Why Do Twin Films Get Released At The Same Time?

Audiences knew well in advance that there were two magician movies coming in 2006. Both The Prestige and The Illusionist were due to hit theaters around the same time. This Twin Film Phenomenon occurs all the time, but how? How do Twin Films end up releasing in the same year. Movies like The Prestige and The Illusionist aren't alone with releases like A Bugs Life and Antz, or more recently White House Down and Olympus has Fallen.
#theprestige #christophernolan #nerdstalgic
Sources
walkerart.org/magazine/christ...
movieweb.com/jonathan-nolan-o...
www.oneguysopinion.com/neil-b...
emanuellevy.com/interviews/il...
www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...
cano-deep-impact-armageddon-capote-infamous-florence-foster-jenkins-a8431091.html

[@cookingwitchefzayy8830]

This how I feel about Barbie and Oppenheimer

[@ScofieldStudios]

Yeah, they are very similar. Barbie launched in Japan, and Oppenhiemer launched in Japan. What a coincidence!

[@esergio]

😂

[@trinaq]

Yep, they're so similar, and they released on the same day, all over the world! What a fluke!

[@pellucid0]

Barbenheimer

[@victor0491]

Fraternal Twin Movies

[@Faith_Soprano]

I've always been a bit bummed out that Despicable Me did so much better than Megamind, because I heavily prefer the latter. I realize the power of minions is hard to beat, but I would have loved a Megamind sequel. I guess there's a certain charm to a stand-alone film though.

[@yrwestillhere]

As a kid, there was a point when I watched Megamind 5 times in one week. It was such a new thing to me, and I was an animation connoisseur back then. Watched it recently, too, and boy, does it hold up. Never seen Despicable me, though.

[@nocandoslurms433]

The voice recordings for Will Ferrell and Tina Fey were recorded separately due to scheduling conflicts. Their dialogue together in scenes just feels a little off to me. Great movie otherwise.

[@RuyVuusen]

​@@yrwestillhereIf you ever decide to watch Despicable Me, trust me, only the first movie is worth it (and still, it's no masterpiece).

[@NoNameAtAll2]

I also love White House Down more than Olympus Has Fallen

[@heatherdale5571]

Agreed, Dispicable Me was a decent and fun movie, but Megamind was so much for fun and interesting. I feel like DM was very much made for families/kids, whereas Megamind more mature in it's storytelling.

[@firstname__lastname]

When those two movies came out. I always got the feeling The Illusionist was more of a love story while The Prestige had a darker, thriller tone... But yes, The Prestige all the way. It's my favourite Christopher Nolan film actually.

[@overseastom]

I loved the Prestige, right up until its ending, which was just soooo bloody contrived. I've made my peace with it now, but it's definitely a lazy ending. I don't wanna put any spoilers in, so don't wanna say more.

[@VonJay]

The prestige is my favorite film of all time

[@micahclawrence]

Same

[@justinklenk]

Likewise. Favorite, and imho single best movie of all time. 👍

[@Iboughtthemarvel]

​@@overseastomit was a lazy ending but one of the best endings ever in cinema.

[@thescottishaccent]

My favourite twinsies (which MUST be sheer coincidence) are Dredd and The Raid. Two films about a cop having to ascend a tower block to get to the boss at the top, trapped in endless identical floors while being hunted down by most of the residents who are also gang members. Both are superb, too.

[@WAProdthejohman]

I love both "The Prestige" and "The illusionist" for different reasons, they both have their merits and strenghts

[@milescoburn1845]

"The Prestige" and "The Illusionist" are not "Twin Movies". They have completely different plots. The only tie between them is they both deal with magic. The logic that says they're "twin movies", would also say that 1982's "ET: The Extraterrestrial" and "The Thing" are "twin movies" because they both deal with aliens.

