In the long history of the moving picture, producers and directors have stretched their imaginations in search of the next big thing.
When the creative well runs dry, sometimes the best plan is to throw two old ideas together to see what happens. It’s a cheat, but a fun cheat.
We’ve seen comedians and monsters come together in Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein. We’ve seen alien killers face off in Aliens vs. Predator, and supernatural slashers take each other on in Freddy vs. Jason.
This weekend, we get two different genres thrown together in the simply titled Cowboys and Aliens, directed by Jon Favreau and starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde.
In honour of yet another cinematic moment of “Couldn’t-come-up-with-anything-more-original,” we here at Biff Bam Pop! thought it worthwhile to make a list of great movie mash-ups that have yet to happen:
Zombies vs. Robots –When a viral outbreak leads to zombies overrunning the earth, a small band of scientists create the ultimate weapon against the threat – robots. Initially successful in thinning the undead herd to make the Earth ready for humanity once again, one robot becomes infected with the zombie virus and all hell breaks loose, all over again. Already a graphic novel with a different story from IDW Publishing, it’s due for movie treatment courtesy of Michael “Transformers” Bay.
Barbarians vs. Amazons – On the surface, this could be an eighties-style Skinemax mash-up for the perpetually hormonal. Done right, it could be a story about wandering barbarians being welcomed by a tribe of warrior women as potential mates. After a misunderstanding leads to the death of the Amazon Queen, the Amazons declare vengeance, kicking off the ultimate battle of the sexes. At heart a story about cultural misunderstandings, bloody battles between the fittest of the fit pave the way towards a simple moral of “we need each other,” making for a great rated R experience. Everyone from the horned-up to the high-minded would have something to be happy about.Heck, anything would be better than this.
The Tron Matrix – Tron fights for the user, but is the user free himself? Or is the user just another simulation? Playing around with the way The Matrix should have ended (with the revelation that the “reality” of Zion was just another simulation and Neo actually wakes up to start the true resistance…damn Wachowskis), Tron begins to doubt the truth behind the user, and if Flynn ever truly existed at all. Also, any excuse to get Olivia Wilde back in that outfit is fine by me. We’ll find a way…
Austen & Austin – Author Jane Austen suddenly finds herself propelled into the present day. A classic fish-out-of-water tale, the irrepressible writer behind Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice struggles to make her way in the modern world until she meets and falls in love with former professional wrestler Steve Austin. Will pre-Victorian values be a match for the Stone Cold Stunner?
Have some ideas of your own? What two great movie tastes do you want to see come together?
JW Ward is a Toronto-based writer, media personality and professional cynic. Follow him on Twitter at @jasonwardDOTca, through his website at http://www.jasonward.ca/ and every Thursday here at Biff Bam Pop!
