Top 10 Movie Rip Offs of the Last 10 Years

No, this is not part of the Timothée Chalamet blockbuster epic. Though, we can see why you’d be confused. “Planet Dune” doesn’t even try to hide the fact that it’s a hopeless cash-grab for fans of 2021’s “Dune.” Especially considering “Planet Dune” came out the exact same year. Putting aside the copied name, the plot follows a botched rescue operation on a desert planet where the team comes up against giant, teeth-filled sand worms. Sound kind of familiar? It’s like they took one scene from “Dune,” slapped a new name on it, and stretched it out to feature length. It’s about as entertaining as it sounds.

If you’re getting tired of historical war films, then “Operation Dunkirk” isn’t for you. It’s not just another battle flick, it’s another battle flick adapting the Dunkirk evacuation. AKA, the exact same events that were already done justice by Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning work the same year. What are the odds two movies chronicling Dunkirk just happened to release around the same time? Slim to none, we’d say. The only real difference is “Operation Dunkirk” lacks any of the budget, direction, or creativity to even be used in the same sentence as Nolan’s. It didn’t exactly win any Oscars; that’s all we’re saying.

The only thing more eye-rolling than stealing from one popular franchise is stealing from two. Based on the name “Alien Predator,” it’s pretty easy to surmise where this feature got its inspiration. And that’s a really loose word for it. Following a black ops team infiltrating an extraterrestrial aircraft, the ship is straight out of “Alien,” and the titular creature might as well have walked off the “Predator” set. That last one seems pretty likely when you realize a new “Predator” film just so happened to come out the same time this knockoff hit shelves. It’s such an obvious scam, it’s amazing the movie wasn’t sued.

“Top Gun: Maverick” flew all the way to a record-breaking run in theaters, so it’s only natural it’d spawn a few copycats. Nobody could have expected it’d happen so soon, though. Released in the same calendar year as “Maverick,” “Top Gun: Danger Zone” - sorry, we mean “Top Gunner” - is about as smart as its title suggests. It’s clear the movie was thrown together to cash-in on the Tom Cruise classic, and it doesn’t even do that right. It fails in just about every conceivable metric, to the point it’s not even so-bad-it’s-good. “Top Gunner” is definitely in the danger zone, that’s for sure.

People can only take so many monster movies, and “Ape vs. Mecha Ape” isn’t exactly an apex predator of the genre, either. Instead of a grand, epic fight for survival, the movie feels like a bloated excuse to put discount King Kong on a movie cover. Well, that, and to rob the goodwill “Godzilla vs. Kong” earned. It wouldn’t be quite so offensive if it didn’t come off the heels of “Ape vs. Monster” two years prior. Clearly, as long as King Kong and Godzilla are duking it out on the big screen, this copyright free Ape will keep finding new enemies, too. No matter how ridiculous it gets.

At the very least, they could’ve picked a more original name. “Fast and the Fierce” is just lazy. But, then again, this whole movie feels designed to trick you into thinking it’s one of the “Fast and Furious” films. By that point, the racing franchise was up to eight installments, with a new one fortuitously hitting theaters the same time “Fast and the Fierce” came out. Anyone who did fall for the ruse discovered that this isn’t even a racing film. In actuality, it’s a “Speed” knockoff that takes place in a plane instead of a bus. That’s right, “The Fast and the Fierce” doesn’t even rip off the right movie.

Despite the similar sounding name, this is probably not the alien invasion movie you’re thinking of. “Independent’s Day” - and that’s with an ee-en-tee at the end - hits just about every plot beat of the original film. They even make a point of blowing up most of Earth’s capitals in a guffawing retread of the iconic White House explosion. The execution, however, leaves a lot to be desired. That’s not too surprising when you realize this mockbuster was most likely rushed out the door in order to capitalize on the 2016 legacy sequel, “Independence Day: Resurgence.” Based on the audience reception to both films, it looks like the aliens won this time around.

Once upon a time, there was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people… no, we aren’t talking about “The Avengers.” This is the legally distinct “Avengers Grimm,” which features marvel-ous fairytale characters like Snow White and Cinderella instead of superheroes. Honestly, it’s not a half bad idea. The page-for-page copying of the “Avengers” movies, though? That’s not quite as successful. The final picture most definitely did not assemble, but that didn’t stop it from getting a sequel in 2018 called “Avengers Grimm: Time Wars.” There’s no “Avengers Grimm: Endgame” or any kind of equivalent, and quite frankly, that’s for the best.

A bald-headed action hero must shoot his way through a heavily-guarded building in order to rescue his wife… wait, are we having deja vu here? “Skyscraper’s” entire plot is just a summary of “Die Hard,” down to the last letter. What makes it even more egregious is that “Skyscraper” is no mere streaming misfire; it went to theaters. There, both audiences and critics promptly rejected it on account of its derivative storyline. But, the fact it even made it that far is insane. Next time Hollywood wants a tower-climbing action thriller, they should just make another “Die Hard.” Or, better yet, watch the original and leave well enough alone.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, Hollywood decided to head out for another beach day. At this point, it’s all diminishing returns. “The Meg” is a louder, less clever “Jaws” that focuses on the namesake shark above coherent plotting or character growth. While it starts out interesting enough with a below-the-sea expedition, it quickly shows its colors with several hollow homages to better shark movies. To be fair, “The Meg” does offer a healthy dose of good, old-fashioned monster movie panic. It’s just hard to fully appreciate when the rest of the film is so wholly uninspired.

Do you enjoy any of these knockoffs? Let us know in the comments below!