[@fortheloveofbollywood4617]

You should listen to the Hollywood vs Hollywood podcast The Illusionist vs The Prestige

[@TightPantsJack]

A lot of twin films in the ‘90s (Antz/A Bug's Life, Deep Impact/Armageddon, Dante's Peak/Volcano) often involved DreamWorks. Somehow, the DreamWorks films often came out JUST before the other film.

[@stev6963]

I remember when I was like 7 years old me and my family watched A Bug’s Life for the first time. When the movie was over my dad said “well that was about 100x better than Antz.” DreamWorks always had the inferior product back then. Same with Finding Nemo and Shark Tale.

[@imaadshahrukh4829]

Here's one set of twin films from the 90s no one talks about: Absolute Power and Murder at 1600 Both came out in 1998 and are about murders that the US President is implicated in.

[@loganbigmo]

@@stev6963 But Shrek & Shrek 2 reigned supreme. A signal to DreamWorks that instead of trying to make a twin film, maybe they should do their own thing.

[@eliasmochan]

Everyone forgets Madagascaar vs Into the wild (I think Disney was first that time) :p

[@ccubsfan94]

​@loganbigmo I think the previous films were there so Shrek could run. It was a startup, compared to the established Pixar with Disney backing. They needed their name and a bit of cash flow to do what they really wanted.

[@SuddenJeff]

My favorite is "Rhapsody Rabbit" with Bugs Bunny, and "The Cat Concerto" with Tom and Jerry. Both cartoons are about a concert pianist being interrupted by a mouse during a performance of Hungarian Rhapsody. But the best part is that there's a third cartoon from the same year that was nominated for the 1946 animated short Oscar (and lost to "The Cat Concerto") with Woody Woodpecker & Andy Panda playing dueling pianos.

[@IsaacKuo]

Sometimes it's pretty obvious where the twins come from, if you simply add in the time to make a movie. For example, the Shoemaker-Levy comet impact on Jupiter, in 1994, inspired both Deep Impact and Armaggedon, released in 1998. Similarly, the landing of Pathfinder in 1997 inspired both Mission to Mars and Red Planet, released in 2000.

[@leesherman5192]

There was also a novella in "Analog" telling the impact from the Jovians' point of view.

[@russelldelmet]

Good point. I always found it really interesting that several '80s monster movies involved Halley's Comet passing Earth (as it did in 1986) and bringing some kind of evil with it: Night of the Comet, Lifeforce and Killer Klowns from Outer Space are the first that come to mind.

[@leesherman5192]

​@@russelldelmet There was even a line of action figures called the Parasites who were creatures from the tail of Halley's Comet.

[@Twiska]

I remember a big magic boom in the '90s and early 2000s; I bet the Prestige and Illusionist released simultaneously because both studios wanted to cash in, so they green-lite them. It's not that that was the time a lot of film makers wanted to make magic movies that literally trick the audience; it was because that was the time studio would let them.

[@JoJoJoker]

If The Prestige is Tombstone, The Illusionist is Wyatt Earp. The Prestige is a nearly perfect movie in my opinion and improves every one of the few dozen times I’ve watched it. Except Wyatt Earp’s main flaw was prioritizing historical accuracy over entertainment. It is a shame we never got Nolan’s film about Howard Hughes to compete with The Aviator.

[@Fika_Break]

Tombstone is incredibly overrated.

[@Pseudothink]

Covering "twin movies" with a focus on The Prestige. I see what you did there, @Nerdstalgic.

[@reinotsurugi]

I always think of Tombstone and Wyatt Earp in these circumstances.

[@ForzaOwnz]

Bugs life and Ants had this issue as well

[@spencergsmith]

@@reinotsurugiI generally think of Deep Impact and Armageddon, but maybe that’s because I’ve never seen Wyatt Earp or The Illusionist. Tombstone, however, is the greatest western of all film history.

[@KingOfHarems]

Honestly, I watched both, and really liked both of them, but I was always forever getting confused on which one was which, and what events belonged to each one.

[@HandsomeLongshanks]

That's on you then, because they're VERY different.

