Hidden Easter Eggs That Reference Other Movies

We love it when movies reference other movies, mainly because we're reminded of how awesome those other films are and can appreciate the nod—and every now and then, we come across Easter eggs so good we just have to share. Don't blame us if you wind up watching all of these movies and more, just to dig out more hidden details. 

The Toy Story movies are family-friendly classics that more or less always give us "the feels," but you might have glossed over one scene in the first movie that references another film that used to scare our pants off instead. While stuck at Sid's house, Buzz Lightyear experiences a small existential crisis and starts wandering in the clip shown above. Does the carpet seem familiar? That's because it was lifted from the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. While we appreciate the nod to a Stanley Kubrick classic, we're happy Pixar stopped short of showing us creepy twins or elevators full of blood.

Here's an Easter egg that was very obvious, but still incredibly amusing. In the third act of Zootopia, Duke Weaselton is selling bootleg DVDs on the street. Glossing over the fact that Duke Weaselton himself is a reference to Frozen's Duke of Weselton, the DVDs he's selling are animal versions of Disney films like Big Hero 6, Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, and more. We don't know about you, but we want to watch Pig Hero 6 ASAP.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier boasts some of the finest espionage action in any of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, featuring shadowy figures like Black Widow and Nick Fury. The latter is played by Samuel L. Jackson, who once played a character named Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction. If you recall, Jules quoted the Bible verse Ezekiel 25:17 right before gunning down a man. That same quote is on the headstone set for Fury after the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is presumed dead—and now that we've pointed that out, we're hungry for a Royale with cheese.

This is a simple detail, but it's still sure to tickle horror fans. When the dead rise again and start attacking the living, Shaun calls his mom Barbara to tell her that he and Ed are going to pick her up. She politely refuses and says that she doesn't want to be a bother, prompting Ed to yell, "We're coming to get you, Barbara!" This is a reference to a famous moment from Night of the Living Dead in which Ben taunts his girlfriend in a graveyard by yelling pretty much the exact same thing in an attempt to spook her.

Here's another simple one for you eagle-eyed movie buffs: While watching Predator 2, you can spot a skull in the trophy room that looks pretty familiar. In case you were wondering, yes, it does belong to a Xenomorph from the Alien movies—and its presence is only natural because Aliens and Predators live in a shared universe, and the latter always tries to hunt down the former. That's a circle of life we can get behind.

This is an Easter egg that most kids (we'd hope) probably wouldn't get. In the Johnny Depp film Rango, the titular character gets into some trouble and tumbles around on the highway in the desert. Before he gets to safety, Rango ends up pancaked on the windshield of a Cadillac Eldorado being driven by the characters from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. We don't know how familiar kids are with Hunter S. Thompson, but it's cool to see Johnny Depp characters from different movies come face to face.

Coming to America is a classic Eddie Murphy comedy from the 1980s featuring Murphy as a young African prince who's intent on experiencing what America has to offer. During his travels, he encounters some down-on-their-luck brothers who could use a buck or two. These bums just happen to be the Duke Brothers, the antagonists from Murphy's earlier hit Trading Places. They went broke in the previous movie, so it's cool to see where they ended up in this film.

This Finding Nemo character's mantra was "Fish are friends, not food," but we can't be too shocked that he went into a frenzy after smelling blood. After all, his namesake is Bruce, the mechanical shark from Jaws—who was named after Steven Spielberg's lawyer. A lawyer being a shark, get it?

Here's an example of a director giving himself a nod. In Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we find out that Charlie's dad makes very little money screwing on the caps of Smilex toothpaste at a factory. The brand "Smilex" refers to the Joker's brand of products from Burton's 1989 Batman. We're sure Charlie's dad has no connection to the Joker, but is it still fun to imagine they're in cahoots? Yes it is.

Robert Zemeckis directed The Polar Express, a CGI movie (starring Tom Hanks in a variety of roles) that pays tribute to the magic of Christmas. He also directed the Back to the Future series, which features one of the most iconic time machines in pop culture, the DeLorean. And do you remember what makes the DeLorean work? That's right, the Flux Capacitor. Well, it turns out that you can see this fabled gadget in the clip above. If you miss it, you can check out this Reddit post for a better look.