147 Fun Facts About 1990s Movies

James Cameron's Titanic tied which 1959 epic's record for most Academy Awards won, a mark The Return of the King later matched?

Ben-Hur won 11 Oscars in 1960, a haul that stood alone for 38 years; MGM, in deep financial trouble, had staked a record budget of about $15 million on the epic, and its success rescued the studio.

In the Wachowskis' 1999 film, which colour pill does Neo swallow to learn the truth about the simulation?

Neo swallows the red pill Morpheus offers; the blue pill would have returned him to his old life, while the red one wakes him in the real world. 'Red pill' became lasting slang.

John Hammond's dinosaur theme park in Jurassic Park (1993) sits on which fictional island?

Isla Nublar, off Costa Rica, was filmed on Kauai, where Hurricane Iniki struck on the last scheduled day of the shoot; footage of the storm battering the coast made it into the finished film.

Which Tom Hanks film features the famous line 'Life was like a box of chocolates'?

Forrest Gump: the line opens the life story Forrest tells strangers from a bus-stop bench in Savannah; the role won Tom Hanks his second Best Actor Oscar in a row, a year after Philadelphia.

Who directed Pulp Fiction (1994)?

Quentin Tarantino wrote and directed Pulp Fiction on a modest budget; its success revived John Travolta's career and earned him a Best Actor nomination as hitman Vincent Vega.

Which sport does Tom Hanks's Alabama everyman master while recovering from a war wound?

Ping-pong: he picks up table tennis while his Vietnam wound heals, then tours China with the US team, a nod to 1971 'ping-pong diplomacy'; the fame lands him on The Dick Cavett Show beside John Lennon.

In Toy Story (1995), what is the name of the toy cowboy who fears being replaced?

Woody began as a ventriloquist's dummy, and early story reels made him so unpleasant that Tom Hanks, recording his lines, called the character a 'jerk'; production was halted while Pixar rewrote the script.

Which actor played the lead role of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption (1994)?

Tim Robbins plays Andy Dufresne in a film that flopped on release, taking $16 million against a $25 million budget, before seven Oscar nominations and word of mouth made it the top video rental of 1995.

James Cameron's 1997 shipwreck epic held its world premiere at a film festival in which Asian capital?

Tokyo: the film premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival on November 1, 1997, seven weeks before it reached US cinemas, having missed the July 2 summer release both studios had planned.

In Home Alone (1990), what is the name of the boy left behind by his family?

Kevin McCallister went to Macaulay Culkin at the suggestion of writer John Hughes, who had worked with him on Uncle Buck (1989); the family overlooks Kevin in the rush to catch a Christmas flight to Paris.

Who directed Schindler's List (1993)?

Steven Spielberg shot it largely in black and white in Kraków and refused a salary, calling any fee 'blood money'.

In Fight Club (1999), which character lays down the rule 'You do not talk about Fight Club'?

Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt, sets the rules; Pitt had pieces of his front teeth chipped off by a dentist so the character would not look too perfect, and had them restored after filming.

In Good Will Hunting (1997), who plays the mathematics janitor Will Hunting?

Matt Damon plays Will Hunting, and began the script as a student playwriting assignment before finishing it with Ben Affleck; the pair won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Which actress starred as Cher Horowitz in Clueless (1995)?

Alicia Silverstone: Amy Heckerling cast her after seeing her in Aerosmith's 'Cryin'' video; Clueless's success landed the 18-year-old a multi-picture deal with Columbia TriStar.

Who plays The Dude in The Big Lebowski (1998)?

Jeff Bridges raided his own closet for the Dude's wardrobe, and the Coens say the only direction he ever asked for was whether the Dude had 'burned one' before the scene.

Which child actor delivers the 1999 line 'I see dead people'?

Haley Joel Osment, then 11, earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for the role; his character whispers the line to a child psychologist who has not yet realised that he is one of the dead.

What color does the briefcase in Pulp Fiction glow when opened?

Orange: a hidden bulb inside the case produced the glow on set, widely read as a nod to Kiss Me Deadly (1955), whose glowing briefcase holds an atomic device.

Which 1999 film popularized the bullet time visual effect?

The Matrix made bullet time famous, and the term later attached to the slow-motion gameplay of the 2001 video game Max Payne.

In James Cameron's 1997 epic, what is the surname of Leonardo DiCaprio's penniless artist Jack?

Jack Dawson is an orphan from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, who wins two third-class tickets in a dockside poker game and boards with his friend Fabrizio.

