| By Fred Topel
In Theaters September 29
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We know that there’s no originality left in Hollywood. The number of inspirational sports movies this year proved that. But now they can’t even think of new names for their movies. For the last 10 years, Hollywood’s been recycling old movie names, either hoping you’d forget or just not caring. Here are 11 of the most blatant Hollywood name double dips to give you your money’s worth.
11. The Postman - Kevin Costner has already ripped off movie titles and this was his first offense. Granted, his film was based on a book, not the Italian movie of the same name.
10. Mr. and Mrs. Smith - The Brangelina vehicle wasn’t based on the old Hitchcock movie, but something tells us there wasn’t much steamy action in the 1941 romantic comedy.
9. Hero/Fearless - Jet Li has made two Hong Kong action films with the names of two airplane disaster films from 1992. Remember Dustin Hoffman saving people from a plane crash, and Jeff Bridges thinking he was immortal after surviving one?
8. The Quick and the Dead - Sam Raimi’s awesome feminist gunslinger movie surely deserved the title more than some TV movie or an old war movie that nobody even gave a plot summary on IMDB.
7. The Patriot - Wow, there are more Patriots than I even knew. I was just talking about the Steven Seagal and Mel Gibson movies but I found three more on IMDB.
6. Desperado - Robert Rodriguez’s movie was awesome, but there are already several forgettable westerns with this title, not to mention a song you can’t get out of your head. Thanks, Bob.
5. The Guardian - Remember the horror movie about the killer babysitter who turned into a tree? Well, even on the chance that you might, why would you want to chance that association?
4. Gladiator - Okay, this is a good one. Obviously the Russell Crowe movie needed this name, but there was a boxing movie with Cuba Gooding Jr. that used the name as a metaphor. It was a great campy teen drama.
3. The Rookie - This title is so generic I don’t understand why either movie used it. Clint Eastwood’s was a generic buddy cop movie and Disney’s was an inspirational sports true story. Surely there was something more inventive in both cases.
2. The Protector - Funny how this title stayed in the martial arts world. First, Jackie Chan’s dreadful American attempt in the 80s got this generic name that had nothing to do with being a cop on the case. Now Tony Jaa’s movie has a little to do with protecting an elephant, but it’s really about kicking ass. There were several other generic straight to video movies also.
1. Bad Company - This title really made the rounds. First a western in the 70s, then a generic erotic thriller with Ellen Barkin and Lawrence Fishburne. Jerry Bruckheimer thought he could resurrect it for one of his action movies, but maybe the name itself was the curse. There are even more. |
