X Meets Y/Film

Television meets the big screen:

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Works Examples

Animated

• Anastasia is The Russian Revolution meets a Disney Princess movie.
• James Cameron's Avatar:
  • Dances with Wolves Halo.
  • Or Fern Gully meets Pocahontas meets Atlantis: The Lost Empire meets Dances with Wolves, with the name of "Avatar: The Last Airbender". And a dash of Xenosaga to boot.
  • Five-Second Movies calls it Pocahontas + Fern Gully + The Matrix.
  • Or Pocahontas Dances with Wolves The Smurfs.
  • Pocahontas 40K as one person puts it.
• Pixar's Brave is Mulan meets Brother Bear meets How to Train Your Dragon.
  • Or Mulan meets Brother Bear meets Princess Mononoke.
• Disney/Pixar's Cars: Doc Hollywood meets Wheelie & The Chopper Bunch meets... er... Pixar.
• Coraline is Beetlejuice meets Alice in Wonderland.
• How to Train Your Dragon is Erik the Viking meets Never Cry Wolf with dragons.
• The Incredibles is Watchmen meets The Fantastic Four.
• The Lion King is Hamlet meets Kimba the White Lion.
• 9 can probably be best described as LittleBigPlanet meets The Terminator... produced by Tim Burton and the director of Wanted.
  • The movie's own page on this wiki also calls it WALL-E meets The Terminator.
• The Princess and the Frog: Don Bluth's Anastasia meets "The Frog Prince" fairy tale with a little hint of All Dogs Go to Heaven and Coraline thrown in there.
• Rango is The Fantastic Mr. Fox meets Three Amigos (minus two amigos).
• Rio is Happy Feet meets The Three Caballeros.
• Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is Black Beauty meets Dances with Wolves.
• The animated Titanic movie Titanic: The Legend Goes On is best described as the bastard love child of James Cameron's Titanic, and An American Tail, along with about 12 other animated movies. With a rapping dog thrown in from out of nowhere.
  • The other Titanic animated movie -- The Legend of the Titanic -- is the bastard love child of James Cameron's Titanic and An American Tail with a message about whale hunting and a giant octopus with a dog nose thrown in out of nowhere.
• We Are the Strange: David Lynch meets Dragonball Z meets The Nightmare Before Christmas with a bit of Power Rangers thrown in.
• The Wild is Madagascar meets Finding Nemo meets The Lion King.

Live-Action

• The plot to The Abominable Dr. Phibes is Se7en meets A Nightmare on Elm Street meets Saw, only several decades before any of them. Its mood, however, involves eating several bowls of sugar laced with acid.
• Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is American McGee's Alice meets Chronicles of Narnia meets Hook.
• Obscure horror film American Nightmare is Hardcore meets Friday the 13th (or any Giallo slasher film).
• Anvil! The Story of Anvil is This Is Spinal Tap meets Real Life. Seriously, it's spooky.
• The movie Bad Moon and the book it's based upon (Thor) are The Adventures Of Rintintin meets The Howling.
• Barb Wire is Casablanca in a Mad Max costume, with a side of Gender Flip. And it is bad.
• Basic Instinct is the love child of Russ Meyer and Alfred Hitchcock.
• Big Fish is Forrest Gump as written by Roald Dahl.
• Black Swan is Perfect Blue meets Swan Lake and/or Princess Tutu.
• Blood: The Last Vampire (the 2009 film, at least) is Blade meets Kill Bill.
• The Brave One is Taxi Driver meets Death Wish, with a woman in the lead.
  • Or alternatively it's Taxi Driver Meets Ms. 45.
• David Cronenberg has described The Brood as his version of Kramer vs. Kramer.
• The Cabin in the Woods is The Evil Dead meets The Truman Show.
• Captain America: The First Avenger is Rudy meets Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow meets Band of Brothers
• Captain Clegg is Treasure Island meets Heat meets Les Misérables.
• The Caller is The Lakehouse meets Stir of Echos meets Frequency, with a little dusting of The Butterfly Effect.
• Cannibal is Brokeback Mountain meets Guinea Pig: Flowers of Flesh and Blood.
• The Cell is Inception meets Cupcakes. More specifically, the protagonist uses an Inception-like device to enter the dreams of a serial killer, whose psychotic nature matches that of Pinkie Pie as seen in Cupcakes.
  • Except The Cell came out before Inception.
    • And Cupcakes.
    • It is also The Matrix Meets Se7en.
• This comic convention exchange from Chasing Amy between a Bluntman and Chronic fan and their exasperated creator:

Fanboy: I love [Bluntman and Chronic]! They're like... uh... Bill and Ted meet... meet Cheech and Chong!
Holden: (condescendingly) Yeah, I kinda like to think of them as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern meet Vladamir and Estragon.
Fanboy: Yeah! Wait... huh?

