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  1. #1
    Astonishing Member Timothy Hunter's Avatar
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    Default Does Groundhog Day Have The Greatest Movie Premise?

    The idea of repeating one day of your life day after day is such an obvious premise for a movie that anyone could have come up with it. Despite this the 'gimmick" behind Groundhog Day is so rife with storytelling potential that a small subgenre has been created of movie with variants on the Groundhog Day formula such as Happy Death Day and Edge of Tomorrow.

    Do you agree? Disagree? What premises for movies made you thank, "Damn why didn't I think of that?"

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    Quote Originally Posted by Timothy Hunter View Post
    The idea of repeating one day of your life day after day is such an obvious premise for a movie that anyone could have come up with it. Despite this the 'gimmick" behind Groundhog Day is so rife with storytelling potential that a small subgenre has been created of movie with variants on the Groundhog Day formula such as Happy Death Day and Edge of Tomorrow.

    Do you agree? Disagree? What premises for movies made you thank, "Damn why didn't I think of that?"
    Yes, as a comedy with a happy ending, but it was not an original premise.

    It was an idea I originally read in some middle school magazine back in 1970 or so, where a genie in a clock granted a kid one wish, and since the kid had just had a really great day his wish was to live it over and over. But as he experienced again and again he realized he had hurt a lot of people in his great day, and he had no way to get out of the hell he had wished for.

    This was written by a 14 year old contributor.

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    Dick Lupoff (you may remember him from ALL IN COLOR FOR A DIME) wrote the story "12:01" for the December 1973 issue of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION. This was adapted as a short film of the same name, in 1990, starring Kurtwood Smith. A T.V. movie of the story was made and shown on July 5th, 1993--starring Jonathan Silverman, Helen Slater, Jeremy Piven and Martin Landau. However, in the meantime GROUNDHOG DAY had come out February 12th, 1993.

    Jonathan Heap had made the short film in 1990, from Lupoff's story, and he and Dick were outraged that the makers of GROUNDHOG DAY had stolen their idea and given them nothing for it. They tried to pursue legal action, but Hollywood closed its ranks against them and they couldn't get a hearing.

    I love GROUNDHOG DAY and, while it uses the time-loop idea, it uses it in its own way for a different kind of story from what is 12:01. Still if the story was already out there and should have been known (they hire lawyers and clerks to do just this kind of research whenever they make Hollywood movies, just to be clear on any copyright problems), it looks pretty bad for the makers of GROUNDHOG DAY. It seems like they considered themselves so high up in the food chain that they could take this idea and use it without reaching out to Lupoff or Heap and making a deal. It's very likely that Dick and Jonathan would have been happy to see them use the idea, so long as they got proper compensation.

    Have the makers of GROUNDHOG DAY ever tried to get any money from all the movies and T.V. shows that ripped off the idea from them? I don't think so (but who knows what goes on in the backrooms of Hollywood). They probably wouldn't have the chutzpah to sue anyone over the rights to the idea, given they stole it themselves.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by green_garnish View Post
    Yes, as a comedy with a happy ending, but it was not an original premise.

    It was an idea I originally read in some middle school magazine back in 1970 or so, where a genie in a clock granted a kid one wish, and since the kid had just had a really great day his wish was to live it over and over. But as he experienced again and again he realized he had hurt a lot of people in his great day, and he had no way to get out of the hell he had wished for.

    This was written by a 14 year old contributor.
    Pretty d*** deep 14 year old. With a seriously dark bent.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    Dick Lupoff (you may remember him from ALL IN COLOR FOR A DIME) wrote the story "12:01" for the December 1973 issue of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION. This was adapted as a short film of the same name, in 1990, starring Kurtwood Smith. A T.V. movie of the story was made and shown on July 5th, 1993--starring Jonathan Silverman, Helen Slater, Jeremy Piven and Martin Landau. However, in the meantime GROUNDHOG DAY had come out February 12th, 1993.