Robin Williams won his only Academy Award in 1998 for playing a therapist named what?

Sean Maguire, the South Boston therapist in Good Will Hunting, won Robin Williams the Best Supporting Actor Oscar; Williams improvised the film's last line, a rueful complaint that Will has stolen his line.

Which actor played factory owner Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List (1993)?

Liam Neeson won the part after the director saw him on Broadway in Anna Christie; the film took seven Oscars, though Neeson lost Best Actor to Tom Hanks in Philadelphia.

Which Titanic (1997) song won an Oscar?

My Heart Will Go On: James Cameron did not want a pop song over the credits, but came round after composer James Horner played him Céline Dion's demo; it beat How Do I Live and Go the Distance to the Oscar.

Which James Bond star turned down the role of Hannibal Lecter before Anthony Hopkins was cast?

Sean Connery turned the part down; Anthony Hopkins was then cast on the strength of The Elephant Man, and on hearing the title The Silence of the Lambs he asked his agent whether it was a children's story.

In Jurassic Park (1993), which dinosaurs, shown far larger than the real animal, stalk the children Tim and Lex through the kitchen?

Velociraptor: the real animal was about the size of a turkey; the film's man-sized raptors follow Michael Crichton's novel, which modelled them on the larger Deinonychus.

Who directed Fight Club (1999)?

David Fincher directed Fight Club, based on Chuck Palahniuk's 1996 novel. Though it underperformed at the box office, it became a massive cult classic on home video.

Which Disney film features the Oscar-winning duet A Whole New World?

Aladdin (1992): the Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle single of 'A Whole New World' reached number 1 in the US, ending the record 14-week run of Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You'.

In The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne spends 19 years tunnelling out of his cell with what smuggled tool?

A rock hammer, procured by a fellow inmate along with a Rita Hayworth poster; the warden finds the tunnel by throwing a stone through a Raquel Welch poster.

Who took the Best Actress Oscar for Shakespeare in Love (1998)?

Gwyneth Paltrow won Best Actress as Viola de Lesseps; Judi Dench won Supporting Actress for about eight minutes on screen as Elizabeth I, and the film beat Saving Private Ryan to Best Picture.

The Lion King (1994) borrows its plot from which Shakespeare play?

Hamlet: like the Danish prince, Simba is visited by his father's ghost and must face a murderous uncle, but Disney gives him the happy ending Shakespeare's hero never gets.

Who pins the Medal of Honor on Tom Hanks's Alabama everyman in the 1994 Best Picture?

Lyndon B. Johnson, via doctored archival footage, pins the Medal of Honor on the hero, who then shows the president his buttock wound; Nixon later puts him up at the Watergate, where he unwittingly reports the break-in.

Which film won Best Picture at the 69th Academy Awards, held in 1997?

The English Patient won nine Oscars, the most since The Last Emperor, yet was nearly never made: 20th Century Fox pulled out weeks before filming in a row over casting, and Miramax stepped in.

Who played the liquid-metal T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)?

Robert Patrick's lean, relentless T-1000 was cast to contrast with Schwarzenegger's bulky T-800; the shape-shifting villain was realised with Industrial Light & Magic's pioneering CGI morphing effects.

Who composed the score for Schindler's List, with violin solos by Itzhak Perlman?

John Williams was so moved by the rough cut that he told the director the film needed a better composer; the reply was, 'I know, but they're all dead.'

In Good Will Hunting, at which university does Will work as a janitor?

MIT: Will mops floors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Professor Gerald Lambeau tracks him down after Will anonymously solves a problem left on a hallway blackboard.

Which 1999 film stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist treating a frightened boy named Cole?

The Sixth Sense, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, earned six Oscar nominations including Best Picture; the twist about Willis's Dr Malcolm Crowe is set up in the very first scene.

What do Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega twist to at Jack Rabbit Slim's in Pulp Fiction?

You Never Can Tell, Chuck Berry's 1964 song, drives the twist contest; the director credits a dance scene in Jean-Luc Godard's Bande à part as its inspiration, though it is often read as a nod to Saturday Night Fever.

In Titanic (1997), treasure hunter Brock Lovett is searching the wreck for what necklace?

The Heart of the Ocean, a blue diamond necklace; instead his team pulls up a safe holding a sketch of a young woman wearing it, which brings the elderly Rose (Gloria Stuart) forward to tell her story.

Which actor provided the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (1995)?

Tim Allen was offered Buzz Lightyear while starring in Home Improvement, after Billy Crystal turned the part down, a decision Crystal later said he regretted.

