Animation | Comedy | Drama | Horror | Period Pieces | Sci-Fi | Spy Fiction | Superhero | War | Cross-Genre
- Initiators / Followers
- Capsule Pitch Description: Description
- Implementation: Implementation
- Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (US, 1934) / The Return of Bulldog Drummond (UK, 1934)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Sequels to 1929's Bulldog Drummond.
- Implementation: In the US production, Ronald Colman reprises the title role with Charles Butterworth as his sidekick Algie Longworth. In the UK production, Ralph Richardson takes the title role and Claud Allister reprises his previous role of Algie. Also that same year Alfred Hitchcock began work on a Bulldog Drummond picture; when he couldn't get the rights to the character he filed off the serial numbers and turned out The Man Who Knew Too Much.
- OSS 117: Mission to Tokyo (1966) / You Only Live Twice (1967)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Two Cold War spy films about ace Western secret agents with a "7" in their three-number Code Name who go to Japan.
- Implementation: OSS 117: Mission to Tokyo is an adaptation of French spy fiction books and seeks to emulate the James Bond series with a small-to-medium budget while You Only Live Twice is a big budget film of the James Bond series. Terence Young directed three films in the Bond series (though not this one) and wrote the story of some OSS 117 films, including Mission to Tokyo.
- You Only Live Twice (1967) / Casino Royale (1967)
- Capsule Pitch Description: The first duel between two James Bond films released the same year.
- Implementation: One is a straight-up spy action film that's part of the successful Eon Productions James Bond series and has very few elements in common with the original Ian Fleming novel, while the other's Troubled Production turned it into a big spoof that adapts the novel Casino Royale, by outside producers who had the rights to the novel.
- Octopussy (1983) / Never Say Never Again (1983)
- Capsule Pitch Description: The second duel between two James Bond films released the same year.
- Implementation: Octopussy is part of the long-running Eon Productions James Bond series and starred Roger Moore, while Never Say Never Again is a remake of Thunderball and the result of a long legal battle between Eon and producer Kevin McClory over the rights of the novel Thunderball and starred Sean Connery, who returned in the role after a 12-year gap.
- Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) - The World Is Not Enough (1999) - Die Another Day (2002) / Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) - Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) - Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Three films starring Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, up against Austin Powers, a spy parody film series lampooning the Bond franchise (mainly).
- Implementation: The Brosnan Bond films were sizable hits, though the latter two films received mixed reviews; while Austin Powers was a more modest hit that gained its traction in home video, spawning its sequels.
- XXX (2002) / Die Another Day (2002)
- Capsule Pitch Description: 2002 released spy action thrillers. One is a James Bond film while the other is an attempt to channel the Bond action formula for a new series.
- Implementation: Ironically enough the director of Die Another Day Lee Tamahori would go on to direct the sequel xXx: State of the Union.
- The Bourne Identity (2002) / Die Another Day (2002)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Two ace secret agents with "J. B." as initials who originated in a spy novel series.
- Implementation: The Bourne Identity is a gritty and realistic take on the spy genre, while Die Another Day was the culmination of the Tuxedo and Martini spy fantasy tropes (puns, improbable gadgets and CGI spectacle) in the James Bond franchise.
- Mission: Impossible III (2006) / Casino Royale (2006)
- Capsule Pitch Description: The first movie duel between the two iconic spy movie franchises in the same year, with similar budgets. Both films were made much grittier than their previous, more fancy and more special effects-heavy installment.
- Implementation: Mission Impossible III is the third movie in its franchise to star Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, while Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond franchise and a Continuity Reboot introducing Daniel Craig in the main role.
- The Bourne Legacy (2012) / Skyfall (2012)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Two secret agents from spy action franchises that have "J. B." as initials.
- Implementation: The Bourne Legacy is a Spin-Off of The Bourne Series with a new protagonist played by Jeremy Renner instead of Matt Damon's Jason Bourne, while Skyfall is the twenty-third entry in the James Bond franchise and Daniel Craig's third movie as James Bond.
- Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) / The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Two films aiming to recapture the charm of the older James Bond films.
- Implementation: Kingsman is based on a comic book, U.N.C.L.E. on the classic 1960s television series.
- Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) / The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Big-budget action movies based on Cold War era spy TV shows.
