13 Going on 30 (2004)
Considering the trivia about Debra Winger requesting Penny Marshall make Big into a female-driven picture, I’m surprised it took so long for Hollywood to actually do the female version (it’s not like they had to have the creepy romantic element Marshall feared wouldn’t work with a young girl protagonist). Rather than going for a straight gender-swap remake (it’s a different studio, so that wasn’t likely doable anyway), there’s a lot that’s different about 13 Going on 30. Instead of having Jennifer Garner’s main character simply wake up in her childhood room as an adult, this version goes for a more time-travel premise in also launching her 30 years into her future. Just with no memory of the time that’s gone by. It’s the reverse of Peggy Sue as much as it’s the female Big.
The Change-Up
What if a body-swap movie but rated R? That’s the basic reasoning behind The Change-Up, a comedy that brings back that late ’80s trend for a look at the difference between dudes who get married (Jason Bateman) and dudes who don’t (Ryan Reynolds). There’s no parent/child switch in this one, nor a male/female swap for gender role shenanigans. It’s really just a Prince and the Pauper scenario, and it really misses a lot of opportunities in that. But while bringing back the body-swap concept, there’s also a nod to the wizardry of Big in the way the two dudes need to find the magical fountain that caused their situation at the end.
Shazam! (2019)
One of the few items on this list where you can actually find acknowledgement of the Big influence, Shazam! was loosely pitched and marketed and ultimately has been over-described in reviews as being Big meets Superman. But if the shoe fits… Of course, the comics Shazam! is based on were basically Big meets Superman since their start 80 years ago. The makers of the new DC Extended Universe installment really leaned into the comparison, though, including a brief homage to the Walking Piano sequence during a fight in a toy store. They should have tossed in a Zoltar machine during the carnival scenes, too. Sadly, even if they’d wanted to, they couldn’t have perfectly gotten the late John Heard to make a cameo as the board room executive who gets his head bitten off.
Little (2019)
Even crazier than the fact that Big had to follow so many body-swap movies is how there are two separate and very different movies out this month back to back that are directly influenced by Big and acknowledged as such. One week after the release of Shazam! comes Little, a fantasy comedy pitched — by then-10-year-old actress Marsai Martin (who also served as a producer of the movie at age 13) — as a reverse version of Big. Now you get that title, right? But it’s not just reminiscent of Big. As seen in the trailers, Martin, playing the little version of Regina Hall, crushes on her teacher. That part of the plot recalls 14 Going on 30 and Da Grande, both of which had the boy wishing he was big because he’s in love with his teacher.
Premature Maturation (?)
This one doesn’t exist yet, and maybe it never will, but back in 2010, /Film reported that writers Sam Pitman and Adam Cole-Kelly sold a pitch to Fox simply described as Big meets The Hangover. The idea, titled Premature Maturation, would follow a group of middle-school boys who magically become big — because why remake Big when you can just multiply it?
Related Topics: Big, One Perfect Archive, Shazam!, Tom Hanks
