Homage (arts) in the context of "Video game clones"

Pixels (marketed as Pixels: The Movie) is a 2015 science fiction action comedy film directed by Chris Columbus from a screenplay by Tim Herlihy and Tim Dowling, based on a story by Herlihy. Loosely adapted from the 2010 short film Pixels by Patrick Jean (who serves as an executive producer on the film), the film stars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad and Brian Cox. In the film, an alien force misinterprets video feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war, resulting in them attacking Earth with technological recreations of icons from the games. The President of the United States promptly assembles a team of former arcade champions to lead the planet's defense.

Development on the film began in 2010, when Sandler obtained the rights to Jean's short film via his Happy Madison Productions company and began developing the script with Herlihy. In 2013, Columbus entered talks to direct the film, drawn to the nostalgic homage to 1980s arcade games like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Space Invaders, all of which were licensed for use in the film. Filming took place in Toronto for three months, which involved extensive night shoots and practical sets. Post-production, led by Digital Domain and Sony Pictures Imageworks, focused on creating voxelized 3D versions of arcade characters to integrate into the live-action scenes.

A video game clone is either a video game or a video game console very similar to, or heavily inspired by, a previous popular game or console. Clones are typically made to take financial advantage of the popularity of the cloned game or system, but clones may also result from earnest attempts to create homages or expand on game mechanics from the original game. An additional motivation unique to the medium of games as software with limited compatibility, is the desire to port a simulacrum of a game to platforms that the original is unavailable for or unsatisfactorily implemented on.

The legality of video game clones is governed by copyright and patent law. In the 1970s, Magnavox controlled several patents to the hardware for Pong, and pursued action against unlicensed Pong clones that led to court rulings in their favor, as well as legal settlements for compensation. As game production shifted to software on discs and cartridges, Atari sued Philips under copyright law, allowing them to shut down several clones of Pac-Man. By the end of the 1980s, courts had ruled in favor of a few alleged clones, and the high costs of a lawsuit meant that most disputes with alleged clones were ignored or settled through to the mid-2000s. In 2012, courts ruled against alleged clones in both Tetris Holding, LLC v. Xio Interactive, Inc. and Spry Fox, LLC v. Lolapps, Inc., due to explicit similarities between the games' expressive elements.

Superman Returns is a 2006 American superhero film directed by Bryan Singer, and written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris from a story by Singer, Dougherty and Harris, based on the DC Comics character Superman. It serves as an homage sequel to Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980), ignoring the events of Superman III (1983), Supergirl (1984), and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). The film stars Brandon Routh as Superman, Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, with James Marsden, Frank Langella, Eva Marie Saint and Parker Posey in supporting roles. In the film, Superman returns to Earth after five years and discovers that his love interest Lois Lane has moved on from him and that his archenemy Lex Luthor is planning to kill him and reshape North America.

After a series of unsuccessful projects to resurrect Superman following the critical and financial failure of The Quest for Peace, Warner Bros. Pictures hired Singer to direct Superman Returns in July 2004. The majority of principal photography took place at Fox Studios Australia, Sydney while the visual effects sequences were handled by a number of studios, including Sony Pictures Imageworks, Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H), Framestore CFC, Rising Sun Pictures and The Orphanage; filming began in March 2005 and ended in November.

The Roaring Twenties is a 1939 American gangster film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, and Gladys George. The film, spanning the period from 1919 to 1933, was written by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay and Robert Rossen. The film follows three men and their experiences during major events in the 1920s, such as Prohibition era violence and the 1929 stock market crash.

The picture was based on "The World Moves On", a short story by Mark Hellinger, a columnist who had been hired by Jack L. Warner to write screenplays. The movie is hailed as a classic in the gangster movie genre, and considered an homage to the classic gangster movie of the early 1930s.

Emerson Radio Corporation is one of the United States' largest volume consumer electronics distributors and has a recognized trademark in continuous use since 1912. The company designs, markets, and licenses many product lines worldwide, including products sold, and sometimes licensed, under the brand name G Clef, an homage to Emerson's logo.

Roma (also known as Fellini's Roma or Federico Fellini's Roma) is a 1972 semi-autobiographical comedy-drama film depicting director Federico Fellini's move from his native Rimini to Rome as a youth. The film was directed by Fellini from a screenplay by himself and Bernardino Zapponi. It is a homage to the city, shown in a series of loosely connected episodes set during both Rome's past and present. The plot is minimal, and the only "character" to develop significantly is Rome herself. Peter Gonzales plays the young Fellini, and the film features mainly newcomers in the cast.