Movies in Fifteen Minutes
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Movies in Fifteen Minutes (known as m15m for short) is primarily the name of a set of Internet-based movie parodies by Cleolinda Jones (not her real name). The parodies first appeared in 2004 on Jones' Livejournal, but have now been moved to a Livejournal community of their own.
Movies given the m15m treatment online:
- Dracula (1979)
- Hannibal (2001)
- Van Helsing (2004)
- The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
- Hidalgo (2004)
- Troy (2004)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
- King Arthur (2004)
- The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
- V for Vendetta (2006)
Movies in the book:
- Jurassic Park (1993)
- Braveheart (1995)
- Independence Day (1996)
- Titanic (1997)
- The Matrix (1999)
- Gladiator (2000)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
- Spider-Man (2002)
- Attack of the Clones (2002)
- The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)
The parodies began to appear when the first, Van Helsing in Fifteen Minutes (a parody of the 2004 movie) was a surprise hit. A little while later, Troy in Fifteen Minutes followed, and many more, the most recent being The Prestige In Fifteen Minutes.
In 2004, Jones was asked by British publishing company Orion Books if she was interested in writing a book of the parodies. She was, and the book, Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Hollywood Blockbusters For People Who Can't Be Bothered was released in late 2005. It contains "the ten biggest movies ever," exclusive content not published online. The book is not currently available in the US, but it can be bought online from Amazon.co.uk.
The parodies, written in the style of a screenplay, have a wide appeal, at once scathing and affectionate, with plenty of references to pop culture, Internet fan culture, movie trivia, and just about anything else. Font sizes and punctuation are used inventively (perhaps most memorably in The Matrix in Fifteen Minutes).
Jokes are made at the expense of plot holes, inconsistent character arcs, and bad dialogue amongst other things. The world of Internet fanfiction is also made fun of, with Jones making straight-faced, ridiculous claims about the characters even wilder than those made by the fanfic authors themselves.
The parodies are popular on the Livejournal site especially, despite being famous Internet-wide. This has caused various other people to write their own parodies, sometimes under the "Movies in Fifteen Minutes" name. Cleolinda has said [1] she is not comfortable with people using the name for their own parodies, although the title is not copyright.
