Is there Plagiarism in Hollywood?

[StefanS]

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.

Best known examples are probably the works of Akira Kurosawa:

Orignal: Yojimbo -> Spaghetti western A Fistfull of Dollars (director: Sergio Leone; starring Clint Eastwood) -> Last Man Standing (d: Walter Hill; starring Bruce Willis, Christopher Walken)
Orignal: Seven Samurai -> The Magnificient Seven
...

Yojimbo was in turn partially inspired by the novel of D. Hammett.

There are loads of examples of Asian movies having an impact on Hollywood flicks. The most recent influences can be found in the horror genre. There's been a flood of remakes of Asian horror movies (Ju-On -> the Grudge, etc.).
It's not a one-sided relation. Hollywood influences cinema across the whole globe, while the re-flux is from distinct regions which have an impact on Hollywood which influences the global cinema.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

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

But now the movie companies have bought enough influence to have some of the most draconian copyright laws enacted, while using their muscle to break them when they feel like it. They can't have their cake and eat it, but apparenetly hypocracy doesn't appy to the studio execs.

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.

You're right, Stewart did lose in court in the end because she didn't present, even though there appeared to be enough to go forward at the time (people witnessing use of her story as reference on set, editing of the movie to try and avoid copyright infringment of her story, etc). She seems to have gone loopy at the end.

The Terminator case was a little different. Harlan Ellison went to court and was paid a substantial settlement by Cameron's studio for theft of "Demon With A Glass Hand".

 

[Basic]

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

I did say that "Point of No Return", is a remake of "Nikita". Sorry if I missed the full name, but I think it was called just "Nikita" in Sweden.
"Point of No Return", "The Assassin", and "Codename: Nina" is just different names on the same remake. (Different names in different parts of the world.)

 

[RussSchultz]

The Terminator case was a little different. Harlan Ellison went to court and was paid a substantial settlement by Cameron's studio for theft of "Demon With A Glass Hand".

I just read the wikipedia synopsis of "Demon with a glass Hand" and was unimpressed by the (lack of) similaries.

Sure, there's time travel, and hunting somebody, but the rest of the story is just...different.

If that's enough to get a sizable settlement, I'm going to start writing all sorts of off the wall sci-fi stories in hopes of shaking somebody down at a later date.

 

[mcsven]

Hollywood rips itself off. Cars was a remake of Doc Hollywood, and not a particularly well disguised remake either.

 

[Angelcurio]

I just recently saw this trailer for a movie called The Wicker Man:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5baIvLY8YQ

And even though i dont know if the movie is based on a book or some old movie (havent researched about it), at first sight it looks like a Silent Hill rip off. At least, those were my impressions after seeing the trailer.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

I just recently saw this trailer for a movie called The Wicker Man:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5baIvLY8YQ

And even though i dont know if the movie is based on a book or some old movie (havent researched about it), at first sight it looks like a Silent Hill rip off. At least, those were my impressions after seeing the trailer.

The Wicker Man was around long before Silent Hill. This is actually a remake, not a ripoff.

 

[Randell]

I did say that "Point of No Return", is a remake of "Nikita". Sorry if I missed the full name, but I think it was called just "Nikita" in Sweden.
"Point of No Return", "The Assassin", and "Codename: Nina" is just different names on the same remake. (Different names in different parts of the world.)

Sorry didn't realise Point of No Return was US name for The Assassin.