
30 Funny, Small, And Unforgivable Movie Mistakes You Probably Didn’t Notice (New Pics)
Interview With ExpertWatching a really good movie is one of life's simple pleasures. But that 1.5 hour film you just enjoyed was anything but simple to make. It can take years to complete a feature length movie. And hundreds, if not thousands of people are involved in various parts of the process.
Iron Man 3 set the record for the biggest crew ever, with a total of 3,310 members working on the 2013 blockbuster. Even with that many hands on deck, there were still dozens of mistakes in the movie by the time it hit cinemas. But it certainly didn't break the record for most "oopsies" in a film. That prize reportedly goes to Alfred Hitchcock’s horror film The Birds. The 1963 flick had a total of 552 mistakes, averaging 4.64 per minute.
Bored Panda took a trip to the Movie Mistakes site, and compiled a list of some of the funniest blunders ever to grace the big screen. We reached out to production expert and Creative Director of NoStairway Rob Marshall, for some tips on how to keep movies clean and error-free.
This post may include affiliate links.
Cats
The film was rushed to theaters, leaving a few mistakes which Universal fixed. In the original cut, toward the end, Judi Dench's human hand is visible, complete with her wedding ring. This was fixed for the re-release.
This whole thing was an abomination to cinema that should never have happened
Deadpool
In the bridge fight scene where Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead appear, Deadpool tries to escape Colossus' handcuffs by severing his hand. The hand that he cuts off is his left, but when he jumps off the bridge the severed arm is on his right side.
The New Guy
During the General Patton speech before the football game, "Gill Harris" approaches a player wearing the number 19 on his jersey, who is black. During the football game you notice the player wearing number 19 on his jersey is now white. (00:45:45 - 00:47:00)
Movie mistakes come in all shapes and sizes. Some you’d need a magnifying glass and the pause button to notice. Others are glaringly obvious. Among the most common mishaps are factual errors. Stuff portrayed in a film that definitely wouldn’t fly in real life.
Like a detective handling a crime scene without gloves. People crawling through an air vent. Or the scene in Charlie’s Angels where Knox is flying a Huey helicopter, and the Angels use a speargun to create a line that they can use to hitch a ride in the sky.
As one post on the Movie Mistakes site points out, “Suddenly adding about 200kg to a Huey in flight like that is going to cause all sorts of problems with the trim and airspeed of the aircraft. The pilot would know immediately that something was wrong.”
Patch Adams
When Patch and his roommate are arguing about why he wanted Patch out of the college, the book on the desk changes to a very different looking book between shots - note the tabs and red-edged pages.
No Stairway is a U.K.-based production company, and their Creative Director Rob Marshall kindly agreed to chat to us about the ins-and-outs of movie making.
"In a film I co-produced in 2020, ‘7 Hours on Earth’, the entire cast performed the final dance scene to a well known song. Three years later, the publishers of the song renegade on their agreement, denying us a licence for the music. The cast were teenagers and had all changed appearance so we couldn’t reshoot," he told us, when we asked what his biggest movie mistake was.
"I had to compose a song identical in tempo and arrangement as the original with lyrics that, when mimed, looked like they were singing the original lyrics. Then we re-recorded the cast singing and replaced the famous song with mine. I will never make that mistake again."
Honey I Blew Up The Kid
When Mandy falls inside the Porsche, her stunt double is noticeable because she is way older than her.
Spy Kids
When Ingrid sits at the vanity table in the bedroom, in the shot just after Gregorio's screen reads, "Type password," but just before the close-up of Ingrid's fingers typing on her makeup, there is a lovely reflection of a crew member behind the camera, which is perfectly clear in the mirror to Ingrid's right. (00:07:30)
Continuity mistakes also aren’t uncommon. That’s basically consistency between shots so that things make sense. For example, if an actor is wearing a red shirt, we’d expect them to be wearing a red shirt in the next shot. Unless they - or the scene - changed.
"When watching content of any kind, the aim is to draw the spectator into the narrative. There are many techniques to do this: Rhythm of the edit, visually and dialogue, the music or lack of music, camera techniques, lighting and many more," Marshall told Bored Panda.