What job does the unnamed narrator hold in Fight Club (1999)?

A car recall coordinator: he flies between crash sites applying a cost formula to decide whether a recall is cheaper than settling lawsuits; insomnia sends him to a doctor who points him to a testicular cancer support group.

In which 1996 film does Cuba Gooding Jr.'s football star make his agent shout 'Show me the money!'?

Jerry Maguire: Cameron Crowe modelled the agent on Leigh Steinberg, who served as the film's technical consultant; Cuba Gooding Jr. won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar as Rod Tidwell.

What is the name of Disney princess Jasmine's pet tiger?

Rajah, Jasmine's protective tiger, sends the arrogant suitor Prince Achmed storming out of the palace with a bite taken from his trousers; Frank Welker supplied his growls.

Keanu Reeves's hacker Neo was born under what name?

Thomas Anderson is Neo's given name, a computer programmer by day and hacker by night; Will Smith turned the role down to make Wild Wild West.

In which 1992 courtroom drama does Jack Nicholson's Colonel Jessep bark 'You can't handle the truth'?

A Few Good Men began as a play Aaron Sorkin wrote largely on cocktail napkins while bartending at Broadway's Palace Theatre, after a phone call from his sister gave him the story.

What is the name of the kingdom where The Lion King takes place?

The Pride Lands, ruled from Pride Rock by Mufasa; early drafts were titled King of the Jungle, a name dropped because the story unfolds on the savannah, not in a jungle.

Which 1992 debut ends with Harvey Keitel, Lawrence Tierney and Chris Penn in a Mexican standoff?

Reservoir Dogs was planned as a tiny black-and-white shoot with friends until Harvey Keitel read the script and signed on as co-producer, which helped raise a proper budget.

In which 1991 film does Keanu Reeves's FBI agent go undercover with a gang of surfers?

Point Break: Johnny Utah, an ex-Ohio State quarterback, chases the 'Ex-Presidents', surfers who rob banks in rubber masks of former US presidents; Kathryn Bigelow directed, with then-husband James Cameron as executive producer.

Clueless (1995) transplants which Jane Austen novel to Beverly Hills?

Emma: Cher Horowitz is Austen's 1815 matchmaker Emma Woodhouse, with Paul Rudd's Josh standing in for Mr Knightley; Amy Heckerling first pitched the idea to Fox as a TV pilot about the popular kids.

Which 1995 film set a then-record by winning seven Golden Raspberry (Razzie) Awards in a single year?

Showgirls took seven Razzies in 1996, and Paul Verhoeven turned up in person to collect Worst Director, a first; its 13 nominations set a record, and in 2000 it added Worst Picture of the Decade.

Which 1990 mob film adapts Nicholas Pileggi's book Wiseguy?

Goodfellas: Martin Scorsese dropped the book's title because Brian De Palma's comedy Wise Guys and the TV series Wiseguy had just used it.

Which 1995 epic's writer, Randall Wallace, shares its Scottish hero's surname?

Braveheart: Randall Wallace found the story on a trip to Scotland to explore his own roots, and drew on Blind Harry's 15th-century poem about William Wallace; the script earned him an Oscar nomination.

In Se7en (1995), what name is the serial killer known by?

John Doe, played by Kevin Spacey, who asked for his name to be kept off the marketing and opening credits to protect the surprise; first choice Ned Beatty declined, calling the script the most evil thing he had ever read.

Which 1995 thriller hinges on the identity of Keyser Söze?

The Usual Suspects: police pull 27 bodies from a burned ship, and con man Verbal Kint spins the Söze legend under interrogation; the role won Kevin Spacey the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Who won an Oscar as pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson in Fargo (1996)?

Frances McDormand won Best Actress as Marge, the seven-months-pregnant police chief of Brainerd; none of the film was shot in Fargo, though the city's visitors bureau displays its wood chipper.

In Speed (1994), the bus bomb arms itself and then detonates below what speed?

50 mph: Howard Payne's bomb arms once the bus passes 50 and explodes if it drops below; Dennis Hopper's bomber is a retired police officer, and the bus is kept moving through Los Angeles freeways and onto an airport runway.

In Twister (1996), what do the storm chasers call their sensor-packed research device?

Dorothy, named for The Wizard of Oz heroine, was inspired by TOTO, a real instrument barrel that researchers tried to set in the path of tornadoes in the 1980s; it releases hundreds of sensors into the funnel.

In Groundhog Day, which song wakes Phil every morning?