• Cloverfield is The Blair Witch Project (or Cannibal Holocaust, if you know your film history) meets Godzilla.
• Cowboys and Aliens is described by its screenwriters as "Unforgiven with aliens landing." This makes some sense because both films feature an ex-outlaw running up against a harsh order-obsessed sheriff.
  • In other words: Unforgiven meets Skyline.
• Crank is Speed meets DOA.
• Days Of Thunder is Top Gun meets Nascar.
• The Dictator is Coming to America meets Ali G Indahouse.
• District 9 is The Office meets Bad Taste plus David Cronenberg's The Fly.
• Dog Soldiers is Night of the Living Dead meets The Howling.
  • Or Band of Brothers meets The Howling.
• Drag Me to Hell is Thinner meets The Grudge.
• Dragonball Evolution is Dragonball Z meets Smallville.
• Enchanted is "Disney meets Reality".
• Equilibrium is Nineteen Eighty-Four meets Brave New World meets Fahrenheit 451 meets The Matrix and brings Bottomless Magazines.
• The Exorcism of Emily Rose is The Exorcist meets Law and Order.
• The Fall is The Princess Bride meets Axe Cop.
• Fallen is The Silence of the Lambs meets The Exorcist meets Shocker.
• The Fighter:
  • Cinderella Man meets Jerry Springer.
  • Rocky meets The Blind Side.
• Final Destination is Scream meets Death Note.
• 500 Days of Summer has been described as How I Met Your Mother meets Garden State. Neil Patrick Harris called it How I Met Your Mother minus Barney.
  • Or it could also be 5 Centimeters Per Second meets How I Met Your Mother.
• Forrest Gump is Being There meets Zelig, with a bit of Lifetime Movie of the Week thrown in.
• Four Lions: Paradise Now meets The Three Stooges.
• Frozen is essentially Open Water, and Alive on a chairlift.
• Galaxy Quest is Three Amigos meets Star Trek.
• Gandhi at the Bat is The Pride Of The Yankees meets Gandhi, with maybe a pinch of Rookie of the Year.
• Gangster No. 1 is Scarface meets Single White Female.
• Ghostbusters is The Exorcist meets Dirty Jobs.
• Giallo genre is more or less Mystery Crime Noir meets Erotic thrillers (and or Sexploitation) meets Slasher Films.
• Guum-Gum (film but not book) is Peter Pan meets The Matrix.
• Hancock is The Incredibles meets Highlander. The hidden title could be called Hancock meets The Terminator.
• The Happening is 28 Days Later meets Final Destination meets Gaia's Vengeance.
• Hard Candy is Lolita meets The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
• In an odd reversal, High School Musical is Fame minus Skins.
• Highwaymen is Mad Max meets Changing Lanes, meets The Hitcher.
• Horrible Bosses is The Hangover meets Nine to Five meets Strangers on a Train.
• The Host:
  • The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms meets Juno meets Michael Moore.
  • Alternatively, Alien meets Little Miss Sunshine.
• Hot Shots is Top Gun meets Full Metal Jacket meets The Naked Gun.
• Hot Tub Time Machine is The Hangover meets Back to The Future.
• Howling: The Rebirth is essentially Howling meets And Then There Were None.
• I Am Number Four is Roswell meets the The Sarah Connor Chronicles meets Escape to Witch Mountain meets Twilight meets Transformers. Yeah...
• Inception:
  • Paprika meets Ocean's Eleven.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist gone live-action meets James Bond with a bottle of sleeping pills.
  • Ghost in the Shell meets Ocean's Eleven (not the actual Homage GITS episode, though)
  • The Italian Job meets Dreamscape.
  • Psychonauts meets Ocean's Eleven.
  • "Theme of the Traitor and the Hero" meets Plato's Cave.
• Jack (the Robin Williams/Francis Ford Coppla film): Big, starring Patch Adams
• Friday the 13th (film): Friday the 13th meets Star Trek.
• Johnny English is James Bond meets Mr. Bean.
• Just Buried looks like Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street meets Hot Fuzz (or possibly A Lee Martinez, but nobody else knows who that is).
• Kelly's Heroes can be thought off as "The Dirty Dozen meets The Italian Job", but without the Downer Ending of either of these films.
• Ken Park: Kids meets American Beauty
• The Last Exorcism is The Exorcism Of Emily Rose meets The Blair Witch Project.
• Law Abiding Citizen is Death Wish (or The Punisher) meets Saw.
• Lemonade Mouth is The Breakfast Club meets High School Musical.
• The Mockbuster Lockjaw is Anaconda meets Death Note with the plot of Pumpkinhead.
• Magic Kingdom is Disneyland meets Night at the Museum or Zathura since Jon Favreau is directing.
• The John Cusack comedy Martian Child is basically About a Boy meets K-Pax.
• Mercury Rising is Rain Man meets WarGames. Described as such by Miko Hughes on the DVD extras.
• Milk Money is Pretty Woman meets My Girl^[1]
• Monster Squad is The Goonies meets the Universal Monsters.
• Mortal Kombat: Rebirth looks like Saw meets Se7en meets Fight Club meets The Dark Knight (Or Batman Begins) with Martial Arts.
• Mr. Nobody is Donnie Darko meets The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The titular protagonists of all three have Alliterative Names.
• Depending on when you were born, Murder By Decree is From Hell meets Sherlock Holmes or From Hell is Murder By Decree sans Sherlock Holmes.
• Mystery Team is Encyclopedia Brown meets the real world.
• Ninja III: The Domination is American Ninja meets The Exorcist.
• 1906, Pixar and Brad Bird's foray into live-action film, is described as Titanic meets a city (San Francisco) and an earthquake (not literally, although that'd be pretty cool too).
• The Objective is Rainbow Six meets X Files meets Apocalypse Now meets Rest Stop... and just as confusing.