"If an actor's hair changes colour between shots, all this creative work is waisted as the viewer is jolted out of the moment. I provided ADR for a feature film where a scene was shot over a period of a week. In the middle of the week, the actress had some lip filler which rendered the scene somewhat confusing."
Home Alone
Kevin sits down with a meal before the Wet Bandits arrive at the house consisting of macaroni and cheese on a plate. When Harry eventually makes it to the dining room, he is pelted with feathers. Look at the table to the left. A three part microwave meal still in its white plastic container now sits on the plate.
The Dark Knight
During Batman's interrogation of the Joker, when he picks him up and slams him against the wall, for a very brief moment you can see the camera and the cameraman in the reflection of the mirror on the right. (01:29:10)
Meh, still a solid movie. Pretty much the only "superhero" move I can watch
Ben-Hur
Visible crew/equipment: During the chariot race, just as Judah (stunt double) flips over in his chariot in the wide shot, a low angle camera is visible on the track under a canopy, at the right side of the screen.
It’s easy to make continuity mistakes because a movie scene isn’t always shot in order, and the shots might even be filmed days apart. High budget films will often have a script supervisor, or continuity director, who is in charge of making sure there are no continuity errors. But as we've seen, time and again, that person is only human. And try as they might, mistakes do happen.
"In the good old days of Hollywood (let’s say pre-digital) a continuity director would yield quite a lot of power on set," explained Marshall. "As budgets got squashed and technology improved, this role became the reserve of big budget projects only."
Jaws 2
There's one bit where we see the shark slamming into a boat and gliding along the side with its mouth open. Not only does the shark's latex mouth bend beneath the snout, narrowing from pressure, but within the mouth you can clearly see yellow hydraulic tanks to open the mouth. (01:22:05)
Hydraulic shark, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. Hydraulic shark, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. Hydraulic shark!
The Fugitive
When Kimble goes back to the hospital as a janitor to check the hospital computer, the lady working in the lab is wearing two different dresses. (01:05:15)
Peter Pan
When John says, "You offend reason sir," Peter floats up. The large light fixture is hanging from the ceiling. However, in the next shot facing Peter when he says, "Just think happy thoughts," where is the light fixture? It's gone so Peter can fly around the ceiling, but it's back again in later shots. (00:21:15)
According to Screen Rant, The Twilight Saga: New Moon is filled with regrettable errors "including visible mic wires, hairstyles that change from shot to shot, and vehicles that go from clean to dirty to clean again."
The site even mentions a character's nipples changing colors over the course of the movie. And a "magical moving tattoo," which goes from the top of one character's arm to a few inches lower in the next shot.
"Continuity errors make the Final Cut for various reasons," said Marshall. "Mostly, it’s because shooting has finished and there’s no budget to go back and reshoot. Sometimes the director decides the error isn’t glaring enough to warrant reshooting, perhaps if an actors hair is slightly out of position or the glass has mysterious emptied itself in 5 seconds. And occasionally, the error isn’t spotted or it’s seen too late to stop distribution."
The Rock
When Nicolas Cage drives through the window in the yellow Ferrari and the shot changes, he is coming out from a different window than in the first shot. In the first shot he emerges from the window to the left of the 7th Street Garage storefront ('Classic Autos' written on the window), but next shot he emerges from the window to the storefront's right. Also, note the now glassless window to the storefront's left, due to a previous take.
Transformers
At Hoover Dam, after the salute, when Defense Secretary Keller speaks with Lennox and Epps, the reflection of the white reflector screen is visible on Keller's glasses. What's more, the boom mic's reflection is actually visible within the reflector screen's reflection. Two for the price of one. (01:35:30)
The Goonies
In the scene in the basement, Chunk is about to drink from the water cooler bottle that is mostly empty. When he stands up and tries to catch it, it's more than half full. (00:40:25)
"I have spotted continuity errors that others have not seen and I’m sure many others have done the same," Marshall revealed during our interview. "I know directors who have scant regard for continuity and are even dismissive if their attention is brought to one. And I know directors who cost a project a fortune because of their adherence to continuity."
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
During Quidditch tryouts, when Ron blocks the Quaffle with his head in the closeup, Ron's body disappears at the bottom of the screen below the digital editing line. (Only visible on fullscreen DVD).
