Action thriller "White House Down" came out over the weekend, debuting to less than favorable box-office numbers.
The film earned nearly $10 million less than the $35 million analysts predicted the Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx hostage crisis would make.
Surely this wasn't because Channing Tatum's popularity has worn out at theaters.
He was one of the biggest box-office draws of 2012 AND crowned People's "Sexiest Man Alive."
Rather, the film's critics were turned off by how strikingly similar the film was to previous March Film District release, "Olympus Has Fallen."
In a bloated box-office summer where there are so many options to see, it's little surprise crowds would opt out of seeing something that looks vaguely familiar from months ago.
This isn't the first time two films with eerily similar plots have been released around the same time. We've rounded up a number of "twin" films that have come out months apart in theaters over the years.
Why does this happen so frequently?
It's the same reason we'll see multiple shows aboutvampires, finding truelove, and serialkillers flood the airwaves.
It's all about the competition.
Forbes contributor Mark Hughes summed it up best in a 2011 post on Quora saying sometimes it's just coincidence. However, it could be to piggyback off a competitor's potentially successful — or already successful — project. We often see this with knockoff direct-to-DVD films that sometimes confuse buyers.
"Other times, a studio/filmmaker finds out about another studio's/filmmaker's project and wants to match them, so both are hurrying to get their film out first. This might be a case of both knowing the topic and films will be popular, or they might think it's a good idea but only one can be a success, or it could be that they are counting on the success and critical acclaim of one to help the other. So in this case, it can sometimes be a zero-sum game and other times they expect a coattail effect or that in general one positive will lead to a second positive.
Sometimes a big film will come out and be a hit, so a smaller studio will hurry up and rush through creating their own film to cash in on it -- this happens with a lot of direct-to-DVD films, for example."
Read the rest of his explanation here.
1997: "Dante's Peak" and "Volcano" both revolve around the cast outrunning erupting volcanoes.
Box Office
"Dante's Peak": $178 million
"Volcano": $122.8 million
Fox got a little excited with its over-the-top posters for "Volcano." The Fox film did nowhere near as well as Pierce Brosnan's volcano epic in the states; however, the Los Angeles centered movie picked up overseas.
1998: The Earth was nearly destroyed in both "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact."
Box Office
"Armageddon": $553.7 million
"Deep Impact": $349.5 million
Bruce Willis saves the world from an asteroid in the first film, while Robert Duvall tries to stop a massive comet from colliding with the planet.
(Buena Vista / Paramount)
1998: "Antz" and "A Bugs Life" both follow life from an ant's point of view.
Box Office
"Antz": $171.8 million
"A Bug's Life": $363.4 million
Even animated distributors can't avoid releasing similar films. Disney and Pixar's bug film went up against Sylvester Stallone's ant crew and took him down.
(DreamWorks Animation / Disney, Pixar)
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