50 Huge Mistakes You Probably Never Noticed In Blockbuster Movies
Audiences usually get so immersed when watching a blockbuster movie that they can sometimes miss some mistakes that occur during the movie. You would think that mistakes in big blockbuster movies are rare, but it happens more than you think. From actors getting out of character to things not being where they were during a cut scene, mistakes can be found all over some of the biggest blockbuster movies. If you are interested in seeing some of these mistakes scroll through this gallery, we bet there will be some that you completely missed.
The guitar from the future in Back to the Future
Towards the end of the events in Back to the Future, Marty McFly finally managed to bring his parents together at prom so he went on stage to play his guitar. The entire movie is based on the premise that Marty lives in the future so the guitar the producers opted for while shooting a scene turned out to be a big mistake.
Marty played a Gibson ES-345 at his parents’ prom in 1955 which isn’t ideal because the guitar model wasn’t released until 1958. Fans have tried to debate this mistake by saying it was a nod to the future aspect of the movie, however, we genuinely believe this was an oversight by the directors of the film.
The gas station scene in John Wick
John Wick is by far one of the best action-thriller franchises to ever exist. The movie's intense action sequences mean that there are a couple of mistakes in the midst of all the intense action, and if you look closely enough, you’ll find some yourself.
The original John Wick movie opens at a New Jersey gas station, where Wick was refilling before coming across a couple of Russian gangsters that were interested in his Mustang. Everything appears to be right with this scene at first glance, but in reality, you can’t pump your own gas in New Jersey, not legally anyway.
The shrimp cocktail in Ocean’s Eleven
The mistake in Ocean’s Eleven isn’t the most difficult to spot, it happens in the scene where Rusty stood in the Bellagio, eating a shrimp cocktail. A close look at the dish reveals that it’s a large traditional cocktail glass that Rusty appeared to be eating from.
However, when the scene cuts and comes back to Rusty, you’ll see the shrimp is now on a plate. The slip-up is relatively easy to spot, and it reportedly happened because the producers changed Julia Roberts’ outfit, causing the dishes to be different as well.
The typographical error in The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises is a great Batman movie but like other great movies, this one isn’t free of mistakes. For instance, in the opening sequence of the movie, Bruce Wayne is shown reading an article in the newspaper about a burgling cat that had become a nuisance in the city.
The mistake was within the newspaper, The Gotham Times, where the word heist is misspelled as ‘hiest’. Not the most obvious mistake in the world, but still one that must have come from human error.
The octopus in The Goonies
1985’s The Goonies is one film that is stuck in the memories of 80s and 90s kids for good reason. Towards the end of the movie’s events, one of the boys informed a reporter that the craziest part of their wild adventure is the octopus.
Yet, the problem with his declaration is no octopus had been shown in the movie leading up to that point because the octopus scene had been deleted. Unfortunately, this meant no one knew what he was describing at that point, you would think they would also delete that scene but instead, they left it in.
The cell phone that shouldn’t exist in Bernie
Bernie is a 2011 Richard Linklater movie that examines the murder of millionaire Marjorie Nugent in Carthage, Texas in 1996. Therefore, most of the movie’s storyline was inspired by true events but that doesn’t mean the producers got everything right.
One area the producers messed up badly is in the use of iPhones throughout the course of the movie’s events as it contradicts the older setting of the movie. The iPhone launched in 2007, so it really has no place in a 1996 story, this should have been obvious to the producers of the film.
The light switch in Grease
While it is true that Grease came out many years ago in 1978, it is also true that the movie remains one of the most remarkable musicals ever. The movie also features a subtle mistake in one of the milkshake shop’s scenes.
In the scene, a waitress is shown as she tried to switch off the lights with her elbow. She missed the light switch, yet the lights somehow went off still. This one mistake essentially took away from the awesomeness of the movie for those that looked close enough to see it.
