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Dueling Works / Film - Animated

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  • Initiators / Followers
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Description
    • Implementation: Implementation

  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) / Gulliver's Travels (1939)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: The Ur-Example featuring the first two American animated feature films. Both were based on well-known literary works.
    • Implementation: Disney spent almost five years developing Snow White. Fleischer Studios (Disney's chief competitor during the 30s) rushed Gulliver into production in early 1938, which included the studio's move from New York to Miami and the inclusion of West Coast talent (including Goofy, Grumpy and Sleepy's VA, Pinto Colvig).

  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) / Happily Ever After (1993)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: The original American animated classic and its unofficial sequel; the duel specifically is between Happily Ever After and Snow White's final theatrical reissue in 1993, as afterwards it arrived on VHS/Laserdisc.
    • Implementation: The latter project arose in the late 80's when its maker, Filmation, ran into troubled financial ground. Their solution was to make "sequels" to both Snow White AND Pinocchio. Unsurprisingly, when The Walt Disney Company caught on, they were very angry, and attempted to sue Filmation to stop production. The suit failed, but it still helped push Happily Ever After back and led to the Pinocchio sequel, Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night, to get released first, in 1987. A marketing firm chipped $10 million into Happily Ever After's marketing campaign.

  • Dumbo (1941) / Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: The second, and last big battle between Disney and Fleischer. Both films were also the first animated features set in contemporary times. Mr. Bug was also the first one to have an original plot, instead of being an adaptation.
    • Implementation: Both studios were facing numerous difficulties at the time: Disney's Pinocchio and Fantasia had underperformed, and Walt faced a bitter strike during production, which led to numerous defections; while the Fleischers were still trying to recover the overhead costs from Gulliver while Max and Dave were becoming increasingly estranged.

  • The Cat Concerto (1946) / Rhapsody Rabbit (1946)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Both cartoon shorts feature Tom/Bugs playing Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 with a mouse inside the piano getting disturbed and sabotaging the performance.
    • Implementation: Both cartoons were shown to the Academy for Oscar consideration, and The Cat Concerto was shown first and the only one to get a nomination.

  • The Black Cauldron (1985) / Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Both are films released in 1985 that center around a young man from humble beginnings who goes on a "hero's quest" sort of journey to take down a powerful evil overlord, brings together a ragtag band of allies, and finds a magic sword that he uses along the way. Heck, both even have a floating ball of light as a character.
    • Implementation:

  • The Great Mouse Detective (1986) / An American Tail (1986)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Both animated movies featuring talking mice in the 1800s, released in 1986 within about four months of each other, with The Great Mouse Detective being released first.
    • Implementation: Not in direct competition, as the films have little in common but the species of their protagonists and the approximate time period. Still, Disney and Don Bluth's animation studio did have their eyes on one another. Before this, no other animation studio had been successful in dethroning Disney in the animated film department, and Spielberg and Bluth were attempting to accomplish just that. Understandably, Disney wasn't too worried... at first.

  • Oliver & Company (1988) / All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Similar to the above, Bluth and Disney faced off again in 1988/1989 with films featuring dogs, little girls, and orphans. Charlie and Dodger look awfully similar, too.
    • Implementation: All Dogs Go to Heaven, released second, had to compete at the box office (and with the critics) against The Little Mermaid. They both feature Dom De Luise as the voice actor for supporting characters, Itchy and Fagin.

  • Oliver & Company (1988) / The Land Before Time (1988)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Another Disney vs. Bluth faceoff (and the second encounter with Steven Spielberg, who also executive produced Who Framed Roger Rabbit earlier that year,) this pitted Disney's dog story against the tale of a troop of lost baby dinosaurs trying to find their way through a dangerous world to the "Great Valley".
    • Implementation: The Land Before Time was considerably darker than Oliver & Company, as it was an adventure film that included George Lucas as a maker, while Oliver & Company was a contemporary musical with Billy Joel and Bette Midler.

  • My Neighbor Totoro (1988) / A Troll in Central Park (1994)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Two young children who move to a new city befriend a mysterious creature who is a guardian of nature.
    • Implementation: This duel concerns the North American releases of My Neighbor Totoro and A Troll In Central Park, which came out around the same time.

  • The Little Mermaid / All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Yet another duel in the long rivalry between Disney and Bluth, but Spielberg is NOT involved this time. The Little Mermaid is the 28th Walt Disney Animated Classic and the first to be based off a fairy tale since Sleeping Beauty, the 16th classic, in 1959 (Bluth was involved with that film). It's a classic story of the mermaid (named Ariel in this version) saving the prince (Eric) from a shipwreck. Having already been fascinated with the human world, she makes a deal with the sea witch Ursula after having a fallout with her father (her subsequent interactions with the human world make up the third act of the movie). All Dogs Go To Heaven sees a dog murdered by a casino boss who he was partners with, but he is able to return from Heaven, but told if he dies again, it's off to Hell for him. He discovers his partner Carface had a girl who can talk with animals kidnapped, which motivates him to rescue her.
    • Implementation: Bluth's story, in keeping with his M.O., is much darker than The Little Mermaid (although Disney still has frightening moments such as Ariel's private grotto getting destroyed and the final encounter with Ursula and her death) since it involves Hell and murder.

  • DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990) / Jetsons: The Movie (1990)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Two animated films based off of television animation classics. DuckTales (1987) is a movie-length adventure about Scrooge McDuck being in search for the Treasure of Collie Baba, and finds a lamp with a genie in it, a lamp that is coveted by the genie's old, ruthless master, Merlock. The events of the lamp endanger not only Scrooge's entire fortune, but his life and the life of his family. The Jetsons is an 80's cinematic update of the Hanna-Barbera classic, with George Jetson getting a promotion and moving to a new home, but discovering that his new mining operation is interfering with local life.
    • Implementation: The Jetsons movie is noteworthy for being the final voice role of the legendary Mel Blanc, who was able to record most of his lines before his passing.

