There are successful films, very successful films and then there is ‘Indiana Jones’. That’s because “Indiana Jones” (lovingly known as Indy) has had many sucessful rip-off franchises.
“So what? Several hit movies had similar movies on the same formula and structure to cash in”, read the line written before carefully. Did you notice the word “franchise”? yup, Indiana Jones has had similar formula rip-offs (read copies) that went on to have sequels of themselves!! It has not-one-not-two-not-three but six rip-off franchises, Yeah!!
'The Mummy' Franchise- checklist of Rick O’Connell (Brandon Fraiser) and Indiana Jones similarities (Harrison Ford), ARCHEOLOGIST check, WITTY ONE-LINERS check, ADVENTURE check, ANCIENT-TEMPLES check, ACTION check. Sure, O’Connell settings are in Egypt and undead-Mummies but at heart he is Jones all the way. Ironically, in 2008 it all came full circle, when both franchises witnessed in their sequels Indiana Jones and Kingdom of Crystal Skull.
‘King Solomon’s Mines’ (Allan Quatermain) Franchise- this is a straight rip-off or can be said as parody of Indiana Jones movie. Case in point being the look of the character- The Hat, The Whip, The masculine grunt just the beard is thrown-in to distinguish the two. Even the typeface used in poster has been a take-off of Indy. See posters above.
‘Tomb Raider’ franchise– Ah! every guys favorite, Lara Craft is Indy’s female alter ego. Jolie’s Tomb Raider does it all, goes to treasure hunts, kicks quite a few a** ;). The settings and environment of Tomb Raider are quite similar to Indy’s films. Agreed, She looks quite a stunner, and her fights can put apna Mithun to shame :D.
‘Romancing the stone’ Franchise - Even Michael Douglas couldn’t resist the temptation of an Indy rip-off. Then Douglas was going through a low phase and RTS helped return him to mainstream with a bang.
‘Da Vinci Code’ Franchise & ‘National Treasure’ Franchise- I placed these down on the list as they are rather removed from original, but have Indy’s elements nevertheless. Main theme in both, has a expert going for a quest to uncover some secret/treasure.
There have been rip-off TV series and other less successful rip-off movies. It is therefore that I say, “and then there is ‘Indiana Jones"........”
Written by, Ali Naqvi.
“So what? Several hit movies had similar movies on the same formula and structure to cash in”, read the line written before carefully. Did you notice the word “franchise”? yup, Indiana Jones has had similar formula rip-offs (read copies) that went on to have sequels of themselves!! It has not-one-not-two-not-three but six rip-off franchises, Yeah!!
'The Mummy' Franchise- checklist of Rick O’Connell (Brandon Fraiser) and Indiana Jones similarities (Harrison Ford), ARCHEOLOGIST check, WITTY ONE-LINERS check, ADVENTURE check, ANCIENT-TEMPLES check, ACTION check. Sure, O’Connell settings are in Egypt and undead-Mummies but at heart he is Jones all the way. Ironically, in 2008 it all came full circle, when both franchises witnessed in their sequels Indiana Jones and Kingdom of Crystal Skull.
‘King Solomon’s Mines’ (Allan Quatermain) Franchise- this is a straight rip-off or can be said as parody of Indiana Jones movie. Case in point being the look of the character- The Hat, The Whip, The masculine grunt just the beard is thrown-in to distinguish the two. Even the typeface used in poster has been a take-off of Indy. See posters above.
‘Tomb Raider’ franchise– Ah! every guys favorite, Lara Craft is Indy’s female alter ego. Jolie’s Tomb Raider does it all, goes to treasure hunts, kicks quite a few a** ;). The settings and environment of Tomb Raider are quite similar to Indy’s films. Agreed, She looks quite a stunner, and her fights can put apna Mithun to shame :D.
‘Romancing the stone’ Franchise - Even Michael Douglas couldn’t resist the temptation of an Indy rip-off. Then Douglas was going through a low phase and RTS helped return him to mainstream with a bang.
‘Da Vinci Code’ Franchise & ‘National Treasure’ Franchise- I placed these down on the list as they are rather removed from original, but have Indy’s elements nevertheless. Main theme in both, has a expert going for a quest to uncover some secret/treasure.
There have been rip-off TV series and other less successful rip-off movies. It is therefore that I say, “and then there is ‘Indiana Jones"........”
Written by, Ali Naqvi.
5 comments:
honestly King-Solomon's-mines even stole the look of Indiana Jones .... crossing the limits aye?
To be honest though, there were earlier movie adaptations of King Solomon's Mines .... in 1937 and 1950 ...so you could say that the Indy character was actually based on Allan Quatermain ;)
The one you are referring too, however, was a blatent attempt to cash in on the sucess of Indiana Jones.
:O Very true Sujoy ! just Googled out the earlier version of Alan Quatermain's character...indeed Indy's character was based on the books as well ... read somewhere that Indy itself was a nod to many many other works ... but ironically it lead to many of nods, ripoff's and references to itself!!
Indy was a rip off of a charlton heston movie
Interesting when the film that was copied becomes the copier though. During the last minutes of Crystal Skull when the city is collapsing into the ground, I was strongly reminded of the final scenes in The Mummy ...
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