Movie Trivia Questions

Which 1977 film introduced Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Darth Vader to audiences?

• Star Trek
• Star Wars
• Dune
• Alien

Answer: Star Wars. George Lucas's Star Wars was later retitled Episode IV: A New Hope, because the story starts in the middle of a planned saga.

In The Wizard of Oz (1939), what colour are Dorothy's magic slippers?

• Ruby red
• Silver
• Gold
• Emerald green

Answer: Ruby red. The film made them ruby red to show off the Technicolor process. In L. Frank Baum's original book, the shoes are silver.

Which 1997 film won 11 Academy Awards, tying the record first set by Ben-Hur?

• The English Patient
• Good Will Hunting
• Titanic
• As Good as It Gets

Answer: Titanic. James Cameron's Titanic shares the record of 11 Oscars with Ben-Hur (1959) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

In Jurassic Park (1993), scientists recover dinosaur DNA from mosquitoes trapped in what?

• Glacier ice
• Tar pits
• Volcanic ash
• Amber

Answer: Amber. Amber is fossilised tree resin. In the story, the mosquitoes had sucked dinosaur blood before getting stuck in the sticky resin.

Who directed the 1975 shark thriller Jaws?

• Steven Spielberg
• George Lucas
• Martin Scorsese
• Francis Ford Coppola

Answer: Steven Spielberg. Jaws is often called the first summer blockbuster. The mechanical shark broke down so often that Spielberg showed it less, which made the film scarier.

In The Matrix (1999), which colour pill does Neo swallow to learn the truth about the Matrix?

• Blue
• Green
• Red
• White

Answer: Red. Morpheus offers a choice: the blue pill returns Neo to his comfortable illusion, while the red pill shows him reality.

'Naatu Naatu', which won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 2023, is from which Indian film?

• Baahubali 2: The Conclusion
• RRR
• Pushpa: The Rise
• K.G.F: Chapter 2

Answer: RRR. Composed by M. M. Keeravani for S. S. Rajamouli's RRR, it was the first song from an Indian-produced film to win that Oscar.

In The Godfather (1972), what is found in a Hollywood producer's bed after he refuses the Corleone family?

• A dead fish
• A bull's horn
• A severed hand
• A horse's head

Answer: A horse's head. The producer's prized racehorse is beheaded, an 'offer he can't refuse' that gets singer Johnny Fontane his film role.

In Inception (2010), what object does Dom Cobb use as his totem to tell dreams from reality?

• A spinning top
• A loaded die
• A chess piece
• A silver coin

Answer: A spinning top. If the top keeps spinning forever, Cobb is dreaming. The film famously ends before we see whether it falls.

Odd one out: which of these films was NOT directed by Christopher Nolan?

• Interstellar
• Gravity
• Oppenheimer
• Dunkirk

Answer: Gravity. Gravity (2013) was directed by Alfonso Cuaron. Nolan made the other three, and Oppenheimer won him the Best Director Oscar.

In Back to the Future (1985), how fast must the DeLorean travel to jump through time?

• 66 miles per hour
• 100 miles per hour
• 88 miles per hour
• 121 miles per hour

Answer: 88 miles per hour. Doc Brown's time machine also needs 1.21 gigawatts of power, which Marty finally gets from a lightning strike on the clock tower.

Which film won the very first Academy Award for Best Picture, at the 1929 ceremony?

• The Broadway Melody
• The Jazz Singer
• Metropolis
• Wings

Answer: Wings. Wings (1927) is a silent First World War drama about fighter pilots. It remained the only silent film to win Best Picture until The Artist (2011).

Released in 1927, which film is famous as the first feature with synchronised spoken dialogue, kicking off the 'talkie' era?

• Steamboat Willie
• The Jazz Singer
• Modern Times
• Nosferatu

Answer: The Jazz Singer. The Jazz Singer was mostly silent, but its few scenes of synchronised singing and speech changed the film industry almost overnight.

Which performer holds the record for the most Academy Awards for acting, with four wins?

• Katharine Hepburn
• Meryl Streep
• Jack Nicholson
• Daniel Day-Lewis

Answer: Katharine Hepburn. Katharine Hepburn won Best Actress four times, between 1934 and 1982. Streep, Nicholson and Day-Lewis each have three acting Oscars.

In Citizen Kane (1941), 'Rosebud' is the dying word of Charles Foster Kane. What turns out to be Rosebud?

• A lost love
• His first newspaper
• His childhood sled
• A racehorse

Answer: His childhood sled. The final shot reveals the name on the sled he was playing with when he was taken from his mother: a symbol of his lost childhood.