  • Felix the Cat: The Movie (1988 U.S. Release) / Beauty and the Beast (1991), An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991), Rock-A-Doodle (1991)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Four animated films from 1991. Felix the Cat, an attempted revival of the classic series, was released first in August, and saw the classic cat save a princess and her kingdom from her evil uncle. Beauty and the Beast and American Tail were second; they opened the same day, being the third duel between Disney and Steven Spielberg. Beauty and the Beast is the 30th Disney Animated Classic, and is an adaptation of the classic fairy tale where Belle, the Beauty, meets the Beast, a cursed prince, in his castle when he captures her father, and exchanges places with her father to save his life. Eventually, the Beast and Belle do grow close, but have to deal with Gaston, who is also interested in Belle. Fievel Goes West is the sequel to the 1986 classic that had beat out earlier Disney Animated Classic The Great Mouse Detective at the box office, and sees Fievel trying once again to reunite with his family after he loses them AGAIN moving out west. Rock-A-Doodle is Don Bluth's fourth encounter with Disney, but was delayed into 1992 to avoid the box office firestorm surrounding his former comrades. It tells the tale of a young boy having to seek out the stray Chanticleer in order to save his farm from a flood and the Grand Duke of Owls in a fever dream after said flood in the real world knocked him unconscious.
    • Implementation: Felix the Cat actually finished first, back in the 80's, but wasn't released in the United States until 1991. Don Bluth also had the opportunity to direct Fievel Goes West, but the partnership between him and Spielberg broke after The Land Before Time. Beauty and the Beast is the second-to-last movie that Howard Ashman was part of (he died in Spring 1991), and the second major Disney project for Alan Menken.

  • The Thief and the Cobbler (1993) / Aladdin (1992)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Arabian knight stories that share similar story elements of an evil vizier with a pet bird, a young hero from humble beginnings who falls in love with a princess, said princess who longs for more that she feels her like as a royal is retraining her from getting.
    • Implementation: This is a weird case because of the elongated production history of The Thief and the Cobbler. It started production in the 1960's, but didn't come out until the 90's, a few years after Aladdin had already been released in theaters and then on video. Many believe that the makers of Aladdin were directly taking influence from The Thief and the Cobbler and ironically that film would ultimately try channeling Aladdin once control over the film was handed to the completion bond company, who removed helmer and Roger Rabbit alumni Richard Williams from the final version of the film.

  • Ferngully The Last Rainforest (1992) / Aladdin (1992)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: 1992 released animated family fantasy musical films.
    • Implementation: Both films feature Robin Williams in the role of a major comic relief sidekick. The rulers in their respective films notably also have an uncanny resemblance as well.

  • Thumbelina (1994) / The Swan Princess (1994)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: 1994 animated musical films based on fairy tales with female protagonists.
    • Implementation: The Swan Princess goes between playing the story straight and being a parody.

  • The Lion King (1994) / A Troll in Central Park
    • Capsule Pitch Description: The Lion King dealt with two Don Bluth movies in 1994; Troll was the second, being released after him. The Lion King is the 32nd Disney Animated Feature and is the story of Simba being forced into exile and having to return to reclaim his throne. A Troll in Central Park also has a banishment; the titular troll, Stanley, was banished from the troll world for growing flowers and meets two toddlers in a musical.
    • Implementation:

  • The Lion King (1994) / The Swan Princess
    • Capsule Pitch Description: 1994 animated musical films where the main villain who plots to overthrow the father of the protagonist whose homeland the villain wants to rule and where the protagonist is banished from-
    • Implementation: The Lion King was first re-released on the same day as The Swan Princess and John Cleese was given the choice to voice either Zazu in The Lion King or Jean Bob in the Swan Princess which he chose.

  • Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture (1994) / Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Feature-length anime films based on popular fighting game franchises.
    • Implementation: Both films premiered in Japan in the summer of 1994. While Street Fighter II as a video game predated the original Fatal Fury, Fatal Fury had two made-for-TV anime specials that preceded The Motion Picture. Both films also feature a shower scene involving their respective heroine (Chun-Li and Mai Shiranui). However, Street Fighter II focused almost exclusively on the game's characters, while Fatal Fury had the heroes facing off against an original group of villains.

  • The Pebble and the Penguin (1995) / Balto (1995)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Each is a 1995 released non-Disney animated film that takes place in a snowy environment, centers around talking animals, has a hero who is a misunderstood but kind-hearted misfit, and the main villain is a popular person of his homeland who is arrogant and cruel.
    • Implementation:

  • The Swan Princess (1994) / Pocahontas (1995)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Romance films involving female protagonists having animal friends and almost shot by the deuteragonist.
    • Implementation: Then Disney animator Richard Rich originally pitched the idea of Swan Lake which got turned down. However years after he got fired, it came into development until Disney could not reach an agreement with him. Therefore, Pocahontas was worked on instead.

  • Toy Story (1995) / Pocahontas (1995)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Disney films released on the same year, with different animation styles. While Pocahontas pioneered traditional 2D animation with the help of their more experienced animators in-house, Toy Story was done by then-newcomer Pixar and was produced on a smaller budget, all while pioneering new 3D computer animation to make the first entirely computer-generated animated theatrical film in history.
    • Implementation:

  • All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 / The Hunchback of Notre Dame
    • Capsule Pitch Description: 1996 films that both involve heaven and hell as well as the villain being dragged to hell at the end.
    • Implementation: MGM Animation produced All Dogs Go To Heaven 2 due to Don Bluth's independent studio shuttering.

  • Hercules (1997) / Anastasia (1997)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: 1997 released animated films that center around a young orphaned royal who goes off to try and discover the truth about their past and family, complete with a big inspirational song they give upon starting. Having a romance with a snarker who at first intends to use them for their own gain until they truly fall in love with the lead ultimately turning down the chance to live in an up-scale/royal life in order to be with them, and the heroes contending with a powerful evil man that started within her family's inner-circle and currently resides in an "underworld" of some kind.
    • Implementation: Anastasia is often commented on for being done in a very Disney-esque style in terms of storytelling and animation. There is still a good number of people to this day that mistook it for one. Hercules, naturally, is itself a Disney film. So who did make Anastasia? Well, it was actually none other than ex-Disney animator turned competitor Don Bluth.

