Summary
- Mockbusters imitate popular Hollywood blockbusters with inferior quality, but they still offer entertainment value.
- The Asylum is a prominent mockbuster factory, known for creating movies that mimic big studio releases.
- Many mockbusters shamelessly rip off popular franchises, but lack the star power, storytelling, and visual effects of the originals.
The moviegoing market is flooded with “mockbusters” that rip off the plots and characters of popular Hollywood blockbusters with inferior actors, visual effects, and overall filmmaking. Mockbusters usually feature a very similar title, storyline, and poster art to a recent Hollywood hit in a sneaky attempt to trick viewers looking for the latest blockbuster into watching the wrong movie. IMDb and Wikipedia have made it a lot easier for casual viewers to spot a forgery, but there’s still plenty of entertainment factor in watching an imitation of a big-budget blockbuster.
The most prominent mockbuster factory, The Asylum, has expanded into more original storytelling with the Sharknado series, but they still pump out a couple of movies every year that mimic the biggest studio releases. In 2023, they made End Times to copy The Last of Us, a new version of The Little Mermaid to copy Disney’s live-action remake, and Attack of the Meth Gator to copy Cocaine Bear. Over the years, there have been plenty of awful mockbusters hoping to cash in on a superior film’s success. From Transmorphers to The Fast and the Fierce, many low-budget movies have shamelessly ripped off popular Hollywood franchises for an easy buck.
20 Snakes On A Train (Snakes On A Plane)
The Asylum’s Snakes on a Train swaps out the plane in Snakes on a Plane for a train. As it turns out, a snake-infested transport isn’t as much fun without the badass star power of Samuel L. Jackson's character. Snakes on a Train is a much lower-stakes scenario; it’s a lot quicker and easier for a train to stop than it is for a plane to land. The rip-off builds to an even more ridiculous climax than its source material, as the cursed woman who brought the snakes onto the train inexplicably turns into a giant snake and eats the train.
19 The Little Panda Fighter (Kung Fu Panda)
The Brazilian animation studio Vídeo Brinquedo is notorious for making knock-offs of popular animated movies (usually those produced by Pixar or DreamWorks) with much cruder animation and much less imaginative storytelling. The Little Panda Fighter, their rip-off of Kung Fu Panda, is a prime example. This version of the panda-led martial arts story lacks the heart, humor, and beauty of Kung Fu Panda – not to mention the presence of a voice actor like Jack Black, who carried the original movie with his signature warmth and pitch-perfect comic timing.
18 Cruel Jaws (Jaws)
Cruel Jaws made no attempt to hide the fact that it copied Steven Spielberg’s monster movie masterpiece.
1995’s Cruel Jaws blatantly borrows the title of the movie it’s ripping off and slaps an arbitrary adjective on it. Released direct-to-video, Cruel Jaws shares Jaws’ lucrative high-concept premise of a beach community being terrorized by a giant shark. The film was directed by notable mockbuster maker Bruno Mattei, who also made unofficial sequels to Zombi 2 and The Terminator. Cruel Jaws made no attempt to hide the fact that it copied Steven Spielberg’s monster movie masterpiece. It was even released in some markets under the title Jaws 5: Cruel Jaws, despite having no official affiliation with the Jaws franchise.
17 AVH: Alien Vs. Hunter (Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem)
The Asylum released AVH: Alien vs. Hunter straight to DVD one week before the theatrical release of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. AVH borrows AVPR’s story of a suburban community being rocked by a battle between two warring aliens. The Alien and Hunter designs fall far short of the iconic creatures in Aliens vs. Predator. AVH ends with a pretty interesting twist revealing the true identity of the Hunter, but it’s not enough to make up for a shoddy movie that’s light on fun, scares, and technical competence.
16 Paranormal Entity (Paranormal Activity)
Directed by Dick Van Dyke’s grandson Shane Van Dyke in his directorial debut, Paranormal Entity is The Asylum’s take on Paranormal Activity. Much like Paranormal Activity, Paranormal Entity is a found footage film about an attempt to capture a supernatural force on camera. It helped that the original movie was already produced on a shoestring budget. Usually, mockbusters have to ape the look of a $200 million tentpole on a $1 million budget. It’s easy to recreate Paranormal Activity because it had a much smaller budget than even the average Asylum movie.
15 Atlantic Rim (Pacific Rim)
Atlantic Rim borrowed everything from Pacific Rim – it even borrowed its iconic scene of a robotic suit crashing down on the beach (to far lesser effect).
The Asylum’s answer to Pacific Rim was named after a different oceanic rim: Atlantic Rim. With its story of humans in giant robotic suits fighting kaiju monsters, Atlantic Rim borrowed everything from Pacific Rim – it even borrowed its iconic scene of a robotic suit crashing down on the beach (to far lesser effect). Without Guillermo del Toro’s visionary eye behind the camera, it’s just robots smashing into monsters. Without major studio money behind the production, the visual effects are wholly unconvincing.
14 The Little Cars: In The Great Race (Cars)
Another production of Vídeo Brinquedo, The Little Cars: In the Great Race and its various sequels borrow heavily from Pixar’s Cars franchise. The Little Cars is an underdog story about a delivery car who dreams of becoming a racing car. Cars itself was already derivative with a plot borrowed from the Michael J. Fox comedy Doc Hollywood. Rather than seamlessly turning the cars’ windshields into a pair of eyes like Cars, The Little Cars’ character design just crudely pastes eyeballs over a windshield. Whereas Pixar only made three Cars movies, Vídeo Brinquedo pumped out eight Little Cars movies.
13 Top Gunner: Danger Zone (Top Gun: Maverick)
The Asylum produced its own mockbuster version of Top Gun, creatively dubbed Top Gunner, in time for the original release date of Top Gun: Maverick. Then, the Tom Cruise-starring sequel was delayed for so long during the pandemic that The Asylum had time to make its own sequel, Top Gunner: Danger Zone, to coincide with the film’s actual release. While the appeal of Top Gun: Maverick was its mind-blowing practical effects achieved by flying real fighter jets, Top Gunner: Danger Zone is awash with bland CGI.
12 Ratatoing (Ratatouille)
Ratatoing is missing the heart and humanity that made Ratatouille a masterpiece, not to mention its awe-inspiring visuals.
Vídeo Brinquedo’s mockbuster version of Ratatouille, Ratatoing, tells a similar story about a rat who dreams of being a chef and sneaks into restaurants to collect ingredients. Ratatoing is missing the heart and humanity that made Ratatouille a masterpiece, not to mention its awe-inspiring visuals. Whereas Ratatouille is one of Pixar’s best movies, giving life and personality to a swarm of rats inhabiting the City of Light, Ratatoing’s low-rent graphics look like a video game from the ‘90s.
11 Ape Vs. Monster (Godzilla Vs. Kong)
The Asylum gave Godzilla vs. Kong the mockbuster treatment with Ape vs. Monster, the most generic, non-copyright-infringing title imaginable. What made Godzilla vs. Kong interesting wasn’t the mindless spectacle of a big monster fighting a big ape; audiences were drawn to the crossover event because of their familiarity with two of the most iconic movie monsters of all time. The Asylum version takes away the emotional investment in the characters and leaves behind an uglier version of the monster-on-monster combat.
