Film Twins: Movie Fans Get to the Bottom of Hollywood Phenomena

We've all seen the coincidences, or fallen prey to their confusion. You may have been in a movie [...]

By Spencer Perry

We've all seen the coincidences, or fallen prey to their confusion. You may have been in a movie theaters in the 90s and seen posters for Antz AND A Bug's Life, or the infamous Dante's Peak and Volcano. It's even happened more recently with the likes of "Die Hard in the White House" movies Olympus Has Fallen & White House Down, plus 2018's animated Yeti movies with Smallfoot & Abominable. There's word for this hilarious Hollywood phenomena and it's called "Twin Films." Movie fans on Twitter have begun to remember this strange occurrence after user @KrisTosAplSauce brought it up and included the receipts of how often it's happened.

The concept of the "Twin Films" goes back all the way to 1934 when both The Rise of Catherine the Great and The Scarlet Empress, two movies about Russian leader Catherine the Great; but the phenomena as a deliberate studio tactic to undermine another movie was first seen a few years later with William Wyler's Jezebel which was made in response the impending release of Gone with the Wind. The release of Twin Films has become even more prolific in recent years, and that doesn't even include production companies like The Asylum that actively make films that sound like the titles of upcoming blockbusters to cause confusion. That in mind, we've collected the best responses to the many Twin Films examples given in the viral Twitter thread, and the reasons why they happen for you below!

Has this ever happened to you?

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One of them deserved a sequel and one of them got two

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Sometimes Film Twins truly bless us

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There's not always a victor either

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1989 was HUGE for underwater movies

It's worth noting that there are in fact SIX underwater thrillers from 1989 including the aforementioned Leviathan, DeepStar Six, The Abyss, and Lords of the Deep, plus The Evil Below and The Rift.

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Ironically a cop movie was stolen

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Imagine that many kids-to-adult movies in this economy

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One recent Twin Films pair confused this man

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And here's why

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And yet another reason

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