60 Fun Facts About 2019 Movies

Which film was the highest-grossing of 2019 and held the all-time box-office record from 2019 to 2021?

Avengers: Endgame took the all-time record from Avatar in July 2019 and lost it in March 2021, when a re-release of Avatar in China added the few million dollars it needed to go back on top.

Joker grossed over $1 billion worldwide in 2019, a first for films with which American rating?

R means under-17s need an adult with them, which shrinks the audience, yet Joker passed $1 billion just over a month after opening, something no R-rated film had done before.

Which festival prize did Joker win in September 2019, a month before it reached cinemas?

The Golden Lion went to Joker from a jury chaired by Argentine director Lucrecia Martel; the film had premiered at the festival a week earlier to an eight-minute standing ovation.

Who won the Best Actor Oscar for playing Arthur Fleck in Joker?

Joaquin Phoenix lost 52 pounds to play Arthur Fleck and said the daily weigh-ins turned into an obsession; Joker's only other Oscar, from eleven nominations, went to its score.

Who directed Joker?

Todd Phillips had made his name with comedies such as Old School and The Hangover; he pitched Joker to Warner Bros. as an anti-superhero film, dark and realistic, and co-wrote it with Scott Silver.

Joker's talk-show storyline, with Robert De Niro as the host, nods to which Martin Scorsese film?

The King of Comedy. There De Niro played an obsessed would-be comic fixated on a TV host; in Joker he switches sides, a casting he confirmed was a nod to the earlier role.

Which film became the first non-English-language winner of the Best Picture Oscar?

Parasite. The thriller upset the favorite, the war epic 1917, whose Oscars that night all came in technical categories.

Who directed the 2019 Best Picture winner about the Kim and Park families?

Bong Joon-ho. Accepting Best Director, he paused to thank fellow nominee Martin Scorsese, and the audience rose to give Scorsese a standing ovation.

The 2019 Palme d'Or winner was the first film from which country to take the prize?

South Korea. Jury president Alejandro González Iñárritu told the director that the whole jury had agreed, a rare unanimous vote for the festival's top prize.

In the 2019 Best Picture winner, the Kims exploit the housekeeper's allergy to which fruit?

Peaches. The director gave the housekeeper a college friend's real allergy, and the Kims use it to persuade her employer that she has tuberculosis; the film won four Oscars.

In the 2019 Best Picture winner, the Kim family lives in what kind of home?

A semi-basement flat. Known as banjiha, such homes began as emergency bunkers built under apartment blocks in the 1970s and were only later rented out as cheap housing.

Brad Pitt won his first acting Oscar for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood playing whom?

Cliff Booth. Pitt already had an Oscar at home, but as a producer: his company made 12 Years a Slave, the Best Picture winner six years earlier.

In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Rick Dalton fends off an intruder with which prop?

Flamethrower. Earlier the film shows him firing the same weapon at Nazis in his war movie The 14 Fists of McCluskey, a setup for an ending that rewrites Hollywood history.

Margot Robbie played which real-life actress in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?

Sharon Tate. Her sister Debra first opposed the film, then read the script, visited the set and lent Robbie some of Sharon's own jewelry to wear on screen.

In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Brad Pitt's stuntman loses work after an on-set fight with whom?

Bruce Lee. His daughter Shannon Lee called the scene disheartening, saying it turned her father into an arrogant blowhard who was full of hot air.

Who directed the World War I film 1917?

Sam Mendes. His grandfather Alfred carried messages for the British on the Western Front and, late in life, told him of one run across no man's land that inspired the film.

In the film 1917, which actor plays General Erinmore, who sends the young soldiers on their mission?

Colin Firth. He gives the order in the opening minutes of a film built to look like one unbroken take, though it hides a fade to black when Schofield is knocked out.

Which cinematographer won an Oscar for 1917?

Roger Deakins. He had lost on 13 Oscar nominations before Blade Runner 2049 finally won him one, and 1917 quickly brought him a second.

In the film 1917, young British soldiers cross no man's land to deliver a message that will do what?

Call off a doomed attack. The German retreat is really a planned withdrawal to stronger lines, and 1,600 men, including one messenger's brother, are about to charge the guns.

In Frozen 2, Elsa and Anna travel to what place to learn the origin of Elsa's powers?