The accidental extras in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
The basketball scene in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest features McMurphy getting into a shouting fest with Martini about a ball thrown over the fence. The scene is memorable because it has some hilarious moments, and also because at some points the crew and multiple spotlights can be clearly seen in the shot.
Behind the chainlink fence, you can see them simply doing their thing, and that is far from ideal. Sometimes quality control checks and edits are insufficient to do the trick.
The fake baby in American Sniper
While some producers make subtle mistakes that are hard to spot, others, like this one in American Sniper are of the blatant order. In one scene in the movie, Bradley Cooper was supposed to be cradling a live baby but rather than use a live baby in the scene, the producers opted for a doll, which Cooper had to give life to by moving its arm with his thumb.
Both fans and critics picked up on this shaky bit, and everyone had a good laugh about the ridiculous mistake, including Bradley Cooper himself. Why the producers didn't just opt for a real baby is beyond us, lots of movies use real babies with no issues.
The exit sign from the Future in O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Cohen brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou is set in 1937 so the events portrayed in there happened before or in the early 19th century. However, one scene features a prominent exit sign that is apparently not from the 19th century.
That exit sign is clearly from the new age, and not a World War-era relic like we’re made to believe in the movie. This is quite clearly a mistake on the part of the producers who must have missed out on how the one sign stood out from the world they portrayed in their project.
The badge in Inglorious Basterds
Apparently, this was due to a wardrobe error where the badge was simply forgotten about because the actors had multiple costumes that they would change in and out of. You would think they would have made more than one badge and simply attached one to each costume, but this wasn't the case.
The boy in North by Northwest
You can make a case for Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest being the movie that spawned the rise of the modern action movie genre but the famous movie also features one of the most famous movie mistakes ever.
In a climactic scene in the Mount Rushmore cafeteria, Eve Kendall whipped out a gun and was aiming to shoot Roger Thornhill. The gunshot eventually rang out, but a young boy in the background was already covering his ears before the shot rang out or before anyone even knew there was a gun in the scene.
The food scraps in Braveheart
The final moments of Braveheart are chuck full of regrets and sorrow as William Wallace was pelted with food as he was ushered to his own execution. Lots of food scraps stick to his face and hair as a result of the pelting, and you’d expect those food bits to remain there since he was led straight to the podium to be hanged moments later.
However, when he arrived at the podium, the food bits suddenly disappeared and he was completely clean. We highly doubt his executioners cared that much about his appearance to clean him up prior to executing him.
The poster in Dallas Buyers Club
The problem with setting a movie in an older era or period is that every small detail, feature, and poster has to conform to the era that’s being portrayed. In the case of Dallas Buyers Club, a movie set in the 1980s, there was one poster that ruined a scene.
The main character, Ron Woodroof has a poster of a Lamborghini Aventador hanging behind his desk. The problem is the Aventador was made in 2011, so it has no place in a movie portraying the 1980s, talk about a real dream car.
The shape-shifting breakfast in Pretty Woman
After getting presented with an inviting spread of breakfast meals, Vivian chose a croissant while Edward read his paper. Unfortunately for eagle-eyed viewers like yours truly, a couple of shots later, the breakfast in her hand had somehow changed from a croissant with butter to a part-eaten pancake.
Again, not the easiest mistake to spot but it is a mistake nonetheless. Her hair and costume remain the same, and the only thing that changed is the food in her hand.
The lake in Titanic
As great as Titanic is, it's not free of its own share of mistakes. At one point in the movie, Jack Dawson was describing Lake Wissota, a man-made lake in Wisconsin.
The problem with talking about the lake is the lake was built in 1917, and the movie was set in 1912, about five years before the lake was ever built. That’s a big slip-up, but not the easiest to spot because you need to really tune into the conversations and the movie’s era before noticing the mistake.
You have your mother’s eyes in Harry Potter
The final installment in the Harry Potter series features one of the series’ most remarkable moments. That moment occurred as Snape was on his deathbed, he looked up at Harry and calmly informed him that he had his mother’s eyes.
