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Copycat Cover
- 203 statements
- 36 feature instances
- 16 referencing feature instances
| Copycat Cover | type |
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| Copycat Cover | comment |
Covers Always Lie taken up by marketing. Copycat Covers tend to naturally occur during the release of more popular and better movies and games, and their aesthetic similarity seems intended to confuse less observant customers. This is especially common with stories that were originally in the public domain (Disney is a major victim of this) but might also be done retroactively long after the knockoff's release. This is standard industry procedure with books. Whenever a movie or TV adaptation of a book comes out (or of a book on the same topic, or a completely unrelated topic by the same author), a new edition of the book will almost always be printed with a Copycat Cover and a blurb on it somewhere hawking the movie or show. Copycat covers can usually be spied out by being much lower quality and suspiciously lower in price. A tactic often employed by The Mockbuster. See also: Trend Covers, Trailer Spoof. "The Breakfast Club" Poster Homage is a Sub-Trope. |
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| Copycat Cover | fetched |
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| Copycat Cover | processingComment |
Dropped link to ADegreeInUseless: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to AllCGICartoon: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to AustinPowersTheSpyWhoShaggedMe: Not an Item - UNKNOWN | |
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Dropped link to BMovie: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to FollowTheLeader: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to HypocriticalHumor: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to MarketBasedTitle: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to ParallelPornTitles: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to PlayedForLaughs: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to ReadyPlayerOne: Not an Item - UNKNOWN | |
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Dropped link to ShoddyKnockoffProduct: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to SinCity: Not an Item - UNKNOWN | |
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Dropped link to WebAnimation: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
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AustinPowersTheSpyWhoShaggedMe | |
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ReadyPlayerOne | |
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SinCity | |
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DBTropes | |
| Copycat Cover / int_1a4b3ea2 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_1a4b3ea2 | comment |
Digimon used to mimic the covers of Pokémon to confuse parents and kids, then they actually became popular. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_1a4b3ea2 | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_1a4b3ea2 | featureConfidence |
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| Digimon (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_1a4b3ea2 | |
| Copycat Cover / int_1e015a5d | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_1e015a5d | comment |
The original theatrical poster for The Empire Strikes Back posed Han and Leia in a clinch just like the poster for the 1967 theatrical rerelease of Gone with the Wind. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_1e015a5d | featureApplicability |
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| The Empire Strikes Back | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_1e015a5d | |
| Copycat Cover / int_34ce4ba2 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_34ce4ba2 | comment |
A DVD release of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) featuring Basil Rathbone features a cover design◊ that is a blatant attempt◊ to cash in on the Robert Downey, Jr. films. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_34ce4ba2 | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_34ce4ba2 | featureConfidence |
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| The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) | hasFeature |
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| Copycat Cover / int_3c08531b | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_3c08531b | comment |
Avengers Assemble has a DVD cover◊ that blatantly duplicates the movie poster of The Avengers. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_3c08531b | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_3c08531b | featureConfidence |
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| Avengers Assemble | hasFeature |
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| Copycat Cover / int_3e847cb0 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_3e847cb0 | comment |
Pictured atop this page is how Basic Instinct was ripped off by Betrayed, which has also been described as "Basic Instinct without sex". | |
| Copycat Cover / int_3e847cb0 | featureApplicability |
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| Basic Instinct | hasFeature |
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| Copycat Cover / int_59151283 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_59151283 | comment |
The cover artwork for the original Metal Gear is a blatant trace-over of a promotional still of Michael Biehn in The Terminator. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_59151283 | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_59151283 | featureConfidence |
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| Metal Gear (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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| Copycat Cover / int_5e91c7d | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_5e91c7d | comment |
A promotional CGI render Capcom made for Resident Evil 4 shows Ada Wong posing similar to the way Anne Parillaud did for the La Femme Nikita movie poster. Probably more of an homage than anything else, though. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_5e91c7d | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_5e91c7d | featureConfidence |
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| Resident Evil 4 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_5e91c7d | |
| Copycat Cover / int_6300d32a | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_6300d32a | comment |
Some copies of the History Channel's The 300 Spartans have been modified to look like the cover of 300 soon after the DVD release. The resemblance continues in the documentary itself, sepia-tones and all. Only perhaps more historically accurate. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_6300d32a | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_6300d32a | featureConfidence |
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| 300 | hasFeature |
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| Copycat Cover / int_6c3c2216 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_6c3c2216 | comment |
The posters and DVD covers for Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and Hey Arnold! The Movie both show the same basic art of the protagonist and his friends in the foreground with the film's villain as an Evil Overlooker, with the only major difference being that Jimmy holds a weapon and Arnold doesn't. This was made especially evident when the movies' DVDs were reissued together as a Double Feature DVD release. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_6c3c2216 | featureApplicability |
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| Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius | hasFeature |
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| Copycat Cover / int_796e1adf | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_796e1adf | comment |