I Got You Babe by Sonny & Cher greets Phil each time the day restarts; the film was shot almost entirely in Woodstock, Illinois, standing in for Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) won its only Academy Award in which category?

Best Makeup, for the latex transformation by Greg Cannom, Ve Neill and Yolanda Toussieng; Robin Williams picked the nanny's surname from a newspaper headline in the film and won a Golden Globe for the role.

The Omaha Beach landing in Saving Private Ryan (1998) was filmed on Curracloe Beach in which country?

Ireland: Curracloe Beach in County Wexford was chosen for its resemblance to the Normandy shore, and members of the Irish Army Reserve played many of the soldiers storming it.

The Truman Show (1998) filmed its too-perfect town of Seahaven in a real planned community in which state?

Florida: Seaside, a New Urbanist town on the Panhandle, played Seahaven; Andrew Niccol's original script was a science-fiction thriller set in New York City before the story moved into the sun.

Scream (1996) is set in which fictional California town?

Woodsboro, the fictional California town terrorised by Ghostface; a TV report on the Gainesville Ripper murders inspired Kevin Williamson to write a script satirising the slasher clichés Wes Craven had helped create.

Which animated film was the first to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar?

Beauty and the Beast premiered as an unfinished work in progress at the New York Film Festival, then lost Best Picture to The Silence of the Lambs; no animated film was nominated again until Up.

What is the name of Whoopi Goldberg's psychic in Ghost (1990)?

Oda Mae Brown, the con-artist medium who turns out to be genuine, won Whoopi Goldberg the Best Supporting Actress Oscar; Ghost was 1990's highest-grossing film worldwide.

Which film's script was first titled 3000, an escort's fee?

Pretty Woman: J. F. Lawton's script 3000 was a dark cautionary tale about prostitution in Los Angeles; the studio reworked it into a romantic comedy with a happy ending.

Much of the dialogue in Dances with Wolves (1990) is spoken in which language?

Lakota: Doris Leader Charge of Sinte Gleska University translated the script and coached the cast; in Michael Blake's novel the tribe was Comanche, but the film moved the story to the Lakota.

Unforgiven (1992) closes with a dedication to which two directors?

Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, Eastwood's mentors: Leone directed him in the Dollars trilogy and Siegel in Dirty Harry; David Webb Peoples's script had circulated since 1976 as The Cut-Whore Killings.

What car do the heroines of Thelma & Louise (1991) drive across the Southwest?

A 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible, Louise's car, which the two drive off the rim of the Grand Canyon in the final shot; Callie Khouri's screenplay won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

In Basic Instinct (1992), what weapon kills rock star Johnny Boz in the opening scene?

An ice pick, stabbed into the tied-up Johnny Boz during sex, the same weapon used in a novel by Sharon Stone's Catherine Tramell; Stone was cast only after several bigger names passed on the part.

In The Bodyguard (1992), Frank Farmer is a former Secret Service agent who served on which president's detail?

Ronald Reagan: Frank guarded both Carter and Reagan before going private, and is hired after a bomb goes off in singer Rachel Marron's dressing room; Whitney Houston's soundtrack sold over 45 million copies.

Who won an Oscar as Marshal Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive?

Tommy Lee Jones won as Gerard, who answers Kimble's plea that he did not kill his wife with 'I don't care'; Kimble's own hunt leads to Provasic, a drug whose liver damage a colleague covered up.

Who wrote and sang 'Streets of Philadelphia', the Oscar-winning song from Philadelphia (1993)?

Bruce Springsteen wrote 'Streets of Philadelphia' at Jonathan Demme's request; Neil Young's 'Philadelphia' was nominated from the same film, and Tom Hanks won Best Actor the same night.

Trainspotting (1996) follows Mark Renton and his heroin-addicted friends in which Scottish city?

Edinburgh: Irvine Welsh set his 1993 novel in the port district of Leith, yet almost all of Danny Boyle's film was shot in Glasgow; only the opening chase was filmed in Edinburgh itself.

In Mission: Impossible (1996), the IMF team is sent to which city to protect the NOC list?

Prague: the team is sent to stop a traitor at the American embassy from stealing the NOC list, a record of deep-cover agents; shooting in the Czech capital was then a rarity for Hollywood.

In Space Jam (1996), the aliens want the Looney Tunes as attractions for which theme park?

Moron Mountain, the failing theme park run by Mr Swackhammer (Danny DeVito); the Nerdlucks steal the talent of five NBA players, including Charles Barkley and Muggsy Bogues, to bulk up into the Monstars.

Who directed the 1997 face-swapping thriller Face/Off?

