Have you ever been to a retail store that sells DVDs and have seen knock off movies; DVDs that have a similar clipart covers and even have similar names. Well those DVDs are called mockbusters. They are films created with the intentions of piggy backing on the publicity of a major film with a similar title or theme and is often made with a low budget. Most of the videos are released directly to DVD as the mainstream film is just released in theaters. There are have a couple different intentions behind making the mockbusters. One intention is to deceive the consumers to mistakenly purchase the derivative title. The mockbuster is normally placed right next to the original in the stores. Another is to add legitimate add-on buying opportunity. Here are just a few of many examples of movies and their mockbusters.
The original movie is Star Wars (left). The mockbuster is Star Crash (right).
The original movie is the DaVinci Code (left), while the mockbuster is the DaVinci Treasure (right).
The original movie is Transformers (left) and the mockbuster is Transmorphers (right).
I personally find it really annoying that people actually make these. I understand that you want to make money, but doing that by tricking people and ripping off another movie, someone else's idea, now that is just low. Also the fact that the animation or the recreation of the movie is crappy, not only is that lower but it is just insulting. I find it absurd that services like Netflix and Amazon are helping the people who make these mockbusters, by allowing viewer to stream them. They are just being cheap. But one studio has finally made a stand, Universal has filed a lawsuit against Global Asylum, a major mockbuster maker, claiming that they are infringing on their property and piggybacking on their multi-million dollar marketing campaign for Universal's movie Battleship. I am glad that somebody is finally standing up for something that they spent millions of dollars on and hopefully more studios will do the same for their own movies that have been ripped off.
A mockbuster is a movie that is a thinly veiled copy of an actual blockbuster film. These films are essentially rip offs of real movies and they are even named similarly, and one man has stood out as the creator of these hollywood knockoffs, Shane Van Dyke. Shane is the grandson of the famous Dick Van Dyke. He has created such films as Titanic 2, Transmorphers, Super Shark, an Paranormal Entity.
These Films were not cheap to make, most filmed on Red One cameras and with expensive, yet mediocre effects.
So the question is, why make these movies, why not make a new idea, why make bad copies of already famous movies? Some people think that these movies are made to trick people. They plan on making their money by DVD sales from people who are confused as to what they are buying. A grandma trying to buy Transformers for her grandson will accidentally buy Transmorphers. This idea makes sense when you look at the titles and covers of the movies, they are almost identical to the real version, in color and fonts.
It seems like an extravagant trick to play on people, but it is happening all the time. Asylum the production company behind nearly all these films also came out with Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls, a clear copy of Indiana Jones. I guess it is safer to expect money from accidental DVD sales of rip offs than from a possible flop of a fresh idea. I will let you judge for yourself whether or not what they are doing is right, but I find it amazing that anyone would willingly attach their name to such blatant forgeries.
