Movies You Won’t Believe Were Inspired by the Strangest Things
There’s no shortage of wild ideas in Hollywood, but sometimes the real head-scratchers come from the source itself. These movies came from candy dispensers, old photographs, fast-food mascots, and even a Twitter thread. They prove that inspiration can come from the unlikeliest places.
Mars Attacks Came From a Set of Trading Cards
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Mars Attacks! was a line of controversial Topps trading cards. Each card featured violent, illustrated scenes of Martians destroying Earth in gory detail. Parents hated them. Burton, however, loved the campy sci-fi horror vibe and used it as the blueprint for a star-studded, bizarre film.
The Fast and the Furious Started With a Magazine Article
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A 1998 Vibe article called Racer X by journalist Ken Li followed an illegal street racer named Rafael Estevez. Universal bought the rights, used only the premises, and replaced everything else. The franchise is more about heists, physics-defying stunts, and characters who can launch cars into space.
Pirates of the Caribbean Was Based on a Disneyland Ride
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When Disney announced it was making a movie based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, reactions ranged from confusion to disbelief. The original attraction had no real plot, but by building an original story around Jack Sparrow, the studio created a franchise that made over $4 billion.
The Garbage Pail Kids Movie Came From Parody Stickers
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Topps originally released Garbage Pail Kids in the ’80s to spoof the wildly popular Cabbage Patch Kids dolls. The cards featured gross-out characters like “Adam Bomb” and “Barfin’ Barbara” doing disgusting things. Someone thought these grotesque stickers would make a good movie. Still, they didn’t.
Mac And Me Was Basically a McDonald’s Commercial
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This 1988 movie attempted to replicate the emotional pull of E.T. but ended up as a long-form ad for McDonald’s. The alien’s name was MAC—short for “Mysterious Alien Creature” but also suspiciously close to Big Mac. There’s even a dance scene in the middle of a McDonald’s.
Jem And The Holograms Came From a Forgotten ’80s Cartoon
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The original Jem cartoon aired from 1985 to 1988 and followed a music executive who used holographic technology to become a rock star. Nearly 30 years later, the live-action adaptation dropped the high-tech angle and basically forgot the cartoon’s core. Fans felt betrayed, and newcomers weren’t interested.
Zola Was Inspired By a Viral Twitter Thread
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In 2015, A’Ziah “Zola” King tweeted out a jaw-dropping 148-tweet story involving a chaotic trip to Florida. The thread went viral. Hollywood took notice, and A24 turned it into a film in 2020. Zola stayed surprisingly close to the original tweets—one of the first films to do so successfully.
The Purge Was Born From Road Rage
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Director James DeMonaco got the idea for The Purge after a near-collision with a reckless driver. His wife, still fuming, muttered something like, “Imagine if people got one free pass to harm someone.” Most would forget that comment, but DeMonaco wrote a movie instead.
Last Christmas Took Its Title Too Literally
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The Wham! hit Last Christmas inspired a 2019 rom-com of the same name. It sounds harmless until the film took the lyric “I gave you my heart” and literally ran with it. It ends with a reveal that the romantic lead is actually the ghost of a man who donated his heart.
Battleship Tried To Turn a Board Game Into a War Epic
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Hasbro’s classic naval guessing game doesn’t have characters or a storyline, yet it somehow got adapted into a $200 million movie starring Liam Neeson and Rihanna. Instead of ships firing at each other in stealth, the film added aliens. Critics roasted it for being loud and unrelated to the actual game.
Pan’s Labyrinth Drew From Goya’s Darkest Painting
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Guillermo del Toro credits Spanish painter Francisco Goya as a major influence, especially his nightmarish painting Saturn Devouring His Son. The grotesque creature in Pan’s Labyrinth—the Pale Man, with eyes in his palms and a taste for children—mirrors the horror in Goya’s work.
The Devil Wears Prada Took Notes From Clint Eastwood
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Everyone assumed The Devil Wears Prada was just an Anna Wintour send-up. But Meryl Streep said her performance took more from Clint Eastwood than from the Vogue editor. She modeled Miranda’s terrifying authority on his ability to say very little and still dominate a room.
The LEGO Movie Came From a Kid’s Toy
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When Chris Miller saw his son playing with LEGO figures, he noticed Batman flying a spaceship with Chewbacca. That weird mashup stuck with him, and eventually helped shape The LEGO Movie. It was exactly the kind of movie only a child’s logic could inspire.
Austin Powers Originated From a Fake ’60s Band
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Before Mike Myers ever pitched Austin Powers, he played the character as part of a fake mod band called Ming Tea, formed with Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet. They performed in character for fun, dressing like British Invasion musicians. Myers’ wife suggested the band’s frontman could anchor a film.
Convoy Rolled Straight Out of a Country Song
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In 1975, country singer C.W. McCall scored a surprise hit with Convoy, a novelty song celebrating CB radios and trucker slang. The single was so popular that it inspired a 1978 movie of the same name, directed by none other than Sam Peckinpah, famous for gritty westerns like The Wild Bunch.
Tetris Was Really About Licensing Battles, Not Falling Blocks
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The Tetris film dramatized the real-life battle to secure the game’s distribution rights. Starring Taron Egerton, it followed the tense negotiations and spy-like maneuvering to bring the Soviet-made puzzle to the West. The dry legal story became a high-stakes thriller about one of the world’s most addictive games.
Detective Pikachu Came From an Obscure Spin-Off Game
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Most Pokémon films draw from the main series, but 2019’s Detective Pikachu wasn’t based on Pikachu battling in arenas. Instead, it came from a lesser-known Nintendo 3DS game where Pikachu wore a deerstalker hat and solved mysteries. That quirky spin-off somehow became the first live-action Pokémon movie.
Zubrowska Vodka Helped Shape The Grand Budapest Hotel
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Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel drew heavily on photochrom prints from Central Europe in the early 1900s to capture its pastel look. But Anderson also borrowed the fictional country’s name, Zubrowska, from a Polish bison-grass drink. The odd detail fit perfectly into the film’s world of eccentric characters.
Blackberry Turned a Phone Into a Tragicomedy
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Before iPhones ruled the world, the BlackBerry was the must-have device for business types. The 2023 film Blackberry charted the rise and fall of the once-dominant phone. The scrappy innovation spiraled into corporate mismanagement, arrogance, and eventual collapse.
Ouija Boards Summoned a Horror Franchise
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Ouija boards date back to the late 1800s, when they were sold as parlor games for contacting spirits. Decades later, Parker Brothers — and eventually Hasbro — mass-produced them as toys. Hollywood turned that spooky reputation into horror, releasing Ouija in 2014. The film was panned by critics, but it made enough money to lead to a 2016 prequel, Ouija: Origin of Evil, which earned far better reviews.