John Woo directed Face/Off, his third Hollywood film; Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were among the pairings considered before John Travolta and Nicolas Cage were cast.

Which 1997 film charts the rise of Dirk Diggler?

Boogie Nights stars Mark Wahlberg as Dirk; its director expanded it from The Dirk Diggler Story, a mockumentary short he had made while still in high school.

The asteroid in Armageddon (1998) is described as the size of which US state?

Texas: NASA learns the rock is 'the size of Texas', so it sends oil drillers to land on it and bury a nuclear bomb; Armageddon became 1998's highest-grossing film worldwide.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) was shot in the woods of which US state?

Maryland: the three actors improvised their dialogue through an eight-day shoot along Seneca Creek, and the film grossed about $248 million worldwide after Artisan bought it at Sundance.

In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon wagers Anakin's freedom on the outcome of what?

The Boonta Eve podrace, which Anakin wins in a pod he built himself; the wager also covers the hyperdrive part the stranded Jedi need, since the junk dealer Watto refuses Republic credits.

Which stapler maker added a red model to its range after Milton's painted one in Office Space (1999) caught on?

Swingline had no red stapler at the time: Milton's was painted for the film, and the company added one to its line afterwards. Mike Judge built the movie out of his own Milton cartoon shorts.

10 Things I Hate About You (1999) is loosely based on which Shakespeare comedy?

The Taming of the Shrew: Kat and Bianca Stratford stand in for Katherina and Bianca Minola, and the school is named Padua after the play's setting; filming took place in Tacoma and Seattle.

In Dumb and Dumber (1994), Lloyd and Harry drive a briefcase to which Colorado town?

Aspen, where Mary Swanson is flying when she leaves the briefcase at the airport; Lloyd and Harry drive it across the country from Providence, unaware it was left there as ransom money.

In The Mask (1994), a psychiatrist suggests the mask was made by which Norse god?

Loki, the Norse trickster god, is Dr Neuman's guess; the author of The Masks We Wear also works out that its powers only switch on at night, and Stanley's dog Milo later puts it on himself.

Which actress made her feature debut as Mathilda in Léon: The Professional?

Natalie Portman debuted as Mathilda, taken in by her hitman neighbour Léon after corrupt DEA agents murder her family; he calls himself a 'cleaner' and works for a mafioso in Little Italy.

Babe (1995) adapts which Dick King-Smith novel?

The Sheep-Pig (1983), published in the US as Babe: The Gallant Pig; Babe arrives at Hoggett's farm as a guess-the-weight prize from a country fair, then sets his heart on doing the work of the farm's dogs.

Which actor plays rogue agent 006, Alec Trevelyan, in GoldenEye (1995)?

Sean Bean plays 006, who fakes his death at a Soviet weapons lab in Arkhangelsk in the opening and resurfaces nine years later as the crime boss Janus; it was Pierce Brosnan's first Bond film.

Which horror legend plays the Inventor in Edward Scissorhands (1990)?

Vincent Price plays the Inventor, who dies before he can give Edward real hands; Burton, a lifelong Price fan, had already cast him to narrate his 1982 short Vincent.

In Misery (1990), what does Annie Wilkes use to break Paul Sheldon's ankles?

A sledgehammer, in the hobbling scene; in Stephen King's novel Annie goes further and cuts off one of his feet with an axe, and Kathy Bates won the 1991 Best Actress Oscar for the role.

Who plays Tinker Bell in Hook (1991)?

Julia Roberts plays Tinker Bell opposite Robin Williams's grown-up Peter Banning and Dustin Hoffman's Hook; the film is pitched as a sequel to J. M. Barrie's 1911 novel Peter and Wendy, with Maggie Smith as Granny Wendy.

Which Boyz n the Hood director became, at 24, the youngest person ever nominated for the Best Director Oscar?

John Singleton was 24 and also the first African American nominated for the award; he had first sketched the film in 1986 as part of his application to film school.

In My Cousin Vinny (1992), the cooking time of which food breaks a witness's timeline?

Grits: Vinny asks how a witness cooked them in five minutes when properly made grits take twenty, undermining the timeline; Marisa Tomei won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar as his fiancée Mona Lisa Vito.

Tim Burton produced The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), but which stop-motion specialist directed it?

Henry Selick directed; Tim Burton, who devised the story and characters, was committed to Batman Returns and did not want to face what he called the painstakingly slow process of stop motion.

With The Piano (1993), Jane Campion became the first woman to win which prize?

