Repo Men Motion Comic Debuts Online Iain Welford, March 15, 2010March 15, 2010 With only 3 days left to go before Repo Men hits your local cinemaplex, Universal has launched one last video, a Dennis Calero-illustrated motion comic debuting today SXSW and ready to download online. Find out more about this after the break. Available on Apple.com, the comic features Jude Law’s character Remy on the psychiatrist’s couch giving us a valuable in-sight into the mind of a Repo Man. From the motion comic it is quite apparant that this is not a shady in-and-out in the middle night affair, but a full public display of grotesque life altering surgery for everyone to see. It is apparently reminder as to why you should never fall behind in your payments is never too far away. When it reaches that 96th day, there really is no avoiding The Union taking back their property. It debuted at SXSW in 3D, and the next comic is set to debut in a week and a half, according to Switched. If you’re going to catch the film, I’d recommend you watch this to set you up for what looks likely to be an entertaining 2 hours. Are planning to go see the film? what do you think of the motion comic? Leave your thoughts below. Viral Marketing Comic BookRepo menSXSWThe UnionTrailer
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Wow. What a staggering show of audacity. At this point, there is no way the filmmakers behind “Repo Men” aren’t at least a little familiar with the style and content of “Repo! The Genetic Opera.” As Miranda said, whether or not this film is any good is not the point. The point is that it’s preying on the underdog, and clearly not challenging itself hard enough to be original. However, as those involved in making “Repo!” have said, it’s highly unlikely that “Repo Men” will get the kind of devoted fans this wonderfully twisted little rock opera has. The best “Repo!” fans can do is stay away from “Repo Men” if they wish (and it seems many of us will!) and set the record straight whenever someone suggests that these two films are in any way related. “Repo!” fans, as always, let’s do what we can to “TESTIFY!”
Still don’t get why everyone is so angry. It’s Hollywood. Surprise, not everything is original.There are key differences between the two films (from what I’ve seen).
Scott, Repo! The Genetic Opera comics have been created to promote the original opera and film. One that springs to mind is the Toronto run in the Bloor Theatre, where official comics were used to promote not only the film, but also the world premiere of a Repo! Shadow Cast. There it was a comic strip done to much the same run as the contents of the film’s ‘opening comic’ – which, by the way, would count as a motion comic, in much the same way that certain parts in the middle of the anime FLCL count as motion comics.You may choose to see it as a ‘new form of products to promote the film’, but the reality is that this is yet another highly questionable co-incidence regarding this particular film’s production, and the book upon which it was based, and the elements contained within Repo! The Genetic Opera and its forerunning idea in the Ten Minute Opera.
Wow, talk about being original. Yes Hollywood these days are turning everything from books, tv shows, video games and even toys into movies but making a movie using another plot, premise, name, everything short of character names from another small budget movie is low. But as we all know from movies and sports, the underdog always prevails. So Universal can kiss every Repo! Opera fan’s ass when their movie tanks, coming in 3rd behind Alice in Wonderland.Repo! fans, TESTIFY!!!!
Hmmm. That sounds so familiar, where have I heard this before.. lemme see, maybe REPO THE GENETIC OPERA?! Ripping off the entire premise for a movie isn’t enough, they have to steal the comic aspect as well. Whatever.
I am going to have to agree with the majority here and say that this is plagiarism in every sense of the word. I could go on for a good, long time about it but I would only be reiterating what everyone else has already gone over. Repo! the Genetic Opera is, by far, being ripped-off but because the Universal machine is so behemoth there is no way the creators of the opera would stand a chance against them. Please, if you want to show your support for the original film there a special screenings of the film being shown this Friday as a show of support, some being shadow-cast and some not. Go out, find a local shadow cast and see their take on, Repo! the Genetic Opera, they do such a great job and work so hard for this film that they love. As the mom of the very talented creator of our local shadow-cast I know where I’ll be this Friday night! Please come join us!