An enchanted forest. Its Northuldra people were inspired by the Sámi, so the studio signed an agreement with Sámi parliaments and worked with a team of Sámi experts on the depiction.

In Toy Story 4, which new toy does Bonnie make herself at kindergarten orientation?

Forky. Made from a spork and craft scraps, he is sure he is trash rather than a toy, so Woody spends much of the film stopping him from throwing himself away.

Which actor voiced Duke Caboom, Toy Story 4's Canadian stuntman toy?

Keanu Reeves. His 1970s daredevil toy is haunted by never managing the stunts in his own TV commercial, in a Josh Cooley film that won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

Who directed the photorealistic 2019 remake of The Lion King?

Jon Favreau. He shot it inside a virtual-reality set as if it were live action, yet only the opening sunrise is a real photograph; all the rest was made on a computer.

Beyoncé wrote and performed which new song for the 2019 Lion King?

Spirit. Beyoncé delivered it at the last moment for the end credits, but composer Hans Zimmer moved it into the film itself, over Simba's return home.

Which actor reprised his voice role from the 1994 Lion King in the 2019 remake?

James Earl Jones. Back as Mufasa 25 years on, he sounded different, and the director felt the changed voice suited a king who had ruled for a long time.

In Captain Marvel, set in 1995, Carol Danvers crash-lands in which chain's store?

Blockbuster. The 1990s setting also meant digitally de-aging Samuel L. Jackson to play a younger, two-eyed Nick Fury.

In Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers is captured by Talos, commander of which shape-shifting aliens?

Skrulls. The film flips their villainous comic-book image: Talos and his people turn out to be refugees on the run from the Kree.

Who played Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home?

Jake Gyllenhaal. His Mysterio first appears as a heroic mentor to Peter, then is exposed as a con man who has been staging the monster battles himself.

In Far From Home, an Elemental first attacks Peter's class in which city?

Venice. The crew built a massive Venice set on a studio backlot outside London for the battle, as well as filming on location.

In The Rise of Skywalker, the resurrected Emperor Palpatine hides on which planet?

Exegol. One of the oldest Sith worlds, it lies hidden deep in the Unknown Regions, so simply finding the Emperor's lair drives much of the film's plot.

Daniel Craig played which detective in Knives Out?

Benoit Blanc. Craig was free to take the part only because his next Bond film, No Time to Die, was pushed back, suddenly opening a window in his schedule.

In Knives Out, what happens to nurse Marta whenever she tells a lie?

She vomits. The reflex makes her a walking lie detector, which is why the detective keeps her at his side as the key to solving the case.

In Jordan Peele's Us, what are the murderous doppelgängers called?

The Tethered. Red says they were created to control the people above and then abandoned underground; the film never states outright who made them.

In Us, young Adelaide first meets her double at a boardwalk funhouse in which California town?

Santa Cruz. Decades later her husband talks her into a family day at the same beach, a return she dreads, and the doubles turn up in their driveway that night.

Declared "excommunicado", John Wick flees New York for which city in Chapter 3?

Casablanca. There he calls in a marker with Sofia, played by Halle Berry, who helps reluctantly; when her old boss shoots one of her dogs, the pair must fight their way out.

Who directed the 2019 live-action Aladdin starring Will Smith as the Genie?

Guy Ritchie. It was an unlikely match: he had made his name with gritty British crime capers like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.

In Jojo Rabbit, director Taika Waititi plays which imaginary friend?

Adolf Hitler. The buffoonish imaginary friend appears nowhere in the novel the film adapts, a straight drama; Waititi added him when he rewrote his first draft with jokes.

Jojo Rabbit won the People's Choice Award at which film festival?

Toronto. Its audience prize is watched as an Oscar barometer: the previous year's winner, Green Book, and 2013's, 12 Years a Slave, both went on to win Best Picture.

Who wrote and directed the 2019 adaptation of Little Women?

Greta Gerwig. Sony first hired her in 2016 only to write the script; she was named director two years later, after Lady Bird had made her an Oscar-nominated filmmaker.

Who won Best Supporting Actress for playing a divorce lawyer in Marriage Story?

Laura Dern. She won the day before her 53rd birthday, succeeding where her parents, the Oscar-nominated actors Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern, never had.

Who played Jimmy Hoffa in Martin Scorsese's The Irishman?

Al Pacino. It was the first time Scorsese had directed him: the two met in 1970 and even tried to make a film together in the 1980s, but could not get it financed.

