Movies and the massive, hardworking teams that make them have a lot to think about. Just one two-hour film can mean months (sometimes even years) of planning, preparation, casting, shooting, editing, and more. It makes sense, given the amount of work it takes to create a movie, that every once in awhile, there would be some mistakes. In fact, it’s kind of surprising that there aren’t more to speak of.
Below are some of the subtlest movie mistakes and inconsistencies that we’ve found, many of which seem so obvious but we never actually noticed before. From changes in location to moving set pieces to that one time they actually used two different planes for the same shot, these are the movie mishaps that simply didn’t get noticed during editing. We’re willing to bet that all movies have at least one — have you noticed any of these while you were watching?
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl had a very interesting pirate in the mix.
In this scene, on the left edge of the screen is a grip crew member with a tan cowboy hat, white short sleeve tee shirt and sunglasses, just standing there looking out to sea.
2. Apparently they had 747’s in Ancient Greece?
Perhaps it was the Greek gods who were responsible for sending this steel bird down from the heavens and into the sky?
3. This ax must have had a power wash offscreen.
Gimli from Lord of the Rings just got finished kicking some ass on screen, and then he apparently had time to clean his blade from all the orc blood.
4. The timing is slightly off on this one.
Generally, your head doesn’t burst open before you get shot. Perhaps this man’s head was too excited by the anticipation of it all.
5. Bet you never noticed this small detail in the instantly iconic film.
Jenny’s iron seems to have a mind of its own. In other words, that iron sure was a runnin’ fool.
6. If only we could all have windows like this.
Honestly, we’d never have to worry about high bills to repair these bad boys if they’d just go ahead and repair themselves.
7. Sometimes, movies are completely obvious when they pull the switch-up.
Like this scene in The Usual Suspects, where two different planes were used for the same scene. Somehow, we’d never noticed before.
8. Caught!
Hey, he wanted to be in one of the best warrior shows too!
9. American Pie had a few party scenes, and it would have been tough keeping the details consistent.
This time, the devil is in the (cup) details. In the bedroom scene the girl is holding a clear cup full of beer. The camera goes off her and when it comes back she is holding a blue cup. The camera goes back off her then on her and the cup is clear again.
10. Spider-Man isn’t immune to mistakes, despite his supernatural abilities.
In one scene, Peter shoots his web at his bedroom lamp and pulls it across the room. The lamp hits the wall and breaks. Later, it’s just sitting pretty on the dresser.
12. Aladdin has some pretty interesting inconsistencies that even the Genie couldn’t save it from.
The tiger bites the seat off the suitor’s trousers, allowing the viewer to see his polka-heart boxers. When we see the tiger in the courtyard, he has the cloth in his mouth — but as you can see, it’s the wrong cloth.
13. Ocean’s Eleven took a gamble with these mistakes.
In one scene at the hotel’s botanical gardens, Rusty has a cocktail glass of shrimp in hand. When they change angles he has a plate in his hand, then change back, it’s a glass.
14. Pretty Woman has some mistakes of the comestible variety.
The morning after Vivian’s first night at the hotel, room service brings breakfast. When she’s eating a croissant it cuts to a shot of Edward. When it cuts back to Vivian she’s eating a pancake. Even better, the pancake goes from being half-eaten to whole between shots.
15. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets had a whole lot of magic, but even magic couldn’t prevent it from having some mistakes.
In the dueling scene, when Snape pulls Malfoy back onto his feet, a cameraman is visible on the far left of the screen. Maybe it was always his dream to go to Hogwarts?
16. The Matrix Reloaded has a big mistake in one of its chase scenes, but only those who really know cars would get it.
In the freeway chase scene the car flips. A few seconds later as the car is still flipping you can see the gas tank and transmission have been removed. This was definitely a wise decision.
17. Jurassic Park is an epic movie, but there were definitely some mess-up moments.
Just before the Tyrannosaurus Rex escapes from its pen, it drops a goat’s leg on a car. When it comes back to attack them, the leg is gone. Then it appears and disappears. Who was in charge of the goat leg on set that day?
