While some folks have a keen eye when it comes to movie details, there are still some small, and often cleverly hidden, components that go unnoticed even to the most diligent of moviegoers. With so many movies and so many moments in each one, it can be exhausting to rewatch and search for every detail. Fortunately, we’ve done some of the heavy lifting this time and have come up with 15 tiny movie details that were easy to miss, some may surprise you.
1. ‘Encanto’
While just about everyone and their momma’s know the songs and lyrics in Disney’s Encanto, there are a wealth of small details that they could have easily missed — including Bruno’s rat TV. While he was in hiding from the rest of the family, Bruno didn’t want to miss out on the happenings of the real world, so he made his own version of things. He uses the rats to reenact the 1990 World Cup soccer game between Germany and Colombia.
2. ‘Spiderman’
No one can blame you for not noticing this one. Willem Dafoe is just such a talented actor, it’s hard to detect his facial expressions doing a fast track through all five stages of grief in the 2002 Tobey Maguire Spiderman. It’s a shame that his hasty emotional processing period didn’t do much for his mental health in the end.
3. ‘Captain America: Civil War’
This is one that only hardcore Marvel comic books fans could have caught, and even they may have missed this tiny yet important detail. In 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, Sharon Carter (Margaret “Peggy” Carter’s niece) gives a speech during Peggy’s funeral that comes from a similar speech that Captain America gave in The Amazing Spiderman #537.
4. ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’
This is something that we can see literally no one going out of their way to notice, but it’s interesting nonetheless. In an effort to preserve the gunpowder in his pistol, Jack Sparrow keeps his gun dry when he and Will smuggle themselves onto Dauntless. 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl may involve a bunch of supernatural pirate lore and unrealistic situations, but apparently they’d rather go to Davy Jones’ Locker before they forget to make the gunpowder realistic.
5. ‘Twilight’
Edward may have had some people fooled with the “bad boy” act at first, but for those who caught this detail, he never stopped being their sweet hearted vampire crush. When Edward and Bella first meet one another in 2008’s Twilight , Edward sits in front of a taxidermy owl, which makes him appear to have his own set of angel wings. Now, that’s dreamy.
6. ‘Marriage Story’
We don’t know how people could have caught this one without some thorough investigation into 2019’s Marriage Story on Netflix. All of the mediation scenes between Charlie and Nicole Barber took place at a real-life firm. In fact, it’s owned by celebrity attorney, Laura Wasser, who’s helped stars like Johnny Depp, Hilary Duff, Ryan Reynolds, Johnny Knoxville, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Kelly Clarkson with legal cases.
7. ‘How to Train Your Dragon’
This one came way out of left field and is kind of morbid, but here we go. So, in a bizarre turn of events, one of the dragons in 2010’s How to Train Your Dragon is flying with a hippo in its claws at some point in the movie. This hippo was later confirmed in a video commentary to be Gloria, the hippo from the 2005 Madagascar movie. We can only pray to the powers that be that the dragon was just helping poor Gloria across the street or something.
8. ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’
So, most fans know that Tony Stark has a knack for foreshadowing bad things and then being the very person that makes them happen. He just doesn’t have an easy time getting it right, does he? This is one of the those examples whereStark drops a hint at what’s to come. In 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron , his quote foreshadows the events that will take place later in the film. With references to ensuing conflicts, WWll, and Ultron’s very personal hatred of Stark, the quote captures major plot twists to come.
9. ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’
Maybe just maybe there’s a universe in which true Star Wars fans caught this fun Easter egg, but we don’t think so. The Force Awakens (2015) makes a reference to A New Hope (1978) when Finn ends up receiving the same inmate number as Princess Leia did in the 1978 film, which was 2187. The force must be strong with that particular number.
10. Zombieland
When we get really invested in the major plot lines of movies, it’s easy to miss the subtle details that tell us more about each character and their world. In the 2009 movie, Zombieland, Columbus’s room isn’t lacking personality, as you can spot his Aqua Teen Hunger Force artwork from the popular Adult Swim line-up on Cartoon Network. When pop culture points to other pop culture even a little bit, we can’t help but to celebrate.
11. ‘Don’t Look Up’
We don’t always believe in hilariously awful coincidences, but in this case, we’ll definitely make an exception. In beginning of the 2021 film, Don’t Look Up , a bluetooth speaker, made by a corporation called BASH, is present when the characters first learn that a comet is arriving on Earth. Well, later on, it turns out that BASH is actually an evil organization that makes things go from bad to worse.
12. ‘Sherlock Gnomes’
We have a soft spot for films that sneak in shout=outs to the works and people that inspired them, including 2018’s Sherlock Gnomes. In this family movie, the moving company is called Sherrinford, which is what Sir Arthur Conan almost named the iconic detective before choosing Sherlock. However, Sherrinford hasn’t been completely off the table, the name is often given to Sherlock’s big brother in other projects.
13. ‘That Thing You Do’
Some cameos are easy to spot, while others take a little detective work. While we can’t think of anyone that isn’t familiar with Tom Hanks (if you don’t know who he is, for the love of Bubba Gump shrimp, Google the man!), people may not know what his wife, Rita Wilson. She made an appearance in his 1996 film, The Thing You Do, along with their son, Colin.
14. ‘Toy Story 3’
Speaking of cameos, if you wondered what that fuzzy gray plushie that kinda looks like a bear in Toy Story 3 is, first look up Studio Ghibli immediately, and then add the film My Neighbor Totoro to your watch list ASAP. The Japanese character created by director Hayao Miyazaki made a guest appearance as a toy during the third installment of the film series, which flexed some of Disney and Ghibli’s licensing agreement for an adorable surprise.
15. ‘Kill Bill: Volume 1’
If you ever think that filmmakers forget the scenes that they plan to set up later in a movie, you’re right, some do — but not in this case. 2003’s Kill Bill: Volume 1 didn’t miss a beat when O-Ren Ishii tells The Bride that she will get her butt kicked in under five minutes, and the filmmakers certainly decided to cut it was close as possible.