The remarkable moment sticks to your memory because Snape is at his most vulnerable at this point but at the same time, it is one big mistake because Harry has blue eyes while his mother’s eyes are brown. Their eyes essentially have no resemblance whatsoever. However, this mistake occurred because in the books Harry does in fact have his mother's eyes, but actor Daniel Radcliffe does not share the same eyes as his book's counterpart.
The miming cleaner in Quantum of Solace
In this James Bond movie, you need to look closely enough to see the miming cleaner mistake. In a still of a particular scene, you can clearly see a cleaner or maintenance worker that appears to be sweeping the floor but is really just making sweeping motions in the air like he was miming.
The director, Marc Forster, deserves the blame for this because the shot should never have made the final cut of the movie. They were probably thinking no one would see it, but they were wrong. Give credit to the worker though, since his miming was good enough that not many people noticed on their first viewing.
The side view mirror in Clueless
Cher Horowitz earned the title of just a virgin who can’t drive in Clueless. This moniker came after she hit parked cars and broke her side view mirror while completing her driver’s test.
The mistake came in the middle of all this, once Cher managed to bring her marauding Jeep to a stop after her disastrous test, the missing mirror that had apparently been damaged was intact once again and in excellent condition. No explanation whatsoever for it, and it really shouldn’t be looking so good after all the crashes.
The teleporting man in Transformers: Age of Extinction
Transformers: Age of Extinction is one of the more recent installments in the Transformers franchise so you’d naturally expect the mistakes to be kept at a minimum. Yet, in one scene, a mystery man suddenly appeared behind Mark Wahlberg during a destructive battle, the mystery man also disappeared as suddenly as he appeared.
The only thing that explains his appearance and subsequent disappearance is that he apparated like the characters in Harry Potter, making one wonder if the director is a fan of J.K. Rowling’s franchise.
Tired extra in Ran
Ran is a 1985 Akira Kurosawa-directed samurai movie that got on the radar of movie fans thanks to high ratings from those that have seen it. The movie features lots of fighting, and it is essentially a retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear.
The problem with shooting all that action is you need extras to play casualties, and sometimes those extras get seriously fatigued while on set. In one fight scene, it became apparent that an extra had gotten worn out so he decided to watch the action rather than participate in it.
The cowboy in Pirates of the Caribbean
While a couple of mistakes can’t take away from the awesomeness of Johnny Depp’s performance in Pirates of the Caribbean, we’d be remiss not to talk about the mistake in the movie. Apparently, one of the movie’s crew members appeared in the final scene of the original movie by accident.
In a still, from one of the final moments, you can clearly see the crew member and his white/silver southern cowboy hat and shades. It once again shows that some mistakes manage to survive the final rounds of edits and cuts.
The helping hand in Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park is one of the most successful franchises ever, thanks to its incredible world-building and incredible sets. Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park has many memorable sequences and scenes, but some scenes could have been executed better.
For instance, in the scene in which Tim and Lex Murphy were chased through the kitchen by huge velociraptors, there is a small window in which the hand of a crew member keeping the beast in place can be seen. This is a huge mistake in the movie but fortunately, it takes some discerning eyes to see the hand holding the beast in place.
The Australian Kookaburra in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a John Huston-directed adventure that was set in Mexico’s Sierra Madre mountains. The movie is an adaptation of B. Traven’s novel of the same name and it tells the story of two men that joined forces with an old prospector, and together they all tried to find some Mexican gold.
The problem with the movie, and the fact that it was set in Mexico, is the appearance of a Kookaburra, an Australian bird that simply makes noises in the background. These kinds of birds have never migrated to Mexico so the appearance of one in the movie can completely throw you off.
