From the day I heard about Lockout, I knew it sounded strangely similar to my favorite John Carpenter film, but I didn't even know the man himself took any legal action at all until today: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/john-carpenter-wins-plagiarism-case-against-luc-besson-over-lockout-20151015
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"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
I watched LOCKOUT on Netflix recently. I had never heard of it before, it was kind of a whim moment. And while I overall enjoyed it, the movie seriously screamed ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and ESCAPE FROM L.A.
I actually joked to myself maybe this should have been John Carpenter's third Snake Plissken movie. I had no clue he had taken anyone to court over this.
http://www.freewebs.com/demonictoys/
This made me laugh:
INT. — JOHN CARPENTER’S HOUSE — NIGHT
It’s March of 2012. A long Steadicam shot glides through a California mansion to reveal horror master John Carpenter as he hammers out some notes on his synthesizer. A television blares innocuously in the background. A commercial for Luc Besson’s Lock-Out plays. Carpenter looks up from the keyboard and lowers his glasses.
JOHN CARPENTER
A movie about an ex-con rescuing the President’s daughter from a prison in space? I bet I can get some money out of this motherf---er.
FADE TO BLACK
This is a clear case of plagiarism.
I'm happy that a court sees the obvious, too.
John Carpenter has been ripped off so many times by so many 'artists' that it's time they start to pay for his ideas.
And give the man an Honorary Academy Award!
I don't think John Carpeneter invented the concept of breaking people out of prison.
shareI think Carpenter would have let that slide if Besson didn't put "Based on an original idea by Luc Besson" in the opening credits. Hollywood often rehashes ideas, but people who do it usually have enough decency not to claim some tired plot is their "original idea".
share"Based on an original idea by Luc Besson"
Even before I heard about the ripoff or realized the similarities, I saw that credit and thought it was very strange.
I'm Kevin Roberts and I'm the coolest bitch in town!
He changed the name Snake to Snow. Pure originality
share... but it was his idea though, I mean to rip Carpenter off
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** I am normally not a praying man, but if you are up there, please save me Superman **
Absolutely shocking how brazen this was, it's worst than The Island/Parts since Escape from NY and LA were well known cult classics.
By the way, for a while before this was released the working title "Escape from MS-1". I never for a moment considered it might be plagiarism because I was certain something hitting that many common points must have been an authorized remake/reboot.
Thankfully he didn't get that much. In total ~$28k.
Not that Luc Besson noticed it, economically speaking: http://en.mediamass.net/people/luc-besson/highest-paid.html
Claiming it was Luc's original idea was a bit arrogant though.
To be honest with you I thought this movie at times were more enjoyable than Escape from... cuz those movies (especially LA) were kind of depressing. I liked the happy ending here.
So although it is very similar to eachother... the tone isnt. I think its kind of unfair to be honest with you. Its very close, but not close enough.
Its very close, but not close enough.
It should not have been ruled as such by the court, there are some similarities yes but hardly plagiarism. This sets a dangerous precedent not unlike apple trying to patent ridiculous things to impede the competition ..
shareIt's not just the basic premise of Escape From New York that's the problem...It's also the exact same plot of Carpenter's own sequel Escape From LA. But going even beyond that it shares crucial plot elements from Carpenter's proposed and nearly made 3rd film Escape From Earth in which Earth would have been made into a space station-esque prison planet.
sharePenalty confirmed and heavily increased in appeal.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/1047845/french-filmmaker-besson-guilty-of-plagiarising-action-classic
[Besson's] lawyers argued that "one of France's great talents of all time" would never intentionally stoop to plagiarism, and that "Escape from New York" itself owed much to the classic western "Rio Bravo" and "Mad Max", which had been shot two years previously.
But the appeal court disagreed, increasing the damages more than five-fold to 450,000 euros.
mmm as much as i think its a bit harsh, its way more similar to escape than Rio Bravo or Mad Max
shareI've nevet seen Rio Bravo, but going by the synopsis, I don't see the EFNY connection. It sounds more like Assault on Precinct 13.
shareOne the one hand, the case has brought the movie some publicity, I watched it cos I love the Escape films, and I really enjoyed it.
On the other hand, this is one of the most bizarre decisions ever, there is so much different that it's astonishing anyone actually ruled this was plagiarism.
Everything is a ripoff of everything these days...
There's so little originality anywhere...Hollywood, music, etc, I've given up caring
For example, look at the 2004 movie The Incredibles:
Mr. Incredible -- An Incredible Hulk ripoff
Elasti-girl -- A female Mr. Fantastic ripoff
Dash -- The Flash ripoff (I mean come on it even rhymes!)
Violet -- Invisible Girl ripoff
Frozone -- a black Iceman ripoff (I mean good grief, he even traveled on a path of ice he created)
Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie, and I like Brad Bird.
And to top it off, Shane Black ripped off this plot when he did Iron Man 3! It never ends, we just need to deal with it.