A Future Animation Legend Storyboarded the Film
The storyboards for the movie were drawn up by Genndy Tartakovsky, the creative mind behind Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack, who'd go on to direct the Hotel Transylvania films.
All Knowledge
Page 42 of 160
My Precious Made the AFI List
Gollum first hisses out 'my precious' in this film, and it's the only line from the entire trilogy to land a spot on the American Film Institute's top 100 movie quotes, coming in at number 85.
Cryptids of the Deeprun Tram
The underwater stretch of the Deeprun Tram, which links Stormwind and Ironforge, occasionally has visitors: a Loch Ness-style sea serpent, a huge basking shark, the odd diver, and a chest that spawns and vanishes without explanation.
A Canadian Studio Runs the Multiverse
The actual animation isn't done in-house, it's handled by a Canadian studio called Bardel Entertainment, who also work on shows like The Dragon Prince and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Fittingly weird bonus detail, their CEO happens to genuinely be named Rick.
Sardines Can Get You Out of a Fight
During the Fremennik Trials, there's a way to dodge the combat challenge entirely — a bloke called Thorvald will let you skip it if you bring him five sardines. There's even dedicated dialogue for using the sardines on him directly, except it turns out he was just messing with you the whole time.
Eleven and Steve Were Both Originally Supposed to Die in Season 1
Two of the show's most enduring characters nearly never made it past their debut season. Eleven was written to sacrifice herself to save Hawkins, while Steve was meant to stay a flat, unlikeable jerk who wasn't going to last long anyway. It was really the actors themselves, Millie Bobby Brown's intensity and Joe Keery's easy charm, that convinced the Duffers to let both characters live and grow.
A Heart Locked Away From Love
Within the story, Davy Jones wasn't always a monster. He was once a man who fell in love, and unable to bear the pain that came with it, he cut out his own beating heart and locked it inside the chest that gives the film its name.
The Christmas Album Almost Never Happened
That running gag about Peter Parker releasing a cheesy holiday album, complete with titles like a mistletoe-themed swing anthem, wasn't planned from the start. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller dreamed it up while the film was already being scored, and only found out Chris Pine could actually sing when he showed up and nailed the recording session.
Leeroy Jenkins Became Canon
That 2005 clip of a paladin charging into a room full of dragon whelps screaming his own name became one of gaming's first proper viral videos, and Blizzard leaned all the way into it. There's now an NPC called Leeroy Jenkins wandering Orgrimmar, plus an achievement that has you re-enact the whole disaster, complete with the 'at least I have chicken' payoff.
Black Belle Is Built From Two Real Outlaw Women
The character Black Belle borrows from two very different real-life figures at once, Belle Starr, the outlaw known as the 'Bandit Queen', and Annie Oakley, the famous sharpshooter. Rockstar seems to have blended traits from both into the one fictional character.