7 Shameless Movie Rip-Offs (That Are Actually Amazing)

We all love Jaws (1975), but as the many copycat films since have proved, no one loves Jaws more than the studios. But even though it's hard to capture the same tension that Steven Spielberg's name produced, it was easier to recreate the panic and chaos, and Piranha is a perfect example of that.

From the poster mimicking Jaws to the idea of people getting attacked by flesh-eating fish in the summer, there are plenty of obvious parallels between what Jaws did and what Piranha is doing. However, with multiple small fish unleashed on a summer camp, the movie goes into full absurdity and gore in a way only later films like Deep Blue Sea (1999) could ever hope to capture.

Friday the 13th (1980) started an amazing trend in slasher horror as both the source of many copycats and the origin of what would become one of the greatest slashers ever. But of all the summer camp slashers that came off the heels of Friday the 13th, such as Sleepaway Camp (1983) or Blood Hook (1987), The Burning feels like the most obvious comparison.

The Burning follows a camp caretaker who, after a prank that goes horribly wrong, is scarred and disfigured. While a slasher film on the surface, it quickly becomes a revenge plot against those who hurt him. But much like Pamela Voorhees and her personal revenge mission for the drowning of her son, it's easy to see the comparisons, with the only difference being a drowning and a burning.

The first film in Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy, A Fistful of Dollars, follows a drifter who uses his skills to pit two gangs against one another. However, the plot is almost identical to Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961).

The similarities and blatant theft of the idea led to a lawsuit over the film that was settled out of court. Nevertheless, the end result of A Fistful of Dollars led to the creation of an iconic trilogy and catapulted Clint Eastwood’s career.

The Fast and the Furious has defined modern action films for decades. It's an exciting story about an undercover cop getting in with a street racing crew to find a band of thieves. But as he gets too close to one of them, he has to choose between being a cop and a criminal.

Of course, this also matches almost the exact same beats of Point Break (1991) and even leans into the extreme sports and illegal street racing. But what makes The Fast and the Furious so great is that it doesn’t try to be different from what came before; it tries to keep the spirit of Point Break alive.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) is one of the best sci-fi movies to come out of the '80s and tells the heartwarming story of a young boy befriending a kind alien creature. Mac and Me (1988) does the exact same thing and manages to hit every branch along the way, with even Mac's name being "mysterious alien creature." The story follows almost the same plot as E.T., down to the young boy keeping Mac safe from the government.

However, the movie goes in some wild directions that can be looked at as incredibly shocking for a kid's movie. Eric, the young boy who helps Mac, consistently gets put through the wringer as the wheelchair bound child falls off a cliff and is later even shot. But since Mac can heal, like E.T., these problems are rectified and just seem more outrageous than anything else.

Disney and Pixar's Ratatouille (2007) is widely considered to be one of the best films the animation studio ever produced, and with good reason. But greatness also breeds imitators, and Ratatoing (2007), a Brazilian animated knock-off, is a prime example.

The film follows a rat who loves to cook and steals ingredients from other restaurants in Brazil to make his dishes. While it's a clear-cut copy of Ratatouille, the film's biggest difference is that the main rat already has a restaurant and has to keep his ingredients and recipes safe from rivals. But even that smallest difference doesn't make Ratatoing any less of a rip-off.

Guillermo Del Toro gave us a perfect robots vs. monsters movie with Pacific Rim (2013), from amazing effects to titanic battles; there was so much to love, and the film quickly became a cultural phenomenon. But with all great movies, the rip-off wasn't far behind, and it came in the form of Atlantic Rim.

Atlantic Rim follows three robot pilots who take their mechs to the bottom of the sea to find monsters that breed in the crude oil and saltwater of a destroyed oil rig. Their mission is to eliminate the monsters and save the world from their potential invasion. In every way, this film is essentially Pacific Rim, but without the effects, coherent plot, or detailed mech designs. But of all the rip-offs, this one comes by it the most honestly.