50 Fun Facts About 2016 Movies

Which name, shared by both heroes' mothers, ends the duel in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice?

Martha is the name of both Clark Kent's adoptive mother and Bruce Wayne's late mother. Batman spares his rival once he realises he has been manipulated, then goes to rescue Mrs Kent.

Which film was the real Best Picture winner after La La Land was announced by mistake at the Oscars?

Moonlight was named the winner more than two minutes into the other film's acceptance speeches. The presenters had been handed the envelope for a different category.

Which animals staff the Department of Mammal Vehicles in the animated buddy-cop comedy Zootopia?

Sloths run the entire office, a parody of the DMV. Disney built a whole teaser trailer around the scene, released months before the film.

Which actor first played Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War, 2016's highest-grossing film?

Tom Holland won the part after a screen test against five other teenage actors. He then chose not to read the whole script, so that he could not give away the plot.

Which talk-show host voices the forgetful blue tang at the centre of Pixar's Finding Dory?

Ellen DeGeneres spent years campaigning for the sequel on her own programme. She had said back in 2003 that she was ready to dive back in.

Which action star voices Maui, the shape-shifting demigod, in the animated film Moana?

Dwayne Johnson is of Samoan heritage, and most of the film's voice cast are likewise of Polynesian descent.

Which superweapon's secret plans do rebel spies steal in the 2016 space adventure Rogue One?

The Death Star heist is set only a week before the events of the original 1977 film, making Rogue One a direct lead-in to the saga's first chapter.

Which actor plays Wade Wilson, the wisecracking mercenary with a healing factor, in 2016's Deadpool?

Ryan Reynolds later admitted leaking the test footage himself. The enthusiastic response to that leak in 2014 led the studio to approve the film.

Which actress plays Harley Quinn, the Joker's unhinged partner in crime, in 2016's Suicide Squad?

Margot Robbie's look fed straight back into the comics. Later that year the printed character gained pink and blue dyed tips and a jacket modelled on the film's.

Which actor voiced both Shere Khan in The Jungle Book and Chief Bogo in Zootopia in 2016?

Idris Elba had a third animal role that year as Fluke the sea lion in Finding Dory. He also appeared in person as the villain Krall in Star Trek Beyond.

What was Stephen Strange's job before a car crash ruined his hands in Marvel's Doctor Strange?

Neurosurgeon Stephen Strange turns to sorcery only when his injuries leave him unable to operate. Marvel moved the whole production schedule so that Benedict Cumberbatch could play him.

Which comedy veteran voices Baloo the bear in the 2016 remake of The Jungle Book?

Bill Murray was director Jon Favreau's choice for Baloo from the very beginning of the project.

Which animal is Buster Moon, the theatre owner who stages a talent contest in Illumination's Sing?

A koala voiced by Matthew McConaughey, Buster launches the singing competition to stop the bank from foreclosing on his struggling theatre.

Which action star plays Kevin, the handsome but dim receptionist, in the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot?

Chris Hemsworth's Kevin Beckman is hired by the all-female team to answer the phones. He ends up possessed by the villain, who uses his body to open a portal for ghosts.

What is the profession of Louise Banks, the Amy Adams character sent to meet aliens in Arrival?

A linguist is who the US Army recruits to work out how to talk to the visitors, whose writing is built from logograms. Amy Adams prepared by consulting a real one, Jessica Coon.

On which waterway does Tom Hanks's airline captain ditch a stricken jet in Clint Eastwood's Sully?

The Hudson landing really happened in 2009, and all 155 passengers and crew survived. Much of the film follows the investigation that came afterwards.

Which actress won an Oscar as Mia, a struggling actress who falls for a jazz pianist, in La La Land?

Emma Stone got the part after Emma Watson dropped out. Watson left to honour her commitment to a live-action Beauty and the Beast.

Which DC heroine made her first live-action cinema appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice?

Wonder Woman reached cinemas played by Gal Gadot. The same film was the first to put its two title heroes together in live action.

In which city does British wizard Newt Scamander arrive in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?

New York in 1926 is the setting. The trouble begins when the wizard and an aspiring baker accidentally swap suitcases, one of them full of magical creatures.

Which actor first played T'Challa, the Black Panther, in Captain America: Civil War?

Chadwick Boseman developed the Wakandan accent himself. He kept it up for the entire production, whether he was on camera or not.

Which star plays Deadshot, the expert marksman who misses his daughter, in 2016's Suicide Squad?

Will Smith was offered this part and Independence Day: Resurgence at the same time. He chose the supervillain team over a return to his 1996 alien-invasion hit.

Which pop star voices Branch, the survivalist troll, in the 2016 animated musical Trolls?

Justin Timberlake was also executive producer of the film's music. His single for it, Can't Stop the Feeling!, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.

Which astronaut's orbital flight do the mathematicians of Hidden Figures help to launch safely?

John Glenn really did ask specifically for the film's heroine to verify the IBM computer's calculations. In reality she had several days before the launch to finish the job.

Which online tool does Saroo use to trace his lost Indian hometown in the 2016 drama Lion?

Google Earth is what his friends suggest he try. The film tells a true story: Saroo Brierley found his mother again 25 years after they were separated.

Which Hollywood star directed Hacksaw Ridge, about a wartime medic who refused to carry a firearm?

Mel Gibson turned the offer down twice before agreeing. It became his first film as a director since Apocalypto in 2006.

