Mockbuster
As Mockbuster (shortening of mock-up -Blockbuster ) Knock Buster (shortening of knock-off blockbuster ) or rip-off are referred to films that freeloaders one appearing mostly at the same time blockbuster represent. While a mockbuster film is more about a cheap copy of the original in title and plot, a knockbuster only tries to be a cheap or trashy copy.
history
Mockbusters have a long history , especially in Hollywood . An early example is the 1959 Vanwick Productions film The Monster of Piedras Blancas , a knockbuster of the hit film The Terror of the Amazon with the completely identical monster costume by designer Jack Kevan . More recent examples are Body of Evidence (1993) by Uli Edel as a copy of the blockbuster Basic Instinct (1992) by Paul Verhoeven as well as Transmorphers , based on the similar sounding and conceived blockbuster Transformers , and the Mockbuster 2012: Doomsday , which came out before the original was published (Manufacturer: Faith Films) and Supernova 2012 (Manufacturer: the Asylum ), inspired by the published in November 2009, movie 2012 by Roland Emmerich .
Producers and Directors
While a few directors used to specialize in this kind of cheap copy, for example Fred Olen Ray (Monster from the Galaxy in relation to ET - The Extra-Terrestrial ), today it is increasingly well-known studios such as The Asylum , which without exception produce such free riders of well-known blockbusters and in addition employ a whole staff of directors.
criticism
The manufacturers of such mockbusters are accused of exploiting the ignorance of a new blockbuster in order to exploit its advertising and general attention before or during the appearance of the original in order to successfully sell a cheap copy with a confusingly similar sounding name and the same presentation. Such cheap copies are difficult to recognize as such from the outside and are mostly bought with the intention of acquiring the corresponding blockbuster.
Web links
- Benjamin Maack: Blockbuster Copier: Hollywood's Garbage Master. In: Spiegel Online . February 3, 2011, accessed December 30, 2016 .
- Badly copied is half the battle (dradio knowledge audio contribution)