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? is The Three Stooges meeting The Odyssey.
• Observe and Report is Paul Blart: Mall Cop meets Taxi Driver.
• Oldboy is The Count of Monte Cristo meets Fight Club meets Saw.
• Outlander was described by at least one critic as "Beowulf meets Predator".
• Pandorum:
  • The Descent meets Titan A.E. meets Dead Space.
  • Alien Resurrection meets Twelve Thirteen meets Orphans Of The Sky.
• Pan's Labyrinth technically is Alice in Wonderland meets The Wind That Shakes the Barley en España.
• Piranha 3D is the original Piranha meets Girls Gone Wild.
• Pleasantville is Back to The Future meets The Truman Show.
• REC is Diary of the Dead and/or The Last Broadcast meets 28 Days Later and or Left 4 Dead (minus the special infected).
• [REC]2 is Rainbow Six and/or SWAT meets 28 Weeks Later and or Left 4 Dead (minus the special infected) meets Diary of the Dead meets The Exorcist.
• Red Riding Hood is The Company of Wolves mixed with elements from Sleepy Hollow, The Village and Twilight.
• Repo Men is Repo! The Genetic Opera + (Equilibrium x Minority Report) - the singing.
• Repo! The Genetic Opera is The Rocky Horror Picture Show meets Blade Runner.
• The Revenant is Shaun of the Dead meets The Boondock Saints.
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes is Conquest of the Planet of the Apes meets Splice.
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show is Manos: The Hands of Fate meets Frankenstein meets The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
• RocknRolla is Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels meets The Big Lebowski.
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is, quite deliberately, Hamlet meets Waiting for Godot.
• Save the Green Planet is Men in Black meets Misery.
• Shark Night is Piranha 3D meets Snakes on a Plane meets Shark Week (With some Deliverance thrown in.)
• Sidekicks is The Wonder Years meets The Karate Kid, with some self-indulgent Chuck Norris bits.
• Six-String Samurai is Lone Wolf and Cub meets Mad Max meets Rock 'n' Roll.
• Skyline is Aliens meets The Whisperer In Darkness.
• Splice is Frankenstein meets Species meets The Island of Dr. Moreau.
• Due to some comments by the director, J. J. Abrams, the eleventh Star Trek film has been referred to in some forums as Star Trek: The Original Series meets Star Wars.
  • The images shown of the set designs of the Enterprise's interior in said movie have also been referred to as Star Trek meets iStore.
• Star Wars: Hidden Fortress meets Flash Gordon.
• Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is best described as the live-action adaptation of The Shawshank Redemption meets Itchy and Scratchy.
  • Don't forget that it basically has Kenshiro as the lead.
    • The Shawshank Redemption meets Fist of the North Star?
• Sucker Punch is Alice in Wonderland in Chicago, with reaps of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Inception.
  • Alternatively Inception meets Brazil.
  • Alternatively Inception meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest meets Moulin Rouge.
  • Alternatively Girl, Interrupted meets Mona the Vampire
• Super 8 is E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial meets Cloverfield (Which considering who made it, makes perfect sense). Or even more fittingly, ET meets The Blair Witch Project meets Godzilla.
• Survival of the Dead is the Hatfield-McCoy feud meets Night of the Living Dead, with a light dusting of The A-Team.
• The Town has been called Heat meets The Departed.
• The Town That Dreaded Sundown is Zodiac meets Friday the 13th.
• Confused Matthew once referred to There Will Be Blood as "Citizen Kane without the sled".
• The Three Musketeers (starring Milla Jovovich) is Resident Evil meets Van Helsing minus the monsters (probably).
• Trick 'r Treat is 2004's Crash meets Creepshow.
  • Alternately, it's Love Actually meets Creepshow meets Halloween.
• Tropic Thunder is ¡Three Amigos! meets Apocalypse Now.
• The Truman Show is Dark City meets The Prisoner meets Shock Treatment meets Jim Carrey.
• Top Gun is Full Metal Jacket meets aviation meets Romace.
• Tower Heist is Fun with Dick and Jane meets Ocean's 11.
• To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar is (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – The Matrix + Dirty Dancing + Blade) meets Spartacus.
• Unknown is Nowhere Man meets The Bourne Identity meets Total Recall.
• Valentine's Day is Love Actually a couple weeks later, in America.
• A Very Long Engagement was described by one Amazon.com viewer as Amelie meets Saving Private Ryan, which is pretty accurate, as it has some of the quirkiness of the former (and the same star and director), while also having the mystery element and horrific battle scenes of the latter.
• Wanted is The Matrix meets Fight Club.
• Wild Zero is Night of the Living Dead meets The Power of Rock.
• Wolfhound has been described as "Conan the Barbarian meets The Lord of the Rings", which is essentially a blurb-friendly way of saying "is an heroic fantasy film".
• The Wood is American Pie meets The Hangover (even though technically both of those movies were made after that one).
• Your Highness is Lord of the Rings meets Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
• Zombi 3 is The Crazies meets Day of the Dead meets Return of the Living Dead.
• Zombieland is Superbad meets Shaun of the Dead.
• The 2019 Dora the Explorer film Dora and the Lost City of Gold has been described as "like Tomb Raider meets Harriet the Spy".

