In 1957, the first messages encouraging moviegoers to buy Coca-Cola and popcorn were spliced into movie theater film strips, and audiences did just that. The age of subliminal messaging in entertainment was born, and has been used as a running gag in movies like Fight Club , or as a genuine attempt to influence audiences without them realizing
In Marvel’s version of World War II, it was HYDRA and Red Skull who posed the real threat to the Allies. The villain even shrugs off Adolf Hitler, claiming to be doing real research while the German leader wastes his time “digging for trinkets in the desert.” When audiences remember that Captain America director Joe Johnston worked in visual effects and art direction for Raiders of the Lost Ark , the real meaning of this line is clear. At the very least, it’s a nod to the plot of Indiana Jones’ first adventure, and at most, a playful hint that the archeologist existed in the Marvel Unive
Gore Verbinski’s remake of this Japanese horror film takes the idea that watching movies affects us, and stretches it to a terrifying extreme. The meta concept is reinforced when single frames from the haunted videotape flash up during other scenes in the movie. Again, not all copies of the film feature the same frames. But fans can all catch a flash of The Ring at the very start of the movie, where it meshes with the crescent moon in the DreamWorks logo. These hidden frames are worth re-watching the movie News|https://movietriviafocus.com/ all on their own – just don’t answer the phone when you’re finis
Total Recall is a simple enough story: an everyday Earthling in the not-too-distant future, Douglas Quaid, dreams of a passionate affair with a beautiful woman on the surface of Mars. So when a business offers to implant false memories for a price, Quaid decides to make his dream a reality – at least as far as his mind is concerned. The procedure goes awry, and Quaid’s false memories disappear, revealing that he really WAS a secret agent working on Mars, and the woman from his dreams wasn’t imaginary. At least, that’s what he thinks. The movie never states whether Quaid’s return to Mars really happened, and whether he succeeded in releasing air into its atmosphere, and saving its poor population. But taking a quick glance at just how closely the film’s final scene resembles Quaid’s dream, those suspecting it was simply a fantasy have even more evidence to back up their cl
Marvel’s Avengers universe is based on fantastic figures, science, and otherworldly adventures, but they’re apparently even hard to believe for the everyday characters inside the films themselves. When Ant-Man villain Darren Cross references the old stories of a miniature superhero working in secret, he claims they’re nothing but “propaganda, Tales to Astonish.” He’s not wrong, either. Ant-Man’s unbelievable powers actually debuted in the comic “Tales to Astonish,” making this one of the most meta moments Marvel has ever featured, and a major statement about the hero’s entire story for the viewers who manage to catch
The folk tale of Sleeping Beauty has been retold many times over the centuries, but one recurring part of the story is that the princess pricks her finger on the spindle of her spinning wheel and falls into a deep sleep. Of course, the spinning wheel played a big part in Disney’s 1959 animated adaptation of the tale, calling for Aurora to prick her finger and fall under Maleficent’s spell. However, although Prince Phillip bestowed true love’s kiss on Aurora and broke the spell, the spinning wheel survived. It can be seen in Rapunzel’s tower in the beginning of Tangled , acting as a reference to the other Disney princess’s tale of being trapped by a wi
Most of the hidden easter eggs inside Disney movies only manage to reference one movie at a time, but one shot in Tangled features nods to three other princess films. When Rapunzel and Flynn Rider are poring over an atlas while at the festival of lights in Corona, books referencing other films can be seen. One open book displays the story from the opening sequence of Sleeping Beauty , and two others are the storybooks containing the tales of Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid . It’s unclear if Rapunzel has read the fairytales of her fellow Disney princesses, but it’s a nicely hidden references to their fi
In 1986, Steve Jobs purchased the Computer Graphics Division from George Lucas’s Lucasfilm and established the independent company we now know to be Pixar. In honor of the man who also founded Apple, Pixar has included references to the tech company or Jobs himself in a number of films. Most notably, the titular robotic hero of Wall-E makes the recognizable Mac startup chime when he’s done charging, and Apple products like computers and iPods are shown throughout Toy Story 3 . Finally, after passing away in 2011, the end credits of Brave featured a dedication to Jobs in memory of his contribution to Pixar. That last one may not necessarily be hidden, but it’s worth mention
