FILM 1960: SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

FILM 1960: SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

TRIVIA: Completing the animation for the film required up to 180 animators, the largest crew ever used by Sony Pictures Animation for a film.

It was announced shortly after Stan Lee's death, at age 95, that he had recorded a cameo for the film and that it would be his final voice-acting role. Lord and Miller felt it was important that Lee was given a bigger moment compared to previous Marvel films because he was "so integral to the spirit of this movie," and considered his role "extra meaningful" following his death.

This film was dedicated in memory of Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko, who died on July 6, 2018, while this film was finishing production. However, this was not the only dedication, as a month before the film was released, Stan Lee died on November 12, 2018. The film was dedicated to both of Spider-Man's creators.

When Miles first visits Uncle Aaron's apartment, the television is playing the television show Community (2009) (Season 2, Episode 1 "Anthropology 101"). The beginning of that episode shows Donald Glover's character Troy getting out of bed wearing Spider-Man pajamas. This was a reference to an unsuccessful 2010 online campaign to get Donald Glover a chance to audition for the lead role in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). Miles Morales co-creator Brian Michael Bendis describes that image of Glover in the Spider-Man pajamas as one of the major inspirations for the creation of the character and the character's design. Additionally, Glover appeared as another version of Aaron Davis in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), in which he makes brief reference to his nephew. Glover also voiced Miles Morales in Disney's "Ultimate Spider-Man" cartoon series.

One of the many ways the Imageworks team paid tribute to old comic books through the visual style was to imitate the imperfections of offset printing.

There are many small details in Miles' universe that set it apart from ours, such as using "PDNY" in place of "NYPD," and instead of Chance the Rapper wearing a "3" hat, he has a "4" on it (evident from a poster in Miles' room).

This was stand-up comedian John Mulaney's first theatrical film role.

With Lily Tomlin playing Aunt May, all four actresses to play her in a theatrical film have been Academy Award nominees, after Rosemary Harris, Sally Field and Marisa Tomei. Tomlin was nominated for Nashville (1975).

Daniel Pemberton followed the ambitious lead of the "Spider-Verse" animation by developing an equally intricate score. After all the musical elements had been recorded, they were recorded onto vinyl and then re-scratched into the mix. Pemberton says, "I got a DMC World Scratch champion DJ to scratch all the parts in."

Brian Michael Bendis, who created the comic book version of Miles Morales, credits three things that inspired him to make Miles African-American: his two adopted black children, Barack Obama becoming president, and Donald Glover wearing Spider-Man pajamas on an episode of the TV show "Community."

The film won an Academy Award for Best Animated Film.

FILM 1896: AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

FILM 1896: AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

TRIVIA: Tom Holland was not allowed to read the script for this movie, since he revealed too many secrets for Spider-Man Homecoming (2017). In one of the promotional videos for the movie, several of its cast members are in an interrogation room refusing to reveal any spoilers, and Holland's mouth is conspicuously taped shut.

Mark Ruffalo revealed that he was given a fake script due to his habit of accidentally spoiling past Marvel movies. He jokingly claimed in an interview that the fake script was better than the real one.

Thor confirms that "Groot" is a language that can be learned and spoken, as he took it as an elective in school on Asgard. This explains why only Rocket was originally able to understand Groot, and the other Guardians had to learn over time. This also confirms that Groot understands English (and likely other languages) but is only able to speak "Groot".

This became the fourth movie to gross over two billion dollars worldwide, after Avatar(2009), Titanic (1997), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) telling Peter Parker (Tom Holland) to cut it out with the pop culture references is quite hypocritical, as Stark often pokes fun at other characters by calling them by movie titles or character names. In Avengers Assemble (2012), Stark called Loki Reindeer Games (2000), Rock of Ages (2012), and Shakespeare in the Park(1995), he called Thor Point Break (1991), and he called Hawkeye "Legolas". In Captain America: Civil War (2016), he called Bucky The Manchurian Candidate (2004). In Spider-Man Homecoming (2017), he called Peter Parker "Crockett", as a reference to Miami Vice(1984). In this movie, he scorned Ebony Maw by calling him "Squidward", and he called Star Lord Flash Gordon (1980).

The French dub has Tony use "Voldemort" as an insult to Ebony Maw in place of "Squidward". This is likely because Squidward's French name, "Carlo", was too ordinary for audiences to get the joke, and for the joke to work. The same applies to Squidward's German name, "Thaddäus".

