86 Tiny, But Genius Movie Details That I Only Just Noticed This Month

    You probably missed the cleverest part of Legally Blonde.

    Tessa Fahey
    by Tessa Fahey

    BuzzFeed Staff

    Heads up: The movie details in this post *might* look familiar! Some context: I write a weekly series, where I round up a bunch of cool movie details I learned that week. Then, at the end of every month, I take everything I learned and put it all into one convenient place for your reading pleasure — and that's what you're reading now.

    Here's where you might have seen them before:

    Week One

    Week Two

    Week Three

    Week Four

    With that out of the way, here are some incredible tiny movie details you shouldn't miss:

    1. A QR code on an invitation in Red Notice leads to the blooper reel for the movie.

    2. A preview rating screen in Scary Movie reads: "The following PEEview has been ASSproved for immature audiences only. If you can read this you are too close. Pee pee poopy booger farts butthole. We thought it would be funny to put this here. Kiss our asses and take it off pause."

    3. Everyone's clothes in Encanto contain details and iconography that represent the characters.

    The Madrigals
    Disney

    A few examples: Luisa's skirt has dumbbell designs, Isabela's dress is full of floral designs, Abuela's skirt has butterflies, Mirabel's dress is full of symbols she embroidered to represent her family as well as her name, Julieta's pockets have healing hands, Camilo's poncho has chameleons, Pepa's dress has various weather symbols, and Dolores's dress has sound wave designs.

    4. And Agustín's outfit in Encanto includes homages to each of his daughters.

    The flower represents Isabela's plant powers, the purple sock with the barbells matches Luisa's skirt, and the colorful sock matches Mirabel's embroidered clothes.

    5. The reflection of The Daily Rip's logo in Don't Look Up reads "lib" because the show is left-leaning.

    6. The clock in Gwen's death scene in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is set to 1:21 because Gwen also dies in _The Amazing Spider-Man _No. 121.

    7. The song that plays in the casino in Iron Man is the theme song from the 1966 Iron Man TV show.

    8. On a letter that Linda is reading halfway through Knives Out, there are burn marks that indicate she has used fire to reveal hidden messages from her father in the past, a detail that becomes important at the end of the movie.

    9. As Elle is kicked out of Professor Stromwell's class in Legally Blonde, the answer that Vivian gives to the diversity jurisdiction question is actually wrong, but Stromwell doesn't correct her.

    10. In the back of Watto's Shop in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, there's an EVA Pod from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

    EVA pods in 2001: A Space Odyssey:

    Round, human-sized pods with large, ovular openings
    MGM

    11. In Encanto, Dolores claps with just her fingers because her hearing is so sensitive.

    12. In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, one of Jack's many belts is Anamaria's belt from Curse of the Black Pearl.

    Disney

    13. The book that Elizabeth reads at the beginning of Pride and Prejudice is actually Pride and Prejudice, but with all the names changed.

    14. Paul Rudd's character in Ghostbusters: Afterlife reads an Avengers comic, referencing the fact that Paul Rudd also plays an Avenger (Ant-Man) in the MCU.

    Paul Rudd reading an Avengers comic
    Sony Pictures

    15. After film critic Leonard Maltin gave Gremlins a bad review, he made a cameo in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, where his negative review of the first movie is interrupted by a gremlin attack.

    16. Similarly, Mayor Ebert and his assistant Gene in Godzilla are based on critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, who had given director Roland Emmerich bad reviews in the past. Ebert responded, "They let us off lightly; I fully expected to be squished like a bug by Godzilla."

    The Mayor and his assistant in Godzilla
    TriStar Pictures
    Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert
    Douglas C. Pizac / Associate Press

    17. The principal in Scream has the Fonz's jacket from Happy Days in his closet because both characters are played by Henry Winkler.

    18. Bruno's "mice TV" in Encanto is recreating the 1990 World Cup match between Colombia and Germany.

    Disney / Pixar, Frank Leonhardt / Picture Alliance via Getty Images

    19. The name of the oil company that Joe works for in Joe Dirt is named after Chris Farley's father's company as a tribute to the late actor.