The Palme d'Or at Cannes, shared with Farewell My Concubine; eleven-year-old Anna Paquin won Best Supporting Actress, and Holly Hunter took Best Actress for a role with almost no spoken lines.

Who voiced Captain John Smith in Disney's Pocahontas (1995)?

Mel Gibson voiced John Smith and sang his own parts; Irene Bedard spoke for Pocahontas with Judy Kuhn singing, and Christian Bale was also in the cast as the young settler Thomas.

Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996) relocates the feuding families to where?

Verona Beach, a sun-bleached, gun-toting stand-in shot largely in Mexico City and Veracruz; the Capulets and Montagues become rival business empires, and DiCaprio won Berlin's Silver Bear for Best Actor.

Which 1962 Cape Fear star's cameo in the 1991 remake was his final theatrical role?

Gregory Peck, Sam Bowden in 1962, plays Max Cady's lawyer in the remake, his last theatrical film; Robert Mitchum and Martin Balsam also return, and both films stem from John D. MacDonald's 1957 novel The Executioners.

In Men in Black, what does the Neuralyzer's flash do to witnesses?

Erases their memories: one flash wipes what witnesses saw, which is why agents wear dark glasses; the film turned the dark, bleak tone of Lowell Cunningham's 1990 comic into comedy.

In Batman Returns (1992), which actor plays the corrupt tycoon Max Shreck?

Christopher Walken plays Shreck, a character named after Max Schreck, star of Nosferatu (1922); pushing his secretary Selina Kyle from a window is what turns her into Catwoman.

In the film The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter pairs a census taker's liver and fava beans with which wine?

Chianti was a change made for the screen. In Thomas Harris's novel, Lecter washes the same meal down with "a big Amarone".

Which country star wrote 'I Will Always Love You', the ballad Whitney Houston sang for The Bodyguard?

Dolly Parton wrote it in 1973 as a farewell to her mentor and business partner Porter Wagoner. Houston's cover went on to spend a then-record 14 weeks at number one in the US.

Which Disney comedy about a peewee hockey team gave its name to a real NHL franchise a year later?

The Mighty Ducks reached cinemas in 1992, and a year later Disney founded the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. New owners shortened the club's name to the Anaheim Ducks before the 2006–07 season.

In Pulp Fiction, Vincent Vega says a McDonald's Quarter Pounder goes by what name in France?

Royale with Cheese is his answer, because the metric system leaves a quarter pound meaning nothing to the French. Real French menus list the burger as the Royal Cheese.

Which Queen song do Wayne, Garth and friends headbang to in an AMC Pacer in Wayne's World?

Bohemian Rhapsody returned to the US chart because of the scene and climbed to number two. The studio had wanted a Guns N' Roses song there instead.

In Sleepless in Seattle, Annie proposes meeting Sam on Valentine's Day atop which New York landmark?

The Empire State Building deck where Sam and Annie finally meet was a replica built in a hangar on a former naval base in Seattle. The meeting place is borrowed from the 1957 romance An Affair to Remember.

Which horror author sold the rights to his Shawshank Redemption novella for $5,000 but never cashed the check?

Stephen King later framed the uncashed check and sent it back to director Frank Darabont with a note: "In case you ever need bail money. Love, Steve".

Which animated musical with a villainous Rasputin was the first feature from Fox's own animation studio?

Anastasia was directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, who had resigned from Disney in 1979 to set up on their own. Fox built their new studio in Phoenix, Arizona.

In Demolition Man, which fast-food chain is the only restaurant left in 2032 after winning the 'franchise wars'?

Taco Bell was swapped for Pizza Hut in the film's European release, because Taco Bell was little known there and PepsiCo then owned both chains. Burger King was the writers' first choice but was not interested.

Which Hollywood star, sold in the marketing as the lead of Scream (1996), is killed off in the opening scene?

Drew Barrymore was first cast as the heroine Sidney Prescott, then asked for the smaller role of Casey Becker. The marketing presented her as the lead anyway, so that her death would shock.

Which Roland Emmerich blockbuster blew up a 10-foot-wide model of the White House for its landmark scene?

Independence Day launched its marketing with a $1.3 million Super Bowl commercial. The film's success started a trend of studios using the game to unveil their blockbusters.

Cool Runnings is loosely based on which Caribbean nation's bobsled debut at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary?

Jamaica's real sled crashed on its third run and never officially finished. The team's coach, Irv Blitzer, was the last role John Candy saw released in his lifetime.

Which 1990s space drama shot its floating astronauts in real weightlessness aboard NASA's KC-135 jet?