  • The Little Mermaid / Anastasia (1997)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated movies about young women forced to abandon their heritage to fool those around them into thinking they're nothing special (Ariel loses her voice and her flippers, Anastasia loses her memory). Both villains (Ursula and Rasputin) have dark, netherworld-like magic at their disposal.
    • Implementation: This is a case study of the ruthlessness of late '90s Disney; when Anastasia was set to be released in Nov '97, once Disney got word of its release, they announced that The Little Mermaid would be released for a limited engagement in theaters one week earlier. Disney owned the ABC television network and refused to allow commercials for Anastasia to air.

  • Mulan (1998) / Quest for Camelot (1998)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Two films released in 1998 about a young woman who feels held down by her society's sexist traditions. She goes out on an adventure to prove herself where she has to contend with a powerful barbarian warlord and his horde. Along the way she makes a group of allies. Including the likes of dragons, and a future love interest who starts out underestimating her but as times goes on comes to respect her. The climax has the lead villain infiltrate her land's castle where he manages to confront the king and taunts him. Before killing him however, the heroes intervene, leading to a final confrontation where the villain is killed in a large explosion. In the end the lead is honored as a hero by both the king and the people.
    • Implementation: Though Quest for Camelot was released first, Mulan went into production first. Ironically enough, both films originally started out as something far different than what they ultimately became. Mulan originally began as a short, straight-to-video film titled "China Doll" about an oppressed and miserable Chinese girl who is whisked away by a British Prince Charming to happiness in the West. Then Disney consultant and children's book author Robert D. San Souci suggested making a movie of the Chinese poem "The Song of Fa Mu Lan", and Disney combined the two separate projects. What ultimately became Quest for Camelot was originally entitled The Quest for the Grail, though not much else has been revealed concerning the story. When they started making the film based off of Vera Chapman's The King's Damsel it was originally intended to be darker along the lines of the source material.

  • Mulan (1998) / The Prince of Egypt (1998)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: The second stage of the beginning of the Disney/DreamWorks rivalry, but this is a musical duel and there are NO elements of They Copied It, So It Sucks! or Serial Numbers Filed Off anywhere; both are original ideas and take place in ancient cultures. Mulan is Disney Animated Classic #36, and as stated above, is their adaptation of the Chinese folktale of Fa Mulan taking on the guise of a man to fight in the war against the Huns. The Prince of Egypt takes place in, of course, Egypt, but this is an animated adaptation of the Biblical story of Moses from the Book of Exodus, and came complete with a disclaimer at the start of the film about that.
    • Implementation: Ironically, Jeffrey Katzenberg, who also was involved creatively with The Lion King, had attempted to get The Prince of Egypt going at Disney Animation, but his mentor Michael Eisner refused to greenlight it both because of the growing animosity between the two and because of Disney's long aversion to making anything involving God with the Disney brand on it; The Hunchback of Notre Dame did use God, but not on too visible a level (the failure of Dragonslayer prior to Eisner and Katzenberg joining Disney didn't help the idea either). Katzenberg had to wait until he formed DreamWorks to move forward with the film, which again, he was deeply involved in. An attempt by Eisner to screw the film over is one of the reasons for Antz's creation; that movie was meant to be the second DreamWorks film before it was moved up to 1998. This also led to Disney forcing lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who was attached to both films, to choose only one to work on at about the time Katzenberg bolted from Disney; Schwartz had a commitment to DreamWorks already and chose to honor it. Disney didn't follow up on a threat to remove Schwartz's credits from Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, where he replaced Tim Rice as Alan Menken's lyricist, but they did remove his songs from Mulan and Menken ultimately didn't work on that film. They were replaced Matthew Wilder and David Zippel. Menken and Schwartz would work together on Enchanted after Eisner got the boot from Disney himself).

  • A Bug's Life (1998) / Antz (1998)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: The first example of Pixar and DreamWorks really dueling. Featuring ants as their main protagonists, the ant worker hero, who wants to stand out among the millions of other ants, falls for the ant princess, who seems an almost unattainable love interest. The ant hero goes on a long journey to a bug city, which is actually a pile of human garbage. And then he returns and gets the girl.
    • Implementation: Apart from the ants being protagonists, almost nothing else about the films was the same. A Bug's Life had a very cartoonish design, while Antz had a more realistic design of the insects. Antz had dark humor, dialogue and themes all around, while A Bug's Life was aimed at children. Just the same, thanks to the ants, they were both considered to be ripping each other off. Fact is, Jeffrey Katzenberg, though responsible for getting Toy Story greenlit, had just been booted from Disney, was furious at them, and knew about the next Pixar project, which was ironically pitched to Disney only hours after Katzenberg was informed he was being "asked" to remove himself from the Disney lot and cut ties with the Mouse House; the competition was intentional. This duel is the one that provides the Page Quote for the Dueling Works trope on TV Tropes (courtesy of Gene Siskel, who, along with Roger Ebert, laughed at the whole mess).

  • Mulan (1998) / The King and I (1999)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Two animated films taking place in Asia, and another Disney/Warner faceoff. Mulan was released in 1998, and tells the story of the titular character disguising herself as a man to fight in a war. The King and I was released the following year, and is based off the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of an English teacher coming to Siam/Thailand and meeting King Mongkut, along with Kralahome.
    • Implementation: The latter film, which is directed by the one helmer from The Black Cauldron to still be working, Richard Rich, did some Disneyfication to that tale by making Kralahome an Evil Sorcerer and The Starscream, as well as giving everyone a sidekick and changing the ending.

  • The Legend of the Titanic (1999) / Titanic: The Legend Goes On (2000)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Two So Bad, It's Good animated movies very loosely based on the Titanic disaster, and the movie. The fact that they both seem to consider the tragedy of the Titanic to be a "legend" is very telling.
    • Implementation: Both of them include talking animals and happy endings. The Legend Of The Titanic attempts more on the storyline part while Titanic: The Legend Goes On attempts to have more characters and subplots.


  • The Road to El Dorado (2000) / The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Both are animated buddy-comedy adventure films set in the Meso-America of Old, and both were released in the year 2000. A key location in both films is a sprawling golden city.
    • Implementation: Interestingly enough, one was made by Disney and the other DreamWorks Animation, so perhaps it could be considered a part of the over-arching rivalry between DreamWorks Animation and the union of Disney and its affiliate Pixar. El Dorado's breakneck production to get it ahead of New Groove led to the project becoming an Old Shame to animator Will Finn and prompted his defection back to Disney. Roger Allers, co-director of The Lion King who conceived The Emperor's New Groove (and contacted Sting in the wake of the success of The Lion King soundtrack) left the project due to an overhaul that also ended Sting's main involvement with the film.

