40 Surprising Movie Details You Probably Never Noticed
Even if you have 20/20 vision and you’ve been watching the silver screen since you were a kid, chances are that you’ve missed plenty of hidden details in movies. For instance, did you know that R2-D2 from Star Wars made a surprise cameo in Raiders of the Lost Ark? And Star Trek? I’ll bet that got your attention.
Buckle in, dear movie-lovers, our team has collected the definitive list of Easter eggs and other not-so-obvious references sprinkled throughout films for you to enjoy from the extremely popular Movie Details subreddit with over 1.7 million members. Remember to upvote your fave details and let everyone in the comments know which ones blew your mind the most! Give r/MovieDetails a visit when you have a chance, too, and read on for Bored Panda's interview with one of the subreddit's moderators!
We know how much you enjoy finding hidden movie details, dear Pandas. So when you’re done with this list, check out our posts about other movie details you probably didn’t notice, as well as the awesome Easter eggs hidden in the Harry Potter films and the Toy Story animations. You’ll be real hits at movie nights then.
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In "A Grand Day Out" (1989), The Creators Had Wallace Say "Wensleydale" Because It Made His Face Look Nice And Toothy. They Did Not Realize The Factory Where Wensleydale Cheese Is Made Was About To Declare Bankruptcy. This Film's Success Brought The Factory Back From The Brink
After Steven Spielberg Screened Schindler's List (1993) For John Williams To Compose The Score, Williams Was So Moved He Had To Walk Outside For Several Minutes. Upon Returning Williams Said That The Movie Needed A Better Composer Than Him To Which Spielberg Replied "I Know, But They're All Dead"
In Die Hard (1988), Alan Rickman’s Petrified Expression While Falling Was Completely Genuine. The Stunt Team Instructed Him That They Would Drop Him On The Count Of 3 But Instead Dropped Him At 1
Reddit user Niiue, one of the moderators of the Movie Details community, spoke with Bored Panda about the hidden details in movies and whether directors place them in the hope that the audience will find them.
"Most details are definitely there for the audience to find, but I think a lot of it also just comes down to creative people wanting to have fun with their projects. Speaking from experience here (though I work on video games, not movies), it really is a lot of fun to add little Easter eggs and whatnot just for the hell of it," Niiue said.
We were also interested to know which production houses and directors are most adept at hiding Easter eggs in their movies.
"Besides the obvious choices like Pixar, I think Edgar Wright is another example of someone great at hiding details in his movies. Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim, and Hot Fuzz are the first ones that come to mind in this regard. You'll find that his movies tend to get featured on this subreddit a lot, which I think reflects his skill as a director."
In Thor: The Dark World (2013), Natalie Portman Couldn't Make It To Reshoot The Final Kiss Scene. When Asked To Choose From A Lineup Of Women To Take Her Place. Chris Hemsworth Instead Brought In His Wife , Who Wore Natalie's Clothes And Wig To Shoot The Final Kiss
In "Hercules" (1997) Hades Says "Guys, Relax. It's Only Half-Time" Exactly At The 46-Minute Mark, The Halfway Point Of The 92-Minute Movie
In Big Hero 6 (2014), This Happens
Moderator Niiue also told us all about their personal favorite hidden movie details. "Personally, I liked the way Scott Pilgrim had a recurring number motif tied to the Evil Exes. For those who aren't familiar with the story, the gist of it is that the protagonist has to fight his new girlfriend's six ex-boyfriends (and one ex-girlfriend) in order to continue their relationship, as a parody of the bosses fought in a typical video game," they summed up the plot of the movie.
"In the scenes before each fight, there are numerous references to the corresponding Evil Ex; for instance, right before the fight with Lucas Lee, the main characters pass by two crossing signs with an X design, a reference to Lucas being the second Evil Ex. These kinds of references even continue after the Evil Ex in question is introduced, such as Lucas Lee saying (twice) that it will take "two minutes to kick [Scott's] ass", and later fighting Scott accompanied by his stunt doubles."
They continued: "Sometimes these motifs even apply to the protagonist. Later in the film (spoilers!), after defeating Evil Ex #4, Scott's girlfriend dumps him, saying that he's 'just another Evil Ex waiting to happen.' Afterwards, Scott's seen wearing a Fantastic Four shirt with an edited logo saying '4½.'"