Apollo 13 needed 612 zero-g maneuvers, because each one gave only about 23 seconds of weightlessness. NASA has always trained its own astronauts the same way.

In which comedy does Tom Hanks's manager Jimmy Dugan bark 'There's no crying in baseball!' at a tearful player?

A League of Their Own is a fictionalized account of the real All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The AFI ranked Dugan's outburst 54th among the 100 greatest movie quotes.

Which Righteous Brothers recording returned to the charts after featuring in the 1990 romance Ghost?

Unchained Melody began as the theme for Unchained, a 1955 prison film. The vocal heard in Ghost is the one Bobby Hatfield recorded a decade later, in 1965.

Which rock band scored its first US number one with 'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing' from Armageddon?

Aerosmith were only considered once Liv Tyler, the daughter of singer Steven Tyler, had been cast in the film. U2 had been asked to perform the song first.

Which rapper's 'Gangsta's Paradise', built on a Stevie Wonder song, led the soundtrack of Dangerous Minds?

Coolio kept the track free of profanity because Stevie Wonder did not want his 'Pastime Paradise' paired with it. It became the top-selling US single of 1995.

Which actor played J.D., the charming drifter who steals Louise's savings in Thelma & Louise (1991)?

Brad Pitt was first judged "too young" for the part by director Ridley Scott. He got it only after William Baldwin and then a replacement both dropped out.

Which Sonny & Cher song plays on the clock radio each time Phil Connors wakes in Groundhog Day?

I Got You Babe was chosen because it repeats so many of its own lines and is about love. Both suited a story about a man stuck reliving a single day.

Which actress played Annie, the passenger who takes the wheel of the bomb-rigged bus in Speed (1994)?

Sandra Bullock landed the part after Halle Berry declined it. Annie was first written as a paramedic, to explain how she could handle the bus.

Which actor played Ian Malcolm, the wisecracking mathematician and chaos theorist of Jurassic Park (1993)?

Jeff Goldblum changed the part simply by being cast. Screenwriter David Koepp, drawing on the choice of actor, rewrote Malcolm as a more comedic character.

Which actor, kept from the role in 1986 by his Remington Steele contract, debuted as James Bond in GoldenEye?

Pierce Brosnan had been due to succeed Roger Moore, but the TV series held him to his contract and Timothy Dalton became 007 instead. GoldenEye was his second chance at the part.

Which actor replaced Val Kilmer as the Caped Crusader in Batman & Robin, a film its director later apologized for?

George Clooney won the part after director Joel Schumacher had first been interested in William Baldwin. Twenty years on, Schumacher apologized to every fan the film had disappointed.

Which actress, a model with no acting experience, made her screen debut as Tina Carlyle in The Mask (1994)?

Cameron Diaz got her audition on the word of a costume director. Studio executives feared the comedy would fail without well-established actors, until its director talked them round.

Which comedian was paid $20 million, then a record amount, to star in The Cable Guy (1996)?

Jim Carrey stepped into a role first sold with Chris Farley attached, who dropped out over scheduling difficulties. Ben Stiller directed the black comedy.

Which comedian wrote Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and plays both the spy and his nemesis Dr. Evil?

Mike Myers first created Austin Powers as the frontman of Ming Tea, a mock 1960s rock band he started with Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs after his Saturday Night Live years.

Which actor, then relatively unknown, was cast as the factory owner Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List (1993)?

Liam Neeson was preferred to bigger names so that star quality would not overpower the character. Warren Beatty had taken part in a script reading for the role.

Which actor, who had already played the role on stage, starred as the title character of Spike Lee's Malcolm X?

Denzel Washington shares the film with his young son John David, who plays a Harlem schoolboy. John David went on to lead Lee's BlacKkKlansman in 2018.

The slobbering title dog adopted by the Newton family in the comedy Beethoven belongs to which breed?

St. Bernard hero Beethoven was written by John Hughes, who let the studio film his script only if he was credited as "Edmond Dantès". The pseudonym soon became an open secret.

In Hocus Pocus, a teenage boy accidentally resurrects the three Sanderson sisters in which Massachusetts town?

Salem and nearby Marblehead hosted two weeks of daytime filming with the main cast. The 1693 opening was shot at Pioneer Village, a recreation of the early colonial town.

The Lion King's carefree motto 'hakuna matata' means 'no worries' in which East African language?

Swahili supplies the motto, but the film's famous opening chant is in another language entirely: South African composer Lebo M sings the first lines of 'Circle of Life' in Zulu.