  • The Emperor's New Groove (2000) / Shrek (2001)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Both are animated buddy-comedy adventure films that poke fun at the then-typical Disney formula starring Saturday Night Live alumni (David Spade in New Groove, Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy in Shrek; additionally, Spade's SNL buddy Chris Farley was attached to star as Shrek before his untimely death in 1997).
    • Implementation: New Groove is itself a Disney animated film that pokes fun at the Disney formula, while Shrek is more sardonic in their cracks against Disney (Shrek's villain, Lord Farquaad, is inspired by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner).

  • The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000) / Help! I'm a Fish (aka A Fish Tail) (2000)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Traditionally animated films set in the sea about kids taking the form of sea creatures, and embarking on an adventure involving a greedy villain and their bodyguard shark who reside in their own fortress, and set to use a transformation macguffin to further their own objective of taking over the oceans.
    • Implementation: Return to the Sea came out as a direct-to-video Disney sequel. Help! I'm a Fish was released theatrically in Europe before being released on video elsewhere. Both also use musical sequences, Return to the Sea has most of it's songs sung by the characters, while Help! only has two songs sung by characters.


  • Recess: School's Out (2001) / Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: 2001 movies where a group of elementary school kids save the world.
    • Implementation: Recess: School's Out was based on the Disney TV show and focused on the main six trying to stop a madman from getting rid of summer vacation, while Jimmy Neutron served as a pilot to its Nickelodeon TV series and focused on Jimmy and the rest of the kids in town to save their parents from being killed by aliens. Also, Neutron was in CGI, while Recess had traditional animation, and while Recess didn't have much competition, Neutron was competing with Monsters, Inc.

  • Shrek (2001) / Monsters, Inc. (2001) & Ice Age (2002)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Three kid-friendly animated comedy/adventure movies, released within the span of a little less than a year of each other between 2001-2002. In each, a team of odd-looking but lovable-when-you-get-to-know-them creatures endure many hazards on an adventure. In the latter two they strive to deliver a cute toddler to safety. Whilst in the first much of the plot is spent rescuing and transporting a princess to safety. In Shrek and Ice Age both films have a hardened and aloof lead in the form of a big gruff guy with a good heart deep down that starts to get followed around by a little chatterbox who starts off as an annoyance but he comes to befriend. Those two character types kind of showing up in Monsters, Inc to an extent but without the initial animosity.
    • Implementation: Shrek is set in a parody of an archetypical fairy tale world with elements that harken to real-world pop culture. Monsters takes place in an imaginatively detailed alternate world (Pixar showing its strengths), populated by fanciful "monsters". Ice Age stars actual (if now-extinct) species, residing in prehistoric Earth.

  • Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) / Lilo & Stitch (2002)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Both movies released in the summer of that year and tells about the male protagonist who escapes from prison and lives with the female deuteragonist.
    • Implementation: They were produced on $80-90 million budgets, which was smaller than the previous traditionally animated films from their respective companies.

  • Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) / Treasure Planet (2002)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: 2002 movies about the fatherless protagonist who goes against his mother's wishes and meets the deuteragonist who lets his pet go live the homeland of the protagonist who he bids farewell to and the main villain redeems himself and bids farewell also.
    • Implementation: Both movies released during a time during plans to close the theatrical hand-drawn animation business in favor of computer animated features

  • Treasure Planet (2002) / Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Both involve a character who goes along on a journey with pirates and the main villain does not get punished
    • Implementation: Ron Clements and John Musker save several attempts to make an adaptation of Treasure Island in outer space. However, when they pitched it a third time, it was put on hold by Jeffrey Katzenberg so Hercules could start development. After they got finished with that, they rushed to get what they wanted green-lighted. Jeffrey Katzenberg wanted to do an animated adaptation of Sinbad but Michael Eisner refused to let him when Aladdin was already released so he had to wait until DreamWorks was formed to work on it.

  • Finding Nemo (2003) / Shark Tale (2004) The Sponge Bob Squarepants Movie (2004)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Films about underwater creatures.
    • Implementation: That's about the only similarity. Except that in a reversion of the two above, DreamWorks and Nickelodeon had the cartoonish and childish approach, while Pixar went for realistic graphics and a "darker" story (no matter how kid-friendly, it dealt with the adult fear of a father losing his son).

  • Madagascar (2005) / The Wild (2006)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Both involve zoo animals escaping and going to Africa, one of whom is a lion character who doesn't really want to leave. Both also include a heaping amount of cartoon slapstick and Toilet Humour.
    • Implementation: It's worth noting that The Wild started production several years before Madagascar, so this might be an example of the above feud, carried on by Pixar's parent company (though Disney was barely involved with The Wild; it was created by a Canadian animation studio and Disney distributed the film).

  • Shrek the Third (2007) / Happily N'Ever After (2007)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Two "Fractured Fairy Tale" movies from 2007. Shrek The Third is, of course, the third installment in DreamWorks Animation's Shrek series, while Happily N'Ever After was done by Lionsgate. Both movies have John H. Williams involved with them.
    • Implementation:

  • Ratatouille (2007) / The Tale of Despereaux (2008)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: An incident involving a rat, some soup, and interactions with humans has wild repercussions.
    • Implementation: Ratatouille is all about a rodent in the kitchen while Desperaux's soup-loving rat isn't the protagonist.

  • Open Season (2006) / Over the Hedge (2006)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: All-Star Cast CGI films about wild vs. tame/cosmopolitan animals.
    • Implementation: Season deals with a tame bear being introduced to the wild while Hedge deals with wild animals being introduced to the suburbs. Interestingly, both films have bears as the catalyst for their respective plots.

