In response to Paramount’s consolidation of the marketing divisions of Paramount Pictures and Paramount Vantage, I went looking for a mash-up trailer that would give us a sense of what we’re in for. Because advertising for specialty films is typically different from advertising for major studio films. But seeing as Vantage has already done a fair enough job lately trying to make a documentary look like a teen comedy, the consolidation may not really be that noticeable after all.

Anyway, I couldn’t find a good mash-up that re-cut a recent independent film to resemble a blockbuster, so here’s something else entirely that I found during my search. It’s a Wonderful Life “made to look like the movie is about George Bailey’s descent into madness.” Consider it a belated celebration of James Stewart’s centennial (he would have been 100 on May 20th). Or consider it merely a fun re-imagining of a classic. And consider this assignment for mash-up enthusiasts: how about a reverse re-imagining of There Will Be Blood as a Capra movie?

By the way: despite the fact that Paramount did not produce It’s a Wonderful Life (Capra’s Liberty Films made it, for distributor RKO Radio Pictures), the studio is the distributor of the film on DVD (thanks to Viacom’s purchase in 1998 of Spelling Entertainment, which owned Republic Pictures, which — here it get’s complicated. Paramount also owned the rights to the film from 1947 to 1951, the period in which it owned Liberty). And Paramount Vantage produced/distributed There Will Be Blood. So, the mash-up almost fits my original search criteria.