Discussion Main / DuelingMovies

Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Snowclone, started by MorgenReiter on Sep 3rd 2014 at 2:15:26 AM

I have been adding entries to the Dueling Movies sections, but I have been having a lot of trouble formatting my entry to the superhero section. I am thinking because it involves more than two "opponents". It is the one concerning DICK TRACY, THE ROCKETEER, THE SHADOW, and THE PHANTOM. Try as I might, I haven't been able to get it to work. A very wonky form without all the sections appearing there at the moment. If anyone could help me fix that I would be appreciative.

As an addition to the Swords and Sandals section I would recommend adding BEN-HUR (1959) VS SPARTACUS (1960). Not only were they released within a year of each other (November 18, 1959 and October 7, 1960 respectively), but I think this blurb from Wikipedia (Citing info from Kirk Douglas' auto-biography "The Ragman's Son") illustrates well why they fit in terms of at least somewhat similar premises, as well as how their production fundamentally pits them in a rivalry of sorts.

"The development of Spartacus was partly instigated by Kirk Douglas's failure to win the title role in William Wyler's Ben-Hur. Douglas had worked with Wyler before on Detective Story, and was disappointed when Wyler chose Charlton Heston instead. Shortly after, Edward (Eddie) Lewis, a vice president in Douglas's film company, Bryna Productions (named after Douglas's mother), had Douglas read Howard Fast's novel, Spartacus, which had a related theme—an individual who challenges the might of the Roman Empire—and Douglas was impressed enough to purchase an option on the book from Fast with his own financing. Universal Studios eventually agreed to finance the film after Douglas persuaded Olivier, Laughton, and Ustinov to act in it. Lewis became the producer of the film, with Douglas taking executive producer credit. Lewis went on to produce several more films for Douglas."

In addition to Ghostbusters vs. Gremlins, I also put in Weird Science vs. Real Genius, which were released 5 days apart from each other in 1985, but I really don't know which movie is the true winner...

How exactly are Atlantis The Lost Empire and Avatar dueling movies? They were released several years apart.

Would Catching Fire and Ender's Game count?

I've got two ideas for additions this page:

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES vs SKYFALL vs IRON MAN 3

-First off all three films are being released within a year or each other. (Beteween July 2012 and April 2013) They all (ironically enough) are the third film in their respective popular franchises/timelines starring popular "non-super powered" heroes. (TDKR of the Christopher Nolan Batman films/SF of the Daniel Craig James Bond films/and IM 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe standalone Iron Man films) A major archetypical plot thread the lead heroes face is that they're all dragged down to their lowest and essentially have to "rise again from the ashes". (Bruce being financially, physically, and spiritually broken in all areas due to a combination of his retirment and the eventually attack by the League of Shadows/Bond being shot on M's orders at the beginning of Skyfall lead to his running away from duty, and when he returns he finds himself to be out of practice and out of shape physically, and he even learns that his flat in London was sold/from what we can tell from the trailers of Iron Man 3, The Mandarin's attack on Tony will yield at least somehwat similar results including the desruction of his home, his sets of Iron Man armor, etc) All three feature terrorist lead villains who are connected to the lead heroes by being rooted with an organization from their pasts that helped make them the way they are. (Bane like Batman was trained by the League of Shadows and is apparently their leader/Like Bond Silva was trained by MI 6 and a former field agent of theirs/Mandarin is the Leader of the Ten Rings which was the organization that captured Tony in the original film that caused his devestating injuries that threatened his heart leading to the perfecting of the Arc Reactor and whose brutality whilst using weapons his comapny produced gave him a new perspective on life).

There could be more similarities with that trio of films, but that the basic jist on why I think they work as a major case of dueling. The second addition I would suggest is:

THE ROAD TO EL DORADO vs THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE

-It would be another Disney vs Dreamworks match-up. Both were released in the year of 2000. And both are buddy comedy adventure films (both being about a duo of heroes with Tulio and Miguel in TRTED, and Kuzco and Pacha in TENG) set in old Meso-America.

So, does anybody agree or disagree with any of these suggestions?

Hello? I added a folder named "Romance" and put "The Vow" against "The Lucky One". Haven't seen either, but TLO seems so stupid. Somebody PLEASE put in which was more successful.

This page is needlessly hard to navigate properly on account of the entries' order just being randomly jumbled up. Sorting them alphabetically wouldn't work since we are dealing with multiple movies each time (and choosing any of them from an individual entry would probably just result in debates which of them hold primacy over the other(s)), so how about using general release dates/periods (ex. 1999, 2001-2005, etc.)?

Is it too early to make an entry for The Avengers vs The Dark Knight Rises?

The climax of a very successful superhero movie franchise, set to come out summer 2012. Sort of a "sequel duel" to Iron Man vs The Dark Knight.