The stars in WALL-E
Wall-E is an Andrew Stanton-directed sweet animated Pixar movie that revolves around the love between a high-tech probe called Eve and a trash compactor robot called Wall-E. The movie is therefore set in outer space, and lots of the scenes were done with twinkling stars as the backdrop.
The stars provide a unique, dreamy background for the love story but the thing is the stars don’t actually twinkle from the perspective of the robots, as they would actually appear static from their perspective. Unless the robots in Wall-E evolved enough to have human eyes, this shouldn't be possible.
Lamps in Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind is a Victor Fleming, Sam Wood, and George Cukor-directed movie that is essentially the highest-earning movie ever if you adjust its earnings for inflation. Loved by critics and fans alike, Gone With the Wind has a perfect aura, but it’s really filled with minor errors and oversights like the others.
The biggest gripe with this project is the existence of several lamps with a cord or bulb because the movie was set in an era before the lightbulb was invented. Lights aren't a big deal in most movies so we are sure this was just an oversight that many don't even care about.
The changing license Plate in Rififi
The Jules Dassin-directed film Rififi has been out for so long now that it is forgotten by some but the remarkable 30-minute heist scene in the movie ensures that it remains relevant over the years.
They managed to pull off the jewelry store heist successfully but their on-screen rehearsal for it wasn’t as smooth. In the scene where Mario and Tony timed their escape drive, if you look closely enough at their vehicle, you’ll find that their license plate changed to 3510-BU75 from 2126-DB75.
The red mark in Pulp Fiction
While Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction has earned rave reviews and recognition as one of the standout movies of the 20th century, it still has some faults and mistakes.
The remarkable adrenaline shot scene for one features a glaring mistake, in the scene’s beginning, the characters made a big fuss about marking Mia’s chest with a red marker. It is the hype around the marking that made it easy to spot how the mark had disappeared once she got woken from her overdose.
The automatic umbrellas in Pan’s Labyrinth
Pan’s Labyrinth is a Guillermo del Toro-directed movie with a 118-minute runtime. It gets lots of love from the fans but again, discerning viewers can pick out some shaky areas that could have been better.
One such area is the scene in which the guests arrived at Captain Vidal’s house and were ushered in with automatic umbrellas by his men. The problem is the movie is set in 1944, and this kind of umbrella wasn’t available until the 60s, meaning their presence should not have been included.
The plane in The Usual Suspects
While lots of producers opt to use airplane shots to portray the departure or arrival of characters, the producers of The Usual Suspects did so in an uncommon way. The plane featured in the movie had four engines when it took off, yet somehow it only had two engines when the next shot was shown.
The only explanation for this is the producers used two shots of two different planes to portray one airplane, hence the discrepancy in the number of engines. One could always say they had a connecting flight which explains the two different planes, but we all know they just didn't pay attention to this detail.
The cup in Notorious
The Alfred Hitchcock-directed movie, Notorious, was released several lifetimes ago in movie terms but this one appears to have aged quite well. The brooding movie tells the story of a government agent played by Cary Grant.
The agent sent Alicia, whose father is a German war criminal, on an undercover mission to spy on a couple of Nazis. The movie plays along nicely for the most part but if you look closely at Alicia’s cup in the scene in which she realized she was being poisoned, you’ll find that the cup she’d just drank from appeared full once again.
The slippers in The Wizard of Oz
One of the things Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz is known for is her ruby red slippers that stand out thanks to their color. In the scene in which Dorothy and Scarecrow fight each other with apple trees, the Scarecrow fell in a brief moment and her signature red slippers suddenly became black.
The slippers then went back to being red almost immediately so it’s easy to miss but some of us saw the inconsistency immediately. The little details really do matter so you would think the producers would have just used red slippers all throughout the filming process.
The notebook in Spotlight
Spotlight is a remarkable Oscar-nominated movie that describes the story of a couple of Boston Globe journalists that began an investigation into the disturbing allegations of molestation made against a priest.
