Hollywood copies itself: KNIGHT AND DAY vs KILLERS

I've been studying the summer movie releases coming up in 2010 and I've noticed that a lot of Hollywood releases are, well, copies of one another. We've seen this before. For every Deep Impact, there is an Armageddon. For every Dante's Peak, there is a Volcano. For every A Bug's Life, there is an Antz. Either by plan or cosmic coincidence, Hollywood tends to copy itself, but studio executives may have hit Ctrl+C a few too many times this year. 

In each edition of this series, I'll present a new movie pairing. You be the judge. 

Unsuspecting women, gun-toting boyfriends

Knight and Day vs Killers

Think Mr. and Mrs. Smith, except instead of two assassins (Bradjelina), only the man is a trained killer. Unlike the bright age of 2005, in 2010, women have been put back in their place as weak comic foils to their strong male counterparts. The trend began in March with The Bounty Hunter, where Gerard Butler captures his ex-wife Jennifer Aniston as a...you guessed it...bounty. (She mouthed off to a cop; not wise.) The film is a particularly useless hour and a half of cinema, roping the two stars into gun fights, car crashes, and plenty of bickering. By the end of the shenanigans, they fall in love again. How sweet. The plots to Killers and Knight and Day are similar, but with enough tweaks to ward off the copyright police.

Let's compare the contenders.

Knight and Day

Stars: Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz

Release: June 25, 2010

An action-comedy centered on a fugitive couple on a glamorous and sometimes deadly adventure where nothing and no one - even themselves - are what they seem. Amid shifting alliances and unexpected betrayals, they race across the globe, with their survival ultimately hinging on the battle of truth vs. trust.

Killers

Stars: Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl

Release: June 4, 2010

Spencer Aimes is just your average, undercover, government-hired super-assassin accustomed to a life of exotic European locales, flashy sports cars and even flashier women. But when he meets Jen Kornfeldt, a beautiful, fun-loving computer tech recovering from a bad break-up, he finds true love and happily trades international intrigue for domestic bliss. Three years later, Spencer and Jen are still enjoying a picture-perfect marriage... that is, until the morning after Spencer's 30th birthday. That's when Spencer and Jen learn he's the target of a multi-million dollar hit. Even worse, the hired killers have been stalking the happy couple for years, and could be anyone: friends, neighbors, the grocery store clerk, even that crabby old guy shuffling across the street. Now Spencer and Jen are on the run for their lives. As their suburban paradise turns into a paranoid game of dodge-the-bullet, they must find out who wants Spencer dead and why, all the while trying to save their marriage, manage his pain-in-the-ass in-laws, keep up neighborly appearances and just plain survive. And you thought suburban life was easy.

Differences

• Knight and Day appears to have more world travel
• Tom Cruise and Diaz have just met, whereas Heigl and Kutcher get married in the first 10 min. of the film

Similarities

• Action/romantic comedies about a couple on the run
• Man is an ex spy/assassin/super agent
• Woman is laughably ignorant of how to use a weapon
• Lots of explosions and shooting
• No one can be trusted
• The couple must uncover why everyone is after them

Which will win the box office battle? Put your money on Knight and Day. While Tom Cruise's mental state is often questioned, you'd be hard-pressed to argue with his record at the box office. His films gross an average of $96 million in the U.S. He's made Hollywood about $6.6 billion in worldwide revenues since the mid 1980s. Cameron Diaz is no slouch either, with $5.3 billion in revenues. The two last starred in Vanilla Sky, a very odd film that still managed to rake in about $100 million domestically. Katherine Heigl, while no box office slouch, is still proving herself. Ashton Kutcher, well he was in Valentine's Day, wasn't he?

The question is, will Knight and Day be a better movie? Director James Mangold is responsible for some great films like 3:10 to Yuma and Identity. He's definitely capable. Killers...well...it's directed by the guy who made The Ugly Truth. "Killers" is also a terribly unremarkable name for a film. I'd bet on Cruise.

UPDATE: I was right. Killers was absolutely awful. Knight and Day I thoroughly enjoyed. My review is here.