[@youtoobe556]

@@HandsomeLongshanks Bruh I watched both of them too way back when (like 12yo) and for a while I had the same issue until I watched them again recently. To say that they were soooo different that such a mix up can't possibly happen is a little daft of you.

[@spencergsmith]

It’s called misdirection.

[@KingOfHarems]

@@youtoobe556 Excatly. If I watched them now, I would definitely be able to tell them apart, but as a kid, they very much felt like the same movie

[@walee6168]

@youtoobe556 I am so glad that I'm not the only one lol

[@wynonasbigbrowndragon6121]

I thought the same thing at the time. The whole thing had an Antz/A Bug's Life feel

[@JoJoJoker]

Antz is a bit different…Antz was stolen from Pixar by a former executive.

[@trinaq]

It's funny how these two movies with identical concepts happened to be released within the exact same year. I grew up with both "First Daughter" and "Chasing Liberty", alongside "No Strings Attached" and "Friends with Benefits", which all have identical plots involving the president's daughter and couple with a causal relationship end up falling in love, respectively.

[@iamdunn1]

Deep impact and Armageddon

[@nurse0857]

White House Down and Olympus has Fallen are another two. I noticed it a lot when I worked at a movie theater in college. I always assumed one studio sort of liked the concept but not the actual script so they hired someone else to write a different script.

[@ChineduOpara]

​​@@nurse0857onestly, in my mind "White House Down" and "Olympus Has Fallen" are the same movie. Ask me to give a semi-detailed synopsis of either one, and I guarantee you my description will have elements from both films 😅

[@ChineduOpara]

​@@iamdunn1"Antz" and "A Bug's Life"

[@ChristopherSoltis5]

Happy Feet and Surfs up

[@thevikingbear2343]

Paul Giamatti is hands down the best thing from the Illussionist

[@spencergsmith]

He’s the best thing in most films in which he appears… except for The Amazing Spider-man 2 😂

[@heatherdale5571]

Lol, generally speaking, that's the case across the board for PG. He's always great to watch! Regardless of the movie.

[@sky-magnet]

Wrong. It is Jessica Biel's butt.

[@reidsoundz9905]

Isn’t he always

[@dominiquepowell3158]

He's great in every role he's done over the years.

[@edvaira6891]

Strangely, both “The Illusionist” AND “The Prestige” ended up being my two Favorite Films of 2006! They are very different but both Wonderful films!

[@nikolasdove]

I don't think I ever questioned why we get multiple movies of the same topic, but I have always been intrigued by the fact some of these coming out in the same year. I personally first noticed it with white house down and Olympus has fallen. When both of those came out around the same time I thought it was weird cuz I thought it was oddly specific for the short time of their same releases.

[@323johnnybravo]

The Prestige is excellent, Nolan is a master at his craft.

[@Dr.Quarex]

Agreed and I forgot the Illusionist even existed by 2007

[@EastyyBlogspot]

I thought someone else had released this type of vid today to....

[@anubusx]

The irony lol.

[@iamtommyheckerjr]

*too

[@1975KyleDavid]

I've seen both movies, and they are entirely different plots. The only thing they have in common is deception--the differences lie in who is being deceived, how they are deceived, and the purposes for the deception. Other than that, you have great movies to watch.

[@josrodsedre5142]

It reminds me of two books: “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” which came out in 2017 and “The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” less than a year after. Very different genres and stories, but the titles are constructed the same way, and both female characters are named Evelyn! Everybody confused them at the time (and people still do) yet it really was a mere coincidence, two manuscripts with similar titles just happened to arrive on top of two different editors’ desks around the same time. Incredible.

[@matthewftbailey]

That format of "The [number] [things] of [quirky-sounding name]" is really overused for book titles. Still a crazy coincidence just HOW similar those two are.