The Quantum Thief, a post-Singularity Space Opera, was first published in England and was given this cover for the United States printing, which is very similar in font and design to the covers for books in the Culture series: compare. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_796e1adf | featureApplicability |
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| The Quantum Thief | hasFeature |
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| Copycat Cover / int_7bf55cff | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_7bf55cff | comment |
A Futile and Stupid Gesture imitates the layout and typography of the infamous "If You Don't Buy This Magazine, We'll Kill This Dog" National Lampoon cover, with Will Forte standing in for the dog. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_7bf55cff | featureApplicability |
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| A Futile and Stupid Gesture | hasFeature |
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| Copycat Cover / int_8176b3a8 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_8176b3a8 | comment |
The hand-drawn animated film Help! I'm a Fish was shown in US theaters in 2001. Even though the two films have little in common, a 2006 DVD release gave Help! a cover that made it look like a Shark Tale mockbuster: It was retitled A Fish Tale, and the logo got wavy yellow text like that of Shark Tale. The illustration was replaced with a group of CGI marine creatures, including a prominent shark, and no longer emphasizes that the three main characters are transformed humans. Compare the original cover◊, the "Fish Tale" cover◊ and this Shark Tale cover. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_8176b3a8 | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_8176b3a8 | featureConfidence |
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| Help! I'm a Fish | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_8176b3a8 | |
| Copycat Cover / int_84bb0f7e | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_84bb0f7e | comment |
Batman: The Movie received a DVD cover that looked extremely similar to the Batman (1989) cover, only with a red version of the simpler 60's Batman logo instead of the newer yellow one. While that one at least has a parodic element to it that reflects the 1966 film's humorous tone, there's also another one that looks similar to the poster for The Dark Knight, which doesn't really fit the movie's campiness. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_84bb0f7e | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_84bb0f7e | featureConfidence |
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| Batman: The Movie | hasFeature |
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| Copycat Cover / int_864c2666 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_864c2666 | comment |
The cover and title screen of Power Blade show what looks a lot like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_864c2666 | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_864c2666 | featureConfidence |
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| Power Blade (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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| Copycat Cover / int_8b7e5938 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_8b7e5938 | comment |
Hilariously, the newest DVD releases of Near Dark model their covers after the Twilight films. Considering Near Dark features the more archetypal scary, violent, and unsexy vampires, Twifans could be in for quite a show if they picked this one up. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_8b7e5938 | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_8b7e5938 | featureConfidence |
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| Near Dark | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_8b7e5938 | |
| Copycat Cover / int_94440e75 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_94440e75 | comment |
The Marriage Chronicles is obviously meant to be styled after the Love Actually cover. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_94440e75 | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_94440e75 | featureConfidence |
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| The Marriage Chronicles | hasFeature |
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| Copycat Cover / int_95afea41 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_95afea41 | comment |
Similarly, the cover of Young Sherlock Holmes was altered for its re-release to resemble the Robert Downey, Jr. films, from this to this.◊ | |
| Copycat Cover / int_95afea41 | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_95afea41 | featureConfidence |
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| Young Sherlock Holmes | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_95afea41 | |
| Copycat Cover / int_9da908aa | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_9da908aa | comment |
The poster for Yellowjackets has a near-identical composition to that of the first posters for Euphoria, both showing the left side of a distressed teenage girl's face and being heavily color-saturated, the former with blue and purple colors and the latter with yellow. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_9da908aa | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_9da908aa | featureConfidence |
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| Yellowjackets | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_9da908aa | |
| Copycat Cover / int_9eac916a | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_9eac916a | comment |
Odd example in which the two books have the same title and the copied book is fairly obscure. The Big Con is a book about con artists that inspired The Sting and has a reissue cover that looks like this. The Big Con is also the title of a work attacking conservative economic philosophies, which has used this cover◊ and later this one◊. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_9eac916a | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_9eac916a | featureConfidence |
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| The Sting | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_9eac916a | |
| Copycat Cover / int_ab07b0d7 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_ab07b0d7 | comment |
The cover artwork for Double Dragon Advance is based on a promotional still of Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris from Way of the Dragon. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_ab07b0d7 | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_ab07b0d7 | featureConfidence |
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| Double Dragon (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_ab07b0d7 | |
| Copycat Cover / int_ad283518 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_ad283518 | comment |
Private Eye has a column about examples of this trope with book covers. One of the most popular covers appears to be a man in a dark coat striding dramatically away from the viewer into a winter scene. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_ad283518 | featureApplicability |
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| Private Eye (Magazine) | hasFeature |
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| Copycat Cover / int_adf4e69 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_adf4e69 | comment |
The cover of the Strangers with Candy movie is a sleazy parody of the cover of Mean Girls. Justified, as the movie (and the show it's based on) is a darkly comic parody of teen dramas and after-school specials. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_adf4e69 | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_adf4e69 | featureConfidence |