  • Happy Feet (2006) / Surf's Up (2007)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: All-CGI Cartoon about penguins doing rather human group activities.
    • Implementation: Happy Feet, released in late 2006, tells a tale about singing penguins, and one who prefers to dance instead. Surf's Up came in mid 2007 and features penguins surfing. The latter even had some ad posters proclaiming "Our penguins don't sing. They don't dance. They SURF."

  • Kung Fu Panda (2008) / WALL•E (2008)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Another DWA vs. Pixar duel. KFP is a wuxia-style animated film about Po Ping, a restaurateur panda voiced by Jack Black who unwittingly is chosen to be the Dragon Warrior, which forces him to learn kung-fu as well as confront escaped prisoner Tai Lung, a previous Dragon Warrior. WALL*E takes place in the future where mankind has abandoned a trash-ridden Earth and left robots named WALL*E units to clean up. After 700 years, only one WALL*E unit is left, and he has gained sentience. He falls in love with a visiting examination robot named EVE, and it leads to an adventure out of this world.
    • Implementation:

  • Prep & Landing (2009 TV special) / Arthur Christmas (2011)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Stories sharing a similar concept of Santa Claus and his elves using advanced technology and secret agent techniques to deliver all those toys though soon, one child's Christmas has to be saved.
    • Implementation: The original special and Arthur Christmas were put in development close to the same time, though as a film, Arthur Christmas took longer. While Prep and Landing focused primarily on the elves and hid the faces of the Clauses, the story of Arthur Christmas focuses on the Claus family relationships. A sequel special to Prep & Landing, subtitled Naughty or Nice, came out shortly before Arthur Christmas was released in theaters in 2011, making the comparison fresh in peoples' minds.


  • Alpha and Omega (2010) / Rio (2011) & Newt (Cancelled)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: All three films involve two animals of the same species, opposite genders, and opposite personalities being put together for the purposes of repopulating their species. Alpha and Omega came out in Fall 2010 (and was the final film for its late star, Dennis Hopper), Rio in 2011, and Newt would have come out in 2012. Pixar canceled Newt so that they could avoid this problem, though considering Pixar leaked details on Newt shortly before Blue Sky announced Rio, it's completely possible that the whole project was just intended to induce the other studios into copying it so they wouldn't have to worry about them copying the other movie they were working on.
    • Implementation: Alpha and Omega (from Lionsgate) is about two wolves (Kate and Humphrey) who are captured and released far from home to increase the wolf population in the area. They work together to get home. Rio (from Blue Sky Studios) is about two birds (Blu and Jewel). Blu thinks he is the Last of His Kind and travels to find Jewel. Newt was about two newts (Newt and Brooke) — he's extremely sheltered, she's tough and street, er, wilderness-smart and they don't like each other — and their need to save their species.

  • Rango (2011) / Rio (2011)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: CGI about talking animals, released one month apart.
    • Implementation: Rio's hero, a macaw named Blu, and the unnamed chameleon who takes the name Rango both struggle with embracing their true nature. And the titles sound similar. But what's really interesting is the films' opposite visual style. Rio's tropical setting is full of bright, saturated colors, much more than your typical animated film. Rango is set in a desert town named Dirt, where the characters and everything else are unusually drab and grimy.



  • Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) / Cars 2 (2011)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Kung Fu Panda 2 is the sequel to DreamWorks Animation's 2008 hit about the Acrofatic panda, played by Jack Black, training and having to confront Lord Shen, who wants to destroy kung fu. Cars 2 is also a sequel, to the Pixar hit from 2006, but it took a different turn by having its characters caught up in a spy scheme.
    • Implementation:

  • Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) / Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012), Brave (2012)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: A summer battle between the three main CGI animation studios in 2012
    • Implementation: Ice Age and Madagascar were established franchises for Blue Sky Studios and DreamWorks respectively, while Pixar attempted to change its game after Cars 2's underwhelming response by turning to one of its parent's most famous franchises.

  • Wreck-It Ralph (2012) / Rise of the Guardians (2012)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated films released in the 2012 Christmas season. Disney's film revolved around video game characters while DreamWorks' film centered on mythological characters.
    • Implementation:

  • Foodfight! (2012) / Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Two animated movies with guest star mascots; grocery store mascots for Foodfight and video game characters for Wreck-It Ralph. Foodfight is from Threshold Animation and Lawrence Kasanoff, and features a dog detective trying to figure out why grocery store mascots are disappearing after "Brand X" is introduced into his supermarket. Wreck-It Ralph is the 52nd animated masterpiece in the Disney Animated Canon, and has the titular character, who is hated in his game, do a game jump to change his image, setting off a chain of events that both threatens and changes the nature of his home arcade forever.
    • Implementation: Both films were in development for a while, but Foodfight! went through true Development Hell after Lawrence Kasanoff started the project in the wake of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation's implosion. This included a robbery that led to the loss of crucial animation discs and the staff not liking the production. Wreck-It Ralph was also in gestation since the 1980's, but when it entered production, it sped along like Sonic The Hedgehog (who was in the movie) to the point where it finished ahead of schedule and was moved up from a March 2013 release date to November 2012 (as a footnote, DreamWorks Animation's The Croods was supposed to open in 2012, but was moved to early 2013).

  • Wreck-It Ralph (2012) / Turbo (2013)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated films released about 9 months apart, both of which feature characters trying to change their perception. Wreck-It Ralph is the 52nd classic in the Disney Animated Canon, and concerns the title character trying to earn a medal to impress the "Nicelanders" in his game thanks to his status as a villain, and it leads him to "Sugar Rush" and befriending a "glitch" there. Turbo is from DreamWorks Animation and focuses on a snail trying to become a racer.
    • Implementation: In addition to the "outcast" trying to change how people view them concept, both films are connected directly to the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise; Sonic is a guest video game character in Wreck-It Ralph and his character was an inspiration for DWA to try to replicate his success with Turbo (plus Jeffrey Katzenberg was indirectly connected to the Sonic franchise at both Disney and DreamWorks Animation. On top of that, both films feature a major character named Turbo (he's the Big Bad of Wreck-It Ralph, and both films were scored by Henry Jackman.

  • Turbo (2013) / Planes (2013)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Unlikely, hugely ambitious novice enters a big race.
    • Implementation: Turbo is about a snail competing against race cars and human drivers; Planes is a spinoff of Cars and features a crop-duster who wants to fly with the pros.