The Irishman was based on a 2004 book by Charles Brandt with what title?

I Heard You Paint Houses. By the hitman's own account those were Jimmy Hoffa's first words to him on the phone: mob code for contract killing, the paint being blood on the walls.

Ford v Ferrari was released in some European countries under what title?

Le Mans '66. The title names the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, where Ken Miles slowed on Ford's orders so its cars could finish together and lost the win on a technicality.

Which actor played Elton John in Rocketman?

Taron Egerton. He did all his own singing for the film, and his duet with Elton John, (I'm Gonna) Love Me Again, won the Oscar for Best Original Song.

In Ari Aster's Midsommar, the Hårga commune's festival, held once every 90 years, takes place in which country?

Sweden. Though set in rural Hälsingland, the film was shot mostly on the outskirts of Budapest, Hungary, chiefly because the production could not afford to film in Sweden itself.

Booksmart marked the feature directing debut of which actress?

Olivia Wilde. To build their on-screen friendship she had stars Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever move in together, and they lived as roommates for ten weeks.

In Uncut Gems, which NBA star, playing himself, becomes obsessed with a rare black opal from Ethiopia?

Kevin Garnett. Earlier versions of the script were built around Amar'e Stoudemire and then Kobe Bryant before the Safdie brothers landed Garnett and reworked the story for him.

In Shazam!, teenager Billy Batson becomes a superhero played by which actor?

Zachary Levi. Dwayne Johnson had long been attached to the film as the villain Black Adam, but the character was spun off into a movie of his own before shooting began.

Who voiced the title character in Pokémon Detective Pikachu?

Ryan Reynolds. He supplied the motion capture as well as the voice, for a wisecracking Pikachu whose words only one human in the story can understand.

Renée Zellweger won the 2020 Best Actress Oscar for playing which entertainer?

Judy Garland. Garland herself never won a competitive Oscar, only a special juvenile award, a gap Zellweger pointed out as she accepted hers.

Which member of the Cats film cast co-wrote its new song Beautiful Ghosts with Andrew Lloyd Webber?

Taylor Swift. She plays Bombalurina, yet the song is not hers on screen: Francesca Hayward's Victoria sings it, and Swift's own version plays over the end credits.

Klaus, a Santa Claus origin story, was the first animated Oscar nominee from which company?

Netflix. Its director shopped the hand-drawn film around for years and kept hearing it was too risky before the streamer took it on as its first original animated feature.

In Hustlers, Jennifer Lopez's crew of strippers drugs and fleeces rich clients who mostly work where?

On Wall Street. The film follows a 2015 New York magazine article: when the 2008 crash dried up the dancers' income, they began drugging clients and running up their credit cards.

In Yesterday, which real pop star invites the only man who remembers the Beatles to be his opening act?

Ed Sheeran. The part was first meant for Coldplay's Chris Martin, who turned it down; in the film Sheeran loses a songwriting duel to The Long and Winding Road.

Charlize Theron played which Fox News anchor in Bombshell?

Megyn Kelly. Nicole Kidman plays fellow anchor Gretchen Carlson, but Margot Robbie's character is an invented composite; the makeup that reshaped Theron won an Oscar.

Tom Hanks plays which children's television host in a 2019 film about a cynical journalist sent to profile him?

Fred Rogers. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood grew from Tom Junod's 1998 Esquire profile, and the skeptical writer and the Mister Rogers' Neighborhood host became real friends.

Which studio became the first ever to pass $10 billion at the worldwide box office in a single year?

Walt Disney Studios. It crossed the mark in early December 2019, before its Star Wars film The Rise of Skywalker had even opened.

In the Avengers finale, Scott Lang escapes from where five years after Thanos's snap?

The Quantum Realm. Only five hours have passed for him inside it, which gives the Avengers the idea that it could be used to travel back in time.

In the Avengers finale, Tony Stark unexpectedly meets whom at Camp Lehigh in 1970?

His father, Howard. While stealing an earlier Space Stone from the army base, Tony ends up in a heart-to-heart about parenthood with his unsuspecting dad.

Who costs Nick Fury the use of his left eye in Captain Marvel?

Goose the cat. Really an alien Flerken, she scratches Fury during a belly rub, and the directors planned her as the cause of his eye patch from their first story meetings.