24 Fun Hidden Movie Easter Egg Facts You Probably Missed

Published September 24, 2025

Uncover amazing hidden movie code facts, secrets, numbers, and easter eggs that directors try to sneak into all your favorite films. Ready to discover them?

Many Disney and Pixar animators hide "A113" in their movies as a reference to their old CalArts animation classroom. The number is often found in room numbers, license plates, and computer screens in their movies._[12]
The Wilhelm Scream is a high-pitched scream and was first used in a 1951. Mostly as an inside joke, directors use the scream in hundreds of movies as an inside-joke._[6]
Stanley Kubrick changed the room number of the haunted room from 217 to 237 at the request of the lodge in which he was filming The Shining. Hotel managers were worried guests wouldn't stay in the room, so they made up a number instead._[12]
Quentin Tarantino made up a cigarette brand "Red Apple Cigarettes" and places them in all of his movies as away to tie them all together. They are even scene in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion._[9]
Flounder from the 1989 The Little Mermaid makes a split second cameo in Maui's song "You're Welcome" from Moana (2016)._[13]

In Hereditary, the miniatures are a major part of the plot

In Hereditary, the miniatures represent loss of control. Annie and her family are manipulated and controlled like dolls inside the miniature dollhouses._[1]
Hei Hei from Moana (2016) makes a brief appearance in Raya and the Last Dragon (2021). Not surprisingly, he has a basket on his head, looking lost._[13]
As Buzz Lightyear runs through the store aisle in Toy Story 2 (1999), he runs past Flik from A Bug's Life (1998) in toy form._[13]
In the 2019 movie Glass, James McAvoy plays the character of Kevin Wendell Crumb, who has 24 different personalities. Each of these personalities in Glass is fully credited._[12]
In "The Truman Show," Truman takes Vitamin D tablets because the sun on the set in which he lives is not real._[11]
Apple does not let villains use their iPhones in movies. For example, the villains noticeably do not use iPhones in Knives Out, The Morning Show, various Marvel movies, and various James Bond movies._[5]
In the series "Breaking Bad," there are 62 episodes, which coincides with the 62nd element on the periodic table, Samarium. This element is also used to treat lung cancer, which is what the main character suffers from._[4]
The director of Software Development at Atari, Steve Wright, was the first to coin the term "easter egg" as a way to reference a hidden message in the game "Adventure."_[8]
The Pizza Planet Truck in Toy Story appears in every Pixar movie as a way to link the Pixar universe together. The truck is a 1978 Gyoza Mark VII Lite Hauler pick up truck. Look for it in a Bug Life (1998), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), Cars (2006), Ratatouille (2007) , Wall-E (2008), Up (2009), Cars 2 (2011), Brave 2012), Inside Out (2015), The Good Dinosaur (2015), Coco (2017), Soul (2020), and more._[3]

The Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story is in every Pixar movie except The Incredibles

Though the term won't be coined until decades later, the first instance of an easter egg in a movie is considered to be when Buster Keaton runs past a poster for his previous film Three Ages in his 1924 film Sherlock Jr._[12]
Stephen King's 2017 It contains references to Dark Tower and to The Shining._[12]
The Exorcist actress Linda Blair was cast in the 1996 movie Scream cast. As a gesture to her previous role, Blair wore crucifix earrings._[7]
The the 1940 movie "His Girl Friday," Cary Grant says about a crooked politician: "The last fellow who tried to threaten me was Archie Leach." Cary Grant's real name is Archie Leach._[1]
In the 1999 movie The Matrix, the book Neo uses to hid his hacked software is philosopher's Jean Baudrillard's book Simulacra and Simulation, which is a text about simulated reality._[2]

Parzival uses the evil doll Chucky as a weapon in the movie Ready Player One

The doll from Chucky is used as a battle weapon in the movie Ready Player One._[1]
Julia Roberts plays the single mom in the movie Erin Brockovich. In one restaurant scene, the waitress is the real life Erin Brockovich whose name tag is "Julia."
_[1]
In Back to the Future II, a movie theater in the background is playing Jaws 19 directed by Max Spielberg, who is Steven Spielberg's actual son._[10]
The nightclub at the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), is called Club-Obi-Wan, which is a reference to Star Wars._[10]
R2D2 can be seen in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Raiders of the Lost Ark. _[1]