[@jay2936]

Nerd

[@stev6963]

This is an interesting topic! I have always recognized twin films throughout my life and wondered how this happens. I do remember bitching to people in 2011 that No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits were the exact same movies with the same exact plot. What’s an interesting coincidence about that is that Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis star in those films, respectively, and they are a married couple themselves.

[@HandsomeLongshanks]

Both of these movies were fun but the Prestige is my favorite movie of all time for a reason. It's just perfect

[@rizingzun]

The Prestige is one of my favorite films of all time So many twists 😮

[@fizola88]

It used to be due to fact that scripts circulated around the studios and production companies, being changed, altered and so on. Writers used to send their scripts to many studios at once to see if someone will buy it to make it into movie. So sometimes one studio overpaid the writer so they can get the script, but competition also read it, but lost the deal, they hired different writer to make their own version, that get basic concepts and stuff, but is not that similar to original script that they can get sued.

[@lighthousephotographybandera]

This happened with a movie my dad was in back in the 90's. Two Hollywood bigwigs developed the story together, both assuming they were the obvious choice as director. When it came time to put the script to work, they realized that they both wanted to direct the film and parted ways. But because they developed the story together, they both felt that had equal rights to the basic story concept. The movie my dad ended up in was directed by Taylor Hackford of "Driving Miss Daisy"' fame. It was very similar to the movie the other guy put out around the same time. I was a teenager then, but that was when I became aware that this kind of thing was happening in Hollywood, and it actually happens quite often.

[@pawacoteng]

Which movies are you talking about? Why so cryptic?

[@AMD64EVER]

I liked both! The Illusionist is the one I've watched the most but the Prestige is the one I reference in conversations the most.

[@jordanneal576]

The Prestige is one of my favorite films of all time. I watched the Illusionist, expecting something comparable and was very disappointed. I haven't watched it again since.

[@chesssse6607]

Prestige is one of the movie I consider perfect. Just love it so much with the intricated details and foreshadowing

[@Captain-Cosmo]

A triple was The Abyss, Deep Star Six, and Leviathon, all in 1989.

[@guyjperson]

Yeah. Deep Star Six and Leviathan were actually openly racing to get in on the Abyss' action.

[@imaadshahrukh4829]

There was also Lords of the Deep, making it quadruple. Another quadruple would be The Matrix, The Thirteenth Floor, Dark City, and eXistenZ.

[@bookshelfhoney]

Isn't there another movie just like those ones too? Sphere?

[@Captain-Cosmo]

​@@bookshelfhoney SPHERE came out nearly a decade later in 1998 and was an undersea sci-fi film based upon a novel by Michael Crichton. The three mentioned in the original post were all in the summer of '89. If SPHERE had come out in '89, it certainly would have fit in with the group, but the theme here are similar movies that came out around the same time.

[@guyjperson]

@@bookshelfhoney The Dustin Hoffman one. Was that the same year? Also, Dustin Hoffman reminds me that there were dueling Outbreak movies once.

[@SleightCreative]

I love both movies although the Prestige is easily in my top 5 greatest movies of all time

[@TymOLaughlin]

how did i get here so early! white house down and olympia has fallen are also good examples

[@chloemchll3774]

I’m surprised you didn’t point out “heroes fighting heroes” as one of those synchronicities (Captain America: Civil War, Batman Vs Superman, whichever Fast and Furious movie came out that same year had the rest of the gang going against Dom, etc).

[@davionwilliams4011]

Transformers The Last Knight tried to cash in on that as well

[@artoisr2]

I noticed this since I was a teenager, always thought Hollywood hosted a competition between 2 studios and gave them a theme and a few guidelines to make a movie about. Also noticed most of the 'twin' movies get nominated at the oscars.

[@HomeDefender30]

Both of these movies became intertwined in my head, to the point where I don’t know what is from what movie, scenes and plots just melt together into one movie for me!

[@sunnyjohnson992]

Late for Dinner in 1991 and Forever Young with Mel Gibson in 1992. In 1989, we had The Abyss, Leviathan, and Deepstar Six!