In a particular scene, one of the characters, Sasha, sat at a coffee shop with one of the victims in a bid to get the real story out to the public. She was shown jotting important details in her notebook as they had their conversation, yet somehow the notebook disappeared in the middle of their conversation without any explanation whatsoever.
The ring’s position in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
You don’t make a movie of the scale and magnitude of The Lord of the Rings without committing a couple of blunders along the way. However, the placement of the ring is one of those things that Peter Jackson should have taken extra care with.
In the first Lord of the Rings movie, Frodo wanted to become invisible at one point so he put the ring on his middle finger. Yet, a couple of moments later, the ring had somehow made its way to his index finger.
The YouTube video in The Hurt Locker
In a particular scene in The Hurt Locker, two soldiers were shown having a conversation about an Iraqi that was going to upload a YouTube video. For movies in today's day and age, this would be no problem and wouldn't need a second look.
However, the problem with this conversation is that the movie was set in 2004, and soldiers from that period really shouldn’t have a clue what YouTube is or what the video platform is used for. The platform began to exist in 2005, so skipping the conversation about it altogether in the movie would have been great.
The disappearing couch in Parasite
Thanks to an award-winning story, Parasite was one of the most famous movie releases in 2019. The story examines class, wealth, and more but some fans find it unlikely that homeowners would fail to notice another family living in their basement.
There’s also the matter of the disappearing couch in the movie, about midway through the movie’s events, one of the couches owned by the Parks suddenly disappeared. The said couch never reappeared, and no explanation was offered for its sudden disappearance.
The cameraman in Bad Boys
In the case of Bad Boys and its director Rick Rosenthal, you wonder how Rosenthal either missed or deliberately overlooked the presence of a cameraman in the fight scene. During the scene, you can clearly make out the figure of the cameraman, and an outline of his camera, which is far from ideal.
The scene probably should have been reshot completely because of that mistake as the cameraman would struggle to pass as an extra in the scene because of his position. It is the kind of mistake that completely ruins a great action scene for the audience.
The car sticker in Boyhood
Now the problem with the movie is his mother’s car has an Atherton Elementary Honor Student on Board. That sign had been on her car before they moved to Houston, and it shouldn’t have been there because Atherton Elementary is located in Houston.
The investment in Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump is one of those movies that many people love thanks to the incredible performance put on by Tom Hanks. A lot of impossible things were done by Forrest Gump during his lifetime but few are as crazy as his Apple investment in 1975.
The reason is while he was portrayed as investing in Apple in 1975, the company only became publicly traded in 1980 so it was impossible for him to have made the investment as no one could buy the company’s stock at that point. Gump referred to Apple as some kind of fruit company in the movie, and he was described as making a $100k investment all those years ago.
Historical error in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Sergio Leone-directed Western is one of the most famous Spaghetti Westerns in the world but that doesn’t mean it’s free of inaccuracies and errors. In fact, this one’s full of multiple historical errors that somehow no one brought up during filming.
In a particular scene, a flag flown by the Union Army had 50 stars at the time, which isn’t exactly ideal since the movie was portraying an era in US history when the country only had 34 states and not 50 like we have today. The gang also blew up a bridge with dynamite in an era in which it hadn't been invented yet.
The wedding ring in Double Indemnity
The Billy Wilder-directed Double Indemnity is a highly-rated classic noir that stars Fred MacMurray as an insurance salesman. While the movie is a fan favorite with high ratings on the major audience review platforms, it also features a couple of inaccuracies for discerning viewers to spot.
Walter Neff got lured into a dubious scheme by Phyllis Dietrichson, and he’s also portrayed as a bachelor in the movie. Now the problem with all that is Fred McMurray was married in real life, and his wedding ring can be seen throughout the movie’s events.
The broken lamp in Spider-Man
The Spider-Man movie released in 2002 looks nothing like the modern-day Spider-Man movies by Marvel thanks to advances in tech and content. Thankfully, mistakes in the new movies aren't as common anymore but the older projects are filled with them.
