mockbuster

plural mockbusters

1. informalA relatively low-budget film given a similar theme and title to a popular blockbuster in an attempt to piggyback on its success.

   1 more example

   Whereas the Asylum had a well-defined audience as a horror-movie company, the mockbuster strategy aims at a broader and shallower demographic: some viewers have seen the real blockbuster and want more of the same thing, no matter how lo-fi; some are genre geeks, interested in low-budget adventure and sci-fi films; others rent the movie thinking it is something else (Web sites are rife with the scornful entries of duped film fans).

   2007 October 7, Rolf Potts, “The New B Movie”, in New York Times

   Synonyms: knockbuster