[@FrenchCelt]

We had three made for TV movies about Amy Fisher in the early 90s, all within months of each other, starring Noelle Parker (NBC), Alyssa Milano (CBS), and Drew Barrymore (ABC) as the so-called "Long Island Lolita," although that was definitely cultural zeitgeist at work. I liked both The Illusionist and The Prestige, but while I pretty much forgot about The Illusionist since I watched it over 15 years ago, The Prestige has lingered with me and it's the only one I have purchased on Blu-ray and rewatched. This was the movie that started turning Nolan into my favorite contemporary director, after having seen Memento, Insomnia, and Batman Begins previously (Inception was what capped the process).

[@gregblau8082]

100% agree with how you say they will be remembered. I was a big Edward Norton fan and saw the illusionist as soon as it came out on video. It was good, but confusing and forgettable. I had never heard of the prestige and randomly picked it up a few years later when I needed something for the 4 for $20 deals at blockbuster. Great movie

[@matthewbump6997]

They are both fantastic films.

[@moviesgalore9947]

Studios compete with each other when one studio announces they are making a movie with a commercial premise another studio can try to beat them to the opening weekend with their own version of the movie with the same premise.

[@PrettyTigerlilly]

I've always wondered about this, good to know the story behind it. Imo, The Prestige is the better film.

[@mochaest1994]

Barbenheimer 2023 best marketing tool this year

[@ditzygypsy]

This happened with Florence Foster Jenkins and Marguerite. Turner and Hooch and K-9. Armageddon and Deep Impact. Liberty Stands Still and Phone Booth. I think these, and the two mentioned at the beginning of the video, are the only ones I know of because I watched both sets of all of these. I’m sure there are more, though. And I used to be Facebook friends with a minor director, and I remember seeing many really good actors say that The Prestige was their favourite movie or in their top three. That was how I originally ended up seeking it out. And, wow, they are right.

[@jezebulls]

I believe The Prestige was more of a psychological thriller and The Illusionist was a love story. I enjoyed having to use my brain in The Prestige and discovering more of the mystery on every rewatch.

[@CV-lm7pv]

I wouldn't be surprised if producers get inspired by pitches they reject but find interesting after they get picked by a competitor.

[@CaptainFirefred]

MArs Attacs was a weird twin of Independence Day, I always assumed that scripts and ideas make their rounds in producer circles and they are not above ripping on a good idea.

[@KeyDash753]

I always thought it was amazing to have Dunkirk and Darkest Hour up for Best Picture in the same year. Certainly not identical plots, showing events from different perspectives, but still I'd say they're as similar as Prestige/Illusionist.

[@imaadshahrukh4829]

An early example of twin films would be Dr Strangelove and Fail-Safe, coming out in 1964. Both are good films, but the former is more impactful. They also differ with the former being a comedy and the latter being a serious drama. The Towering Inferno was made to avoid twin films by combining two books The Tower and The Glass Inferno into a single film by both WB and Fox teaming up. In 1988-1989, there were two film adaptations of Les Liaisons Dangereuses called called Dangerous Liaisons and Valmont. The former starring Glenn Close and John Malkovich. The latter starring Annette Bening and Colin Firth. Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation and Spectre are another example of twin films.

[@HotdogFiend69]

I read one time that these twin films were largely intentional due to ruthless studio competition. If studio A knows that studio B is putting hundreds of millions if dollars into a Hindenburg movie, they know that hundreds of millions are going to spent on marketing that film. If studio A makes a cheaper copycat film that could easily be confused with the heavily marketed Hindenburg film, they will get free marketing, make a huge profit from their copycat, and funnel profits away from studio B. It's very smart to copy what you expect is going to be profitable.

[@wolvthehero]

I love both movies for different reasons. I remember preferring The Illusionist back when these movies originally came out but I've rewatched The Prestige recently, and many more times compared to The Illusionist.

