When it comes to the medium of animation, the possibilities are practically endless. You are able to create worlds unimaginable in live action film, explore techniques and color palettes unattainable on camera, and take viewers to places they never could have dreamed of. That’s why it’s so surprising that the two biggest animation studios, Dreamworks and Disney/Pixar, are constantly duplicating each other’s projects. This kind of behavior is baffling. Why, if the medium of animation holds infinite possibilities, do they need to constantly copy one another? It’s exhausting and it doesn’t make much sense. Here’s hoping they force themselves to get creative sooner rather than later.
A Bug’s Life and Antz
It all seems to have started back in 1998. A Bug’s Life and Antz, both released in the same year and both taking viewers into the world of bugs below us. They follow incredibly similar stories — an ant falls for a princess and fights with a bigger, badder bug. While it’s unclear who copied who, the two are clearly fraternal twins.
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Finding Nemo and Shark Tale
From there, the copying continued. Shark Tale and Finding Nemo both tell fish-out-of-water stories about fish. Granted, Finding Nemo was released first, but the two were undoubtedly in production around the same time. Their stories differ, but the types of characters are the same: sharks and fish and jellyfish.
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The Incredibles and Megamind
Superhero movies are a treasure trove. They make billions a year, they bring in audiences old and young, they almost always get critical acclaim. It’s hard to say that one studio did the superhero thing before the other because superhero movies have been around for decades before and will continue for decades after, but Disney/Pixar certainly seemed to find success before Dreamworks did. Case in point: The Incredibles in 2004 and Megamind in 2010.
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Brave and How to Train Your Dragon
Interestingly enough, it’s not just Dreamworks that seems to rip off Disney/Pixar. How to Train Your Dragon came first, Brave second — both dealing with Medieval fairy tales and fantastic elements, but Dreamworks did it first. Clearly, they came out on top: Brave has no sequels while How to Train Your Dragon has three films and a television series.
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The Good Dinosaur and The Croods
Just like how Disney/Pixar did the Medieval thing second, Dreamworks also seems to have beat them to the prehistoric genre. The Croods arrived in 2013, a good two years before The Good Dinosaur, but it didn’t stop Disney/Pixar from doing a caveman movie of their own after the lucrative success of their competitor’s film. Just like Brave, The Good Dinosaur received no sequels or television shows while The Croods got both sequels and a TV series.
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