- Implementation: Rogue Nation is set in Present Day (albeit with many 20 Minutes into the Future features) while U.N.C.L.E. is set in The '60s. Tom Cruise was originally slated to star in the latter, before leaving the project during its Development Hell and going on to film the former. Rogue Nation is also the fifth in its franchise, while U.N.C.L.E is the first (and likely last).
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) / Spectre (2015)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Two spy films from franchises that have common historical ground (franchise that started during the Cold War, and some creative involvement from James Bond's creator Ian Fleming in the early days of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.). The Man from U.N.C.L.E. also stars Henry Cavill, who once famously auditioned to be Bond.
- Implementation:
- Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) / Spectre (2015)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Big budget action movies from two iconic spy movie franchises. The main villain of both ends up captured alive at the end and comes back in the sequel.
- Implementation: Rogue Nation is the fifth Mission Impossible film, Spectre is the twenty-fourth James Bond one.
- Spectre (2015) / Jason Bourne (2016)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Two films released less than a year apart about ace secret agents who have "J. B." as initials and originated in a spy novel series. Both also happen to be the fourth movie of each series' lead actor in the main role, Daniel Craig and Matt Damon respectively.
- Implementation: Jason Bourne is the fifth film of The Bourne Series and saw the return of director Paul Greengrass and lead Matt Damon. Spectre is the twenty-fourth James Bond film and saw the return of the team behind the hugely successful Skyfall, chiefly director Sam Mendes and lead Daniel Craig.
- Atomic Blonde (2017) / Red Sparrow (2018)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Two gritty spy movies released within months of each other. Both are centered around a blonde female spy protagonist and involve double agents and the CIA going up against Soviet/Russian secret services.
- Implementation: Red Sparrow adapts a novel, is set in Present Day and its protagonist is not much of an an Action Girl, while Atomic Blonde adapts a graphic novel, is set in 1989 at the tail end of the Cold War and has its protagonist's action sequences as one of its main selling points.
- Black Widow (2021) / No Time to Die (2021)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Two high octane spy action thriller films from a long-running film franchise, with a least two action girls, a Russian Big Bad as well as a masked villain and a woman with a Dark and Troubled Past who was martially trained as a child.
- Implementation: Black Widow is the twenty-fourth film in the relatively recent Marvel Cinematic Universe, while No Time to Die is the twenty-fifth entry in the James Bond franchise, which has been around since the 1960s. And it's basically a duel between Real Life husband-and-wife Daniel Craig (as main character James Bond) and Rachel Weisz (as supporting character Melina Vostokoff). Additionally, both films were originally slated for 2020, but delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic moved them to the next year. Black Widow received a simultaneous release on Disney+ Premier Access along with a theatrical release, while No Time to Die had both a theatrical release and a PVOD release one month later.
- No Time to Die (2021) / The King's Man (2021)
- Capsule Pitch Description: The twenty-fifth James Bond movie going up against a movie from Kingsman, a franchise that's a Genre Throwback to the older James Bond entries. Both feature British secret services dealing with a global threat, and both happen to have Ralph Fiennes in their cast.
- Implementation: No Time To Die is the twenty-fifth entry in its long-running franchise, the fifth and last movie of its hero's then-current incarnation (Daniel Craig) and a sequel to Spectre set in Present Day. The King's Man is the third entry in its franchise and a prequel set in The Edwardian Era and World War I (thus without its main stars, Taron Egerton and Colin Firth).
- Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (2023) / Heart of Stone (2023)
- Capsule Pitch Description: High octane globetrotting spy/action thrillers centering around an elite secret agent (and betting on the star power of said agent's actor, Tom Cruise on one hand and Gal Gadot on the other) and releasing in the summer of 2023. Both films have one or two sequences in Italy, a sequence in a desert, the protagonist paragliding at one point and a plot concerning a race for a MacGuffin giving access to an Artificial Intelligence that can hack into anything on Earth and calculate outcomes with Ludicrous Precision.
- Implementation: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning is a theatrical release, whereas Heart of Stone is a streaming release on Netflix.
- Argylle (2024) / The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)
- Capsule Pitch Description: 2024 spy action films with comedic elements starring Henry Cavill and directed by two very stylish British directors (Matthew Vaughn and Guy Ritchie, respectively). The UK is an important setting in both also.
- Implementation: Cavill plays a fictional secret American agent both out and In-Universe in modern day in Argylle (and a Decoy Protagonist at that) and a Real Life World War II British agent (a founding member of the Special Operations Executive) in The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare (in a main role).