[@justinbauk1026]

I can save you all time on this video with 4 words: Consumer marketing trend reports. Steam punk and magic was trending, so producers put pressure on directors. That's it.

[@travistotle]

Well you sound like you're fun at parties 😐

[@justinbauk1026]

@@travistotle I'm the man at parties. Marketing and cultural trends dominate the incentives of all our media and entertainment. Consider yourself informed and engage accordingly

[@CubicSpline7713]

I enjoyed both The Prestige and The Illusionist very much, but in different ways. They are no way copies of each other. Just entertaining in their own rights.

[@milescoburn1845]

Exactly. "The Prestige" and "The Illusionist" are not "Twin Movies". They have completely different plots. The only tie between them is they both deal with magic. The logic that says they're "twin movies", would also say that 1982's "ET: The Extraterrestrial" and "The Thing" are "twin movies" because they both deal with aliens.

[@AlfonzoDiaz]

Wow! Excellent video and excellent channel!

[@BretSilverberg]

The Prestige and The Illusionist were both great films

[@fxnozakhere9653]

I was waiting for a mention of Tombstone and Wyatt Earp.

[@easy2213]

I had literally forgotten about The Illusionist, but I've always loved The Prestige.

[@Geronimo_Jehoshaphat]

Favorite "twin films" would be Tombstone (1993) and Wyatt Earp (1994) - they're wildly different in tone and scope from one another, but both equally great in their own unique way.

[@pawacoteng]

I'll be your Huckleberry.

[@rgodase]

In bollywood there were 3 biopics of revolutionary Bhagat singh were made in same year, all having a good budget. While there were already 2 biopics released in past.

[@zchrygrn1988]

Wonderfully played & instructed! I play a mandolin and was looking for instruction for this and honestly found your lesson the most useful lol

[@jdnelms62]

You left out 1993's release of both Tombstone and Wyatt Earp. Thirty years later, people still quote Tombstone. Never saw Wyatt Earp myself, but heard good things. Also there was Dark City and The Matrix in 1999. The Matrix was clearly the winner there, but Dark City despite it's flaws, is still a very entertaining film in it's own right.

[@lonelyboy1977]

Dark City has no flaws. And it's superior to The Matrix in every way that matters.

[@henriklarsson5221]

Dark city was 1998 tough. The thirteenth floor came out in 1999, the same year as the matrix. But yeah, all 3 takes on the same topic of created realities that is in place to hide something else.

[@ericgaskins571]

Wyatt Earp was good. Long epic type. Tombstone is.....well tombstone. Freaking awesome

[@milescoburn1845]

"Tombstone" is an action / western whereas "Wyatt Earp" was a drama / western.

[@Jllyrol311]

'The Great Paul Giamatti' - Sick burn on Rufus Sewell!

[@albert109]

Babe and Gordy get forgotten as twin movies.

[@Catiting33]

I've always wondered how this happened but I've always loved these two movies. Both are masterpieces in their own right.

[@LouiseHowardR]

my personal favourite twin is To Wong Foo, With Love, Julie Newmar and Priscilla Queen of the Desert

[@dhruv9744]

one twin film always wins. Today the Prestige has far more impact on culture than the illusionist. The same with the Pinocchios, the same with White House Down and Olympus has Fallen.

[@denisl2760]

White House Down or Olympus has Fallen have impact on culture? I've seen both, I forget which one is which and which one has Jamie Foxx or Gerald Butler or whoever else was in them. Channing Tatum I think was in one of them? I don't think either have a cultural impact.

[@dhruv9744]

@@denisl2760 they didn't really have a cultural impact, but Olympus has Fallen got two sequels in London has Fallen and Angel has Fallen, while White House Down got a low box office and forever being remembered as Olympus has Fallen's twin film. So yeah one of em won.

[@MJScrivens89]

My mind goes straight to the age old Deep Space Nine vs Babylon 5 debate, so there is an example in television too. It’s never really bothered me, sometimes a good idea is a good idea, and the notion that two people won’t have a similar idea is ludicrous, so I’m glad it’s becoming a more accepted occurrence.

