Top ten pairs of strikingly similar movies

Hollywood is often under fire for its lack of originality. In these days of sequels and prequels, remakes and re-imaginings and adaptations of everything from graphic novels to epic poems, video games to cult TV shows, it can seem like a new idea is more precious than even Gollum could imagine. Look no further than the new comedy vehicle for Seth Rogen, Observe and Report. This comic caper centres around an overly officious mall security cop who finds it’s up to him to battle a criminal element on his turf. Sound familiar? It should, it’s practically the same plot that Kevin James milked for laughs just last month in Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

Rogen has admitted that he and Observe and Report’s writer/ director Jody Hill were well aware of this rival production. “We knew the whole time, actually,” he revealed to GQ magazine. “And we’re friends with those guys, so we would literally send each other pictures of the wardrobe, just to make sure we weren’t stepping on each other’s toes. They’re totally different movies.” Totally different might be pushing it, albeit Rogen’s flick goes for a more adult market and yet this isn’t the first time that Tinseltown has churned out two strikingly similar movies within a short space of time. Hell, animations even seem to prefer coming as a pair (consider the evidence – Madagascar/ The Wild, Antz / A Bug’s Life – the list goes on and on), but cartoons aside we face off with ten of the best doppelganger pics around.