caused a whole host of other film makers and studios to try and copy their formula or traits or fx due to how influential they were?

The Matrix certainly sticks in my mind as a movie that had so many imitators try to copy its fight scenes, bullet time and fx. After the first Matrix came out we had so many poor imitations, especially in terms of movies trying to do their own bullet time sequences.

Any others?

[The Debts]

Star Wars is an obvious one.

[CreasyBear]

Every movie ever that's been really popular or innovative.

[levcore]

Originally Posted by The Debts

Star Wars is an obvious one.

Definitely one of the most influential of all time.

[bubbamoo]

IMO, the 39 steps and rashomon are the 2 most copied movies.

[Himmel]

2001: A Space Odyssey. The impact of this masterpiece is still being felt in films to this day.

[CreasyBear]

Originally Posted by bubbamoo

IMO, the 39 steps and rashomon are the 2 most copied movies.

Seven Samurai and Yojimbo have been remade officially and unofficially countless times.

[Member-320773]

The king of them all up to this date:

King Kong (1933)

[Josep5349]

Kidnapped by Indians, 1899. Filmed in England.

[imsounoriginal]

The Dark Knight/Nolan in general.

For better or worse.

[Leslie Dame]

The Exorcist

[cardiac161]

The Die Hard scenario & the Rambo character.

Though I'm also curious what was the very first movie that came was released where the main character starts out average and normal but is really a secret agent with "skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you."

[monwobbbo]

Originally Posted by levcore

Which movies have been copied the most? Which movies came out and caused a whole host of other film makers and studios to try and copy their formula or traits or fx due to how influential they were?

The Matrix certainly sticks in my mind as a movie that had so many imitators try to copy its fight scenes, bullet time and fx. After the first Matrix came out we had so many poor imitations, especially in terms of movies trying to do their own bullet time sequences.

Any others?

have to point out that The Matrix borrowed a good deal of what you mentioned from HK cinema. the fights and gun battles are all just copied from earlier HK action films. Yeun Woo Ping had been doing kung fu fights since the 70s. John Woo created the gun fights and bullet time had been used in films like Full Contact years before.

[DR Herbert West]

[Zillamon51]

Metropolis and Halloween. Both have direct descendants that also qualify. Is any movie w/ a gritty techno-noir future city setting copying Metropolis, or Blade Runner? Is generic slasher movie #569 an imitation of Halloween, or Friday the 13th?

[bferr1972]

The E.T. story formula

[dallywhitty]

[Zillamon51]

An interesting case: Dawn of the Dead (1978). George Romero's first zombie film, Night of the Living Dead (1968), was a big success. It introduced the modern concept of the undead, flesh-eating zombie. And it certainly spawned some imitators. But Dawn is the one that really kicked off the zombie craze that is going strong to this day.

I attribute that to the novelty of its setting: The shopping mall. That's what made zombie movies so much more fun. It introduced the mental role-playing aspect of, "If this happened, where would I go? What would I do?" And that is what has sustained the zombie genre to this day.

[Zillamon51]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

[Show spoiler]

Which itself was influenced heavily, heavily by Metropolis (1927).

But yeah, to answer my previous question, most movies with this setting (and every other anime, ever) are probably riffing Blade Runner. It's the one that's been seen more.

[bubbles46]

The Most Dangerous Game