THE ART OF THE KNOCK-OFF

I found this article via Your Video Store Shelf concerning the recent stream of movie knock-offs specifically from Asylum Pictures. What amazes me is how some people act surprised by all of this as if this is something that has just occurred in recent times. First off everyone in the biz has been doing the knock-off/rip-off/homage thing for decades.

Little indie underdog studios would rip each other off back as far back as the 40's, and larger studios would crank out their own big budget versions. For instance Arkoff would be doing biker flicks for a few years and soon every large studio had to have their own biker genre flick to cash in on the money that the indies were grabbing.

Even today large studios rip each other off. The only difference is that they use advertising and spin tactics to make their flicks appear different and better than the last. A good example would be THE WILD and MADAGASCAR. Both similar flicks from two studios who wanted to cash in that crazy CGI animals escaped from the zoo craze that was sweeping the nation and the wallets of many moms and dads out there, namely me.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I dig flicks like TRANSMORPHERS and SNAKES ON A TRAIN. Why? Because they're just plain fun to begin with which is something alot of the bigger studios seem to lack.

I guess I don't get irate at this whole thing because I am a literate fellow who can tell the difference between the title TRANSMORPHERS and TRANSFORMERS, and am just angry at idiots who can't read to save their lives actually are upset when they feel cheated. What the hell for? How come is it the renter never questions as to why TRANSFORMERS is on DVD at a Blockbuster when the damn thing is still in theaters. And why can't they have learned to read past the first grade level?