Filmmakers and actors working on both sides of a film “rivalry” is rarer than you’d think. I attempt to name as many examples as I can…
In the realm of film, it is not common to have films of similar intent actually compete with each other. Sure, we like to think of franchises with similar subject matter like Star Wars and Star Trek in fierce competition pitting fans against each other and duking it out at the box office. But we know that really isn’t the case. It’s the studios who are in competition with one another, and Star Trek and Star Wars films are just a small piece of their entire product portfolio. No studio is going to choose to have a release date be the same as a similar film from a rival studio – they will never compete head to head at the box office at the same time.
Yet as fans of different films and franchises we can’t help but voice our opinions about which ones we think are better than others. We may pay to watch a film from the “rival” of our favorite film franchise, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we support it with the same amount of enthusiasm. These types of opinions create the connotation of rival film franchises, even if the rivalry doesn’t really exist in the business environment.
What drives competition at studios is market saturation. In order for a film to make as much money as possible, a studio will try to attract as much attention for their new film as they can. The ability for a studio to attract audience interest is dependent on both the marketing of the film and the actual content of the film. While studios hire outside firms for the marketing, it is up to the producers to deliver a product that meets or exceeds audience expectations as much as possible. A happy audience will spread good word of mouth and gladly return to see the sequel.
A solid film product boils down to the people who are making it. From the original concept, to the script, direction, acting, production, editing, and post-production – it pays for studios to have the best talent available. For a franchise, they also tend to want to have continuity. Fans who may like the original film in a series aren’t going to appreciate a lot of changes if it results in an end product that lacks the attributes they found appealing in the first place. For this reason, franchises tend to have a lot of the same creative and technical talent carried over from film to film.
What I find interesting is when these creative and technical teams switch sides. Specifically, when a studio hires people who worked for other studios on similar films. In these cases, the studios are recognizing the good work these people did for their rivals, and want them to do something similar with their product. In business, if something works, you try and replicate that again next time. In film, if a filmmaker has success in one area, studios are inclined to want them to work their magic more and more.
Below I have outlined several movie franchises which could be considered to be rivals. For each rivalry I’ve found filmmakers/actors/actresses who have actually worked on both sides in similar roles. I’ve outlined the films they were involved in. I have ignored television shows in which there are many examples of minor actors appearing in two franchises. I chose to focus on the biggest names in the biggest franchises.
This list is by no means complete. I focused on the biggest roles only so that this would not become an exercise in futility. These are my findings after looking through cast and crew lists for the last 2 weeks. What other names come to mind for filmmakers who have worked on both sides of “rival” franchises? Any big names that I missed?
“Rivalry”: Star Wars vs. Star Trek
J.J. Abrams: Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Beyond / Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Simon Pegg: Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Beyond / Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Greg Grunberg: Star Trek, Star Trek Beyond / Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Deep Roy: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi / Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Beyond
The most famous example of a filmmaker working for one franchise and then going to a rival franchise has to be J.J. Abrams. J.J. Abrams made a name for himself in the 2000’s by rebooting or giving new life to old franchises and ideas. Under this impression, Paramount Studios hired Abrams to reboot their Star Trek franchise. Abrams helmed two films and produced a third before getting hired by Star Wars to essentially do the same thing.
Star Wars may be the most popular film franchise of all time, but besides Abrams and his colleagues, there are remarkably few examples of other people who worked on both Star Wars films and Star Trek films. I think part of the reason for this is that the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises are so old, and don’t have a lot of variety in releases until more recently. Actors who became famous for their roles in the original Star Trek television shows or Star Wars films remained famous for the rest of their life almost solely because of their work in those franchises.
Compare this to more modern franchises where the stars are often popular before they get brought into the fold. Or, if they are new comers, they tend to have careers outside of the big franchise simply because there are more opportunities, and there is more visibility in their career because of their work in these big franchises. With the film industry being much more diverse today than it was back in the 70’s-90’s, it makes sense for a lack of actors and filmmakers in Star Trek and Star Wars to have any crossover experience.