  • Monsters University (2013) / Pokémon: Genesect and the Legend Awakened (2013)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Family-friendly animated movies about monsters, based on decades-old franchises. Note that this "duel" mostly applied to the Japanese market; Genesect only got a very limited theatrical release in the West.
    • Implementation: Monsters University, is, well, Pixar. As such, it's a CGI movie directed towards family audiences: children, their parents, and fans who grew up with its prequel, Monsters, Inc., revisiting and building on the characters from said movie. Genesect, on the other hand, is traditionally animated, is the 16th movie in its long-running franchise, and was strictly marketed to children. It revisited its past by featuring Mewtwo, an iconic character from the early movies, but said Mewtwo turned out to be another member of the species rather than the original character.

  • Escape from Planet Earth (2013) / Home (2015)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: CGI movies about an alien arrival on Earth, told from the aliens' point of view.
    • Implementation: Escape From Planet Earth is made by Rainmaker and tells the story of an alien astronaut coming to Earth and being captured by the military. Home is a DreamWorks production about aliens in need of a new home, leading ot them conquering Earth, though not maliciously.

  • The Nut Job (2014) / Get Squirrely (2015)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Heist movie with squirrels who are trying to get nuts.
    • Implementation: The Nut Job was first announced in January 2011, based on a 2005 short film called Surly Squirrel and fronted by Toonbox, who had never done an animated movie before. Vanguard Animation, creators of Space Chimps and Happily Never After, announced Get Squirrely nine months later as The Nut House.

  • Mort and Phil vs. Jimmy The Joker (2014) / Asterix: The Land of The Gods (2014)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Forgein animated films based on comic books series from their respetive state.
    • Implementation: Asterix already has a film series that contains films both live-action and animated while Mort and Phil only has one live-action film.


  • The Book of Life (2014) / Coco (2017)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Day Of The Dead-themed CGI movies.
    • Implementation:

  • The LEGO Movie (2014) / The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated Movies based on an Intellectual Property starring Chris Pratt and Charlie Day that involve a Hero getting sent to a world and meeting a Strange Female.
    • Implementation:

  • Penguins of Madagascar (2014) / Big Hero 6 (2014)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated films released during the 2014 holiday season.
    • Implementation: Both DreamWorks and Disney held high expectations for their films: The former wanted to shake off two years of financial failures while the latter wanted to keep a two-year lucky streak going.

  • Penguins of Madagascar (2014) / Minions (2015)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Spin-offs of popular tent-pole animation franchises centering on beloved minor characters who had previously been centerpieces of the advertising campaigns of the franchises' main films. In both cases, the characters become wrapped up in larger organizations with plans for world domination.
    • Implementation: Penguins is a spin-off of the Madagascar franchise, and is DreamWorks Animation's second spin-off (after Puss in Boots). Minions is a spin-off of the Despicable Me series. While Penguins follows the events of Madagascar 3, Minions is a prequel to Despicable Me.

  • Home (2015) (2015) / Inside Out (2015)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: DreamWorks and Pixar faced off again in 2015 with both films having girl leads on their way to adolescence.
    • Implementation: Both studios wanted to come clean after some unpleasant years: Since late 2012 DreamWorks had doubled as a minefield (with five of six films bombing, four of them consecutively), while Pixar was still reeling from the shadow of Toy Story 3, aside from not releasing films in 2014 (the first year that happened since 2005).

  • Inside Out (2015) / The Emoji Movie (2017)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Two movies revolving around personifications of emotions traveling to places inside their world to stop a problem that the human character they belong to created.
    • Implementation: Inside Out is an original idea that took 5 years to develop, and was pitched after one of Pixar's movies in development, newt, was cancelled. The Emoji Movie is based off the popular emoticons of the same name found on smartphones.

  • The Boy and the Beast (2015) / The Good Dinosaur (2015)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated films in which an animal befriends and becomes the caretaker of a young boy.
    • Implementation: It's worth noting that while in The Boy and the Beast's home country, the films were released months away from each other, both films were released in American theaters around the same time.


  • PriPara The Movie: Everyone's Yearning! Let's Go☆PriPari (2016) / Popin Q (2016)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Anime films of the Idol Singer genre where young girls have to save another dimension from danger.
    • Implementation: PriPara is based off a pre-existing arcade game and anime, while Popin Q is an original project. However, the manga versions of both franchises were serialized in Pucchigumi.

  • Norm of the North (2016) / Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: January 2016 released computer animated family-oriented films that center around bears voiced by well-known comedic actors venturing off to a new place where they don't exactly fit in on a quest to save their ancestral homeland.
    • Implementation: Kung Fu Panda 3 is the latest installment of a DreamWorks Animation series popular with both audiences and critics. Norm of the North, which was made by Lionsgate, is most known for being best summarized as "Rob Schneider is... a polar bear!" Both movies ironically feature The Legend of Korra alumni in them (Korra's voice, Janet Varney, made a cameo in Norm of the North while the actor who voiced Korra's mentor Tenzin, J. K. Simmons, plays the Big Bad of KFP3).

  • Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) / Zootopia (2016)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Two animated movies with anthropomorphic characters. KFP3 from DWA continues the tale of Po Ping the Dragon Warrior as he now has to train a valley of pandas in Kung-fu to protect themselves from threats. Zootopia is the landmark 55th Walt Disney Animated Classic that takes place in modern times, as Judy Hopps, a police rabbit, becomes acquainted with Nick Wilde, a fox and con man. Zootopia is the third Disney Animated Canon film to be set in a World of Funny Animals after Robin Hood (1973) and Chicken Little met with mixed success and is helmed by Wreck-It Ralph's director, Rich Moore.
    • Implementation: KFP3 came out at the end of January, while Zootopia was released in the U.S. in March. Both films have J. K. Simmons, aka, J. Jonah Jameson/Tenzin/The Farmers Insurance University professor, in the voice cast (he plays the Big Bad of KFP3, Kai, while he plays the mayor and a superior of Judy Hopps in Zootopia). KFP3 had already crushed Norm of the North by this point.