18. During the “Battle of Carthage” scene, one of the chariots has a mishap and falls over.
in the Colosseum, one of the chariots is turned over. Once the dust settles you can see a gas cylinder in the back of the chariot. Something tells us that they didn’t actually have those back in the day.
19. Jaws was a massive production, so it makes sense that there might be a few mistakes.
Interestingly, though, the mistake had nothing to do with the shark himself. Instead, it was all about boat placement: One boat changes locations between shots.
20. I Am Legend has a slightly less legendary mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.
At the end of the movie, you can see the bite mark on the character’s shoulder, bestowed upon him by a zombie. While the shot is changing between him and the zombie, you can see the bite mark change sides of his shirt.
21. The Shawshank Redemption is an amazing movie, but it’s not mistake-free.
When Norton loads his gun the bullets are scattered over the table. When he takes aim the bullets are neatly in one place. After he shoots himself, the bullets go back to being scattered.
22. Maybe it should be called Terminator 3: Rise of the Mistakes.
When John and Catherine are in the hangar at the runway, the Cessna’s tail number is N3035C. When the plane is shown in the air, the number is N3973F. We’re thinking that when it comes to filming, directors have to use whichever plane they can access at the moment.
23. There’s a whole lot going on the The Rocky Horror Picture Show, including some mistakes.
When Eddie escapes the deep freeze, he wears three rings on his left hand. In later shots, the pinky ring disappears — maybe the costume people lost it and thought no one would notice?
24. Even the 007 isn’t free from a mistake every now and then.
In one scene, a character called Jinx is slashed across her stomach, drawing blood. In a later scene, her stomach has no scar or evidence of the wound at all.
25. In Lord of the Rings, Merry and Pippin found themselves in a conflicting situation.
Merry and Pippin were bound in one scene, and the bonds weren’t cut until after they managed to escape during the fight. Yet in the next shot, Pippin had his arms spread wide. Interesting, very interesting.
26. Cats & Dogs should be called Cats & Dogs & Vanishing Cars.
Seriously, in this before-and-after shot you can see how quickly they vanish into thin air. Certainly not to many people noticed this the first time around, though.
Below are some of the subtlest movie mistakes and inconsistencies that we’ve found, many of which seem so obvious but we never actually noticed before. From changes in location to moving set pieces to that one time they actually used two different planes for the same shot, these are the movie mishaps that simply didn’t get noticed during editing. We’re willing to bet that all movies have at least one — have you noticed any of these while you were watching?
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl had a very interesting pirate in the mix.
In this scene, on the left edge of the screen is a grip crew member with a tan cowboy hat, white short sleeve tee shirt and sunglasses, just standing there looking out to sea.
2. Apparently they had 747’s in Ancient Greece?
Perhaps it was the Greek gods who were responsible for sending this steel bird down from the heavens and into the sky?
3. This ax must have had a power wash offscreen.
Gimli from Lord of the Rings just got finished kicking some ass on screen, and then he apparently had time to clean his blade from all the orc blood.
4. The timing is slightly off on this one.
Generally, your head doesn’t burst open before you get shot. Perhaps this man’s head was too excited by the anticipation of it all.
5. Bet you never noticed this small detail in the instantly iconic film.
Jenny’s iron seems to have a mind of its own. In other words, that iron sure was a runnin’ fool.
6. If only we could all have windows like this.
Honestly, we’d never have to worry about high bills to repair these bad boys if they’d just go ahead and repair themselves.
7. Sometimes, movies are completely obvious when they pull the switch-up.
Like this scene in The Usual Suspects, where two different planes were used for the same scene. Somehow, we’d never noticed before.
8. Caught!
Hey, he wanted to be in one of the best warrior shows too!
9. American Pie had a few party scenes, and it would have been tough keeping the details consistent.
This time, the devil is in the (cup) details. In the bedroom scene the girl is holding a clear cup full of beer. The camera goes off her and when it comes back she is holding a blue cup. The camera goes back off her then on her and the cup is clear again.