In Fargo (1996), Marge Gunderson discovers a kidnapper feeding his partner's body into what machine?

A wood chipper prop from the film is on show at the Fargo-Moorhead visitors bureau, along with original copies of the script. None of the film was actually shot in Fargo.

Which cocktail's popularity surged after the Dude drank it throughout The Big Lebowski (1998)?

The White Russian is the drink he calls a "Caucasian" on a number of occasions. Despite the name it has no known Russian origin: it is so called because vodka is the main ingredient.

Which Sith apprentice with a double-bladed lightsaber duels Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan at once in The Phantom Menace?

Darth Maul was played by Ray Park, a martial arts champion first hired for the stunt crew. The character's voice came from someone else, Peter Serafinowicz.

Which feared crime lord, said to have killed his own family, is unmasked at the end of The Usual Suspects?

Keyser Söze owes his name to Kayser Sume, a supervisor at the Los Angeles law firm where screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie once worked. Every character is named after someone on its staff.

Which Kevin Costner film, its costs swollen to an estimated $175 million, was then the most expensive ever made?

Waterworld could not recoup its budget at the box office, despite being the ninth highest-grossing film of 1995. Video and other later sales eventually pushed it into profit.

Which game show host, playing himself, gets into a fistfight with Adam Sandler's golfer in Happy Gilmore?

Bob Barker and Sandler shared the MTV Movie Award for Best Fight for the brawl. He was the host of The Price Is Right when the film was made.

Which 1990s crime film was the first to put Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in a scene together?

Heat was promoted on the strength of the pairing. Both actors had starred in The Godfather Part II in 1974, but its story structure never placed them in the same scene.

The Full Monty follows unemployed steelworkers turned strippers in which city in the North of England?

Sheffield hosted almost the entire shoot in April 1996. The comedy became the highest-grossing film in the UK until a shipwreck epic outsold it.

Which Italian star of Life Is Beautiful climbed over the seats in front of him on his way to collect an Oscar?

Roberto Benigni stood on the seat backs and applauded the audience before he reached the stage. He won again that night as Best Actor, only the second person to direct himself to an acting Oscar.

Which actress won an Oscar at the age of 11 for her acting debut in The Piano (1993)?

Anna Paquin became the second-youngest winner in Oscar history with that supporting role. Born in Winnipeg and raised in Wellington, she holds both New Zealand and Canadian citizenship.

Which fashion designer created the costumes for Luc Besson's science-fiction film The Fifth Element (1997)?

Jean Paul Gaultier designed each of the 900 costumes worn by extras in the Fhloston Paradise scenes, and he checked every one of them each morning.

Which director raised almost half of El Mariachi's $7,000 budget by volunteering for clinical drug testing?

Robert Rodriguez shot it for the Mexican home-video market, but Columbia Pictures liked the result and bought the American rights. The studio then spent $200,000 just on post-production.

Cruel Intentions (1999) retells which 18th-century French novel among wealthy New York high schoolers?

Les Liaisons dangereuses, by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, dates from 1782. Swoosie Kurtz links two screen versions: she is Dr. Regina Greenbaum here and was Madame de Volanges in a 1988 film.

In L.A. Confidential, Kim Basinger won an Oscar as a call girl styled to look like which 1940s film noir star?

Veronica Lake was known for her "peek-a-boo" hairstyle, which was born by accident when her long blonde hair fell over her right eye during a take.

Which Japanese director's Princess Mononoke took a national box-office record from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial?

Hayao Miyazaki's epic was dubbed into English from a script by novelist Neil Gaiman, who reworked it for American audiences. The dub still underperformed at the North American box office.

Which future action star gave the towering robot of The Iron Giant (1999) its deep, resonant voice?

Vin Diesel was hired after a plan to modulate the Giant's voice electronically was dropped. The filmmakers decided they needed a naturally deep and expressive voice to start with.

Which future director of Iron Man wrote Swingers (1996) and starred in it as struggling comedian Mike Peters?

Jon Favreau wrote the screenplay in about two weeks. The comedy became a critical and commercial hit that helped propel him, Vince Vaughn and Heather Graham to stardom.

Which actor played Gomez opposite Anjelica Huston's Morticia in The Addams Family (1991)?

Raul Julia remembered the role only from a Spanish-dubbed version of the old TV series, so he built his Gomez directly from the original cartoons drawn by Charles Addams.

Which director died six days after delivering his final cut of Eyes Wide Shut to the studio?

Stanley Kubrick had shown that cut to Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and studio executives. Some post-production resumed after his death, which led to public debate over how complete the film was.