10 Sci-Fi Rip-Off Movies (That Messed Up What They Copied)
4. Earth To Echo
The most recent film on this list is also one that came and went in an absolute blip, though it did manage to turn a modest profit at the box office thanks to its impressively tight budget.
Earth to Echo is basically "what if E.T. were a robotic alien?", with its biggest deviation from Steven Spielberg's original being that it's shot in a found footage format.
Focused on a group of kids who encounter a fantastical alien creature in the desert and attempt to help it escape from shady agents so it can get home, you've seen all the basic beats of this story done much better many decades prior.
It doesn't merely owe a debt to Spielberg, though - there are also obvious narrative and stylistic liftings from other '80s classics such as The Goonies and Batteries Not Included, yet the requisite charm just isn't there in abundance.
In this case the cast and crew were clearly trying to deliver an affectionate homage on a small budget, but the heart, the spectacle, and the wonder ultimately feel considerably lacking.
If E.T. left millions sobbing and in turn forged lifelong memories, Earth to Echo likely left them shrugging and swiftly moving on with their lives, the film evaporating from their consciousness in a mere matter of days.