Which fast-food chain's rise is told in The Founder, starring Michael Keaton as salesman Ray Kroc?

McDonald's was really started by the brothers Richard and Maurice, not by the man of the title. The film shows Kroc forcing them out to take control of the company.

Which British actor plays wizard Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?

Eddie Redmayne took on the wizard two years after The Theory of Everything, in which his portrayal of physicist Stephen Hawking won him the Best Actor Oscar.

Which horror menace overruns a high-speed service from Seoul in the South Korean hit Train to Busan?

Zombies swarm the carriages as an outbreak spreads across the whole country, so nearly all of the film takes place aboard the moving express.

Which actor leads the hired guns as bounty hunter Sam Chisolm in 2016's The Magnificent Seven?

Denzel Washington headed a remake of the 1960 western, which was itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa's classic Seven Samurai.

Which Suicide Squad actress, who played Amanda Waller, also won an Oscar for the 2016 drama Fences?

Viola Davis had already won a Tony for the same part in the 2010 Broadway revival of the play. Her Oscar came in the Best Supporting Actress category.

For which craft did the DC supervillain film Suicide Squad win its only Academy Award?

Makeup and hair won it the Oscar, in the category formally called Best Makeup and Hairstyling. No other film in the DC Extended Universe ever won an Academy Award.

Which actress plays the Ancient One, the Celtic mystic who trains the hero of Doctor Strange?

Tilda Swinton chose to play the mentor as androgynous. The character is Asian in the comics, and the film-makers said the change was made to avoid the original's stereotypes.

In which country's airport do the rival Avengers teams clash in Captain America: Civil War?

Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport hosts the fight and was a real filming location. The sequence was the first ever shot with IMAX's digital 2D cameras.

Which X-Man, accompanied by a teenage trainee, tries to recruit Wade Wilson in 2016's Deadpool?

Colossus is a wholly computer-generated creation in the film. One performer gave motion reference on set, while another was cast for his authentic Russian accent.

Which actor plays the ancient mutant accidentally revived in 1983 in X-Men: Apocalypse?

Oscar Isaac plays En Sabah Nur, presumed to be the world's first mutant. He gathers new powers each time he moves his consciousness into another body.

Which actress plays Jyn Erso, the young renegade freed by the Rebel Alliance, in Rogue One?

Felicity Jones won the lead from a field of actresses reported to include Tatiana Maslany and Rooney Mara.

Which actor won the Best Actor Oscar as a withdrawn janitor in Manchester by the Sea?

Casey Affleck took a part that began as an idea of Matt Damon and John Krasinski. The pair dreamed up the character, then took the story to writer-director Kenneth Lonergan.

Which blockbuster's then-record fourteen Oscar nominations did the musical La La Land equal?

Titanic had itself matched the fourteen nominations first reached by the 1950 drama All About Eve. La La Land won six of its categories, and the shared record stood until 2026.

Which late British actor was digitally recreated as Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One?

Peter Cushing's likeness was mapped like a digital mask over actor Guy Henry, who performed the scenes and supplied the voice.

Which Pacific island battle is the setting for Desmond Doss's rescues in Hacksaw Ridge?

Okinawa's battlefield was recreated on a dairy pasture near Sydney. The real Desmond Doss received the Medal of Honor for rescuing 75 soldiers on the ridge.

Which animation studio behind Coraline made the 2016 samurai fantasy Kubo and the Two Strings?

Laika is best known for stop-motion features, and Kubo was its fourth. The studio's own production designer pitched the story to director Travis Knight.

Which actress plays herself as the recorded public-address voice of the institute in Finding Dory?

Sigourney Weaver's announcements echo around the Marine Life Institute. The film-makers based the place on research trips to real aquariums, including Monterey Bay.

Which fashion designer wrote and directed the 2016 thriller Nocturnal Animals, his second feature?

Tom Ford adapted the film from Austin Wright's 1993 novel Tony and Susan. His first feature, A Single Man, had come out seven years earlier.

Which rock legend was the father of Duncan Jones, director of the 2016 video-game epic Warcraft?

David Bowie's son was known as Zowie as a child, to rhyme with his father's stage name. Jones took over Warcraft in 2013, replacing Sam Raimi as director.

Which actor's final film role was the voice of Absolem in Alice Through the Looking Glass?

Alan Rickman had first voiced the caterpillar in the 2010 film. He died in January 2016, four months before the sequel reached cinemas.

What name do Louise Banks and Ian Donnelly give the squid-like aliens in Arrival?

Heptapods have seven limbs, which is where the name comes from. The two individuals the team meets are nicknamed Abbott and Costello.

Under which title was Zootopia released in the United Kingdom and several other markets?

Zootropolis plays on the word metropolis where the original played on utopia. One European market chose a third title because a children's book there had a similar name.

Which actor voiced both the droid K-2SO in Rogue One and the rooster Heihei in Moana?

Alan Tudyk had a third voice role in 2016 as Duke Weaselton in Zootopia. He played the droid through motion capture as well as with his voice.

Which UN agreement to oversee the Avengers divides the team in Captain America: Civil War?

The Sokovia Accords are named after the nation where the Avengers defeated Ultron about a year earlier. They are due to be ratified in Vienna when a bomb goes off.

On which planet do the rebels raid an Imperial data vault in the climax of Rogue One?

Scarif's vault holds the schematics the rebels are after. Jyn Erso transmits them to the Rebel command ship moments before the planet comes under attack.