Suit Claims 'Island' Cloned 'Clonus'

Fox Albany ^ | August 10, 2005

[Shermy]

Producers of the 1979 cult indie 'Parts: The Clonus Horror' filed suit in New York claiming DreamWorks and Warner Bros. stole their movie for 'The Island'.

Several critics have noted similarities between the two films, Daily Variety reported. Premiere magazine went so far as to say: The first hour of 'The Island' plays like a much more expensive albeit scene-for-scene remake (of 'Clonus').

In addition to unspecified financial compensation, Myrl A. Schreibman and Robert S. Fiveson want 'The Island' withdrawn from theaters and any further release barred, Variety said.

Both films tell the stories of clones being raised as spare parts for humans but while 'The Island' cost $120 million to make, "Clonus" was made on a $250,000 budget.

'The Island' has been a box office disappointment, grossing $55 million since its July 22 release. "Clonus" has became a sci-fi cult favorite after being featured on cable TV's Mystery Science Theater 3000 and is available on DVD.

The copyright infringement suit lists 90 instances where the movies are identical. DreamWorks released a statement Tuesday saying, 'The Island does not infringe on anyone's copyrights, Variety said. Warner said it does not comment on pending litigation.

[Shermy]

Snuppy!

[Borges]

Clones being used for spare parts is an old SF standby. Doesn't sound like they have much of a case with just that.

[windcliff]

ping

[rod1]

Sounds like they cloned this indie classic movie when original inspiration was a little low. DREAMworks must be sleeping in Joe Biden's bed for lullabye time.

[Question_Assumptions]

'Parts: The Clonus Horror' was a decent, though low-budget movie that was one of the few to make the whole idea of cloning for replacement parts plausible. I haven't seen 'The Island' but what I've heard about it, it sure does sound a lot like 'Parts: The Clonus Horror'.

[TheBigB]

*sigh* I miss Joel and the 'bots. Oh, the things they could've done with "The Island"...or "Stealth"...or "Freddie Got Fingered"..." or, be still my heart..."Glitter."

[GiveEmDubya]

All I remember about 'The Clonus Horror' is the entertaining Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode.

[Sentis]

I had assumed it was a direct remake. I mean even the name "The Island" was part of the original movie as all the clones lived on what was basically an island apart from everyone else.


Well in anycase support the Conservative Hollywood http://www.boondockexpansionist.org/

[Shermy]

The reviewer for the Catholic Register thinks it is a rip-off.

I saw Island. Better than its bad reviews. Exhausting to watch however.

[GiveEmDubya]

Precisely...I just bought a box set of episodes.

(Sigh) That show just didn't get old to me.

[ocr1]

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 version is very funny. My favourite qoute from that episode - "I love you clone daddy"

[Question_Assumptions]

Clones being used for spare parts is an old SF standby. Doesn't sound like they have much of a case with just that.

I haven't seen 'The Island' and it's been a long time since I've seen 'Parts', but the lawsuit talks about 90 similarities and the article mentions the first hour being like a scene-for-scene remake. The similarities aren't simply the clones being used for spare parts but the idea that they are raised in isolation to believe that they're preparing for a journey to a promise land (in 'Parts', they are destined to go to "America" rather than "The Island"). A romance also exists in the movie 'Parts'. The idea of actually having to raise clones, over time just like regular children, to use them as replacement parts for adults is fairly rare from what I've seen, which is why I liked the movie 'Parts'. Most science fiction hand-waves the clones to adulthood through some sort of rapid growth process (e.g., '6th Day').

[Borges]

I haven't seen either film so they could be right. Just scanned the early sentences which just talked about cloning as the key issue.

[Borges]

It's been called something of a conservative parable in terms of being against cloning and stem cell research.

[Question_Assumptions]

I saw it, and several other movies that were MST3Ked before they were MST3Ked. While a lot of movies deserved that treatment, a few didn't. While 'Parts' was low budget and certainly melodramatic and badly acted, it wasn't an awful movie.

[avg_freeper]

I loved that show. Just imagine Travolta's "Battlefield Earth" or Clooney's "Solaris" on that show.

By the way Michael J. Nelson has a new book out called "Death Rat".

[Starter]

From The Seattle Times:

In Bay's movie, the closely monitored, mod-clothed, naive residents of a futuristic colony win a lottery to go away to a promised land called "The Island."

In "Clonus," the closely monitored, mod-clothed, naive residents of a futuristic colony are chosen to go to a promised land called "America."

In both movies, a male resident goes on the run when he discovers that the promised land is a lie, and that he's part of a colony of clones being grown to harvest their organs when the rich human originals ail. Both feature an evil scientist keeping his project a secret from the public at all costs by sending assassins after the runner.

When I heard "The Island"'s plot, I thought they were remaking Clonus as well.

[tnlibertarian]

Well, all the other crap films at the theatre are remakes of seventies stuff. Why should this one be any different?

[steve-b]

Yeah -- there are also a bunch of other point-for-point parallels such as the protagonist starting to question things after stumbling upon an object from the outside world (a beer can in Clonus, a butterfly in Island), getting a bum's-rush non-answer when he asks for an explanation, the clones being specially treated to be dim-witted and incurious, etc.

This looks like a pretty damning case of Hollywood plaigarism.

[GiveEmDubya]

Point taken; I still think in the end it wasn't that great at all but not as bad as the others. The concept could have worked IMO.

Old favorites like Space Mutiny, Puma Man, The Giant Spider Invasion, and The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, however, were all stab-your-eye horrendous and deserved the full MST3K treatment.