The most unusual inspirations for feature films

The idea of a movie based on a board game is a little odd. Something like “Ouija,” though, can actually use the board in the film. “Battleship” is based on a board game, one that is based on you placing pegs into your boats when your opponent guesses the right spot. This was inexplicably turned into a film that involved aliens and Rihanna.

Many movies based on video games are bad, but some of them make sense. Sure, we get “Resident Evil” and why they went back to the “Super Mario Bros.” world again. Even the idea of a “Pokemon” movie makes sense, but “Detective Pikachu” is based on a fairly-obscure “Pokemon” video game, one in which Pikachu is a private detective. That’s a big swing.

Obviously, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise paid off big time. It was a head-scratcher at the time, though. This, the first film, was based on a dark ride at Disney with no plot to it. Even so, they used the “Pirates of the Caribbean” name and tried to use that theme park attraction as the jumping-off point. Ultimately, star power and action helped carry this to being one of the most successful franchises ever.

We’ll dip into the ride-to-movie trajectory one more time. Disney has done this other times, but we can get “Haunted Mansion” and find it less odd than “Jungle Cruise.” The Haunted Mansion, as a ride, lends itself to a haunted house movie. The Jungle Cruise ride is more a figure of camp. They turned it into a supernatural adventure spectacular that, in terms of how it was accepted by audiences, was more “Haunted Mansion” than “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

Inexplicably, in 1975 the character of C.W. McCall had a hit with “Convoy,” which was built off of trucker lingo. It is one of the more delightful one-hit wonders. What is even wilder, though, is that “Convoy” the song, then inspired “Convoy” the movie. Not only that, but Sam Peckinpah directed it!

“Last Christmas” by Wham! is a holiday favorite, and if, in a vague sense some studio said it “inspired” their romantic comedy, we’d get it. “Last Christmas,” though, swung big. Do you know that lyric about George Michael giving his heart to his love? Well, and spoiler here, “Last Christmas” makes that literal. It turns out that the main character has spent the entire film interacting with the ghost of the man who provided her with a heart transplant.

Briefly, the idea of gross-out trading cards was popular with kids. One of those lines of cards was “Mars Attacks!.” There was no story to the cards, but to nobody’s surprise, Tim Burton was a fan of the cards. He used them to inspire his fun, gross comedy movie. There was also a “Garbage Pail Kids” movie, but we went with “Mars Attacks!” because, honestly, we didn’t want to have to include an image of that film in this article. You can thank us later.

A legal drama based on a true story? Sure, we get that. Here’s the thing, though. In “Flash of Genius,” Greg Kinner plays Robert Stearns, a man who sued the Ford Motor Company because he asserted that he had invented…the intermittent windshield wiper. Yes, this is a film built around a lawsuit that centered on a specific kind of windshield wiper.

It happened. Eventually, we got a movie based on a viral Twitter thread. “Zola” was inspired by a tweet storm from a stripper who had gotten more than she bargained for on a business trip. The film, which does briefly switch to another character’s point of view, paints the portrait of an excursion from hell. A lot of people who were entertained by the Twitter thread may not have been prepared for a film that gets quite bleak.

Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” movie makes sense because it is clearly using the conception of Barbie as part of some sort of meta-narrative. All the animated Barbie films throughout the years make sense, too. Bratz is a lesser doll line, and while Barbie’s proportions famously strain credulity, even she has nothing on the Bratz. Then, they decided to make a live-action Bratz film. Needless to say, Jon Voight is in it.

Hasbro was behind a few cartoons in the ‘80s, including “G.I. Joe” and “Transformers.” Those got movies, and we get that. “Jem,” though, only ran three seasons and 65 episodes. It was a forgotten bit of ‘80s TV ephemera, and then they turned it into a film almost 30 years later. Unsurprisingly, “Jem and the Holograms” flopped.

Empirically, “The Lego Movie” was a smash success. It spawned a sequel and two spinoffs. Also? It’s a movie built on Legos, which are building toys. There is no narrative to Lego bricks. Truly, they are just little pieces of interlocking plastic you don’t want to step on. Not only did Legos get adapted into a film, but it’s just called “The Lego Movie.” Also, we know the company called them collectively “Lego.” We don’t care. We grew up with Legos, we will die with Legos.

The first season of “American Idol” was a smash success. Kelly Clarkson won, and became a true star. Justin Guarani finished as the runner up and, um, he’ll always have that. For the first season only, they decided they should have the winner and runner-up star in a film together. It was such a misfire they axed that concept, which kept us from getting that Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken movie.

“Tag” is a shrug of a comedy about a group of adult friends who have been in the same game of tag for years on end. The thing is, “Tag” is based on a true story. No, really. The movie “Tag” is based on a true story. It is the weirdest case that we can think of.

Jim Varney will forever be known for playing Ernest P. Worrell, a character he performed in movies 10 times. The first time anybody ever saw Ernest, though, he was telling folks that the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders were going to be at Beech Bend Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Varney had co-created the Ernest character with a Nashville ad agency in the early 1980s, and spent years advertising assorted products before getting his own film.

Mike Myers wrote “Austin Powers,” and he stars in the film. He also created the character. However, he did not create Austin Powers for the screen. No, he and his music buddies Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet had created an homage to ‘60s mod bands they called Ming Tea. You see them at the end of “Austin Powers.” It was Myers’ then-wife who said to him, “Hey, maybe that character from your fake ‘60s pop band should get his own movie.” Or, you know, words to that effect.

A movie about Michael Jordan? Sure, we’d love to see that. “Air” is sort of about Jordan, but only sort of. The film is actually about Nike getting Jordan to sign a shoe deal with them. It’s also directed by Ben Affleck.

Fortunately, the “Tetris” movie isn’t trying to turn the block-based puzzle game into a narrative film. However, it’s still called “Tetris,” and it still has unexpected inspiration. It’s about trying to get the game away from the Soviet Union and licensing and patenting it in the United States.

It’s a movie about Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Really. Well, and the guy who says he invented them. That being said, this Eva Longoria-directed film is titled “Flamin’ Hot” and sold on the idea of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Since it is a biopic, we assume we won’t even see Chester Cheetah show up as a character.

Yes, this is the fourth 2023 film on the list. Yes, it seems like studios are desperate for any intellectual property they can get their hands on. This is a film about the Blackberry phone. We’re just making movies about commodities now. Shoes, snacks, phones, this is modern filmmaking.