Creativity can emerge from imagination, but sometimes it is inspired from somewhere else. It requires a unique set of skills to copy someone else’ work and not get caught for it. These filmmakers took scenes from other movies and pasted them in their project. It’s a miracle how these moments became iconic despite being copied inch-by-inch and shot-to-shot. The directors have been recognized for these shots for years. Now, let us acknowledge the sources from where these shots originate. Here are the 10 popular movies that stole scenes from others.
Kill Bill
A fan of the classic “Kill Bill” (2003) must have seen the legendary Bruce Lee’s “Fists of Fury” (1972). It’s hard not to notice the similarities between the scenes where Uma Thurman and Bruce Lee were surrounded by their foes. Quentin Tarantino is a fan of Chinese action movies and draws his inspiration from there.
Man of Steel
After Brandon Routh’s “Superman Returns”, Warner Bros. decided to reboot the franchise with a new face. “Man of Steel” was a fresh start for WB. It starred Henry Cavill and was helmed by Zack Snyder. But the studio ended up reusing a scene from its past. The part where Henry Cavill’s Supes floats backwards to Earth with his arms wide open is taken from “Superman Returns”.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
This is a case of two iconic movies with the same moments, frame by frame. Have you ever wondered why the part where Bilbo, Frodo and Gollum were hiding behind the rocks to watch the army seemed similar? We had seen it before in “Wizard of Oz” (1939) where the Cowardly Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow were peeking at the enemy’s army from behind the rocks.
Requiem For A Dream
Catching similarities between scenes may be a bit tricky in other entries. But for this point, even a kid can circle out the exactness. Jennifer Connelly sitting in her bathtub filled with water and immersing her face in it to scream in “Requiem for a Dream” was ripped off from the anime “Perfect Blue” (1997).
Little Man
The comedy “Little Man” (2006) is a complete copy of the Warner Bros.’ “Baby Buggy Bunny” (1954). The former is about a couple adopting a dwarf who is a thief in reality. Similarly, the cartoon follows a 35-yr old thief with a babyface who drops accidentally his money into Bugs Bunny’s rabbit hole. Both the thieves’ attempts to retrieve their stolen items come across as typical baby-grabbing and thus ignored by the protagonists. Many scenes resemble the source material, including the one where the dwarf hits a man with a bat.
Critical Mass
It is safer for a big-budget movie to copy from a lesser-known project. But “Critical Mass” dared to steal from the classic, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”. The 15- minute Cyberdyne attack in “Terminator 2” was cut and pasted in this movie, shot by shot. It was a déjà vu moment where Arnold Schwarzenegger’s face was swapped with that of Udo Kier.
Star Wars
The classic space-fantasy “Star Wars” is popular for its signature crawl in the opening scene. But it was taken from its source of inspiration “Flash Gordon” (1940). It is one of the earliest space adventure movies that encouraged George Lucas to invest in this field. As a fan of “Flash Gordon” and its sequel, Lucas wanted to obtain the rights from King Features and make a movie on it. But he was compelled to start his legacy with Star Wars after his proposal was rejected by King Features. That’s why the new age franchise bore a resemblance with the 1940 film.
Kill Bill: Vol 2
It’s creepy to watch David Carradine’s Bill from “Kill Bill: Vol 2 “ (2004) rip off a scene from his film “Circle of Iron” (1978). The same actor is seen doing the same thing in two different movies as two different characters. He plays the flute as the good guy in the 1978 movie and does it again as an antagonist in “Kill Bill”.
The Matrix
The Wachowski Brothers give all the credits for “The Matrix” to the classic anime “Ghost In The Shell”. Watching the animated SciFi had inspired them to make the futuristic film. Hollywood owes a lot to this 1995 fiction for familiarizing it with the concept of futuristic technology. That explains why most of the scenes and ideas in “The Matrix” have a striking resemblance with “The Ghost In The Shell”. Scrolling numbers on the screen, shooting watermelon and landing on the roof are some of the copied scenes.
Tango and Cash
Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone’s buddy cop-comedy “Tango and Cash” (1989) ripped off a scene from the Chinese film “Police Story” (1985) that starred Jackie Chan. We are referring to the scene where Sylvester and Jackie Chan were standing in the way of a truck to shoot the bad guy. The only difference was that Chan had to stand in front of a bus.
The World’s End
Forget about studios selling their clips to other movies for a handsome price. In this case, the fight choreographer reused his experience with Jackie Chan in his future endeavours. Sources say that Bradley James Allan worked with Jackie Chan in “Drunken Master” (1994) as a member of his stunt team. He was later promoted as the fight choreographer in Simon Pegg’s “The World’s End” (2013). So, most of the stunt scenes in both movies were the same. For instance, Chan’s twisted kick with his left leg, followed by a kick with his right leg was seen here as well.
Project A
Not just Hollywood, even Jackie Chan’s Mandarin “Project A” (1983) has ripped off a scene from the West. The part where Jackie Chan is hanging by a clock tower is ripped off from Harold Lloyd’s “Safety Last!”.
