Movies Inspired by

It is only fitting. William Shakespeare borrowed his storyline from somewhere else, so it just stands to reason that others would borrow his. Shakespeare probably got the idea from either a poem by Arthur Brooke called "The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Iuliet," written in 1562 or from The Palace of Pleasure whichis a collection of stories written before 1580. One of those stories was "Romeo and Juliet."

Even these two guys borrowed their ideas from others before them. Giulietta e Romeo is a novella by Matteo Bandello written in 1554 or A Story Found of Two Noble Lovers by Luigi Da Porto in 1530.

Heck, even these guys aren't originals. "Pyramus and Thysbe" is a Greek myth that predates them all.

Anyway, here is a look at more modern stealings, I mean, borrowings of this famous story.

Let's start with the classic.

West Side Story

Dancing gangs. What's not to love?

Romanoff and Juliet

Cold War love. He's a commie, she's an upstanding capitalist. Two countries try to keep them apart.

Romeo Must Die

Now we're talking. Romeo and Juliet with martial arts action! Yeah baby!

Underworld

Werewolves vs. Vampires - and not the sissy sparkling ones either!

Romeo X Juliet

Romeo and Juliet in an ongoing anime series.

China Girl

What? Another gang reference? This time between Chinese gangs and Italian gangs.

Step Up

More dancing. I miss the gangs now.

High School Musical

Now we're really going downhill.

Gnomeo and Juliet

O.K., I think we've hit rock bottom. I sure hope my kids don't make me watch this!

Lion King 2

I stand corrected - NOW we've hit rock bottom. Lions in love. However, kudos to Joselyn who found this one! I hope Mr. Matson loads her up with extra credit!

Warm Bodies

Ha! Here I thought we had seen the worst of it and along comes Annie and hits me with this winner:

We all know that zombies makes EVERY story better. Walking Dead meets Romeo and Juliet. Maybe I should just drop the play and show my students this instead. It's practically the same. Thanks Annie! Hope Ms. Wyatt gives you an A+++++++++++++ for this!

Extra Credit Time

What did I miss? Find a movie that follows Romeo and Juliet and I'll give you extra credit. Not my student? No worries. Send it to me and the teacher's name and your school and I'll track your teacher down and tell them to give you extra credit!

Send it to marcus.alford@orange.k12.nc.us