Mistakes in top cinema/rental movies

Oppenheimer picture Oppenheimer mistake picture

Factual error: After the successful Trinity test in 1945, people in a crowd are holding small US flags with 50 stars on them (offset rows). At the time there were only 48 states and the flag had 48 stars in even rows. The 50 star flag didn't exist until 1960, after Alaska and Hawaii were made states in 1959.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: While this is correct, an argument can be made that since the colour scenes are meant to be subjective and the black and white scenes are meant to be objective, Oppenheimer could have been unintentionally mapping the modern US flag onto this scene.

THGhost

That's a ridiculous stretch with zero evidence, not least as 48 star flags are seen in colour in other scenes. Sometimes a mistake is simply a mistake.

There is evidence, though. Nolan said so himself. Look it up. As for the mistake itself, I'm merely repeating what I've read on Twitter, and this correction was merely a suggestion. Seeing the 48 star flags in other colour scenes still doesn't disprove this theory. It is just a theory though, so no need to shoot it down so hard.

THGhost

He's said subjective in terms of the colour scenes being "first person", and maybe not strictly factual in terms of creating moments between characters and conveying emotion, but nowhere does that stretch to "one random scene happens to feature 50 star flags because Oppenheimer is mapping the modern flag onto it, when nothing like that happens anywhere else in the film."

Meh, take it up with Twitter. I just thought it was interesting, and certainly don't see it as a stretch, so I posted it here for a different point of view/perspective for others to read. It is most likely bull**** though.

THGhost

The fact that a director realized they had made a mistake and retroactively made up a deus ex machina explanation for it in no way invalidates the mistake. Nice try, Mr. Nolan but this posting is absolutely valid.

While Christopher Nolan's talked about the subjective/objective colour/black and white thing, which is entirely fair and no doubt exactly his intention, I don't think he's actually tried to "excuse" this by using that explanation, that's just other people trying to connect the two things. I'm not sure Nolan has commented on the flag issue in interviews at all.

Precisely, and I was in no way trying to invalidate the original mistake. I just found the whole theory interesting and posted it here. It is rather hilarious that a director with such attention to detail like Nolan would have missed something like this. We shall see if he gets it fixed for the streaming/physical release.

THGhost

It's not fixed in the home video version. However, the behind-the-scenes materials provide a reason for the mistake, in that putting a crowd in the scene was apparently a spur-of-the-moment decision. It's like that in their haste to bring in the crowd, the set decorators bought some modern miniature flags and put them into the scene without anyone realizing the 48/50 discrepancy.

Vader47000

Biggest mistakes of all time

Assault on Precinct 13 picture Assault on Precinct 13 mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Portnow meets with Bishop at the church, in the first closeup of Bishop's crossword puzzle the word "MUD" is the second word across at the top, and at the center of the puzzle the 4-letter word "GEAR" is written in the 5-letter answer - with the fist space left empty. However, in the next closeup of the puzzle, now the word "ETA" is the second word at the top and "MUD" is the third, and the word "GEARS" has the "S" added, with the letter "G" started properly in the first space of the answer. (00:10:15)

Super Grover

Best pictures

Revealing mistake: Soon after Dorothy slaps the Cowardly Lion, she looks as though she is about to laugh out loud. This happens about 10 seconds or so after the slap. She even tries to put Toto in front of her face to cover up her smirking. (00:48:45)

Best recent entries

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning picture Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning mistake picture

Factual error: At the end, Hunt emerges from a London Underground station called Trafalgar Square. The station that serves Trafalgar Square is Charing Cross. The spot used for filming is, in reality, a public toilet.

Necrothesp

Biggest Disney mistakes

Biggest Marvel mistakes

Captain America: The Winter Soldier picture

Revealing mistake: When Cap is driving the blue Chevrolet Silverado with Black Widow, the gear shift is in the up locked position, not lower on the column, indicating the truck was towed in the scene. (00:54:45)

Best quotes

Batman Begins picture

Alfred: Why bats, Master Wayne?
Bruce Wayne: Bats frighten me. It's time my enemies shared my dread.

Movie quote quiz

What movie is this quote from? Might be obvious, might be obscure... Take your pick and see how others did!

"You want to be a shoplifter, go to J.C. Penney."
Please create a free account and log in to track your score better, be credited for things you add, and more. Premium membership is also available for just $12 a year, which removes all adverts, prioritises your submissions, and more.

Best questions

Van Helsing picture

Question: In the beginning of the film, where Dracula is talking to Viktor vonFrankenstein, he slams the chest shut and begins yelling at him. Before this, Viktor was looking over his shoulder and his attention immediately snaps back to Dracula, but he then turns once more to look behind him before staring at Dracula again, can someone explain why he looks over his shoulder a second time?

Answer: During their conversation Dracula is able to move around the room without Viktor noticing it. Then Dracula is standing on top of the fireplace behind Viktor, that's why he turns his head the first time. When Dracula suddenly slams the chest Viktor is surprised to see Dracula suddenly standing in front of him so he instinctively turn his head to look at the fireplace to believe his own eyes.

Mortug

Biggest Star Wars mistakes

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker picture

Continuity mistake: When Rey enters the Emperor's vault on the Death Star she is wearing her satchel, slung across her body. When she falls out backwards after seeing Dark Rey she is still wearing it, when she stands to confront Ren, it's gone.

Best trivia

Watchmen picture

Trivia: During the opening fight scene, Comedian throws a mug at his attacker, but misses. The mug strikes the numerals on his apartment door, knocking the '1' off. This turns 3001 into "300", the name of the director's previous hit film.

johnrosa

Biggest Pixar mistakes

Brave picture

Plot hole: During the scene where Merida gives her speech on "breaking tradition", her mother, as a bear, moves silently behind the majority of the crowd, so they don't see her. Fair enough. However, Merida and her father's clan are all looking in the same general direction (towards the crowd) while she's speaking - how does no one from Merida's clan see a bear moving at the back of the room?

Member Entries & comments
Sammo 229
TedStixon 83
zenee 67
Casual Person 53
Sacha 31
Phaneron 17
manthabeat 13
Movielover1996 5
raywest 4
dizzyd 3
Mistakes/trivia books

Directors on moviemistakes.com