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| Strangers with Candy | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_adf4e69 | |
| Copycat Cover / int_b30ae4db | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_b30ae4db | comment |
Thanks to the huge boost in popularity Game of Thrones has given to his writing, George R.R. Martin's humorous science fiction novel Tuf Voyaging was reissued, and one of its covers◊ definitely plays off of the Medieval Fantasy setting of A Song of Ice and Fire. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_b30ae4db | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_b30ae4db | featureConfidence |
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| Game of Thrones | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_b30ae4db | |
| Copycat Cover / int_b78ae0b5 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_b78ae0b5 | comment |
The Blues Brothers had an alternate cover showing Jake and Elwood◊ gazing into each other's eyes. This imitated a number of covers for Casablanca with Rick and Ilsa◊ posed similarly. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_b78ae0b5 | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_b78ae0b5 | featureConfidence |
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| The Blues Brothers | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_b78ae0b5 | |
| Copycat Cover / int_b906592f | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_b906592f | comment |
HarperCollins published a new UK edition of The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie in 2021, under the US title of The Tuesday Club Murders, written in a slanted font not entirely dissimilar to the previous year's bestseller The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. The blurb begins "The ORIGINAL weekday murder club". | |
| Copycat Cover / int_b906592f | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_b906592f | featureConfidence |
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| The Thirteen Problems | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_b906592f | |
| Copycat Cover / int_bc1dc95a | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_bc1dc95a | comment |
Pirates XXX was make to bank on the success of Pirates of the Caribbean, by appealing to the crowd who would have liked the Disney movies if not for the fact that you couldn't really masturbate to them (unless your tastes were really weird). Then it gets weird — the director was so proud of his porno that he made an R-rated, sex-free version for public viewing. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_bc1dc95a | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_bc1dc95a | featureConfidence |
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| Pirates of the Caribbean (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_bc1dc95a | |
| Copycat Cover / int_c5f50eb4 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_c5f50eb4 | comment |
The cover artwork for the NES version of Contra is based on two different promotional stills of Arnold Schwarzenegger from the movie Predator. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_c5f50eb4 | featureApplicability |
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| Contra (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_c5f50eb4 | |
| Copycat Cover / int_c8713393 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_c8713393 | comment |
Under homages, Mystery Date (1991)'s DVD release got a cover reminiscent of an Alfred Hitchcock thriller such as North By North West. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_c8713393 | featureApplicability |
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| Mystery Date (1991) | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_c8713393 | |
| Copycat Cover / int_c91b9f4 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_c91b9f4 | comment |
The cover art for Billy the Wizard imitates the cover art of the game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_c91b9f4 | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_c91b9f4 | featureConfidence |
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| Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_c91b9f4 | |
| Copycat Cover / int_c9b8f0f8 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_c9b8f0f8 | comment |
Probably to indicate shared elements (a humorous take on a British empire), the Space Captain Smith novels have similar covers to the British Flashman covers. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_c9b8f0f8 | featureApplicability |
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| Space Captain Smith | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_c9b8f0f8 | |
| Copycat Cover / int_d1fbfbbc | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_d1fbfbbc | comment |
Pretty much every vampire book published in the last five years has a cover that looks exactly like The Twilight Saga. Even classic romance stories like Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice have appeared with Twilight-inspired covers at some bookstores. Canadian bookstore chains Indigo, Coles, and Chapters (all owned by Indigo Books & Music Inc.) even displayed the Twilight-ified classics together during the marketing for Breaking Dawn. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_d1fbfbbc | featureApplicability |
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| The Twilight Saga | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_d1fbfbbc | |
| Copycat Cover / int_d288705d | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_d288705d | comment |
Forbidden Broadway's "Original Cast Recording" had a cover based on the poster art for Merrily We Roll Along, though parody is clearly the justification here. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_d288705d | featureApplicability |
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| Forbidden Broadway (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_d288705d | |
| Copycat Cover / int_d6e90182 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_d6e90182 | comment |
Deliberately invoked with the poster of American Reunion which mimics the poster of the original American Pie film by placing everybody in their original positions◊ as a nice tribute. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_d6e90182 | featureApplicability |
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| American Reunion | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_d6e90182 | |
| Copycat Cover / int_e5db6cbd | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_e5db6cbd | comment |
Pyst and its planned sequel Driven had the excuse of explicitly identifying themselves as parodies, and the developers would probably have won if a lawsuit was filed against them. | |
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| Pyst (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_e5db6cbd | |
| Copycat Cover / int_e85e05b5 | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_e85e05b5 | comment |
The cover of at least one edition of Divergent has a burning brooch (that looks suspiciously like the mockingjay pin from The Hunger Games) set against a dark background. Sure, the series starts with a 16 year old girl facing a traumatically special day in her life, and it's told in first person but... erm... The Hunger Games it ain't. | |
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| Divergent | hasFeature |
Copycat Cover / int_e85e05b5 | |
| Copycat Cover / int_f59e607f | type |
Copycat Cover | |
| Copycat Cover / int_f59e607f | comment |
The box art of Duke Nukem 3D copied Ash's poster pose from Army of Darkness. | |
| Copycat Cover / int_f59e607f | featureApplicability |
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| Copycat Cover / int_f59e607f | featureConfidence |
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Copycat Cover / int_f59e607f |
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