Is there Plagiarism in Hollywood?

[Deepak]

I was having a discussion with my friend on Plagiarism is Hollywood and Bollywood. I agreed that many Bollywood movie have plots "inspired" from Hollywood flicks. Is there Plagiarism in Hollywood too? Are there cases of movie-makers taking "inspiration" from non-English/Asian movies/stories? In the meanwhile I'll try googling.

 

[Tim Murray]

I was having a discussion with my friend on Plagiarism is Hollywood and Bollywood. I agreed that many Bollywood movie have plots "inspired" from Hollywood flicks. Is there Plagiarism in Hollywood too? Are there cases of movie-makers taking "inspiration" from non-English/Asian movies/stories? In the meanwhile I'll try googling.

Resevoir Dogs?

 

[Randell]

of course,

Leon,
Breathless,
Star Wars,

just 3 films of the top of my head inspired by non-english films.

 

[nintenho]

Didn't they have a bollywood version of Fight Club?

 

[Moloch]

of course,

Leon,
Breathless,
Star Wars,

just 3 films of the top of my head inspired by non-english films.

Um Leon is a sort of variation of the writer/directers earlier film, Nikita, so it's not like he ripping off another guy, also the writer/director is french.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

I was having a discussion with my friend on Plagiarism is Hollywood and Bollywood. I agreed that many Bollywood movie have plots "inspired" from Hollywood flicks. Is there Plagiarism in Hollywood too? Are there cases of movie-makers taking "inspiration" from non-English/Asian movies/stories? In the meanwhile I'll try googling.

Yeah, Hollywood is ripping off left, right and centre. The woman who wrote the stories used as the basis for Terminator and The Matrix has been chasing movie studios through the courts for years. Disney has been stealing public domain fairy tales and then slapping their own copywrite on them as if they are Disney products for years. People like Grant Morrison was basically ripped off and his stories used to make terrible movies. Kurosawa's movies have been remade as westerns for years (Seven Samuri, Yojimbo, etc).

There's many cases where Hollywood steal other people's work, and then just use their money and lawyer muscle to tie people up in court until the little guy runs out of cash and has his life ruined.

Mind you, that's not to say that Bollywood just doesn't wholeheartedly steal Hollywood films too. Image the same film, scene for scene, but with much cheaper special effects and all in Hindi. Probably with a couple of large song and dance numbers thrown in for good measure.

 

[Tim Murray]

Um Leon is a sort of variation of the writer/directers earlier film, Nikita, so it's not like he ripping off another guy, also the writer/director is french.

Eh? Leon and Nikita have absolutely nothing to do with each other besides the fact that both main characters kill people. The plots are not remotely similar. Even thematically, it's kind of a stretch.

 

[Deepak]

Thanks folks, can you please also mention the name of the original work? I need to give solid proof to him, and also is there any website devoted to such info? I found some websites which list the Hindi movies which are copies of Hollywood movies...are there any such English websites too?

Nintenho, there was a Hindi movie released named Fight Club recently. But I haven't see it.

 

[nintenho]

Nintenho, there was a Hindi movie released named Fight Club recently. But I haven't see it.

ah.

 

[archie4oz]

Is there Plagiarism in Hollywood too?

Is there air?

Are there cases of movie-makers taking "inspiration" from non-English/Asian movies/stories?

That pretty much is the current trend.

 

[LeGreg]

Well rip off or plagiarism are the disparaging names,
you can also call them remakes or "hommages".

Remakes often have the same name as the original and credit the original author so there is no point of calling them plagiarism. Plus there are way too many to list here (dozens every year)..

Movies that look like a foreign films that they do not credit are also frequent, though it can be through "inspiration" or the original film was not so original in the first place.
Magnificent seven is an uncredited remake of seven samurai, but even then it is the small story, since the same plot idea has been used in countless other movies, and actually even the parody version created a sub-genre (used in "galaxy quest", "a bug's life", "three amigos", etc.).

Reservoir dog is largely inspired by City on Fire, but Tarantino has said several time, that though he recognizes his influences will not credit the movies he copies.

The lion king, though looking like an original idea (people will say it's a rip off from Kimba the lion, which is denied by Disney), the story is actually inspired by the one of Hamlet.

The ending of The Recruit looks terribly similar to the end of LA confidential, but the same plot mechanism has probably already be used in countless other movies.

LeGreg

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Eh? Leon and Nikita have absolutely nothing to do with each other besides the fact that both main characters kill people. The plots are not remotely similar. Even thematically, it's kind of a stretch.

Luc Besson wrote and directed both Leon and Nikita. Leon's main character appears in Nikita as one of the "cleaners".

 

[LeGreg]

Luc Besson wrote and directed both Leon and Nikita. Leon's main character appears in Nikita as one of the "cleaners".

Yes but it's not a plagiarism nor a remake..

Maybe a sequel, or the development of a subplot or exploration of the "besson's mythology" if you like.

 

[Tim Murray]

Luc Besson wrote and directed both Leon and Nikita. Leon's main character appears in Nikita as one of the "cleaners".

Crap, really? Shows how long it's been since I've seen Nikita (and yes, I am well-aware of Luc Besson's body of work).

What the hell is he doing nowadays, anyway?

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Yes but it's not a plagiarism nor a remake..

Never said it was.

Maybe a sequel, or the development of a subplot or exploration of the "besson's mythology" if you like.

I think of it as two stories in the same universe where one character (briefly) appears in the other.

There's been rumors of a followup to Leon starring Natalie Portman as a grown up assassin, but that's been an on/off project for several years.

 

[LeGreg]

What the hell is he doing nowadays, anyway?

Arthur and the minimoys (animated movie)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0344854/

Angel-A :
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473753/

Producing and writing for a lot of movies too (he owns a studio now).

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Crap, really? Shows how long it's been since I've seen Nikita (and yes, I am well-aware of Luc Besson's body of work).

What the hell is he doing nowadays, anyway?

Loads of stuff. Mostly French stuff, though he's probably a bit pissed at Hollywood after they way they treated the delayed release of Bandidas, which is supposed to be a lot better than most of the movies released over the summer.

 

[Basic]

Leon is just a related film.

But "Point of No Return", is a bad remake of "Nikita".

 

[Randell]

Havan't you all missed that The Assassin is a Hollywood remake of La Femme Nikita?

The point is one's a non-english film, and one, even though remade by same director, is Hollywood saying - 'we'll have that'

 

[DemoCoder]

Everyone rips everyone else off. That's the history of Western civilization since the Greeks.

The woman who wrote the stories used as the basis for Terminator and The Matrix has been chasing movie studios through the courts for years.

That woman is an insane or scam artist. You're talking about that Sophia Stewart women right? Terminator whether or not you think James Cameron came up with it independently (very possible) shares similarities with many previous Harlan Ellison stories, Phillip K Dick stories, and even an old French film, long before the so-called "Third Eye" story she copyrighted in 1981. Her case was dismissed in court, she could not present any evidence, including the supposed script she sent the Wachoskis (probably because she never wrote one beyond the short story). I smell an attempted shake down.