Barbie/Mattel, Mario/Amazon, Tyler Le/Insider
Hollywood's penchant for capitalizing on fleeting trends has given us many eerily similar "twin films" released at the same time. 1998 alone brought us "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon," "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Thin Red Line," and "Antz" and "A Bug's Life." 2011 served up "Friends with Benefits" and "No Strings Attached."
But the release of half a dozen movies about brands — Barbie, Flamin' Hot Cheetos, Tetris, Nike Air, BlackBerry, and Beanie Babies — in six months isn't just the result of Hollywood groupthink and coincidence.