In Up (2009), Dug Is The Only Dog To Successfully Track Down The Tropical Bird Because He Is The Only Hunting Dog (Golden Retriever). All The Others Are Guard Dog Breeds
Titanic - 1997 The Couple Shown In Bed Together Having Accepted Their Fate Is Isador And Ida Straus. They Were The Co Owners Of Macy’s. Ida Refused To Leave His Side When He Refused A Life Boat Spot B/C There Were Still Women And Children On Board. They Were Last Seen Walking Arm And Arm Together
That's really cool and kind, but I feel like there should be a ghost story or something about that.
Brad Bird Was In Part Inspired To Make This Movie (The Iron Giant 1999) As A Memorial To His Sister Susan, Who Died At The Hands Of Her Husband By Gun Violence. His Pitch Was This: "What If A Gun Had A Soul And Didn't Want To Be A Gun?"
Movie Easter eggs can (and do) bring a lot of joy to film-goers. For example, one of my favorite movies is 2002’s Catch Me If You Can, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. The movie’s based on a true story about con artist Frank Abagnale. (Minor spoilers ahead.)
I can’t tell you just how blown away I was to learn that the real Abagnale made an appearance in the movie as a police officer arresting DiCaprio playing Abagnale!
Though I never had the patience for Alfred Hitchcock’s movies (I still need some more maturity for them), I can appreciate his dedication to his craft. One of the most influential moviemakers in all of cinema, Hitchcock is known as one of the very first directors to put Easter eggs in his films.
One of his recurring hidden details is the fact that he makes cameos in his own movies. He appeared in a total of 40 of the 52 movies that he directed.
And don’t even get us started about Pixar and Disney movies that are chock-full of subtle references to pop culture and other animations. One thing’s for sure, I’m going to watch movies like a hawk from now on. What about you, dear Pandas?
This Design Of The Back Of This Ambulance In Joker (2019) Looks Familiar
To be honest took me a while to see... but once you see it u can't unsee it...
Steven Spielberg Filmed E.t. In Chronological Order In Order To Help The Child Actors And To Capture The Most Real Emotions During The Ending, Since It Would Be The Last Time They’d All Be Together
Kid Notices Something That Most Of Us Wouldn't Have: Up(2009), Cars 2 (2011)
Home with a sick kid today watching Up. Suddenly the 7 year old says, "Mom, wait. I've seen this scene before in another movie!' We pause and I take a picture of it (pic below), and within seconds he navigates to Cars 2 and pauses the screen on this exact scene (pic 2 below). What?!! They're the same. How in the world did he notice this? Unbelievable.
Incredibles (2004) Elastagirl’s Original Suit Was Red And Mr. Incredible’s Suit Was Blue, Their First Child’s Name? Violet
In Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), All The Wide Shots Of Luke Flying Across Tatooine In His Speeder Were Achieved By Placing A Mirror Underneath A Version Of The Prop With A Motor And Wheels
In The Beginning Of Joker (2019) There’s A Familiar Face In The Mirror
In Ant-Man (2015) Actor Garrett Morris Makes A Brief Appearance In A Scene. Morris Was The First Person To Ever Portray Ant-Man In A 1979 Saturday Night Live Skit Called Superhero Party
In Coraline, The “Welcome Home” Cake Features A Double Loop On The O. According To Graphology, A Double Loop On A Lower Case O Means That The Person Who Wrote It Is Lying. There Is Only One Double Loop, Meaning She Is Welcome But She Is Not Home
In Finding Nemo (2003), Gill Is A Moorish Idol. This Species Is Known To Not Handle Captivity Well, So Him Being The One Who Constantly Comes Up With Escape Plans Makes Sense
Wasn't the volcanoes name "wanna hock a loogie" as well... love this movie
Disney's "Lilo & Stitch" (2002) Used Watercolor Backgrounds, Exclusively. The Studio Had Some Financial Failures And Was Doing Ambitious Things Elsewhere, So They Left The Filmmakers To Their Own Devices, Off At The Florida Studio. The Only Other Watercolor Films Are Dumbo And Snow White