Scott: She is not saying no one else can do it, but under the circumstances that Universal decided to create their film has been questionable from day one. Universal literally tried to sabotage the efforts to get Repo! created at all, performing criminal actions to have their movie trump Repo! in any way they possible could. You do not listen in on production efforts and ideas in an adjacent room. You do not set up your film date and location at the same time as the movie yours reflects. You do not bribe the people working on the adjacent set to work for you for double the money if you did not want to see the other project fail. To top it all off, you do not take ideas from the other and fail to cite where your ideas came from, since that would get you prison time if done in a professional environment, such as at a university. This comic adds another nail into the coffin when it comes to the tension between Repo! and Repo Men.
This is dumb. As a comic book reader, I don’t think the motion-comic idea is a “rip-off” or whatever. It’s not anything new, it generates interest, and it sells well. Good marketing isn’t ripping someone off.And as a side note, the script to Repo Men was written in 03, prior to Repo! being released. Big Budget film vs obscure film… Not to bash either film, but most people would want to move away from that.
It should come as no surprise to people that most movies are not amazingly original. Even concerning the idea of totally stealing another production’s ideas… This isn’t the first time it’s happened, and it won’t be the last.Look at the bright side though, with more than one person making an attempt at a movie idea, either you’ll end up with two different movies that are both concerned with a theme you’re interested in, or they’ll be two versions of the same movie… and we get to see which is the better one.
Vanna: That is definitely not true. Repo! was already a stage production in LA in 2003, having starting as a ten minute opera called “Necromerchant’s Debt” several years before. Universal never had such a script at that time, no matter what they claim. It was only when the Repo! crew around the time the stage production was in New York that they pitched the idea to Universal, who only would make the film if the music was completely stripped away (they had never actually heard of the idea before this). The crew knew that was not what Repo! was all about, and declined the offer, which was exactly when Universal began making their own plans to create the non musical version of Repo!’s plot. It is fact that even the author and script writer of Repo Men received his ideas from the stage production itself as the Repo! crew would see him and other Universal people in the audience taking notes.
Vanna: while the Repo Men script may have been written in 2003 (prior to Repo! the Genetic Opera being released as a film in 2008), it should also be noted that the script for Repo! the Genetic Opera, that is the libretto and story, was first written in the late 90s and was performed as a ten-minute opera for the public and debuted as a lengthier stage play in 2000… prior to the Repo Men script being written.Again, I don’t think anyone is arguing that two people can’t come up with the same idea at the same time. Or that there aren’t similarly themed movies in Hollywood all the time. What makes most Repo! fans upset is that Repo! the Genetic Opera has a long, clear, and well documented history that proves beyond a doubt which came first. And we’re not talking a matter of months ‘first’, we’re talking a matter of years. Even so… two films share a similar story. Fine… as many people will point out, ideas cannot be copyrighted. Whether you agree with this fact or not… it is still fact. And abstract idea or concept cannot be copyrighted. Eric Garcia was free to steal from the Genetic Opera all he wanted. Did he really steal from them? No one is sure. Is it possible, even probable that he did? Entirely. The point is, Repo! Opera’s history is very transparent and not at all debatable, whereas “The Repossession Mambo’s” history is quite debatable and mostly based on hearsay.And all that aside… again, whether or not they have similar stories, who cares? Whether or not the idea is the same? Yes, that happens. The problem many Repo! fans are reacting to is that it isn’t enough for the stories to be similar– Universal has opted to steal and blatantly copy artwork and marketing materials from Repo! that date back over ten years. It is ignorant to think that Universal just happened to have the same barcode logo in their arsenal ten years ago.Circumstantial evidence may not be enough to legally convict… but when all that little evidence starts to show up, it certainly begins to paint a very clear picture beyond mere coincidence.
I think REPO MEN looks fun. REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA was all right and that’s all. The coincidences between the two are shockingly close, but truthfully, no one will ever go to court over this and nothing will ever happen.There are much more constructive things to do. REPO! fans should relax. If anything, REPO MEN might draw attention to their struggling, mostly-forgotten little film.