Character Examples

Animated

• Despicable Me's Minons are a cross between X-Nauts and Rabbids.
• Lord Shen is Judge Claude Frollo meets Firelord Sozin.

Live-Action

• Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes: Indiana Jones meets Gregory House. Gregory House was based on Sherlock Holmes to begin with, sharing his sidekick to bounce ideas off of (Wilson instead of Watson) and even a drug addiction (Vicodin instead of Cocaine). Would that make Cuddy the equivalent of Irene Adler?
• Darryl Revok is Hannibal Lecter meets Carrie. Except he predates both of those other characters.
  • Cameron Vale is Carrie plus the player character from Myst.
• Dr. Anton Phibes is John Doe meets Freddy Krueger meets Ernst Stavro Blofeld meets The Jigsaw Killer meets The Phantom of the Opera meets Wile E. Coyote, with perhaps a bit of Don Lafontaine in there, too.
  • Theatre of Blood's Edward Lionheart is the same thing, but with Sir Lawrence Olivier instead of Don Lafontaine.
• Eddie Quist is Jack the Ripper meets Lawrence Talbot.
• Torgo is Riff-Raff meets Senor Cardgage.
  • The Screaming Skull's Mickey is Torgo meets Lennie from Of Mice and Men.
• Prof. Dumbledore is Gandalf meets Homsar with a side order of The Doctor. Except that he's also a gay android.
• Drop Dead Fred is Beetlejuice meets Bloo.
• Heath Ledger's Joker is, as Riff Trax put it:

Mike: Ah, Daffy Duck and John Wayne Gacy's bastard son.
Bill: I thought that was Jim Carrey...

• Catherine Tramell is Emmanuelle meets Hannibal Lecter meets Bridget Gregory with a dusting of Agatha Christie, and James Ellroy.

1. ↑ And it's as cringe-worthy as it sounds.