Toothless Animation For This Scene In "How To Train Your Dragon" Was Modelled On One Of The Animators Cat With Tape Stuck To It's Tail
In Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, Professor Lupin Sleeps Through Most Of The Train Ride To Hogwarts. The Date Is The 1st Of September, 1993. There Really Was A Full Moon The Previous Night; He Was Exhausted Because He'd Transformed The Night Before
In Man Of Steel (2013), Henry Cavill (Superman) Was Asked To Shave His Chest For The Collapsing Oil Rig Scene, However He Refused Saying That Superman Had Chest Hair, Citing The Famous "Death Of Superman" Graphic Novel As A Reference
In The Incredibles 2, The Painting In Helen’s Hotel Room Is An Illustration Of Her Seperation From The Family
The Poster For The Movie Legend (2015) Mocked One Of Its Negative Reviews By Hiding The Two Star Review Between The Kray Twins Heads
In Lord Of The Rings You Can See That Gandalf Carries His Pipe In His Staff
In The Truman Show, We See Truman Taking High Dose Vitamin D At Breakfast Time. This Is To Counteract The Deficiency He Would Have Becouse There Is No Real Sunlight In The Constructed World He Inhabits
It. Pennywise Secretly Watched His Victims Throughout The Whole Film. Sometimes, He Appears In The Most Unexpected Places. Neither The Characters Nor The Viewers Notice This
In Avatar (2009), The Evil Imperialists' Room Is Shaped Like An American Flag
Yes, Dances-With-Smurfs-in-Fern-Gully-Dune framed humans as greedy and bad and the Sioux-Smurfs-Fremen as the "noble savage". Unobtainium-spice must be gotten at all costs! lol
In "The Return Of The King (2003)", During The Epic Scene Of The Rohirrim Charge Peter Jackson Requested That Only Extras Who Have Read The Novel And Could Recite The Scene, To Be Placed In The Front Lines As They Are Aware Of The Importance Of This Moment. It's How He Ended Up With This Epic Rider
Whot! I'd swear that a dude who looked exactly like this dude had an axe and got shot down by an orc.
In Tangled(2010) Mother Gothel Says “I Love You The Most” , While Kissing Rapunzel's Hair Instead Of Her Forehead
In Inside Out, The Pizza Toppings Were Changed From Broccolis To Bell Peppers In Japan, Since Kids In Japan Don’t Like Bell Peppers. Pixar Localised The Joke
Joker. Every Clock In This Film Is Set To 11:11. Fans Have Many Theories About This. One Of Them Says That The Clock Doesn’t Move Because Everything Is Happening In Arthur’s Head
With a brain like that, he could beat pennywise with those messed up thoughts.
In Interstellar On The Water Planet, The Soundtrack In The Background Has A Prominent Ticking Noise. These Ticks Happen Every 1.25 Seconds. Each Tick You Hear Is A Whole Day Passing On Earth
In Lotr The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001), After Boromir's Death Aragorn Puts On His Bracers As A Way To Honor Him. He'll Wear Them For The Rest Of The Trilogy
Mulan (1998) Only Has Musical Numbers For The First Half, Until The Characters Find The Destroyed Village. From There On Songs Were Avoided Because The Tone Was Meant To Be Darker
Bill Murray Falling Over On His Way Out Of The Restaurant In Scrooged (1988) Was Not Scripted. He Slipped On The Water He Just Threw On The Waiter
In The Opening Scene Of Wall-E (2008) There Are Wind Turbines And Nuclear Plants Built On Top Of Trash Mounds To Imply That Mankind Didn't Convert To Clean Energy Until It Was Too Late
Giant Ring Used For Close-UPS In ‘Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring’ (2001)
In Avengers: Endgame When Captain America Is Going Off To Return The Stones, The Rest Are Expecting Him To Return. Bucky Says His Goodbye Knowing Steve Is Not Returning To His Timeline, A Testament To Their Friendship!
In Home Alone (1990) When They Counted The People For The Trip They Say There's 17 People In Total. An Odd Number Between Two Vans Means They Will Be Split 8/9. Since Kevin Was Missing Both Vans Had 8 People Instead, Making Each Group Assume They Were On The 8-People Van, Not Suspecting A Thing
Note: this post originally had 164 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
The term "2020 Vision" seems like a bad joke these days.
