8. Fastest film to break $1 Billion – Star Wars: The Force Awakens
It’s hardly surprising to find an entry from the Star Wars franchise on a list of movies which broke records. Fans from all corners of the globe were in pure ecstasy when Disney announced the planned release of Star Wars: Episode VIII – while at the same time trying their best to erase the titanic disappointment that was felt the last time the saga was continued – with the release of The Phantom Menace.
Luckily for us all, history did not repeat itself – The Force Awakens did not turn to the dark side and was able to recapture the magic of the original trilogy while adding some much-needed new energy to revitalise the series. The film was universally praised by critics who praised the action and the balance between the new characters and faces of old.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens experienced incredible success at the box office – Grossing $936.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $1.132 billion internationally for a worldwide total of $2.068 billion. It was the 24th film in cinematic history to gross $1 billion worldwide, doing so in twelve days to break the record – previously broken by Jurassic World earlier that year – as the fastest film to surpass the mark.
9. Most Oscar wins – Titanic/Ben Hur/Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
The Academy Awards is an annual American awards ceremony hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence in cinematic achievements in the United States film industry. Although not without controversy at times, the Oscars are recognised at the highest award ceremony in the industry.
The record for most Oscar wins currently stands at eleven – a record shared by three movies; Ben Hur – the 1959 epic starring Carlton Heston, Titanic – the James Camaron film about the ill-fated passenger liner from 1912 and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King – The final movie c in Peter Jacksons epic fantasy trilogy.
Although this record will be hard to beat, there is a real possibility we could see it broken this year with La La Land receiving fourteen nominations at the 2017 Academy Awards.
10. Most Oscar Nominations without winning – The Turning Point/The Color Purple
The old saying goes: Its not the winning, its the taking part that counts. But in reality we all play to win – Its what motivates us to improve at what we do and being a runner-up can actually be more painful than not being in contention in the first place. Receiving a nomination and not winning can be hard to take but imagine receiving multiple nominations and not winning any of them. Surely the law of averages would mean you would definitely pick up one of them right?
Well, no actually – this is what happened to the two films who hold the joint record for Most Oscar Nominations without winning. The 1977 film ‘The Turning Point’ and the 1985 film ‘The Color Purple both received eleven nominations at the Academy Awards only to lose out in every single category – Devastating!
11. First Remake to win an Oscar – The Departed
Completing the hat-trick of Oscar-related records on this list is the first remake to win an Oscar, The Departed. The 2006 Martin Scorsese crime drama – starring an all-star cast including Leonardo Dicaprio, Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon – was a remake to the 2002 Hong Kong Movie Internal Affairs.
The studio changed the setting of the film to Boston and rewrote two of the characters, basing them on famous gangster Whitey Bulger and corrupt FBI agent John Connolly, who grew up with Bulger to add more authenticity to the story.
The Departed was highly anticipated and was released on October 6, 2006, to universal acclaim. The film was a critical and commercial success – winning not one but four Oscars at the 79th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.
12. Most cannon car rolls – Casino Royale
The second James Bond movie to make the list is Casino Royale. The 2006 film broke the Guinness World Record for the most cannon rolls in a car in film. To create the stunt, a nitrogen cannon was used to blow 007’s legendary Aston Martin through the air and flip and roll a record seven times.
Adam Kirley, the stunt driver, had to drive the cannon fitted Aston at 80mph towards a 10-inch ramp and hit the release at exactly the right moment to carry out in the record-breaking stunt.
13. Most swear words in one film – Swearnet
The Guinness World Record for the most swear words in one film stands at an impressive 868 expletives. The record was previously owned by some big name blockbusters such as The Wolf of Wall Street and Goodfellas (Joe Pesci probably holds the record for most swear words in cinema by himself).
But the current record holder is the lesser known ‘Swearnet: The Movie’, a 2014 Canadian comedy film starring Mike Smith, John Paul Tremblay, and Robb Wells, stars of the television series Trailer Park Boys.
Although the film received mostly negative reviews, the creators can take some comfort in the fact that they have cemented their place in history – for the time being at least – by having the film inducted into the Guinness Book of Records.
14. Highest on screen body count – Guardians of the Galaxy
This record may come as a shock to some but Marvels stylish 2014 space epic was named the Deadliest Hollywood Film of all time with a staggering 83,871 on-screen deaths – beating it’s closest rival by roughly 78 thousand!
GoCompare – the British financial services comparison website – compiled the report as part of a marketing campaign in which they conducted an examination of 653 films that had more than 50 on-screen deaths.
The reason the film managed to achieve this number is because of the dramatic final battle, which sees more than 80,000 Nova Corps pilots die in one scene. Director James Gunn confirmed the statistic when he tweeted: ‘There are 80,000 CGI pilots on screen when the Dark Aster crashes through the Nova Net.’
15. Most expensive film produced – Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
To finish the list we have the record for the Most expensive film produced – held by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth instalment in the Johnny Depp-starring pirate franchise.
The swashbuckling adventure had an estimated production budget of around $300 million, going on to cost $378.5 million in total. The film experienced no difficulty in remaking its money though, grossing a total of $1,045 Billion at the box office worldwide. A sequel, titled Dead Men Tell No Tales, is scheduled to be released on May 26, 2017.
Author Bio: Jason has only recently entered the world of freelance writing and as well as Taste of Cinema, currently contributes to CulturedVultures.com where he writes about film, video games and sports. You can follow him on Twitter @Scarface_Jase.