[@cynicalclockworks9857]

Man I remember being so confused. I wanted to go see The Prestige, but couldn't remember the name of the movie and wound up seeing The Illusionist instead. For years, every time I told someone I didn't like The Prestige, they'd give me funny looks.

[@RobertK1993]

The Prestage has Nolan fanboys

[@kroulinka]

Thank you! I was wondering about it

[@TheGodOfWarhammer]

I LOVED The Prestige and thought this was odd at the time when I was a teen

[@ChineduOpara]

The Prestige: Batman and Wolverine fighting over Black Widow, with supporting characters Alfred and The Rhino 😂

[@ChineduOpara]

Teenagers are very hormonal and impressionable. That's just the way our species is wired. So it's no surprise that something in your chaotic teenage psyche latched on to SOMETHING about that movie, and it stuck, giving you a great happy/positive memory. That's good. Fortunately it happened with an * "objectively" good* piece of pop art entertainment, not some TikTok nonsense 😂

[@seanhoutx]

I remember 2 other movies that came out at the same time, with the same themes: BIG and VICE VERSA; and also MAJOR LEAGUE and BULL DURHAM.

[@genatzvali]

Forgot about The Illusionist, need to watch The Prestige at least once a year. just saying.

[@blurelic4]

I went to the movie theater to see BOTH films when they were originally released. Enjoyed them both, however, THE PRESTIGE is my favorite Nolan film and one of my favorite films from the 2000s.

[@politereminder6284]

Despicable Me vs Megamind. I'll never forgive Gru and his adorable adoptees for ruining the chances of Megamind to enter the zeitgeist as the masterpiece that it was..

[@TheLyleHawthorne]

They're Fantastic to Watch Back-To-Backs! 🍿

[@ThisIsAdamB]

Funny how The Matrix got mentioned in passing, when it’s part of a triplet: Matrix, eXistense (however that’s spelled), and The Thirteenth Floor. They all deal in part with existing in a computer simulation.

[@Cinetiste]

Interresting note ! (...it also reminds some similarities in The Matrix from Johny Mnemonic. Another subject, probably...)

[@imaadshahrukh4829]

There's also Dark City, which came out a year earlier and has a similar premise.

[@oldboy965]

I got these movies mixed up, I thought the Illusionist was the same with Prestige, trying to watch it for a second time, I remember saying this is not it. In the end, I hugely enjoyed Prestige than the latter.

[@danielversion1.035]

I first noticed this phenomenon with "Drop Zone" and "Terminal Velocity" back in '94... and was obsessed with the idea for a while...

[@anthonyrobertson4272]

I loved both of these movies, and would have a very hard time picking a favorite between them... they're both SO good! They both have fantastic casts and directors, and both are excellently produced. I do rewatch both of them on a regular basis, and if pressed I would probably have to give the edge to Prestige at the moment... at least until my next rewatch!

[@I.____.....__...__]

5:45 Aside from coincidences, there are two main factors that can cause twin-movies: (1) movies are often a product of their time, so different filmmakers/studios will make similar movies because that's just the zeitgeist (look at all the dystopia movies that came out in the 70s), and (2) movies aren't always released as soon as their done, they'll often be shelved to wait for the right time to release, especially if they're a b-movie. For example, they'll often wait for a specific season or holiday to release a movie or to avoid coming out against stiffer competition. They'll also often wait until a bigger similar movie is coming out to ride its coattails. Back when IMDB still had message-boards, the directory of _Transmorphers_ posted a defense against the onslaught of criticisms of ripping of Michael Bay's _Transformers_ and naming it to trick people into getting the wrong movie, by explaining he didn't do that, he didn't even title it that, he made his movie about robots years before _Transformers_ came out, but the studio left it in the vault until Bay's movie was coming out, then they studio renamed it and released it then. That doesn't waive off the quality of the movie, but it does defer the blame for the title and timing to where it belongs. 6:50 It's not limited to Hollywood, look at all of the people copying the "NPC trend" on TikTok right now. 8:17 "Nothing is safe from being copied, there are just too many people producing works" - Yet another problem caused by overpopulation. Add it to the already-very-long list. 😒 8:29 The flaw in this statement is that it's not that _Prestige_ was better executed than _Illusionist,_ it's that Chistopher Nolan has developed a simp army who will blab about his work far beyond its merit, so the former gets more praise than the latter because of who made it more than because it was better. That happens a lot, viz Tesla. 😒

