A sense of déjà vu as powerful as an ocean wave came crashing over me around twenty minutes into the movie.
There I was ready to fully submit and watch the heck out of this Tony Scott directed, ripped-from-the-headlines terrorist flick come time-travel love story come FBI thriller I’d recorded from television the night before, only to be unnerved by an ache of familiarity so powerful that I’d seen it all before.
Not the movie itself or any of it’s individual scenes but strangely, simply just the title.
The movie I’d been sitting down to enjoy was the 2006 Denzil Washington starring DEJA VU. The film I’d been reminded of was one I’d seen ten years before that at the cinemas starring Venessa Redgrave also titled DEJA VU. Content wise the movies are about as alike as the wallpaper in my living room and the engine design of my Mazda CX-5 – which is to say not alike at all.
It got me thinking what other films down through the years have copied each other’s titles while showcasing completely unrelated, dissimilar stories? And by ‘copied’ I don’t mean ‘approximated’.
‘Approximated’ is a separate category (‘genre’ if you prefer the more high- falutin term) unto itself of ‘copyright be dammed’ infringement – often accomplished via the sly inclusion of the word ‘the’ – as these non-identical twin examples show –
Another non-identical twin title-ling technique is the ‘ol lowercase vs uppercase work-around. That one looks like this…
Now onto the main event – identical twins by the bucket load. Where’s an intellectual property lawyer when you need one, eh?
Know of any other identically titled movies?
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What smart sleuthing Glen – I am amazed at the number of identical titles – did not think it would have been allowed but you have shown it does happen and also the power of the little word ‘the’ – very interesting………..
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Glen I have just realized I am at present reading two books – both by very well-known authors – both published in 2009 – one is called BLACK ICE and the other is The BLACK ICE – that little word ‘the’ again. Interesting,,,,,,,
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Now THAT is interesting…
https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/fiction/crime-mystery/The-Black-Ice-Michael-Connelly-9781760528515
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I love this post! Identically titled movies is a great subject! Here are some off the top of my head:
Jack Frost (1997) and Jack Frost (1998)
Frozen (2010) and Frozen (2013)
The Girl Next Door (2004) and The Girl Next Door (2007)
Crash (1996) and Crash (2004)
Rush (1991) and Rush (2013)
Project X (1987) and Project X (2012)
The Host (2006) and The Host (2013)
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I knew there were some I’d left off the list!
Thank you.
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Just watched BLACK ICE BOOK TRAILER and that is NOT one of the two BLACK ICE books I’m reading at the moment – any more BLACK ICE books out there?
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Wow, that’s a lot. It’s funny how movie titles are up for grabs for anyone; you can’t copyright titles.
I guess because they would run out eventually? And some words are really popular?
Maybe Hollywood will go out of business due to this pandemic and maybe indie people and talented people–you know, people with new, interesting ideas not interested in remaking A Star is Born or The Ten Commandments– will actually be in demand in the future.
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Well… as we all know, we’re now officially living in a re-made World so anything’s possible (but not probable).
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That was fun. 🙂
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Thank you Widd.
There is a Part 2 coming up next post featuring movies that have not just two but THREE identical titles.
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A few not mentioned yet:
Carrie (1952 & 1976)
Pennies from Heaven (1936 & 1981)
Dressed to Kill (1941 & 1946 & 1980)
Heaven Can Wait (1943 & 1978)
Water (1985 & 2005)
Lionheart (1987 & 1990)
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Brilliant Eric!
Thank you for those additions.
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