    Jonathan Heap had made the short film in 1990, from Lupoff's story, and he and Dick were outraged that the makers of GROUNDHOG DAY had stolen their idea and given them nothing for it. They tried to pursue legal action, but Hollywood closed its ranks against them and they couldn't get a hearing.

    I love GROUNDHOG DAY and, while it uses the time-loop idea, it uses it in its own way for a different kind of story from what is 12:01. Still if the story was already out there and should have been known (they hire lawyers and clerks to do just this kind of research whenever they make Hollywood movies, just to be clear on any copyright problems), it looks pretty bad for the makers of GROUNDHOG DAY. It seems like they considered themselves so high up in the food chain that they could take this idea and use it without reaching out to Lupoff or Heap and making a deal. It's very likely that Dick and Jonathan would have been happy to see them use the idea, so long as they got proper compensation.

    Have the makers of GROUNDHOG DAY ever tried to get any money from all the movies and T.V. shows that ripped off the idea from them? I don't think so (but who knows what goes on in the backrooms of Hollywood). They probably wouldn't have the chutzpah to sue anyone over the rights to the idea, given they stole it themselves.
    Hm. They never tried to make a media empire out of Groundhog Day

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    My Face Is Up Here Powerboy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrNewGod View Post
    Hm. They never tried to make a media empire out of Groundhog Day
    They would if it was made now.

    Although not restricted to the same day over and over, there have been many stories about people living their lives over and over. I think Robert Heinlein wrote a story about a guy caught in a time loop and the premise, I think, goes way back.

    I do think Groundhog Day may have been the best version ever done though.
    Last edited by Powerboy; 03-30-2021 at 08:45 PM.
    Power with Girl is better.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by DrNewGod View Post
    Hm. They never tried to make a media empire out of Groundhog Day
    Just a VR headset video game sequel that you can only play through Steam I believe (I don't own modern game systems so I don't know if its on PS4, etc). "Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son" where you play as Phil Connors, Jr.

    Otherwise, yeah, I'm surprised they haven't done something else, at least a TV series set in the same town.

  8. #8
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    Taye Diggs did a show with this premise. A cop trying to solve his gfs murder and find out who framed him in the same day.

  9. #9
    Astonishing Member Frobisher's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrNewGod View Post
    Hm. They never tried to make a media empire out of Groundhog Day
    Groundhog Day 4: Miami Timetwister, starring Joel Murray, with Jason Biggs as the voice of the Groundhog.

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    timp looping is a stable of sci-fi shows for ages.

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    You're right it's a great premise. Here's two examples that used the premise before Groundhog Day:

    1. Short story "Doubled and Redoubled" (by Malcolm Jameson) published in 1941.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Jameson

    2. Serialized Novel "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" (by Yasutaka Tsutsui) published in 1965:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gi...t_Through_Time

    More examples are discussed here:

    https://literature.stackexchange.com...ime-loop-trope

    At this point though the premise feels a bit tired to me.

  12. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by marshal88 View Post
    timp looping is a stable of sci-fi shows for ages.
    Reincarnation in some myths/religions is almost like time loops too.
    december 21st has passed where are my superpowers?

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    There are a lot of time loop stories, but the sub-catergory here is where the day repeats and the shows based on this idea use a lot of the same motifs. You always loop back to when you woke up that day, even if you die at the end of the day. There's a repeated pattern of events, especially at the start of the day. You are the only one who remembers, so every day you have to tell somebody again what's happened. There's a learning curve, where you gain enough knowledge to hopefully escape the time loop. You often pick up new skills and learn some life lessons along the way, etc.

    Then there are the variations on this sub-category, such as it's only one or two hours that repeat--used for T.V. shows because they don't have time to go through a whole day.

  14. #14
    Ultimate Member j9ac9k's Avatar
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    "Greatest premise ever?" Um, did you not see "Snakes on a Plane?"

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