[@Orangeflava]

We have two new entries for this list with Michael Caine’s “The Great Escaper” and Pierce Brosnan’s “The Last Rifleman” both coming out soon.

[@lucasglowacki4683]

I expected to see “The Abyss” and “Deep Star Six” to be mentioned..lol. That’s the first one I always think of😂

[@leesherman5192]

And "Leviathan" and "Lords of the Deep" and "The Rift." Has anyone ever figured out how that happened?

[@macko4042]

I remember that “This is the End” and “The World’s End” came out around the same time as well

[@jakefollensbee]

While I enjoyed the illusionist and Paul G's revelation scene was brilliantly acted, the prestige is one of the best working directors best movies. It stands alone.

[@77sergiocon]

Dante’s peak and volcano; White House down and Olympus has fallen come to mind as well

[@DomCOuano]

immediately thinking of "Friends With Benefits" and "No Strings Attached", both from 2011

[@IsaacKuo]

And then later, stars of both movies play rivals in Black Swan.

[@ciri_riannon235]

The Illusionist is such an underrated movie. Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti are freaking amazing in it.👏👏👏

[@graemeglebe263]

There's also Enemy and The Double in 2013. Both twin films.

[@erakfishfishfish]

There’s even competing docuseries on American Gladiators that were recently released: one on ESPN and one on Netflix.

[@mickalanelson8485]

My goodness I’m so glad this is explained. Was confusing the hell out of me why they would release these the same time. The prestige came on recently and I was so confused why the characters were different. Then, realizing that was that OTHER movie i watched that same year. Lol crazy

[@MonsoonGeek]

The Prestige is one of the films made in the last 50 years. Absolutely in my top 3.

[@shinobi-no-bueno]

Both of these were amazing films. It seemed like 2005-2015 had a few "parallel thinking" movies

[@Lama-Su]

There are also Trio releases. EG. The Abyss / Leviathan / Deep Star Six

[@ogg26]

Red Eye and Flight Plan from 2005 are forever linked in my brain.

[@171QA]

Nice video.

[@dudetheman3]

What about Pinocchio (2021) Pinocchio (2022) & Pinocchio (2022)? That was a weird time!

[@Punmaster9001]

I honestly need to rewatch both of them. It's been so long since I've seen them I don't even remember much about them now

[@MistaTofMaine]

Can't lie never heard of the illusionist will need check out. The prestige was an awesome movie.

[@liketheastronaut]

Wow good coverage of twins. Here’s a few more I thought of. Finding Nemo and Shark’s Tale. Dope Sick and Painkiller. Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison

[@dnichl]

i was 15 at the time. first time i noticed the 'twin film' concept. when i saw the trailer for the other with knowledge of the first, i did a double take and had to do some googling to confirm i wasn't going crazy having thought I'd imagined the first.

[@leesherman5192]

I remember in 1995 when the classic children's book "The Indian in the Cupboard" was made into a major motion picture, there was this other movie about toys coming to life that I thought was destined to fail.

[@Tyoxy]

Another nice video!

[@brianboese9884]

Would you consider Paul Blart and Observe and Report twin films? They were both comedies about a mall cop and both came out in 2009.

[@Begabagle]

This is the true conspiracy. It goes all the way to the top or rather the head of local mall security. The winner will be decided in a court of food.