Types of mockbuster

This is a quick guide of every type of mockbuster that exists.

Direct-to-video mockbuster
This has been the standard for the last three decades, started in the 1990s with companies like Goodtimes Entertainment. The idea is basically to release the film directly on home media and/or streaming services, preferably a week before the theatrical release of the film that the mockbuster is trying to piggyback on. Many companies like Vídeo Brinquedo, The Asylum or Golden Films have used this scheme for their movies. It should be noted that these films are usually promoted with titles and covers that resemble those of the more popular film, something that is avoided by another type of mockbuster, the "subtle" rip-off.

The foreign rip-off
Some mockbusters like The Man Who Saved the World and Nukie are just knock-offs of American blockbusters made in foreign countries like Turkey or India. These movies were pretty popular in the late 70s and 80s, but they have fallen off since then.

Fake sequel
Fake sequels consist of films being marketed as follow-ups to big budget blockbusters, Alien for example was followed by a supposed sequel called Alien 2: On Earth in the year 1980. Fake sequels were mostly made by Italian directors and got theatrical release around many countries, but similarly to foreign rip-offs, they are not as common nowadays as they were back then.

Repurposed films
Main article: List of repurposed films

These films were not made initially to capitalize on something popular, but they got rereleased under different titles to do so. A notable example of this would be Brightspark Productions, a company that did this three years in a row.

"Subtle" rip-off
A subtle rip-off takes elements, such as plotlines from a more popular film and usually gets released years after the original, however unlike the direct-to-video mockbuster, the subtle rip-off does not promote itself as a lookalike of the film that they are capitalizing on. E.g. Mac and Me is notable for sharing a lot of elements with E.T the Extraterrestrial but unlike something like Ratatoing, this film had a theatrical release and was promoted as its own thing, with more subtlety.