  • Doraemon: Nobita and the Birth of Japan 2016 (2016) / The Good Dinosaur (2015)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated films that take place in prehistoric times released during the same time period in Japan.
    • Implementation: Doraemon: Nobita and the Birth of Japan is based on anime; The Good Dinosaur is an original idea.

  • Ratchet & Clank (2016) / The Angry Birds Movie (2016)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated films adapted from video games.
    • Implementation: Ratchet and Clank is an adaptation of the first game in the series, while Angry Birds shows the beginning of the animosity between the birds and pigs. Both films also have an All-Star Cast, though Ratchet and Clank has Ratchet, Clank, Captain Qwark and Dr. Nefarious voiced by their usual voice actors from the games, and other characters having celebrity voice actors.

  • Finding Dory (2016) / The Secret Life of Pets (2016)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated films about smaller animals in captivity. Dory is the sequel to Finding Nemo and now sees the trio of Nemo, Marlin and Dory go on a wild trip to an aquarium to find Dory's parents. Pets is from Comcast/Universal/Illumination and sees two dogs who don't get along having to find their way home after a group of stray cats cuts their collars and leaves them stranded in New York.
    • Implementation: Both films have Albert Brooks in them; he voices Marlin in Dory and a hawk named Tiberius in Pets

  • The Secret Life of Pets (2016) / Moana (2016)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Two more animated movies. Pets is about a pair of stray pets in New York while Moana is about a Polynesian princess.
    • Implementation: The two movies combined have both of the leads of Central Intelligence in them; Kevin Hart, who was the secondary lead in that film as accountant Calvin Joyner, voices the Big Bad of Pets; his co-star, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who played Formerly Fat CIA agent Robbie Wheirdicht/Bob Stone, plays Maui in Moana, which has attracted some negative attention for being "fat".


  • Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) / Moana (2016)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: 2016 Animated movies with non-Western Fantasy settings, both featuring The Hero's Journey of a partially orphaned child who must overcome great odds for the sake of family. A demi-god with incredible powers is a major protagonist of both films.
    • Implementation: The main protagonist in both films is voiced by a newcomer to animation. Both have had lots of advance buzz.


  • Sausage Party (2016) / Trolls (2016)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated movies involving creatures who are eaten by others, causing several main characters to go on a adventure to stop this so that they can save their kind.
    • Implementation: While sharing slightly similar plots, these films are different in many ways. Sausage Party is not a kids' movie while Trolls is. In Sausage Party, the food at the store is unaware that they will get eaten (but as seen in a flashback, the foods at Shopwells were aware of this before Firewater invented The Great Beyond legend), while in Trolls, the Trolls are well aware about the Bergens wanting to eat them. Also, unlike Sausage Party, which treats all of the humans as villains, not all of the Bergens seen in Trolls are evil, namely Bridget. The two movies also have different ways of dealing with the people who eat them: in Sausage Party, the food kills the humans, while in Trolls, the Trolls teach the Bergens that there are other ways to find happiness besides eating the Trolls, a lesson they learned from Bridget experiencing happiness as a result of her love for Prince Gristle. Both films contain at least one original song ("The Great Beyond" for Sausage Party and "Get Back Up Again" and "Can't Stop the Feeling!" for Trolls), and have a scene near the end of the film involving two of the main antagonists being set on fire and sent away in a wheeled object.

  • Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) / Coco (2017)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: During a holiday when the spirits of the dead visit their living loved ones, a boy with a talent for stringed instruments meets his long-lost relatives.
    • Implementation: Kubo is set in ancient Japan and isn't a musical, Coco is set in modern-day Mexico and is considered Pixar's first "true" musical.

  • Storks (2016) / The Boss Baby (2017)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Two movies about babies that involve a baby factory, animals, an imaginative young boy and an evil corporation getting in the way of the protagonists. Each movie has a cast member from Friends: Jennifer Aniston for Storks and Lisa Kudrow for Baby.
    • Implementation: Storks is an original idea, while The Boss Baby is based on a book.

  • Trolls (2016) / Moana (2017)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated musicals where an adventurous girl and a boy who's not that much of a risk-taker have to go on a quest to save the place where they live from danger.
    • Implementation: Both stories are also takes on much older concepts: Trolls is the second attempt at making the classic dolls relevant to a new generation of children (with the first being a DIC cartoon in the mid-2000's, while Moana is an original story that uses elements of Polynesian mythology.

  • Trolls (2016) / Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated movies about small peaceful creatures going on a huge adventure.
    • Implementation: Trolls has based on a toy series of the same name after DreamWorks purchased the rights while Lost Village as made as an apology by Sony for the live-action Smurf movies.

  • Trolls (2016) / UglyDolls (2019)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated, musical films that are adapted from popular toylines in which the protagonists venture off into a world outside of their home.
    • Implementation: Trolls was based on the popular dolls by Danish woodcutter Thomas Dam, while Uglydolls is based on a designer doll line that began in 2001. Both movies also share two similarities: the first being that the toy line for both films was produced by Hasbro, and the second being that they have follow-up series on a streaming video service, with Trolls having Trolls: The Beat Goes On! on Netflix and Uglydolls getting an animated series on Hulu.

  • Sing (2016) / Rock Dog (2016)note 
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated movies with All Star Casts involving anthropomorphic animals and music, with one of the main protagonists being a rock star.
    • Implementation: Unlike Sing, which has an original screenplay, Rock Dog is an adaptation of a Chinese comic called Tibetian Rock Dog. Ash, the rock star in Sing, is not the main character, unlike Bodi in Rock Dog, who is the main character.

  • The LEGO Batman Movie (2017) / Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated superhero movies that are based off well-known properties and are comedic takes on the superhero genre.
    • Implementation: The LEGO Batman Movie is an adaptation of the Batman franchise, which has had many movies, while Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is the first movie adaptation of the Captain Underpants book series. Prior to this movie, this series was adapted into internet shorts set to songs based on the books.


  • Leap! (2017) / Next Gen (2018) and Wonder Park (2019)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: The story of a girl going on a quest to find herself.
    • Implementation: Next Gen is the only one of the 3 not to be released in theaters.