    20. In Coco, Miguel names the street dog he befriends Dante after the horse in one of Ernesto de la Cruz's movies.

    Ernesto riding a horse in a movie and saying, "We're almost there, Dante"
    Disney / Pixar

    21. In Rosemary's Baby, the baby is born in June 1966, aka 6/66.

    22. In Meet the Robinsons, Wilbur claims his dad looks like Tom Selleck, which isn't true, but when he's revealed later, he is voiced by Tom Selleck.

    23. And Wilbur's reference changes in the other language dubs where Mr. Robinson is voiced by other actors.

    24. The owl figurine behind Edward in the Biology class in Twilight makes it look like he has the wings of an angel.

    25. The real Erin Brockovich appears as a waitperson in the movie Erin Brockovich.

    26. Actor Yul Brynner's outfit as an android gunslinger in Westworld is the same one he wore as a human gunslinger in The Magnificent Seven.

    27. The lamppost in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has roots at the bottom because it was actually grown, not made.

    28. Finn's name in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, FN-2187, contains the same number as Leia's cell in A New Hope, which was originally written as a reference to the short film 21-87.

    29. In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the Spider-Man in Miles' comic book is named Billy because no one knows his real identity yet.

    30. In Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack wears a fid in his hair to mend sails and rigging.

    31. The man playing the helicopter pilot who rescues Aron in 127 Hours is the actual pilot who rescued the real Aron.

    Helicopter pilot
    Fox Searchlight Pictures

    32. Norman Osborn's expressions go through the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) after Oscorp's board asks him to resign in Spider-Man.

    Sony
    Sony

    33. Red's cell number is 237 in The Shawshank Redemption, which is also the hotel room number in the movie The Shining, both of which are movies based on Stephen King novels.

    34. Lin-Manuel Miranda's elementary school music teacher, who inspired his love of musical theater, makes an appearance in Tick, Tick... Boom!

    35. Detective Kimball in American Psycho reflects light into Bateman's eye using a CD case, but Bateman doesn't flinch like a normal person might.

    Lionsgate

    36. Grace wears a Stanford tank top in Avatar because her actress, Sigourney Weaver, went to Stanford.

    37. As the empty books begin to fill with text in Pleasantville, the first two books to fill are Huckleberry Finn and Catcher in the Rye, both of which are frequently banned or challenged.

    The pages of Huckleberry Finn in Pleasantville
    New Line Cinema

    38. One of Peter's unused ideas for a symbol in _Spider-Man _is the symbol for Marvel's Black Widow.

    39. There's a book titled Totoro in Whisper of the Heart, and My Neighbor Totoro was made by the same studio.

    40. Lisa Kudrow wears the same jacket in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion that her Friends costar Courteney Cox wore in Scream.

    41. The actor who plays the Predator in Predator, Kevin Peter Hall, got to play a pilot at the end of the movie out of the stifling Predator costume.

    42. In Last Night in Soho, the identical coatroom attendants on either side of the mirror are actually twin actors James and Oliver Phelps, not CGI.

    43. In Canadian Bacon, the CIA's trophy hall includes a picture of JFK in Dallas right before his assassination, implying the CIA killed him.

    A row of frames over someone's shoulder, one showing JFK in a convertible
    Gramercy Pictures

    44. Eddie's "Mumford Phys. Ed. Dept." shirt in Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a tribute to Beverly Hills Cop.

    45. A newspaper in _The Incredibles _sets most of the movie in 1962, meaning Bob's prime superhero days were back in the '40s, just like the Golden Age of Comics when heroes like Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Captain America were created.

    46. The Grandmaster's "I pardon you" gesture in Thor: Ragnarok is a reference to Schindler's List.

    Marvel, Universal Pictures

    47. Roger's photo of him and Jessica in Who Framed Roger Rabbit has caricatures of people who worked on the movie in the background.

    48. Marriage Story's mediation scenes take place in the actual law offices of Laura Wasser, a family law attorney who represented actors Laura Dern and Scarlett Johansson, as well as director Noah Baumbach, during their divorces.

    49. Agent Smith's suit in The Matrix Reloaded is a blacker black than those of the other agents because he's evolved.

    50. There's a robot sneakily playing Solitaire in The Lego Movie.

    51. In Sherlock Gnomes, the moving company is named Sherrinford, which was almost Sherlock Holmes's name.

    52. The credits of Independence Day say, "No animal or alien was harmed in the making of this film."

    53. The Sex Bible in American Pie is hilariously hidden in the Fluid Dynamics section.

    54. Midtown Science High School in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was establish in 1962, the same year Spider-Man appeared for the first time in the Amazing Fantasy comics.

