Curated playlist

Saturn Award–winning films

Psycho (1960 film)Paramount refused to fund Hitchcock's Psycho, so he financed the 1960 film himself. He used his television crew.
Batman (1989 film)Fifty thousand protest letters hit Warner Bros. when Michael Keaton was cast as Batman. Fans knew him from comedies.
Avengers: EndgameAvengers: Endgame opens with Clint Barton losing his family to Thanos's snap. It was moved from Infinity War.
Avengers: Infinity WarAvengers: Infinity War ends with Thanos watching a sunrise after erasing half of all life.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)Walt Disney once acted out all of Snow White for his animators, playing every character.
Aliens (film)Aliens opens with a woman who has been asleep for 57 years. James Cameron's 1986 film sends Ellen Ripley back to danger.
Alien (film)In the 1979 film Alien, the chestburster scene was shot in one take.
Wicked: For GoodNine million colorful tulips were planted on location to surround the Munchkinland set of Wicked: For Good. This 2025 American musical fantasy film, directed by Jon M. Chu, picks up the story of Elphaba and Glinda where its predecessor…
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the RingMany stars turned down Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Ring. Sean Connery said he did not understand the plot.
Blade RunnerBlade Runner exists in seven versions, but Ridley Scott controls only one.
Star Wars (film)George Lucas forgot Star Wars was opening the day it came out. That night, he saw crowds lined up outside a theater.
The Avengers (2012 film)Joss Whedon read the first Avengers script and said to pretend it never happened.
Spider-Man: HomecomingSpider-Man: Homecoming, the 2017 superhero film, hinges on one very awkward car ride. On the night of the school dance, teenager Peter Parker learns that the father of the girl he is taking is the man he has been chasing across the city.…
2001: A Space OdysseyAt the New York premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey, 250 people walked out. The poster later said "the ultimate trip."
The TerminatorThe Terminator began as a fever dream in Rome. Director James Cameron, ill, dreamed of a metal torso crawling from fire.
Spider-Man: No Way HomeSpider-Man: No Way Home drew 355.5 million global views for its first trailer in the first 24 hours. No trailer had drawn more views in such a span. Avengers: Endgame held the old record at 289 million, and the Far From Home trailer had…
The Dark KnightThe Dark Knight, a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, begins with a bank robbery that turns on its own crew. The bank belongs to the mafia in Gotham City. The masked robbers betray and kill one another until a single man…
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingThe Return of the King won all eleven Oscars it was nominated for. No fantasy film had won Best Picture before it.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two TowersGollum was first planned as a voice only, played by Andy Serkis. Actors did better with him on set.
RoboCopRoboCop's leading actor was fired partway through filming. The 1987 film's suit was too bulky for him to move in.
Mission: Impossible – The Final ReckoningAt the New York premiere of Mission: Impossible , The Final Reckoning in May 2025, Tom Cruise left no room for doubt about the title. "It's the final! It's not called 'final' for nothing," he said, confirming that this would be his last…
Jaws (film)The broken shark in Jaws made the film scarier. Spielberg had to suggest it with barrels and a fin.
A Clockwork Orange (film)Warner Bros. pulled the film A Clockwork Orange from British cinemas in 1973. Kubrick himself requested it.
Deadpool & WolverineDeadpool & Wolverine almost went by the title Deadpool & Friend. The name leaked online in February 2024.
Avatar: Fire and AshAvatar: Fire and Ash is the third film in James Cameron's Avatar series. In December 2022, word spread that its first cut ran nine hours. Cameron later clarified the figure. The nine hours covered three films of about three hours each:…
Once Upon a Time in HollywoodOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood is a 2019 film by Quentin Tarantino, and its ending was guarded like a state secret. Tarantino kept the only copy of the third act locked in a safe. Besides Tarantino himself, only Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot…
Mad Max 2In the United States, Mad Max 2 was renamed The Road Warrior. Warner Bros. also cut Mel Gibson's character from the ads.
