There has been such a surge in movies about clones ever since the late 1970s, from Logan's Run and Blade Runner, to the iconic Jurassic Park and Star Wars, to lesser known films like Cloned: The Recreator Chronicles. Looking back at the timeline of these films, it is interesting to note that, in the past 21 years, almost every single year produced a clone-centric movie, and in many cases far more.
What is our culture's obsession with recreation? Some people might argue that creativity has a cycle, and that we are facing that pattern of recycling and renewal. Indeed, the fact that movies are more and more churning out sequels, prequels and remakes and that some of the most popular blockbusters are trilogies, says a great deal. Consumers form attachments to concepts, characters, and ideas, and the thought of saying goodbye is more painful than forking over $20 for a ticket.
Is that same concept true with clones as well? Do we like the idea of cloning so much that we are willing to endure the same theme for the past 20-plus years? I decided to look back in history and find examples throughout the years to illustrate this point. While there were several years that featured over four clone movies, I was interested to note that most films really took a different approach with the theme. While there were the familiar recurring storylines of Star Wars, Star Trek, and Superman, there were many other concepts that brought an extra dimension to the clone school of thought, and definitely warranted release.
Here are some highlights from film history's cloned timeline:
1976 Logan's Run
1978 The Boys from Brazil
1982 Blade Runner
1985 D.A.R.Y.L
1987 Superman IV The Quest For Peace
1991 Aeon Flux, TV Series
1993 Louis & Clark, TV Series
1993 Jurassic Park
1996 Multiplicity
1997 Alien: Resurrection
1997 The Lost World: Jurassic Park
1997 The Fifth Element
1998 The Avengers
1999 Futurama, TV Series
2000 The 6th Day
2000 Titan A.E.
2001 Jurassic Park III
2001 Smallvile, TV Series
2001 Imposter
2001 Replicant
2002 Resident Evil
2002 Star Trek: Nemesis
2003 Star Wars: The Clone Wars, TV Series
2004 Resident Evil: Apocalypse
2004 Battlestar Galactica
2004 Godsend
2005 Aeon Flux
2005 The Island
2006 Ultra Violet
2007 Resident Evil: Extinction
2008 Babylon A.D.
2009 Avatar
2009 Monsters vs Aliens
2010 Resident Evil: Afterlife
2011 Source Code
2012 Cloned: The Recreator Chronicles
2012 Cloud Atlas
What are your thoughts on the surge of clone movies?