10. Spider-Man isn’t immune to mistakes, despite his supernatural abilities.
In one scene, Peter shoots his web at his bedroom lamp and pulls it across the room. The lamp hits the wall and breaks. Later, it’s just sitting pretty on the dresser.
12. Aladdin has some pretty interesting inconsistencies that even the Genie couldn’t save it from.
The tiger bites the seat off the suitor’s trousers, allowing the viewer to see his polka-heart boxers. When we see the tiger in the courtyard, he has the cloth in his mouth — but as you can see, it’s the wrong cloth.
13. Ocean’s Eleven took a gamble with these mistakes.
In one scene at the hotel’s botanical gardens, Rusty has a cocktail glass of shrimp in hand. When they change angles he has a plate in his hand, then change back, it’s a glass.
14. Pretty Woman has some mistakes of the comestible variety.
The morning after Vivian’s first night at the hotel, room service brings breakfast. When she’s eating a croissant it cuts to a shot of Edward. When it cuts back to Vivian she’s eating a pancake. Even better, the pancake goes from being half-eaten to whole between shots.
15. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets had a whole lot of magic, but even magic couldn’t prevent it from having some mistakes.
In the dueling scene, when Snape pulls Malfoy back onto his feet, a cameraman is visible on the far left of the screen. Maybe it was always his dream to go to Hogwarts?
16. The Matrix Reloaded has a big mistake in one of its chase scenes, but only those who really know cars would get it.
In the freeway chase scene the car flips. A few seconds later as the car is still flipping you can see the gas tank and transmission have been removed. This was definitely a wise decision.
17. Jurassic Park is an epic movie, but there were definitely some mess-up moments.
Just before the Tyrannosaurus Rex escapes from its pen, it drops a goat’s leg on a car. When it comes back to attack them, the leg is gone. Then it appears and disappears. Who was in charge of the goat leg on set that day?
18. During the “Battle of Carthage” scene, one of the chariots has a mishap and falls over.
in the Colosseum, one of the chariots is turned over. Once the dust settles you can see a gas cylinder in the back of the chariot. Something tells us that they didn’t actually have those back in the day.
19. Jaws was a massive production, so it makes sense that there might be a few mistakes.
Interestingly, though, the mistake had nothing to do with the shark himself. Instead, it was all about boat placement: One boat changes locations between shots.
20. I Am Legend has a slightly less legendary mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.
At the end of the movie, you can see the bite mark on the character’s shoulder, bestowed upon him by a zombie. While the shot is changing between him and the zombie, you can see the bite mark change sides of his shirt.
21. The Shawshank Redemption is an amazing movie, but it’s not mistake-free.
When Norton loads his gun the bullets are scattered over the table. When he takes aim the bullets are neatly in one place. After he shoots himself, the bullets go back to being scattered.
22. Maybe it should be called Terminator 3: Rise of the Mistakes.
When John and Catherine are in the hangar at the runway, the Cessna’s tail number is N3035C. When the plane is shown in the air, the number is N3973F. We’re thinking that when it comes to filming, directors have to use whichever plane they can access at the moment.
23. There’s a whole lot going on the The Rocky Horror Picture Show, including some mistakes.
When Eddie escapes the deep freeze, he wears three rings on his left hand. In later shots, the pinky ring disappears — maybe the costume people lost it and thought no one would notice?
24. Even the 007 isn’t free from a mistake every now and then.
In one scene, a character called Jinx is slashed across her stomach, drawing blood. In a later scene, her stomach has no scar or evidence of the wound at all.
25. In Lord of the Rings, Merry and Pippin found themselves in a conflicting situation.
Merry and Pippin were bound in one scene, and the bonds weren’t cut until after they managed to escape during the fight. Yet in the next shot, Pippin had his arms spread wide. Interesting, very interesting.
26. Cats & Dogs should be called Cats & Dogs & Vanishing Cars.
Seriously, in this before-and-after shot you can see how quickly they vanish into thin air. Certainly not to many people noticed this the first time around, though.