    A banner saying, "Midtown Science High School circa 1962"
    Sony

    55. The name of the food stand "Casey's Creations" in Scoob! is a reference to Shaggy's original voice actor, Casey Kasem, who died in 2014.

    56. President Orlean's bookshelf in Don't Look Up is filled with copies of her own book.

    57. This shot of the Copacabana in The Irishman is almost identical to the one in Goodfellas.

    58. Peter Parker's Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse uses a backslash instead of a forward slash in a URL in his Christmas album because he (like Miles) is from an alternate universe to ours.

    59. Jason Bourne's notes of his memories in the beginning of The Bourne Supremacy include drawings of towers like Berlin's TV Tower, and his past actions in Berlin become a significant part of the movie later on.

    60. Free City's map in Free Guy is based on Portland, Oregon.

    20th Century Studios, Getty Images

    61. At the beginning of Forrest Gump, Forrest is still wearing the old, now-dirty shoes Jenny got him and that he ran across the country in, but he's replaced the laces.

    62. The Bash Liif Phone 14.3 in Don't Look Up is actually just the RED Hydrogen One, a phone released in 2018 that wasn't quite as popular.

    63. In the director's cut of The Exorcist, a face appears briefly above the stove as the lights are flickering.

    64. Buddy reads a Thor comic in Belfast, a reference to the fact that Belfast's director, Kenneth Branagh, also directed the first Thor film.

    65. There's a stuffed Donald Duck in Giulia's room in Luca.

    66. The flying couple on the bridge in Hook is actually George Lucas, who created Star Wars, and Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia and was also a script doctor for Hook.

    67. The opening scene of Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation is a reference to North by Northwest.

    68. In The Pagemaster, Richard struggles under the weight of a copy of Atlas Shrugged that fell on him. (In Greek mythology, Atlas is a Titan who's cursed to hold the heavens and Earth apart, often depicted as struggling to hold up the Earth or sky.)

    69. The dentist's diploma in Finding Nemo is from the "Pixar University School of Dentistry."

    70. In The Incredible Hulk movie, Bruce Banner watches The Courtship of Eddie's Father, starring Bill Bixby, who also played Banner in The Incredible Hulk TV series.

    71. Michael gets an email in The Big Short from the film's director, Adam McKay, which has the subject line "Have you thought this through?"

    72. The new clock tower in Back to the Future III reads 8:08 when Doc and Marty pose for a picture in front of it, in reference to the fact that the DeLorean needs to go 88 mph to travel through time.

    73. While Megamind is training Hal in Megamind, the scoreboard is labeled "good" and "evil."

    74. Sid has an "interrogation handbook" in Toy Story that he practices on Woody.

    Disney / Pixar

    75. In _Groundhog Day, _Phil quotes lines about winter from a Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem about struggling to find purpose, something Phil is also struggling with.

    76. The patty-cake photo of Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit looks different than the original because it's actually from earlier concept art, when Jessica looked less toon-ish.

    77. The boat in Jaws is named "Orca" because orcas hunt great white sharks.

    78. Drew from Scary Movie has a Scream poster in her house.

    79. Shaun in Shaun of the Dead works for Foree Electric, which is a reference to Ken Foree, the actor who played Peter in the original Dawn of the Dead.

    80. And Shaun also tells the staff that Ash is out sick, a reference to Ash Williams from The Evil Dead.

    81. In Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones, the waitress has a name written in Aurebesh, but a translation reveals that it says her name is "Flo," like the waitress in the 1970s sitcom Alice.

    82. A nurse in _The Outsiders _is actually played by S.E. Hinton, who wrote the book The Outsiders.

    83. If you pause at the right time as Shifu is stealing Po's bao in Kung Fu Panda, you can see him smiling at the camera.

    84. Amanda Waller says in The Suicide Squad that she's playing golf with Senator Cray, who in the comics is the father of Adam Cray, an iteration of The Atom.

    85. Like the characters in Old, the font in the credits becomes more "mature" as it transforms from sans-serif to serif.

    86. And finally, the boot from Wall-E is inside Riley's head in Inside Out.

    What's your favorite tiny movie detail? Let us know in the comments! And if you want more details, you can find them here!