50 Fun Facts About 2018 Movies

Which country opened its first commercial cinema in decades in 2018 with a screening of Black Panther?

Saudi Arabia had lifted its cinema ban only months earlier, in December 2017. The Riyadh premiere in April 2018 opened the first commercial cinema there in decades, though none of the cast attended.

Black Panther became the first superhero film ever nominated for which Academy Award?

Best Picture went to another film, but Black Panther still took home three Oscars, for its score, costumes and production design. They were the first Academy Awards won by any Marvel Studios film.

Which actor played both Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and the time-traveling soldier Cable in Deadpool 2?

Josh Brolin performed Thanos through motion capture on set. Deadpool 2 reached US cinemas on May 18, 2018, just three weeks after the Avengers film opened.

What must Sandra Bullock's character wear outdoors to survive the entities in the thriller Bird Box?

A blindfold is the only defence, because people who see the entities are driven insane. The film is based on a 2014 novel by Josh Malerman.

Which star of The Office directed A Quiet Place and acted in it opposite his wife, Emily Blunt?

John Krasinski also co-wrote the script, about a family hiding from blind creatures with acute hearing. The characters talk in American Sign Language to stay silent.

Which actor won the Academy Award for Best Actor as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody?

Rami Malek's award was one of four Oscars for the film, the most of any movie that night. Sacha Baron Cohen had been set for the role in 2010 but left over creative differences.

Which Marvel Comics legend, who died in November 2018, appears as a dog walker in Venom?

Stan Lee co-created Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Hulk and the Fantastic Four. He made cameo appearances in many films based on Marvel characters.

Which injury did Tom Cruise suffer jumping between buildings while filming Mission: Impossible – Fallout?

A broken ankle resulted when he hit a wall during the jump. Filming stopped for nearly two months, yet he later shot a cliff-top fight in Norway on the injured leg.

Which Training Day star made the first sequel of his long career when he returned for The Equalizer 2?

Denzel Washington had never before starred in a sequel to one of his own films. It was his fourth project with director Antoine Fuqua, who guided him to a Best Actor Oscar for Training Day.

Which character does Bob Parr call on to babysit Jack-Jack in Incredibles 2?

Edna Mode is voiced by Brad Bird, who also wrote and directed the film. The Pixar sequel grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide.

Which fictional metal, mined only in the kingdom of Wakanda, makes up the suit worn by Black Panther?

Vibranium also forms Captain America's shield, as an alloy with steel. In the comics, the Wakandans hid their country from the outside world to protect the metal.

Which duet from A Star Is Born won Lady Gaga the Academy Award for Best Original Song?

Shallow is the song Ally sings on stage with Jackson Maine after first refusing to join him. The single topped the charts in multiple countries.

In which city does Rachel Chu learn how wealthy her boyfriend's family is in Crazy Rich Asians?

Singapore is home to the Young family, though parts of the film were shot in Malaysia. It was the first major Hollywood studio film since 1993 with a majority cast of Chinese descent in a modern setting.

Which actor played astronaut Neil Armstrong in Damien Chazelle's space drama First Man?

Ryan Gosling reunited with his La La Land director for the film, which follows the years leading up to Apollo 11 in 1969 and dwells on what the mission cost Armstrong and his family.

Which actor plays Arthur Curry, the half-Atlantean hero reluctant to rule an underwater kingdom, in Aquaman?

Jason Momoa's film grossed $1.152 billion worldwide. That out-earned every earlier film based on a DC Comics character, Batman's included.

Which New York City teenager becomes the new hero of the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse?

Miles Morales gains his powers from the bite of a radioactive spider. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Which streaming service released Bird Box, The Kissing Booth and To All the Boys I've Loved Before in 2018?

Netflix said one in three viewers of The Kissing Booth watched it again. That teen romance proved popular enough to grow into a trilogy.

Which talk-show legend played Mrs. Which, one of three celestial guides, in Disney's A Wrinkle in Time?

Oprah Winfrey's character is an astral being as old as the universe. Ava DuVernay became the first African-American woman to direct a live-action film with a budget of more than $100 million.

Which actress returned as Laurie Strode in 2018's Halloween, forty years after first playing the role?

Jamie Lee Curtis came back for a direct sequel to the 1978 original that ignores every other film in the franchise. John Carpenter's approval was sought for each major step.

Which actor played the young Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story?

Donald Glover met Billy Dee Williams, who played Lando in earlier Star Wars films and passed on some words of advice.

Which action star battles a 75-foot prehistoric shark in The Meg, an American and Chinese co-production?

Jason Statham's foe is a megalodon, a species believed extinct for over two million years. Scientists meet it during a rescue mission on the floor of the Pacific Ocean.

Which Broadway star played Jack, a cockney lamplighter, in Mary Poppins Returns?

Lin-Manuel Miranda's Jack is a former apprentice of Bert, the chimney sweep Dick Van Dyke played in 1964. The part brought him a Golden Globe nomination.

Which benefit concert provides the grand finale of the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody?

Live Aid, staged at Wembley Stadium in 1985, is where the story stops, fifteen years after the band forms. In the film, Freddie Mercury talks his bandmates into playing as a late addition to the bill.

Which Oscar-winning 2018 film follows pianist Don Shirley and his driver on a concert tour of the segregated Deep South?

Green Book takes its title from a travel guide for Black motorists published from 1936 to 1966. The film won three Oscars, including the top prize, although its director was not even nominated.

Which American vice president did Christian Bale portray in Adam McKay's satirical biopic Vice?

Dick Cheney's rise is traced from his days as a lineman in Wyoming after dropping out of Yale. Bale won a Golden Globe for the performance.

Which actor made his directorial debut with A Star Is Born while also playing musician Jackson Maine?