Rocket carrying around a stolen eye is a callback to a running gag in both Guardians of the Galaxy movies, as he has always been obsessed with prosthetic body parts.

At one point in the movie, Thanos (Josh Brolin) asks The Collector (Benicio del Toro), "Where is the stone?" The same line was said by Benicio del Toro in the opening scene of Snatch (2000).

On April 26, 2018, the day before it got a wide release, it received enough votes to take the number two spot on IMDb's Top 250 with a 9.2 out of 10, a record for a Marvel movie.

The cast features three Academy Award winners, Gwyneth Paltrow, Benicio Del Toro, and William Hurt, and seven nominees, Robert Downey, Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin, and Samuel L. Jackson.

There is a deleted scene with an appearance by Happy Hogan in the park.

When Thor tells the Guardians of the Galaxy about The Avengers, Mantis mentions the actor Kevin Bacon, Peter Quill's hero, and Thor says "He might have joined". Kevin Bacon played the Marvel supervillain Sebastian Shaw, antagonist of the X-Men, in X-Men: First Class (2011).

CAMEO: Stan Lee: The comic book writer who co-created most of the characters featured in this movie is featured here as Peter Parker's school bus driver. In addition, this movie also contains remnants from Stan's past cameos: Tony Stark uses the flip phone that Stan delivered to him in Captain America: Civil War (2016), and Thor still sports the haircut that Stan gave him in Thor: Ragnarok (2017). 

FILM 1676: SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

TRIVIA: The scene in which Peter, through sheer force of will, lifts the machinery pinning him down after The Vulture forces the structure to collapse on him, is a nod to a scene in The Amazing Spider-Man #33, in which he does the same thing. The panels in the comic are considered by many to be some of the most iconic in Spider-Man's history.

Jennifer Connelly voices the Spider-Man computer Karen. Her husband Paul Bettany had voiced the Iron Man computer J.A.R.V.I.S. She was also cast, because of her appearance in the John Hughes produced Career Opportunities (1991). "Homecoming" pays homage to Hughes' high school films, and casting Connelly was done as a tribute to his career. Connelly was also previously cast as Elizabeth "Betty" Ross in Hulk (2003).

In an interview from 2013, while promoting his upcoming film, How I Live Now (2013), Tom Holland was asked by a reporter what kind of role he might want to try next. When Holland replied, saying a project with action and humor would be of interest to him, the reporter asked if he would ever like to play a superhero. "Maybe Spider-Man, in ten years time," answered Holland. "The reboot of the reboot, if they do that."

Tom Holland is the youngest actor (at nineteen) to be cast as Peter Parker. His predecessors, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, were twenty-five and twenty-six, respectively, when they were cast.

The filmmakers have stated that this movie takes inspiration on John Hughes' comedies from the 1980s about teens and high school. One of John Hughes' films, Weird Science (1985), features a young Robert Downey, Jr. who plays Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Michelle's (Zendaya's) literary tastes contain subtle allusions to either the plot or spiders. At one point, she is seen reading "Of Human Bondage" by W. Somerset Maugham. In that novel, the protagonist is an orphan living with his aunt and uncle. Later, she is reading "Invitation To A Beheading" by Vladimir Nabokov. In that novel, a condemned man awaits his execution, accompanied only by a spider in his cell. Finally, during the Washington Monument scene, she is wearing a Sylvia Plath t-shirt. Plath wrote a poem called "Spider", and used spiders as images in other poems.

In The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Andrew Garfield can be seen wearing a Ramones shirt. In this movie, "Blitzkreig Bop" by the Ramones is featured. The Ramones famously covered the original Spider-Man theme song, as a hidden bonus track on their "¡Adios Amigos!" album. "Adios" was their final album, and their hidden bonus track "Spider-Man" was the last song on their last original album.

When the science team arrives at the hotel in Washington, D.C., one of the members comments on the size of it. Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori), comments that he has seen bigger. He may have been referring to his time spent as Zero at The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).

John Francis Daley, who co-wrote the screenplay, and Martin Starr, who played Mr. Harrington, were in the television series Freaks and Geeks (1999). Daley also appeared as F.B.I. Special Agent Sweets, on Bones (2005).

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