Defictionalization is when something that previously only existed in a movie universe comes to life.
Films and TV shows are now taking advantage of this more than ever before.
In the world of TV, Castle has spawned a series of books by Nathan Fillion’s crime novelist character; Parks and Rec has spawned a guide to Pawnee written by the characters themselves; and Archer is now releasing an album recorded by Judy Greer’s character Charlene (and not, apparently, by Judy Greer).
Here are ten great examples of fictional products from movies that became defictionalized in interesting ways.
10 items made real after movies >
'Forrest Gump's' Bubba Gump Shrimp Company is now a real restaurant with branches all over the world.
In Forrest Gump, Bubba talks Forrest’s ear off about shrimp while the two are serving in Vietnam. After Bubba’s death, Forrest vows to revive his buddy’s dream of opening a shrimp company with Bubba. In the film (as well as the source novel), he makes good and creates a shrimp company worthy of Fortune 500 Magazine.
Similarly, in 1995, the marketing division of Viacom (the parent company of Paramount which produced the movie) decided to partner up with the Rusty Pelican Restaurant Company (also owned by Vicaom) to create the restaurant chain. It has since become a massive success with 38 locations worldwide.
Because of this synergy, The Rusty Pelican chain was given access to the Paramount prop room to stock its walls with Forrest Gump memorabilia. Additionally, the chain had plenty of other kitschy Forrest Gump-related features including being able to hail your waitress with a “Stop Forrest Stop” sign and a menu that serves 12 shrimp-related specialties.
A scientist got permission from George Lucas to call a parasitic bacteria "midichlorians."
In the long-time-ago and far-far-away galaxy where Star Wars is set, midi-chlorians are microscopic organisms that separate Jedi Knights from ordinary folks. The average human has 2,500 midi-chlorians per cell, while Anakin Skywalker has 20,000.
Meanwhile, in our present-day galaxy, Dr. Nathan Lo of the University of Milan discovered a parasitic bacteria living inside of the mitochondria of ovarian cells in 2004. It was originally named IridES1. but Lo decided he wanted a cooler sounding name and renamed it “Midichloria mitochondrii” in 2006 after getting permission from George Lucas himself.
Just like how the Star Wars midi-chlorians are an energy source, the midichloria mitochondrii bacteria have a symbiotic relationship with the mitochondria organelle which is considered the energy center of the cell.
A fake film from within Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's 'Grindhouse' is now a franchise of its own.
In 2007, Quentin Tarantino had the ambitious idea to recreate the “double feature” experience of B-movie theaters where for the price of admission, viewers could see two movies on one bill. Tarantino directed the 87-minute Death Proof while friend Robert Rodriguez directed the 91-minute Planet Terror. To simulate the moviegoing experience, the film included fake movie trailers — including a fake film titled Machete which included Rodriguez mainstays Danny Trejo, Cheech Martin, Jeff Fahey, and Tito Larriva.
Grindhouse ended up bombing, but many of the moviegoers enjoyed the fake movie trailers enough that it created the buzz necessary for Rodriguez to turn the Machete trailer into a full-length feature film. And now a franchise.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