  • Leap! (2017) / The Donkey King (2018)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Mainstream animated blockbusters not made in Hollywood.
    • Implementation: Leap contains voice-overs from Corus Entertainment whil Donkey King has voice-overs from 4kids Entertainment.

  • The Star (2017) / Olaf's Frozen Adventure (2017)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated movies that tell stories about Christmas traditions.
    • Implementation: Olaf's Frozen Adventure was originally made for TV, but ended up being released in theaters as a double feature with Coco instead, due to there being no Pixar short being made to go with it.

  • The Star (2017) / Ferdinand (2017)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Two movies based on popular stories about talking animals who are misunderstood by humans and try to do something to impress them.
    • Implementation: The Star is based on the Book of Matthew in the New Testament of the Bible, while Ferdinand is based off the children's book by Murno Leaf.

  • Coco (2017) / Ferdinand (2017)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Hispanic-themed All-CGI Cartoon s.
    • Implementation: Coco is set in Mexico during Dia de los muertos, while Ferdinand is set in Spain and involves bullfighting.


  • Gnome Alone (2018) / Sherlock Gnomes (2018)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated films about garden gnomes.
    • Implementation: Gnome Alone is an original story, while Sherlock Gnomes is the sequel to Gnomeo and Juliet. Also, Gnome Alone was supposed to come out in October 2017, but got pushed to the beginning of March, putting its release date just a few weeks before Sherlock Gnomes.

  • Frozen II (2019) / Trolls World Tour (2020)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Sequels to musical films that were aimed at an audience of young girls and became cash cows for their companies that revolve around the protagonists going on an adventure outside of their home.
    • Implementation: Both sequels got greenlit after the surprise successes of both movies.

  • Isle of Dogs (2018) / Dawgtown (2021)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Ghetto-busting animated movies aimed at teenage and adult audiences and focusing on dogs trying to escape from oppressive dystopias
    • Implementation: Isle of Dogs was funded and distributed by 21st Century Fox and directed by Wes Anderson, while Dawgtown is an independent movie being crowd-funded over the internet, with an eye on a 2021 release date.

  • Smallfoot (2018) / Missing Link (2019), Abominable (2019)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Wide-release animated movies from studios with renowned history that deconstruct the Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti's popular image. In all three movies, the beasts are depicted as gentle, intelligent, and curious while all of the villains are human. On top of that, Missing Link and Abominable are both journey films with the Himalayas as the destination.
    • Implementation: Missing Link is from Laika and is animated with stop-motion. The other two are CGI, with Smallfoot by Warner Bros. and Abominable by DreamWorks.

  • The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) / Playmobil: The Movie (2018)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated films based on famous construction toys
    • Implementation: The LEGO Movie 2 was the fourth movie in a well-established franchise, while Playmobil: The Movie is the first-ever film adaptation of its toy line.

  • The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019) / Doggone Trouble (2019)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated pet movies centering around a dog suffering though an idenity crisis.
    • Implementation: Both films feature people who previously worked on The Emoji Movie in their voice cast.

  • SCOOB! (2020) / The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2021)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Stylized CGI films adapting popular cartoons that tell the story of how the main character met their pet.
    • Implementation: Both films were originally going to be released within a week of each other, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, both movies got released to streaming, though Sponge on the Run also will appear on Viacom's streaming service CBS All Access.


  • PAW Patrol: The Movie (2021) / The Loud House Movie (2021)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Film adaptations of popular Nickelodeon cartoons.
    • Implementation: Both films were released on the same exact day in the United States, and both also appeared on streaming services (with PAW Patrol being released on Paramount+ alongside its' theatrical release and The Loud House being released on Netflix).


  • The Addams Family 2 (2021) / Encanto (2021)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated films about eccentric families, with one girl in the family not feeling like she belongs in the family because of one trait she has.
    • Implementation: The Addams Family 2 is based on the comics by Charles Addams, while Encanto is an original movie. Wednesday feels like she doesn’t belong because she might not be an Addams genetically, while Mirabel feels like she doesn’t belong because she lacks magic.

  • The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021) / Ron's Gone Wrong (2021)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated movies about the impact of technology, particularly virtual assistants. Both involve socially awkward teenagers and robots.
    • Implementation: The Mitchells vs The Machines is about a college-bound teenage girl who's forced to face a robot uprising during a family trip, after a Siri-like AI, PAL, decides to go rogue after its creator shuts it down to make way for home robots that it would later hack into. Ron's Gone Wrong is about a middle schooler who finally finds himself a new friend in form of B-bot, a highly coveted robot assistant that can be personalized according to the owner's preferences etc. using algorithm, only to find out the one has is a faulty one.

  • Encanto (2021) / Sing 2 (2021)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated films about misfits with strong musical elements, particularly in the case of the latter, with both being released during the 2021 holiday season.
    • Implementation: While following on the footsteps of 2017's Coco, the former film has no further connections to it, while the latter is the sequel to the 2016 surprise hit.

  • Lightyear (2022) / Strange World (2022)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated films about small groups landing and settling on an unknown exoplanet, and their adventures thereon, with both being made by Disney.
    • Implementation Lightyear is a reboot of the fictional backstory of the source character Buzz Lightyear, whose merchandise is a major character in Toy Story. Strange World appears to be a completely original story concept.

  • Lightyear (2022) / Beavis And Butthead Do The Universe (2022)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Beloved animated characters have adventures in space.
    • Implementation Both are based on popular franchises, with Lightyear being based on Toy Story and Beavis and Butthead being based on the TV series of the same name.


  • Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022) / Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Films about a fairy tale character with multiple lives who meets a personification of death. Also, both contain the character of the cricket from the Pinocchio story.
    • Implementation: While Pinocchio was a streaming release, note  Puss In Boots: The Last Wish was a theatrical release.

  • Encanto (2021) / Turning Red (2022)
    • Capsule Pitch Description: Animated films about a young teen girl dedicated to helping her family that has a magical heritage, with themes involving Generational Trauma, high expectations surrounding the duty to one's family, and toxic perfectionism, with both being made by Disney.
    • Implementation Encanto is about a powerless protagonist struggling to find her place of value in the family. While Turning Red deals with an enchanted protagonist struggling to break free from her family so she can express her unique self.


Alternative Title(s): Animation

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