I've known about this idea for a long time, so kept track of some of the older movies that do this:

ANTZ / A Bug's Life (animated films about bugs; both released in 1998)

John Carpenter's Vampires / Blade (fighting against vampires; both released in 1998)

The Matrix / The Thirteenth Floor (different worlds in VR; 1999)

The Sixth Sense / Stir of Echoes ("I see dead people"; 1999)

The Haunting / House on Haunted Hill ("Let's go sleep in a haunted house for no reason"; 1999)

Deep Blue Sea / Lake Placid (underwater disaster movies; 1999)

Armageddon / Deep Impact (meteor disaster movies; 1998)

Wyatt Earp / Tombstone (movies about Wyatt Earp; 1993-4, months apart)

Thin Red Line / Saving Private Ryan (WWII; 1998)

Dante's Peak / Volcano (volcano disaster movies; 1997)

Mission to Mars / Red Planet (Mars; 2000)

I think the idea really went into overdrive in the 1998 period, though.

Were John Carter and The Hunger Games really dueling movies? The two were aimed at totally different audiences (men with the former, teen girls with the latter), have completely different premises and are set in different timeframes. The only two that they have in common was that they opened in March.

If The Hunger Games really dueled with anything, it was Breaking Dawn.

Someone should add Centurion and The Eagle, released in 2010 and 2011 respectively. I'd do it myself, but I haven't seen either movie yet so I can't say much about them. I know Centurion got a mention along with Robin Hood, King Arthur et al, but the parallels between it and The Eagle go beyond simply being revisionist historical epics — both are about a Roman soldier of the Ninth Legion fighting against Picts.

What I Read: Dueling Movies.

What I Expected: a historically organised list of movies that actually competed in box office and premise.

What I Got: Better Than It Sounds.

In 2012 there will be three action packed thrillers based on fairy tales (Hansel & Gretel, Snow W Hite and the Huntsman and Jack the Giant Killer) I think they should count.

If one film was written before the other but released after, which one counts as being first? I would say the one written first, but this page has it both ways.

From their trailers, Melancholia and Another Earth seem like candidates for this list. They are both 2011 films in which stories of personal angst are set against the backdrop of a new planet appearing in the sky. I haven't seen either yet though.

Um, Shrek was apparently an imitation of Monsters Inc.? Antz of A Bugs Life?

Hmm. Not sure if the person who posted these is a Pixar fanboi, or just made a mistake, or Monsters Inc. and Bugs Life were in development a lot longer. While it's true that Dreamworks doesn't get much respect, and with good cause, these films re-created the true family film. Especially Antz.

I haven't seen either in person, but after reading this Wiki to see if I should I feel I need to mention [[Rango]] and [[Rio]].

• Both about pets lost while in transit in a warm place.
• Both pets are somewhat exotic.
• Even one set of posters seem to be dueling. The star dressed in holiday wear in the center of the poster with prominent cast members.
• Coincidentally, neither are Pixar or Dreamworks.
• Both CGI.

I haven't seen either in person, but after reading this Wiki to see if I should I feel I need to mention [[Rango]] and [[Rio]].

• Both about pets lost while in transit in a warm place.
• Both pets are somewhat exotic.
• Even one set of posters seem to be dueling. The star dressed in holiday wear in the center of the poster with prominant cast members.

2010 Summer films: The Killers (Ashton) vs Knight and Day (Tom Cruise)?

Besides Inkheart, Bedtime Stories also dueled with Imagine That, which starred Eddie Murphy as a workaholic father who realizes his daughter's imagination is influencing reality and also attempts to use it to his advantage.

Pacific and Band of Brothers aren't duelling mini-series - they were both produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. The only thing in common between Pacific and the Art Malick produced The Thin Red Line is the historical setting.

The Terminal and Spirited Away entries are already pushing it, but what grown man are you talking about there? You don't mean Haku, do you?

This page has some problems. The page is completely set up and described as a page to list movies that are imitations of other movies, but people are heavily treating it as a page where similar movies were released at the same time. I suggest making "Dueling Movies" a page where similar movies compete, and then making a new page for when the success of one movie spawns imitators. Those are both two separate things but are both awkwardly merged on this one page.

I found an entire article about Dueling Movies ( http://movies.sky.com/gallery-movie-vs-movie ), and while it includes some duels we already have, there are plenty that we don't: Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves Vs Robin Hood starring Patrick Bergin (Thieves won easily), Drop Zone Vs Terminal Velocity (Neither), Octopussy Vs Never Say Never Again, Saving Private Ryan Vs The Thin Red Line, The Truman Show Vs EdTV, Turner & Hooch Vs K-9, The Lost Boys Vs Near Dark, Hard Target Vs Surviving The Game, Liberty Stands Still Vs Phone Booth, Hoodwinked Vs Happily N'Ever After, The Exorcism Of Emily Rose Vs Requiem, 1492: Conquest of Paradise Vs Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (Christopher Columbus Biopics), And Twister Vs Tornado (A special-effects-heavy Blockbuster versus a Direct to Video dud... is this even a question?)

Should Avatar be added to the Gamer/Surrogates entry as a 2009 movie about remote controlled bodies? The analysis would probably have to be rewritten.

Do Tron and War Games count as this trope?