White House Down, Olympus Has Fallen, and the Proud Tradition of Same-Subject Movies. Here are some favorites.
With the Washington D.C. disaster film Olympus Has Fallen currently atop the box-office standings, Columbia Pictures took the opportunity to release the poster for their own D.C.-in-peril movie, Roland Emmerichs White House Down. This kind of overlap in subject matter, leading to Competing Movie narratives, is not an uncommon occurrence. Already this year, weve got Tom Cruise and Will Smith returning to a post-apocalypse Earth in Oblivion and After Earth, respectively. As well as Helena Bonham Carter and Dominic Cooper looking to best the version of "Liz & Dick" that Lifetime and Lindsay Lohan put on TV. Yes, Same-Subject movies have a ... well, if not "proud" tradition then a loud one. Here are a few of our favorite examples.
Cinematic Subject: Alexander the Great
Competing Films: Oliver Stones Alexander; Baz Luhrmanns Untitled Alexander Project
The Story: The wide gap between Luhrmanns 2001 Moulin Rouge! and 2008s Australia is partially explained by his abandoned "Alexander" project, which had Leonardo DiCaprio attached. Once Stones film got a good head of steam and was clearly going to be finished first, Luhrmanns epic fell apart and would remain a cinematic what-if.
The Victor: Despite getting pretty terrible reviews and delivering a watered-down version of a possible romantic storyline between Colin Farrell and Jared Leto, Alexander still got made, which gives it the win by default.
Cinematic Subject: Truman Capote
Competing Films: Bennett Millers Capote; Douglas McGraths Infamous
The Story: Not only were both films to dramatize the life of the famous author and celebrity gadfly, but both were to focus on the period in his life when he wrote In Cold Blood. Infamous had the more star-studded cast, including Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Sigourney Weaver (and a pre-Bond Daniel Craig), but Capote cast Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the lead, while Infamous opted for Toby Jones.
The Victor: Capote made it to theaters earlier, was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars, and won Hoffman a Best Actor trophy. Infamous limped into arthouses a year later and was branded an afterthought.
Cinematic Subject: Asteroids
Competing Films: Mimi Leders Deep Impact; Michael Bays Armageddon
The Story: In 1998, blockbuster fans were offered two competing visions of apocalypse, both by the same galactic means: an asteroid headed directly for earth. Bays film was filled with his usual bombast and humor and Bruckheimer-approved cast (Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Owen Wilson), ultimately saving the world through One Mans Sacrifice; while Deep Impact offered President Morgan Freeman gravely preparing the world for the worst ... and then watching it happen.
The Victor: In many ways, Deep Impact is the ballsier film for actually having the asteroid hit, but it also runs a bit contrary to the Big Summer Movie ethos of big explosions followed by big victory. Maybe thats why it opened in early May. Despite getting to theaters second, Armageddon was seen as the bigger player by headlining July 4th weekend, and indeed it took in more money and is more widely remembered today.
Cinematic Subject: Snow White
Competing Films: Tarsems Mirror Mirror; Rupert Sanderss Snow White and the Huntsman
The Story: In the wake of Alice in Wonderland, big CGI/big art direction adaptations of fairy tales were in high demand, so both these films were put into motion quickly. Both projects were pretty clearly going after different takes, with Huntsman hitting darker, gothic, Kristen Stewart-y notes, while Mirror Mirror was going for full-on comedy. Both treated their Wicked Queens as the lead role, however, with Charlize Theron repping Huntsman and Julia Roberts headlining Mirror Mirror.
The Victor: Well, both were pretty well shredded by critics, both got a smattering of technical Oscar nominations, and neither one did a whole lot to help their respective leading ladies careers. Huntsman did much better business, though it was saddled with a lot of that Kristen Stewart infidelity silliness in the press. Still, it clears a low bar for success.
Cinematic Subject: Sex Friends
Competing Films: Ivan Reitmans No Strings Attached vs. Will Glucks Friends with Benefits
The Story: There are enough romantic comedies throwing darts at a wall of various scenarios to put would-be romantic partners in that eventually two were bound to hit theaters around the same time. Somehow, both 2011 "sex friends" comedies ended up starring Black Swan cast-mates Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. Neither one was hotly anticipated by critics, who werent wild about the premise, nor about their himbo leading men, Ashton Kutcher and Justin Timberlake, respectively.
The Victor: Both films were similar-sized modest hits, but it was the Kunis/Timberlake Friends with Benefits that ended up winning critics over, albeit barely, primarily through the chemistry of the leads.
Cinematic Subject: Les Liaisons Dengereuses
Competing Films: Stephen Frearss Dangerous Liaisons; Milos Formans Valmont
The Story: Surely, a novel as rich as this one could bear two competing features. After all, it would later bear a teenage retelling (Cruel Intentions), a stage play, and a fictitious musical starring an embarrassing Sean Hayes on this season of Smash. Dangerous Liaisons not only starred the red-hot Glenn Close but also the ascendant Michelle Pfeiffer and Uma Thurman, while Valmonts cast was no less impressive, with Annette Bening, Colin Firth, and Meg Tilly (and Fairuza Balk!).
The Victor:Frearss film made it to theaters first, at the end of 1988, just in time for awards season, where it was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actress. It won for its screenplay, costumes, and art direction. Valmont go
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
White House Down, Olympus Has Fallen, and the Proud Tradition of Same-Subject Movies. Here are some favorites. 
