Movie Doppelgangers

[Lee A Stewart]

The Warriors
The Wanderers

Both are gang movies released in 1979

[Lee A Stewart]

They are called "Twin Films" BTW.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_films

[rikraq]

1984 was the year that seemed to be about farmers/farming:

Places in the Heart
Country
The River

[Jaymole]

Harlow (1965) with Carol Lynley
Harlow (1965) with Carroll Baker

They came out 5 weeks apart

[JediJones77]

Captain Marvel and Shazam came out within a month of each other. Shazam's original, and longstanding name was Captain Marvel. Took 80 years for him to get a movie (not counting his 1941 serial), and Marvel's much later rip-off of his name was right there to steal his thunder.

Incredibles (2004) and Fantastic Four (2005).

[traths]

Double Indemnity and Body Heat

The Last House on the Left and The Virgin Spring

[DR Herbert West]

X-Ray and Visiting Hours

[C+C Muzak]

Moonrunners / Gator / Moonshine County Express / Dixie Dynamite

Eat My Dust! / Cannonball! / Death Race 2000 / Grand Theft Auto / The Gumball Rally

The Great Smokey Roadblock / Smokey And The Bandit

[RCRochester]

Cannonball!
The Gumball Rally

[SeanJoyce]

And somewhat in line with the thread's premise, I'd be totally remiss if I didn't mention the "white collar, suburban ennui" trifecta from 1999:

Fight Club
Office Space
American Beauty

[JediJones77]

You have to stick to the premise of the thread, otherwise every remake and rip-off would apply and the thread would be a mile long. E.g. Gremlins, Ghoulies, Critters, etc. This is about movies that were being produced simultaneously with a similar movie.

[starsteam]

You could list dozens of films from The Asylum and Roger Corman but those were purposefully made to come out at the same time. Same can be said about the various Abyss ripoffs and Carnosaur. I don't count rip-offs in the same category as films that coincidently are similar.

Batman v Superman and Captain America: Civil War. I remember the jokes about 2016 being the year superheroes fought with each other just because those came out so close together.

AXL and Bumblebee also feel very similar to each other. I know they copy the ET formula but both having escaped machines tread really close.

The Howling and An American Werewolf in London. These were the first werewolf movies of their kind and produced at the same time.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by CreasyBear

Eh.

I am shamed. Ugh. Can't believe I got those mixed up.

Well, the stars of each series ARE brothers, so it's a forgivable mistake.

Originally Posted by starsteam

You could list dozens of films from The Asylum and Roger Corman but those were purposefully made to come out at the same time. Same can be said about the various Abyss ripoffs and Carnosaur. I don't count rip-offs in the same category as films that coincidently are similar.

Batman v Superman and Captain America: Civil War. I remember the jokes about 2016 being the year superheroes fought with each other just because those came out so close together.

AXL and Bumblebee also feel very similar to each other. I know they copy the ET formula but both having escaped machines tread really close.

The Howling and An American Werewolf in London. These were the first werewolf movies of their kind and produced at the same time.

How did I not think of this example? I just watched both films back to back over the weekend

[ImBlu_DaBaDee]

Black Panther and Aquaman both came out in 2018 and have surprisingly similar stories even if the details and tone are different.

[Jay H.]

The Passion of the Christ and the remake of Dawn of the Dead

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by Jay H.

The Passion of the Christ and the remake of Dawn of the Dead

Good luck I can see some people wanting to crucify you for this.

[Samus Aran]

Jobs and Steve Jobs

[Leslie Dame]

The Hearse (1980) and The Nesting (1981). Both have an almost Identical plot: traumatized woman leaves big city and moves into a haunted house in the country.

Fright Night (1985) and Night Visitor (1989). Though this is more a case of ripping off. The writer of Night Visitor claims he found inspiration from the night stalker serial killer case when he wrote the script. This might be true as Richard Ramirez was captured August 31, 1985. Fright Night hit theaters August 2nd, 1985.
I assume the writer simply combined both. Not only does Night Visitor use the same "boy cries wolf" plotline from Fright Night, it also uses the exact same characters (Boy spies on new neighbor through bedroom window. Boy lives alone with his mother. Boy has girlfriend. Boy has best friend. Boy seeks help from excentric expert).
The Canadian TV movie Never Cry Werewolf (2008) also "recycled" the Fright Night plot and also uses the exact same characters. They actually lifted scenes directly from Fright Night. Instead of a vampire a werewolf moves next door to a girl who then cries wolf.

[JediJones77]

Guess that Gremlins and Critters might actually apply here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critters_(film)

Although widely believed to have been inspired by the success of Joe Dante's 1984 film Gremlins,[4][5] Herek has refuted this in interviews, pointing out that the script was written by Muir long before Gremlins went into production and subsequently underwent rewrites to reduce the apparent similarities between the two films.[6]

[ImBlu_DaBaDee]

The Mist and The Fog