In the opening sequence of Spider-Man, Peter Parker had just found out he had powers so he set about testing his limits. While on this mission, Parker accidentally broke a room lamp and he became worried, yet, when his aunt eventually returned to the house, the broken lamp had been miraculously fixed.
The unmoving mouth in The Third Man
Carol Reed’s The Third Man is a highly-rated movie that has been recognized as one of the best British movies ever made. This is a film noir set in Vienna, Austria in the turbulent era in which the Cold War started.
Yet, despite the remarkable things the movie stands for, some bits and pieces could have been better for sure. For instance, there’s a scene in which Cotton yelled, "What kind of spy do you think you are, satchel foot." Viewers can clearly hear this line but if you look at Cotton simultaneously, you’ll find that his mouth isn't moving at all.
The expanding world in Fanny and Alexander
Fanny and Alexander is an Igmar Bergam-directed semi-autobiographical movie that tells the story of abuse and childhood but there’s a stunning timeline error somewhere in the middle of all that. In one scene, Edvard informed his new wife, Emilie, that scientists had discovered the world was expanding.
Now, the problem with his declaration is that redshifts were only found in 1912, and Hubble’s Law was only published in 1929 with the movie itself being set in 1905. Meaning that the evidence they use to back up their theory couldn't have been known for another 20 years or so.
The magic hedge maze in The Shining
The Shining is a terrifying movie that was set in an isolated hotel, whose exteriors were the first things we saw in the movie. The initial shot of the exterior is somehow missing the hedge maze, yet it somehow magically appears next to the hotel later on and was prominently featured in the plot.
With all the frights the movie offers, we doubt viewers were paying that much attention to the exterior shot so this was easily missed by lots of fans. However, keen-eyed fans would have questioned how the hedge maze was so easily accessible in the movie when it was nowhere to be found at the beginning. The hedge maze is crucial to the story so it was shot in three different locations in England.
The disappearing ball in Grave of the Fireflies
The Grave of the Fireflies is a Studio Ghibli production and animated feature movie that tells the story of Seita and Setsuko, two siblings that were struggling to survive the brutal final days of the Second World War.
The crew member in Touch of Evil
Touch of Evil is a 1958 Orson Welles-directed nourishing thriller that is known for one of the most iconic long shots in the history of cinema. At the beginning of the now famous extended sequence, you can clearly make out the outline of a crew member in the corner of the screen.
That crew member shouldn’t be visible to viewers but there he is in the lefthand corner. Most people fail to notice because their attention is on the bomb positioned in the car trunk.
The accidental cameo in The Godfather: Part II
The Francis Ford Coppola-directed classic movie has a 202-minute runtime, and it gets lots of love from the fans despite being an older classic. We suspect the movie director, Francis Ford Coppola, didn’t plan the cameo appearance he made in the movie.
While the Young Vito, played by Robert De Niro, drove down the street, you can clearly make out the reflection of the director in a car window. You have to look closely to see his reflection but it is there, and that is far from ideal.
The actor’s lips in Rashomon
Rashomon is an Akira Kurosawa-directed movie that is set in the Edo period in the history of Japan. The story follows a murdered samurai and the subsequent assault on his wife, with inspiration from Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s two stories.
In an edition of Rashomon, the villain explained where some swords had come from to the samurai but while you can hear the words being spoken, the actor’s lips failed to match the movements of the words being spoken. Another subtle, but detectable mistake that could have been avoided.
The squibs in The Conformist
Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist is filled with lots of paranoia, tension, and violence like Italy’s fascist period itself. The story is essentially defined by brutality, and in an example of it, Marcello Clerici, the story’s main character, tried to kill a chauffeur that made a pass at him.
The problem with this scene is the crew failed to clear out the squibs or small explosive devices used to create the effect required for the scene, and eagle-eyed fans can clearly make them out.