It’s Actually Ratatoing

Mockbuster: a movie that exploits the publicity of another by tackling a similar title or subject.

I can’t tell you how I come across these things, but I feel that it is my duty as a screen connoisseur to share this glorious genre with you. Mockbusters shamelessly ride on the coattails of successful films to get a little bit of the benefits, but they typically pale in comparison. Contrastingly, there are movies that have eerily similar premises and are released at the same time, coining the term “twin films”.

Examples include:

1. ‘A Quiet Place’ (2018) and ‘The Silence’ (2019)
2. ‘Elvis’ (2022) and ‘Priscilla’ (2023)
3. ‘No Strings Attached’ (2011) and ‘Friends With Benefits’ (2011)
4. ‘First Daughter’ (2004) and ‘Chasing Liberty’ (2004)

The difference between these and a mockbuster is that twin films are more of a reflection of the industry. They both have similar production value, star power and it is usually done unintentionally. Twin movies are developed at the same time as well, so instead of exploiting the first film’s success, they somehow are in the process together. A mockbuster on the other hand is made by lower budget production studios with a limited release and intentionally reminds the audience of its counterpart.

Here are some mockbuster names, see if you can guess the original movie:

• ‘Chop Kick Panda and Friends’
• ‘Little Bee’
• ‘A Car’s Life’
• ‘Tappy Toes’

Click here to see even more titles that clearly took from other films.

I think the most infamous is the ‘Ratatouille’ mockbuster. Here is a still from ‘Ratatouille’ (2007) and its imitation, ‘Ratatoing’ (2007)

Ratatouille (pictured left) vs Ratatoing (pictured right). Sourced from The Guardian

Like many mockbusters, these films were made in the same year, meaning that there had to be a quick turnover to get it made, and this is reflected in the quality. For instance, despite both being about rat chefs, ‘Ratatoing’ is completely different in the execution, comedy and is frankly, quite disturbing xxx. ‘Ratatouille’ took years of research, animation and voice work to create, but ‘Ratatoing’ took 4 months and little research, all to capitalise from the Pixar buzz. There are many YouTube commentary videos that go through ‘Ratatoing’ and I implore you to watch some and get a glimpse of the art of the mockbuster. It is even a stretch to argue that mockbusters are replicas, because many are made when the blockbuster film has only released the poster. Knowing that the film is going to be a success, the mockbuster industry creates a simple film with a similar title ready to be released soon after to gain a profit.

Is it Cake?

Since cinema has been around, movies have been made to imitate if the audience appetite was there. Mockbusters started in the 1950s with the rise of low budget films and unofficial sequels of successful blockbusters. With the rise of VHS and DVD, movies of lower-quality were taken home due to similar cover art. Now with streaming services and independent films creating their own platform, mockbusters are easily accessible, and some are made to cater to international audiences. ‘Ratatoing’ was made by a Brazilian company, Vídeo Brinquedo, for instance. 

Mockbusters have remained in their little corner of the industry, taking any extra benefits that they can. With this and a low budget, they can continuously make movies that never lose money. This is the case for people like David Latt, a co-founder of a studio called The Asylum. He has made over 400 movies in the last 10 years and makes mockbusters like ‘Transmorphers’ and ‘Snakes on a Train’, titles which are somehow allowed as long as you can show that you weren’t trying to deceive consumers. But, it does! Latt’s movie ‘The Twisters’ was largely purchased by accident because people thought that it was the $155m budget blockbuster, ‘Twister’. But Latt argues that his mockbusters are more like “tie-ins” and says that he is “not trying to dupe anybody. [He’s] just trying to get [his] films watched.” Other movies that take the title verbatim can do so if the story is public domain, like a lot of the fairytales. Disney tried to sue GoodTimes for making a film called ‘Aladdin‘ one year after they did, but they couldn’t do anything about it. Mockbusters often carefully design their titles and stories to stay similar enough to evoke recognition to the original, but different enough to avoid outright infringement under trademark law.

Despite the hassle and controversy, people within the mockbuster industry argue their films are good because they grab the audience’s attention, but others think that it is more of a cash-grab. Quick production, quick money. Big companies like Disney have sued before, but to be honest, it just gives the smaller movie more publicity. I probably wouldn’t have mentioned small studios like Vídeo Brinquedo, Simka Entertainment and GoodTimes if not for their mockbuster controversy. Personally, I don’t feel like a lot of love goes into mockbusters. But, we could argue that mockbuster makers have mouths to feed and the mockbuster is unharmful in the grand scheme of things. They also have the ‘so bad that it’s good’ audience market that keeps them going. I say that they should continue, let their broken copy machine run on. It keeps the industry interesting. If not, what will the YouTube commentators speak about?