“Rivalry”: DCEU vs. MCU
Joss Whedon: Justice League / Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron
Laurence Fishbourne: Man of Steel, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice / Ant-Man and the Wasp
J.K. Simmons:Justice League / Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home
Daniel S. Kaminsky: Justice League / Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron
David Harbour: Suicide Squad / Black Widow
Oliver Scholl: Suicide Squad / Spider-Man: Far From Home
James Gunn: Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 / The Suicide Squad
Michael Rooker: Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 / The Suicide Squad
Sean Gunn: Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 / The Suicide Squad
Nathan Fillion: Guardians of the Galaxy / The Suicide Squad
Taika Waititi: Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Endgame / The Suicide Squad
Djimon Hounsou: Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel / Aquaman
Kirk M. Morri: Ant-Man / Aquaman
Dave Callaham: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings / Wonder Woman 1984
Kim Barrett: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings / Aquaman
Randall Park: Ant-Man and the Wasp / Aquaman
David Dastmalchian: Ant-Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp / The Suicide Squad
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the biggest franchise on the planet right now, but what really sets it apart from other franchises is its variety. They have many different filmmakers involved, and because of that there is a lot of diversity among the cast and crew. It isn’t just the same production team over and over again, and it isn’t the same creative team working on one strand of sequels. Instead, the MCU is very multi-faceted, which opens up the opportunities for cast and crew to have crossover roles in the “rival” franchise.
Still, besides James Gunn’s involvement in The Suicide Squad, there isn’t really another major player involved in both franchises (Taika’s role in The Suicide Squad is essentially a cameo). The reason for that may be that of all of the franchise “rivalries” listed here, this one is the fiercest. Disney doesn’t want to have its big-name talent working for WB, and are probably preemptively trying to make sure that doesn’t happen. It looks bad and could potentially provide increased competition. The James Gunn exception started as a fallout between Disney and Gunn.
“Rivalry”: Fast & Furious vs. Transformers
Tyrese Gibson: 2 Fast 2 Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, The Fate of the Furious, F9: The Fast Saga / Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Paul Rubell: The Fate of the Furious / Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Bumblebee
John Cena: F9: The Fast Saga / Bumblebee
John Ortiz: Fast & Furious, Fast & Furious 6 / Bumblebee
I think Tyrese Gibson may be the only big name actor to play a major character in rival franchises. I know that technically Fast and Furious doesn’t really work in the same cinematic space as Transformers, but both franchises have become known for being big-dumb action movies focused around cars.
“Rivalry”: Mission Impossible vs. James Bond
Robert Elswit: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation / Tomorrow Never Dies
Lea Seydoux: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol / Spectre, No Time to Die
Hans Zimmer: Mission: Impossible II / No Time To Die
James Bond is one of the longest-running franchises on the planet, and Mission: Impossible is the action franchise most similar that has been around the second-longest. Despite the relative longevity of both franchises, there is not much crossover in personnel between them. This is easy to explain because first of all the James Bond franchise is so old that many of the people involved in the franchise’s first 30 years of existence were out of the industry by the time Mission: Impossible began. But more importantly, the James Bond franchise has long been controlled by Eon Productions. That production company has had a relatively strict control over the creative process, and so the Bond films are in many ways “isolated” from mainstream Hollywood.
I found this situation when I looked into crossovers between the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises. I could find no shared cast or crew members for these two “rival” franchises. My thought is that just like Eon Production’s control of James Bond, the companies making Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films are somewhat isolated from the American movie industry. People who work for the production companies of these franchises are less likely to jump ship because the work environment is less competitive, and they may be geographically isolated. As far as big-name actors not appearing in both franchises, it may just be more of a coincidence
“Rivalry”: Friday the 13th vs. Halloween vs. A Nightmare on Elm Street
Joseph Wolf: Halloween II / A Nightmare on Elm Street
(Of course, the crossover film Freddy vs. Jason, and everyone involved)
This one was interesting because I thought since these were smaller-scale films that were relatively similar, there may be a lot of crossover in terms of people in the creative positions. That was not the case at all. Instead, what I found is that since each of these franchises contain films of much more modest budgets than we have seen in the other franchises, it is often the same people committed to each entry in the franchise. In many cases, the entire filmography, or at least a large portion of the filmography of people working on these films lies within the same franchise.
This speaks of loyalty to a creative team, but also shows how since these are not big Hollywood movies there is less studio control. Because most of these films are self-funded by a group of producers, there is less pressure from the studio to bring in certain talent in order to ensure profitability. Furthermore, because of the genre, there is less pressure from audiences as well. Unlike Star Wars or the DCEU, these franchises don’t have to bring in the big names in order to be successful. For all these reasons, it makes the possibility of a person working for more than one of these “rival” franchises less likely.
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