Return of the JediReturn of the Jedi was briefly renamed Revenge of the Jedi. Lucas reverted it after posters were printed.
Thor (film)Chris Hemsworth gained 20 lb for Thor and then outgrew his costume.
Oppenheimer (film)The teaser for the film Oppenheimer, released on the 28th of July 2022, carried a live countdown to 5:29 a.m. Mountain time on the 16th of July 2023. That hour marked the 78th anniversary of the first detonation of an atomic weapon.…
InceptionInception's crew built a hotel corridor that rotated a full 360 degrees. It was planned at 40 feet, then grew to 100.
Star Wars: The Last JediIn Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Luke hesitates to burn the Jedi library, so Yoda's spirit does it.
The Batman (film)The Batman, a 2022 superhero film directed by Matt Reeves, made its first big impression with a teaser trailer. Shown during a virtual fan event in 2020, the footage drew 34 million views within 24 hours. Commentators called its Gotham…
Inglourious BasterdsInglourious Basterds begins with a conversation in English that ends in a massacre. In 1941, an Austrian SS colonel named Hans Landa questions a French farmer about a fugitive Jewish family. The family's youngest member, Shosanna, escapes.…
Spirited AwayIn Spirited Away, a girl's parents turn into pigs in an abandoned resort town. Ten-year-old Chihiro is left alone.
The Empire Strikes BackOn the set of The Empire Strikes Back, the actor playing Vader was given a fake line.
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom MenaceA sudden sandstorm wrecked the Tunisian set of The Phantom Menace. The shoot still left Tunisia on schedule.
Rogue OneRogue One first had an ending where the heroes lived. Director Gareth Edwards wrote it, but it was never filmed.
Star Wars: The Rise of SkywalkerJohn Boyega left a Rise of Skywalker script in a hotel room, and it turned up on eBay.
Dune (2021 film)Dune, the 2021 film directed by Denis Villeneuve, began with a filmmaker who doubted he would ever get to make it. In September 2016 the Canadian director said, "a longstanding dream of mine is to adapt Dune, but it's a long process to get…
Avatar (2009 film)Avatar, the 2009 science fiction film from director James Cameron, began with a dream he had when he was 19 years old. In the dream, he saw a bioluminescent forest. Its trees were made of fiber-optic strands, fan lizards moved through the…
Interstellar (film)Interstellar, the 2014 science fiction epic directed by Christopher Nolan, was filmed under a decoy name: Flora's Letter. Flora is one of Nolan's four children with producer Emma Thomas. Nolan is famous for guarding his productions, and…
Avatar: The Way of WaterAvatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron's 2022 science fiction sequel, contains an underwater scene for which Kate Winslet held her breath for more than seven minutes. That broke the record for a breath hold during a filmed scene, which…
28 Days Later28 Days Later is a 2002 British horror film directed by Danny Boyle from a screenplay by Alex Garland, and it begins in an empty hospital. A bicycle courier named Jim wakes from a coma in St Thomas' Hospital in London. Nobody comes to his…
Princess MononokeHayao Miyazaki spent seventeen years getting Princess Mononoke made.
Titanic (1997 film)Rather than cut Titanic, James Cameron gave up his $8 million director's salary.
The GodfatherMarlon Brando stuffed cotton balls in his cheeks to audition for The Godfather. Paramount resisted casting him.
Star Wars: The Force AwakensIn early drafts of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Luke took over every scene. So he became the one being sought.
Jurassic ParkJurassic Park, the 1993 film directed by Steven Spielberg, came with an unusual house rule. On set, Spielberg banned the words "monster" and "creature" and told the crew to call the dinosaurs "animals" instead. The story takes place on…
Predator: BadlandsPredator: Badlands, a 2025 science fiction action film directed by Dan Trachtenberg, asks its audience to follow a Predator rather than flee from one. In a departure from earlier films, the hunter is the hero here and not the threat. His…