As we come to the end of this cinematic year, we have a chance to reflect and to look at what awesome movies came out and what are still to come in 2016. 2015 was certainly a great year for one thing, the mash-up movie.
YouTube was filled to the brim with some of the most inventive and amusing shorts since, well, last year! I have picked out some of our personal favorites, all having one thing in common. They are all mash-ups of films from 2015 or upcoming 2016 movies.
So sit back and enjoy some of the greatest videos that YouTuber’s uploaded for us, and patiently wait for the next barrage of shorts to come when 2016 comes around.
1950s B Movie Ant-Man
One of the surprise hits of this year was a superhero movie of especially small proportions.
Ant-Man had a troubled production after Edgar Wright left the scene, but the new direction the film went in gave us an entertaining low-key Marvel movie with a smaller scale than we have seen in many years. The plot draws influence from the first Iron Man movie and the source material, but what would the film have been like if it took its inspiration from the atomic nightmare movies of the 1950s? The New York Times Magazine and Vulture Home Video has the answers for you. Their Ant-Man video draws heavily from the original Fly movies and mixes in other elements to give us an inspired look at a modern Marvel movie.
They have a great selection of mash-ups on their site, one of my favorites including a new movie look for a certain cinematically forgotten talking fowl who recently appeared in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie! This video takes George Lucas’s spin on the character and gives him an interesting new look.
Avengers of OZ
With the haunting fairy tale tune that the deranged Ultron hums through the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie trailer proving to be a chilling scene to sit through, it is hardly surprising that the character has been turned into another children’s favorite.
This Wizard of Oz / Avengers: Age of Ultron mash-up created by Darren Wallace has Ultron taking the role of the man who only wanted a heart, The Tin Man. Ultron also suffers from that lack of human compassion and his Tin Man equivalent is just as heartless. They both like to sing, only Ultron Tin Man prefers to cause utter mayhem rather than dance around with Dorothy.
Retro Batman v Superman
DC Comics were hardly sloughing this year with some interesting movies in the works including the gigantic show down between their three biggest super stars. Batman, Superman and a cheeky appearance by Wonder Woman all got fandom fans hearts pumping.
This video by CineMash went with the more established versions of the characters that we love. So enter Adam West’s Batman and Christopher Reeves Superman as they go head to head in this retro based classic short.
Randy Orton RKO Special Trailer Collection
What is better than one mash up video? How about a load of them all banged in together.
For wrestling fans the RKO videos (created by Vidgeo) have been creating hilarity for quite some time. Nothing is safe it seems from Randy Orton’s grasp. This collection of videos (covering films like Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens) are all just as daft as the next and hilariously funny all at the same time. The way the jerky and quirky photoshopped style of animation is snuck into different parts of trailers and movies we all know is perfectly done. Even non-WWE fans would get a kick out of it after they get the general premise of the RKO.
Jurassic Mash Ups
Jurassic World may have taken the core plot line of the original Jurassic Park movie and just run with it, but it was a heck of a lot of fun to watch this new version of this dinotastic franchise.
This version of Jurassic World plays out much like the 1950s Ant-Man movie does. What would happen if Jurassic World came out in 1978? Answer: it would still be flipping awesome which Chief Brody’s video clearly proves here. Not only is it fun to see which parts of other movies have been mashed together, but the narrative of the shorts plot works really well and kind of makes you want to see the thing for real.
Speaking of the original Jurassic Park movie it seems harsh not to throw in this little gem of a short from YouTube channel XVP Comedy, who have given us the same movie we all know and love and added footwear. Most probably inspired by Jurassic World’s Claire Dearing insistence on running around in just high heels. It may sound odd but the end result is a hilarious piece of work.
Mad Max Mario
Now a few months back I did a feature article on some of the best Mad Max: Fury Road mash-ups (of which there were many) on YouTube at the moment.
The thing I love most about this short is the fact it works so very well, a perfect blending of Mario’s humor with Mad Max’s harsh reality. I give to you Mario Kart: Fury Road straight from the mind of sundbergkr.
Star Wars: The Mash Up Awakens
Next we have the mash ups for one of the most hotly anticipated movies possibility of all time, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Don’t worry though, these videos contain no spoilers and gentle ribbing at the movies trailer in a variety of ways. Ever fancy seeing Jar Jar Binks as the main lead in the new movie? Probably not I would imagine. Lucky then that murdockmotion has done just that for us and given us a brilliant look into what damage Jar Jar could have done if he had snuck into the picture.
For a more retro cut you cannot go wrong with this super cut of both the new movie and The Empire Strikes Back. Dan Flesher has taken the trailer segments from Empire and added in the visuals for Awakens, giving us a cool new version of the trailer.
Now finally if this still is not retro enough for you how about The Force Awakens trailer done in a VHS style? There are a whole heap of these out at the moment covering different films and YouTube channel CreativeEdits creation is pretty darn awesome.
Krampus Vacation
To end on a Christmas feel we have this newly released mash-up of one of the classic comedy Christmas capers National Lampoon, with one of the latest horror movies based around Krampus.
Here is National Lampoons Krampus Vacation. You can thank YouTuber Dirk Raptor for this awesome short.
So we bid 2015 and YouTube a fond farewell for the time being, but it will not be too long until we delve again into the mixed up world of fan made videos. Grizzly Bomb also has a wide variety of articles on YouTube fandom videos which can be accessed here. Or look at the links provided for more news on Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Images: Disney, Universal, Marvel Entertainment, DC Comics, Warner Brothers Pictures, WWE, Olly Gibbs, The New York Times Magazine, Darren Wallace, Vulture Home Video, Darren Wallace,
Dirk Raptor, CreativeEdits, CineMash, Dan Flesher, murdockmotion, sundbergkr, XVP Comedy, Chief Brody, Vidgeo.
Grizzly Bomb 