one time there were two magician movies

the prestige was so good.

There was even a third magician movie around the same time, by the peep show guys

Another borderline case:

The Truman Show (1998)
EDTV (1999)

Probably much too far apart to count but...
Porridge (1979)
Escape to Victory (1981)

Robin hoods

Famously there was a British Robin Hood film that ended up being completely eclipsed by prince of thieves

Xpost!

Feels weird to include that because there have probably been years when there have been like 7 Robin Hood films produced

War of the Worlds (2005) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407304/
The War of the Worlds (2005) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425638/
War of the Worlds (2005) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449040/

the first one is the Tom Cruise one, the second is the english version set at the same time as the book, the third is a knock-off rushed out on video ahead of the Cruise version to confuse people into buying it.

The General (1998)
Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000)

Both based on Irish gangster Martin Cahill

I thought it was normal to have certain themes be popular in certain years. Not sure what determines it , unless it is just competition within the industry. Or industries, do publishing houses do similar?

a second time there were two magician movies

the incredible burt wonderstone (2013)
now you see me (2013)

Because they were such anomalies at the time (two psycho-killer movies today wouldn't be notable), and because of the stature of the two directors, Psycho and Peeping Tom, both 1960.

I watched the British Robin Hood movie a few years ago, and it was really quite good, certainly better than Prince of Thieves. Possibly even the best Robin Hood feature film since the Errol Flynn era?

i kind of feel like

things to do in denver when you're dead (1995)
the usual suspects (1995)

should qualify but there were so many, so many tarantino knockoffs produced in the 90s that at least two of them would necessarily (emphasis) had to have bryan ferry, with his floppy, insouciant hair and sharply, elegantly disarrayed suits, as a former gangster trying to go straight but he's dragged back into the crimeworld for one last job to save his flailing enterprise but it goes disastrously wrong with an ensemble cast and interpersonal quibbling and banter that i'm not really sure if it does.

Another one that's maybe a bit of a stretch but I think fits: the two grand-diva movies of 1950, Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve.

California Split and The Gambler, 1974.

Catch-22 and MASH, 1970--not just war films, but a very specific kind of Strangelove absurdist black comedy.

Also both given a "not Vietnam, but we're really talking about Vietnam" gloss by their directors.

The Prestige has Bowie-as-Tesla in it
The Illusionist is a bad movie but has Philip Glass' best score ever

bridget jones' diary (2001)
legally blonde (200))

a blonde zaftig protagonist shows up at a party dressed in a bunny costume because they thought it was a costume party but it wasn't, but she wins the day despite things

The Illusionist wasn't even the best movie named The Illusionist in recent times

legally blonde also 2001, not 200)

Catch-22 and MASH, 1970--not just war films, but a very specific kind of Strangelove absurdist black comedy.

― clemenza, Friday, March 25, 2016 9:11 AM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

speaking of, Strangelove and Fail Safe prob fit

Lambada (1990)
The Forbidden Dance (1990)

Breakin' (1984)
Beat Street (1984)

Like Father Like Son (October 1987)
Vice Versa (March 1988)
Big (June 1988)

18 Again! (April 1988)

Style Wars
Wild Style

if wins the day wasn't an emo combo out of omaha circa 2004 that had a #27 alt rock chart hit with "i'm okay, stop asking" i'll seppuku myself

elaction (1999) was a fillum about a female secondary character that has a scene where she swings on a swing set to
represent the tension between lost youth /coming of age dynamics and i swear there was another contemporary joint that utilized the same device so they're the same movie but i can't remember what the other one was just now, but i randomly watched them in succession so it counts

Lambada (1990)
The Forbidden Dance (1990)

Breakin' (1984)
Beat Street (1984)

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, March 25, 2016 2:22 PM (20 minutes ago)

These are the two cousins who fell out, right? So the two competing films were at least intentional, w/ them trying to outdo each other.

The two Lambada movies actually came out on the same day! (Also, one starred future Mulholland Dr. co-star Laura Harring, and the other starred Melora Hardin of The Office fame.)

the phrase "lambada, the forbidden dance," is indivisible in my memory. which is the wellspring and which is the pretender?

*ahem*

These are the two cousins who fell out, right? So the two competing films were at least intentional, w/ them trying to outdo each other.

