A Quiet Place 2 is the second major movie to copy The Last of Us' story. John Krasinski and Paramount Pictures launched a new horror franchise in 2018 with A Quiet Place. Set in the aftermath of an alien invasion, the movie followed the Abbott family as they tried to remain quiet and survive. The film's success led to A Quiet Place 2 entering development and finally coming out in 2021 after delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The highly anticipated sequel continued the franchise's exploration of family, especially as it pertains to a father-daughter relationship. The death of Krasinski's Lee left A Quiet Place 2 to bring a new father figure into the story. Regan Abbott (Millicent Simmonds) ends up going on a new adventure with Emmett (Cillian Murphy), who was an old family acquaintance before the aliens arrived. This sees a portion of A Quiet Place 2's story following a young girl, who might hold the key to humanity's survival, as she travels with Cillian Murphy's pseudo-father in an apocalyptic setting. If that sounds familiar, it's because that's exactly what The Last of Us is about.
Released in 2013, The Last of Us is Naughty Dog's hit post-apocalyptic PlayStation game. The story follows an older, grizzled, and trauma-filled man named Joel, who lost almost everything he held dear when the infection broke out. He eventually meets a teenage girl named Ellie, who is immune to the disease and could be the source of a possible cure. The Last of Us is one of the most critically acclaimed games of recent years, so it shouldn't come as a surprise Hollywood has been borrowing from it whenever possible. A Quiet Place 2 is now the second major movie to copy the popular game, as Logan also told a similar story back in 2017. The standalone X-Men movie saw an aged Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) protect X-23 (Dafne Keen).
It is unknown if Krasinski consciously made A Quiet Place 2 in the vein of The Last of Us, but the similarities between it - and Logan - are apparent. What might not be a coincidence is how well-received all three of these properties are. The Last of Us nearly perfected the survival story with themes of finding a family, so Quiet Place 2 and Logan copying elements of the formula was a recipe for success. After all, The Last of Us is among a group of titles normally in the discussion about the best video game of all time for a reason. Logan and Quiet Place 2 might not reach such heights in terms of the best movies ever, but it seems to have benefitted each to copy the game's mold on purpose or by complete accident.
What makes the copies of The Last of Us all the more fascinating is how A Quiet Place 2 and Logan beat the game to tell this type of story on the big screen. A movie adaptation of The Last of Us was in development for several years after the game launched, but the project later became an HBO series instead, with Pedro Pascal playing Joel and Bella Ramsey playing Ellie. A Quiet Place 2 and Logan are both good Last of Us copies, but the TV show will have even more time to tell its story properly and differentiate itself from other major movies that might borrow from it in the future.