Haha forgot about that! We were so young and innocent back in those days...
This was great. I enjoyed it.
This was cool but the ring Easter egg won't stop haunting me now.
"seven days"
I'm afraid to actually look this up... but I'm tempted...
Let's say you shouldn't.
I love these (although i knew all the star wars ones)
Some of these need a bit more context for people that haven't seen the movie.
You get more context by watching the movie, otherwise, what's the point of extra movie facts?
It's why I now have a new Netflix list:)
164 entrys later and im still scrolling down expecting more. Now ask me how many i remember or how many movies i saw or will remember if i actually see the movies one of this days.
R2-D2 also appears in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, as does a TIE fighter. They are part of the Mothership that appears over Devil's Tower.
Look closely at the Ogre next time you watch Enchanted... 0960af5f8e...220545.jpg
why cause of his loin clothe of dresses
Interesting, I'm not a film nerd so I don't remember most of them.
I would have use #5 as #20 since it would then be halfway through the list...and waited to see if anone noticed.
You mention R2D2 and never show where he is...
Fun read though the page could have done with a more accurate title. There's no way a viewer could have spotted that the composer cried when asked to do the movie score, or that someone slipped by accident rather than design... Many of these are not "details missed", as much as info not well known...
.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Related topic: move plotholes (I've already posted this on here I think, but again): 1995 Jumanji movie: How does the board game get to the attic? When Alan gets sucked in, Judy runs out. Alan's parents would've come home that night. 'Alan's missing!' They'd surely say. Surely the police would come over and surely they and the police would frantically look all around the house. Surely someone would look in the parlor or living room, and someone would notice that the only unusual thing is that there's a Satanic board game sitting in the middle of that room on the coffee table. The parents or a cop would've examined it, picked up pieces or the board, and at some point in all that it likely would then 'think' they're playing!..... Also, Judy a tall blonde girl who a lot of the boys like has a thing for a nerd like Alan who's a head shorter than her? I was like Alan, I tried to impress those much taller blonde girls in middle school, and believe me, that aspect of the story is an even bigger plot hole!
The term "2020 Vision" seems like a bad joke these days.
Haha forgot about that! We were so young and innocent back in those days...
This was great. I enjoyed it.
This was cool but the ring Easter egg won't stop haunting me now.
"seven days"
I'm afraid to actually look this up... but I'm tempted...
Let's say you shouldn't.
I love these (although i knew all the star wars ones)
Some of these need a bit more context for people that haven't seen the movie.
You get more context by watching the movie, otherwise, what's the point of extra movie facts?
It's why I now have a new Netflix list:)
164 entrys later and im still scrolling down expecting more. Now ask me how many i remember or how many movies i saw or will remember if i actually see the movies one of this days.
R2-D2 also appears in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, as does a TIE fighter. They are part of the Mothership that appears over Devil's Tower.
Look closely at the Ogre next time you watch Enchanted... 0960af5f8e...220545.jpg
why cause of his loin clothe of dresses
Interesting, I'm not a film nerd so I don't remember most of them.
I would have use #5 as #20 since it would then be halfway through the list...and waited to see if anone noticed.
You mention R2D2 and never show where he is...
Fun read though the page could have done with a more accurate title. There's no way a viewer could have spotted that the composer cried when asked to do the movie score, or that someone slipped by accident rather than design... Many of these are not "details missed", as much as info not well known...
.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Related topic: move plotholes (I've already posted this on here I think, but again): 1995 Jumanji movie: How does the board game get to the attic? When Alan gets sucked in, Judy runs out. Alan's parents would've come home that night. 'Alan's missing!' They'd surely say. Surely the police would come over and surely they and the police would frantically look all around the house. Surely someone would look in the parlor or living room, and someone would notice that the only unusual thing is that there's a Satanic board game sitting in the middle of that room on the coffee table. The parents or a cop would've examined it, picked up pieces or the board, and at some point in all that it likely would then 'think' they're playing!..... Also, Judy a tall blonde girl who a lot of the boys like has a thing for a nerd like Alan who's a head shorter than her? I was like Alan, I tried to impress those much taller blonde girls in middle school, and believe me, that aspect of the story is an even bigger plot hole!