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle
The scene where Spencer throws the boomerang for the first time and misses the bikers they take off running. While they are running from the bikers, there is a shot right before the boomerang hits the bikers where you can see a camera man sitting in the bushes on the left side. You don't have to pause it, but can to see it better. (00:36:30)
The Mask
Towards the end of the film you see the long haired baddie grab Milo by the hind legs (just before Milo puts the mask on). As Milo starts to change you can just about see the baddie who is holding his legs, except he is now a different person with brown curly hair, nobody who is seen prior or following this shot. Presumably he is the dog trainer. (01:23:15)
The classic blockbuster Forrest Gump also blessed us with a gaffe that was pointed out by those who know their Apple history. There's a scene in the movie where the main character, played by Tom Hanks, invests in Apple stock. When he receives a thank you letter from the company, it's dated 1975. However, Apple didn't go public until 1980. Oops!
Bad Boys
When the computer is being hacked and the password and/or code for the database is shown on the screen, most of the display is for an Autodesk printer driver. (01:39:00)
LOL I literally pause movies to read screens like this. "Select paper size" is a HUGE CLUE!
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
When the Angels are walking through the sprinklers after getting shot, you can see the bullet holes in each one of the Angels' shirts. When they get to the car, and it blows up, Cameron Diaz's bullet hole disappears. (01:20:00 - 01:21:30)
Bean
When Mr. Bean is in the operating room, there is a man standing behind a machine who is not dressed like the other surgeons.
Sometimes it’s celebrities and actors themselves who point out the mistakes—rather publicly. Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is set in the year 1969. Toward the end of the movie, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Rick Dalton, reportedly arrives back in Hollywood from Europe on a Boeing 747.
Fellow actor John Travolta didn't skip a beat when he noted this would have been completely impossible. “Well, the 747 had its test flight in February 1969, but it went into service in January 1970," quipped Travolta, a trained pilot and plane enthusiast. "They’re nine months off! He would have been on a Boeing 707!”
Bridget Jones's Diary
When they're driving back to the Darcys' in the snow, you can see that as they pass through the village near the house, the snow on the ground is in fact a white ground sheet and has not been pulled up to the edges of the wall surrounding the green. (01:17:25)
Mr. And Mrs. Smith
While being chased by the 3 BMWs, the passenger's headrest of the Dodge minivan driven by Brad changes from a 1-piece (part of the seat), to a headrest that you can adjust the height and it keeps changing during the scene.
The Jackal
As the FBI and Richard Gere rush to the hospital to save the First Lady they are flying in a helicopter. You see a shot of the helicopter flying over buildings then it cuts to dialogue inside then back to the landscape shot. However in the first shot the helicopter carries the number "28" on the side. When it cuts back after the dialogue it has "29" on the side of it. (01:36:35 - 01:40:00)
Rambo: First Blood
Visible crew/equipment: At the beginning of the movie, Sheriff Teasle escorts Rambo to the outskirts of town. As the sheriff drives off, the boom mike is visible in the reflection of the car's right rear passenger window. (00:07:30)
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
At Tia Dalma's, when Jack says, "Look, an undead monkey," and shoots the monkey, the flame of the candle above the monkey is extinguished from the gunfire. However, in the next shot that candle is burning brightly. (00:49:30)
Men In Black
When Will Smith and the other recruits are taking their written tests, the white table first appears to be situated between the second and third men from the left. When Smith goes to the table to pull it across the room, it is much further to the right of the scene. (00:24:25 - 00:26:35)
McLintock!
In Kate's hotel room, when she's trying to get away from GW she steps backwards through the hotel room's doorway onto the porch, and falls straight through the broken wood railing, but when GW looks down at Kate on the pile of hay, there's now a window behind GW, not a doorway, and clapboard siding has suddenly appeared on the hotel wall as well.
Taxi 2
When Émilien is chasing after the Ninjas on foot, they jump from a bridge onto the top of an orange lorry. The orange crash mats that the 'Ninjas' land on are visible in the overhead shots. (00:47:35)
Bruce Almighty
Poll Question
How do you feel about errors persisting in big-budget films?