Their company split and they both wanted to continue work on the idea for a Lambada film, so they raced each other to the cinemas. (Sorry for not providing loads of detail but the story is slightly fuzzy in my mind.)

Gene Siskel was a fan of Lambada.

also Da Grande (1987). Seems like we couldn't get enough body swap movies in the 80s

No mystery, this pair:

Nineteen eighty-four (1984)
Brazil (1985)

all those stevejobs movies

Body swap films could prob be its own thread. Remember seeing one called switch (man becomes woman) from around that time

Xp weren't there two hawking bios in relatively quick succession?

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
Requiem (2006)

both based on the real life case of Anneliese Michel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anneliese_Michel

Deep Impact / Armageddon is often said to be one the archetypes of this phenomenon BUT Deep Impact involved a comet; in Armageddon it was an asteroid. TOTALLY different things, you guys.

there was this one year when loads of fucking superhero films came out

Lol I was genuinely gonna make a comment along those lines cause istr an instance where that happened and it actually seemed notable

A long time ago obv

There are always two boxing movies coming out

The big one before Deep Impact/Armageddon happened was the two Christopher Columbus movies that both came out (and flopped) in 1992.

within a few years this phenomena will have escalated to 12 fucking immortal twats in daft costumes movies at the same time

xp think you mean three Christopher Columbus movies that came out in 1992

http://www.moviepostercompany.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/P3051671.jpg

(assuming that the two you were referring to are 'Christopher Columbus: The Discovery' and the Ridley Scott film)

yeah--the Carry On movies never really crossed over here, and tbh I didn't even know they were still happening as late as '92.

genuinely thought you were talking about the director of home alone at first

^^ Me too

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/DuelingWorks/Film

― Tuomas, Friday, March 25, 2016 4:10 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Tuomas dropped a nuke on this thread

Oh no, but he’s not a hero

Indies about three dopey dudes who thieves and pull off a big heist after some enept smaller robberies: Bottle Rocket and Palookaville, both 1996

"who become thieves and try to pull off a major heist" & "inept smaller robberies "

The two O.J. projects (F/X series + 8-hour ESPN documentary). O.J.: Made in America screened at Sundance on Jan. 22, 2016; The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story debuted on Feb. 2, 2016, 11 days later.

https://www.ilxor.com/ILX/NewAnswersControllerServlet?boardid=41

lol

Hah

I thought this was going to be about

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODBhZTFiOGItNjk4ZS00Y2VkLWJkNGQtNTk5NzZlNThlM2I4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzQwMTY2Nzk@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTM2NTU1ZTktNjc4YS00NjNhLWE4NmYtOTM2YjFjOGUzNmYzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODE5NzE3OTE@._V1_.jpg

From 2011:

“La Guerre des Boutons” (“The War of the Buttons”) is a comedic remake of a 1962 blockbuster about spirited boys fighting with catapults and wooden swords. It was released Wednesday in French theaters.

But in an unprecedented development here, a more melodramatic film of the same story, with the similar title “La Nouvelle Guerre des Boutons” (“The New War of the Buttons”), comes out just a week later.

Both scripts are based on the same book, “La Guerre des Boutons,” written in 1912 by Louis Pergaud. Both have the same co-producer, the privately owned television channel TF1, and the same budget, about 13 million euros, or nearly $18 million.

https://www.critique-film.fr/la-guerres-des-boutons-2-films-differents/

https://archive.is/IIjHG

I suppose this sort of thing is going to keep happening as books fall out of copyright

a 1912 book by someone who died in 1915 would've been public domain for a while though

for some reason it didn’t enter the public domain until 2010, not sure why

Once upon a time there were two Jean Harlow biopics released five weeks apart:

Harlow (1965)
Harlow (1965)

came on here to post this but emil.y beat me to it 8 years ago lol

emil.y at 3:42 26 Mar 16
The Double (2013, adapted from Dostoevsky's The Double)
Enemy (2013, adapted from Saramago's The Double)
Both deal with doppelgängers and identity.

RIP Christopher Priest, without whom there would have only been one magician movie.

RIP. He wrote a lot of great stuff.

I have yet to watch the movie or read the book, been saving it up.

Still need to finish Nina Allan’s The Rift as well, which starts out grebt.

Immaculate
The First Omen

Haha I just said the same thing to my friend.

Bizarre how similar they are

Not just in "nun" premise but the first half hour of movie too