Bradley Cooper gave up an upfront salary in favour of a back-end deal to secure the directing job. He was also nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for the role.

Which English actor plays Eddie Brock, a struggling journalist who becomes host to an alien symbiote, in Venom?

Tom Hardy returned to the part in two sequels, released in 2021 and 2024. He co-wrote the story for the first of them.

Which actor voiced the Christmas-hating title character of Illumination's 2018 animated film The Grinch?

Benedict Cumberbatch's version grossed $553 million, making it the highest-grossing Christmas film up to that time. Pharrell Williams narrates.

Which racer from the game Sugar Rush befriends the Disney Princesses in Ralph Breaks the Internet?

Vanellope von Schweetz is voiced by Sarah Silverman. She and Ralph go online to buy a replacement steering wheel that will save her arcade game from being scrapped.

Which car does the Transformer B-127 scan after crash-landing in 1987 California in Bumblebee?

A Volkswagen Beetle was the character's form in the original toys and cartoon. The earlier live-action films had turned him into a Chevrolet Camaro instead.

Which Scottish actor plays the adult title character, reunited with Winnie the Pooh, in Christopher Robin?

Ewan McGregor's character has lost his sense of imagination as an adult. The film became the highest-grossing entry in the Winnie the Pooh franchise, passing The Tigger Movie.

Which legendary creatures are the heroes of the animated film Smallfoot, where humans are thought mythical?

Yetis in the film live above the clouds and believe that ringing a gong with their heads wakes up the sun. Channing Tatum voices Migo, who spots a human after a plane crash.

Which glamorous annual event do Debbie Ocean and her crew target for a diamond necklace heist in Ocean's 8?

The Met Gala is the setting for the theft of the Toussaint, a $150 million Cartier necklace. Sandra Bullock's Debbie is the sister of Danny Ocean from the earlier films.

Which British monarch did Olivia Colman play in The Favourite, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress?

Queen Anne is fought over by two cousins who each want to be her court favourite. The film earned ten Oscar nominations, tied for the most of any film that year.

Which director won his first competitive Oscar for co-writing the Ku Klux Klan drama BlacKkKlansman?

Spike Lee had received an Academy Honorary Award in 2015. His film follows Ron Stallworth, hired in 1972 as the first Black officer in the Colorado Springs Police Department.

Which ABBA song does Cher's character Ruby sing with a long-lost lover in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again?

Fernando is also the name of the lover, a hotel manager played by Andy García whom Ruby had not seen since 1959.

Which black-and-white drama by Alfonso Cuarón follows a live-in housekeeper in early-1970s Mexico City?

Roma is named after Colonia Roma, the neighbourhood where the director grew up. It was filmed in colour and converted afterwards, and became the first Mexican winner of the foreign-language Oscar.

Which Yosemite rock wall does Alex Honnold climb without ropes in the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo?

El Capitan rises about 3,000 feet, and nobody had free-soloed it before. Honnold chose a route called Freerider, which he had already climbed several times with protective equipment.

Which former Rocky Balboa opponent's son steps into the ring against Adonis Creed in Creed II?

Ivan Drago, played once more by Dolph Lundgren, is the Soviet fighter who killed Adonis's father Apollo during a bout in 1985. His son Viktor is the new rival.

Which masked villain in Incredibles 2 turns out to be the technological genius Evelyn Deavor?

Screenslaver is a hacker who hypnotises people through whatever screen they are watching. A mind-controlled pizza delivery driver serves as her decoy.

Which Oscar winner voiced the 1930s hero Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse?

Nicolas Cage had once been considered for a villain's role in the first big-screen Spider-Man film, back in 2002. His Oscar came for Leaving Las Vegas.

Which Oscar-winning director took over Solo: A Star Wars Story after Lucasfilm fired the first two directors?

Ron Howard was hired in June 2017 after creative differences ended the first pair's time on the film. He had won his directing Oscar for A Beautiful Mind.

Which South Korean city is the setting for a car chase in Black Panther that involved 150 cars?

Busan hosted location filming that began at the Jagalchi Fish Market. In the story, the heroes travel there because Klaue plans to sell a stolen artifact to a CIA agent.

Which actress won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Barry Jenkins's drama If Beale Street Could Talk?

Regina King also took the Golden Globe for the role. The film, adapted from a 1974 James Baldwin novel, was its director's follow-up to Moonlight.

Which filmmaker made his feature debut with the horror film Hereditary, then followed it with Midsommar?

Ari Aster conceived the film as primarily a family drama, and A24 backed it on the strength of his short films. It earned more than eight times its $10 million budget.

Which Hirokazu Kore-eda drama about a makeshift family living in poverty in Tokyo won the 2018 Palme d'Or?

Shoplifters has a Japanese title that translates literally as Shoplifting Family. Its director wrote the script after reading reports on poverty and petty theft in Japan.

Which surreal comedy starring LaKeith Stanfield marked the directing debut of musician Boots Riley?

Sorry to Bother You follows a telemarketer who gets ahead by changing his voice. Riley finished the script in 2012 and, with no means to film it then, recorded an album of the same title with his band The Coup.

Which comedian made his filmmaking debut as writer and director of Eighth Grade?

Bo Burnham drew on his own anxiety and onstage panic attacks. When the film was rated R, free all-ages screenings were arranged in every US state so teenagers could see it.

Which John Cho thriller about a missing daughter unfolds almost entirely on computer screens and smartphones?

Searching grew out of an idea for an eight-minute short. Cho at first turned the part down, doubting that a film seen wholly through screens could work.

Which Deadpool 2 mercenary, played by Zazie Beetz, has the mutant ability to manipulate luck?

Domino is one of only two X-Force members to survive the team's parachute jump, alongside Deadpool himself.