Amused
Disappointed
Indifferent
Curious about the process
I only read the first few of these. What do you expect? They're movies not real life. How many of you noticed the hydraulics in Jaws' mouth or were you too busy enjoying the movie?
It's not that serious. It's just fun little details people noticed. No one is being critical or whining about it--just pointing out what they saw. What's the problem? Also--many of these were probably spotted after multiple viewings. I'm sure the people pointing these out enjoyed the movie but after multiple viewings probably started to notice little details they didn't see the first time, and they're just pointing it out. Again, what's the problem?
Theater: two actors walk through the stage with two (faux) branches beside their hats, and the audience sees "a grove of trees moving toward the castle." Movie: "I'm disillusioned bc I saw the shadow of a mic in the background for 0.3 sec."
I honestly don't pay that much attention when I'm watching movies at home. Usually watch without my glasses, glares on the screen, and probably also on my phone. I MIGHT notice a bit more in the theaters... but probably wouldn't notice any of these either. 🤷🏻♂️
Films made years ago were made for the big screen - you paid your money, you watched the film and if you really enjoyed it you went again. Nobody thought twice about something looking a little "off", as the film would speed past so quickly that hardly anyone would notice. I recently got to see Star Wars A New Hope at the cinema, and because I have seen the film so often I could spend time looking at how rough Vader's helmet was, or how different all the Imperial Officers uniforms were. Now, in the age of digital home media, people can run through a movie a frame at a time and see all the things that were there, that should have flashed past in a couple of frames. Film producers hire continuity people to keep things the same between takes, but sometimes reshoots are months apart so it is inevitable that mistakes will happen. As others have said, movies are not really, so sometimes errors occur. Threat them for what they are - entertainment.
You missed Epic Movie. It is listed as a comedy yet no jokes were present in the film.
A lot of eagle eyes, huh? What bothers me is stuff like how there's an immediate laugh track right after the students cast Riddikulus on the boggart in Prisoner of Azkaban. It takes at least a second to comprehend humor, the timing was early.
As a person who failed to see the gorilla suited person in the basketball game the second time I watched it, I am truly in awe of the level of nitpicky noticingness here
I only read the first few of these. What do you expect? They're movies not real life. How many of you noticed the hydraulics in Jaws' mouth or were you too busy enjoying the movie?
It's not that serious. It's just fun little details people noticed. No one is being critical or whining about it--just pointing out what they saw. What's the problem? Also--many of these were probably spotted after multiple viewings. I'm sure the people pointing these out enjoyed the movie but after multiple viewings probably started to notice little details they didn't see the first time, and they're just pointing it out. Again, what's the problem?
Theater: two actors walk through the stage with two (faux) branches beside their hats, and the audience sees "a grove of trees moving toward the castle." Movie: "I'm disillusioned bc I saw the shadow of a mic in the background for 0.3 sec."
I honestly don't pay that much attention when I'm watching movies at home. Usually watch without my glasses, glares on the screen, and probably also on my phone. I MIGHT notice a bit more in the theaters... but probably wouldn't notice any of these either. 🤷🏻♂️
Films made years ago were made for the big screen - you paid your money, you watched the film and if you really enjoyed it you went again. Nobody thought twice about something looking a little "off", as the film would speed past so quickly that hardly anyone would notice. I recently got to see Star Wars A New Hope at the cinema, and because I have seen the film so often I could spend time looking at how rough Vader's helmet was, or how different all the Imperial Officers uniforms were. Now, in the age of digital home media, people can run through a movie a frame at a time and see all the things that were there, that should have flashed past in a couple of frames. Film producers hire continuity people to keep things the same between takes, but sometimes reshoots are months apart so it is inevitable that mistakes will happen. As others have said, movies are not really, so sometimes errors occur. Threat them for what they are - entertainment.
You missed Epic Movie. It is listed as a comedy yet no jokes were present in the film.
A lot of eagle eyes, huh? What bothers me is stuff like how there's an immediate laugh track right after the students cast Riddikulus on the boggart in Prisoner of Azkaban. It takes at least a second to comprehend humor, the timing was early.
As a person who failed to see the gorilla suited person in the basketball game the second time I watched it, I am truly in awe of the level of nitpicky noticingness here