Post by Chicago Jake on Aug 19, 2012 16:47:09 GMT -6
I learned a new word yesterday: Mockbuster. Apparently, it is a "film created with the apparent intention of piggy-backing on the publicity of a major film with a similar title or theme and is often made with a low budget." cite
We had received a DVD from Netflix called "Battle: Los Angeles" about space aliens attacking earth, and focused on the battle in LA. I was pretty sure I had already seen it on SyFy channel, and that it had starred Nia Peeples. But nope, no Nia in this one, but it did have Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, and Bridget Moynahan.
A little sleuthing determined that the movie I had already seen was called "Battle of Los Angeles" and was pretty much the same premise. It was released one day after "Battle: Los Angeles," but on SyFy channel, not in theaters. Anyway, the Wiki page for the video movie called it a "mockbuster" of the other film.
(The Aaron Eckhart film was much better than the Nia Peeples one, which I had turned off half-way through. Imagine "Independence Day," but told through the perspective of the ground troops only; no generals, no president, no scientists, no Judd Hirsch; just the grunts in the trenches.)
I was of course well aware of knock-off, me-too type movies, which have been around forever, but this was the first time I've heard this term for it.
Any other favorite examples of a mockbuster? Specifically, a film created to piggy-back on the full-throttle publicity campaign of another, much better movie?
We had received a DVD from Netflix called "Battle: Los Angeles" about space aliens attacking earth, and focused on the battle in LA. I was pretty sure I had already seen it on SyFy channel, and that it had starred Nia Peeples. But nope, no Nia in this one, but it did have Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, and Bridget Moynahan.
A little sleuthing determined that the movie I had already seen was called "Battle of Los Angeles" and was pretty much the same premise. It was released one day after "Battle: Los Angeles," but on SyFy channel, not in theaters. Anyway, the Wiki page for the video movie called it a "mockbuster" of the other film.
(The Aaron Eckhart film was much better than the Nia Peeples one, which I had turned off half-way through. Imagine "Independence Day," but told through the perspective of the ground troops only; no generals, no president, no scientists, no Judd Hirsch; just the grunts in the trenches.)
I was of course well aware of knock-off, me-too type movies, which have been around forever, but this was the first time I've heard this term for it.
Any other favorite examples of a mockbuster? Specifically, a film created to piggy-back on the full-throttle publicity campaign of another, much better movie?
