Movies & TV Facts for Kids
Behind-the-scenes facts from film and TV
Titanic (1997) was the first film to earn one billion US dollars at the worldwide box office. It held the record for 12 years until Avatar surpassed it in 2010.
Films work because of a phenomenon called persistence of vision: the human brain retains an image for a fraction of a second after it disappears, so rapidly changing still images appear to be continuous motion.
Many film scores are performed by full orchestras in huge recording studios. Composers like John Williams have written some of the most recognisable music in the world for films like Star Wars and Harry Potter.
The world's first animated feature film was not made by Disney — it was El Apostol, made in Argentina in 1917 by Quirino Cristiani. Sadly, all copies have been lost.
Movie make-up artists can spend hours transforming actors into monsters, aliens, or elderly characters using prosthetics, paint, and wigs. Some transformations take over eight hours!
The 'uncanny valley' describes the eerie feeling people get when a computer-generated human looks almost — but not quite — realistic. Animators carefully design characters to avoid this unsettling effect.
The Jazz Singer (1927) was the first feature film with synchronised dialogue and singing. Before this, films were silent and accompanied by live musicians playing in the cinema.
Toy Story (1995) was the world's first feature-length film made entirely with computer-generated imagery (CGI). It took Pixar animators over four years to produce.
Ben-Hur (1959) won 11 Academy Awards, a record it shares with Titanic (1997) and The Return of the King (2003). It remains one of the greatest achievements in cinema history.
The iconic sounds in Star Wars were created by mixing everyday sounds together. The hum of a lightsaber came from a film projector motor and an old television set.