Twenty-five questions on famous lines, Oscar history, classic sitcoms and the films everyone has seen at least once. Each answer comes with a piece of behind-the-scenes history.
Which film won the first Academy Award for Best Picture?
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Wings
Wings, a World War I flying drama, won at the first ceremony in 1929, when the award was called Outstanding Picture.
Question 2
Which film includes the line "Here's looking at you, kid"?
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Casablanca
Humphrey Bogart's Rick says it to Ingrid Bergman's Ilsa. Casablanca won Best Picture for 1943.
Question 3
Who directed Jaws (1975)?
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Steven Spielberg
Jaws is often called the first summer blockbuster. The mechanical shark broke down so often that Spielberg showed it far less than planned.
Question 4
What color are Dorothy's slippers in the 1939 film of The Wizard of Oz?
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Ruby red
In L. Frank Baum's book they are silver. The film changed them to red to show off Technicolor.
Question 5
What was Disney's first full-length animated feature film?
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
It premiered in December 1937. Many in Hollywood had called it "Disney's Folly" before its success.
Question 6
What is the name of the fictional African nation in Black Panther?
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Wakanda
Wakanda first appeared in Marvel comics in 1966. Zamunda is from Coming to America.
Question 7
Which sitcom is set at the Scranton branch of the Dunder Mifflin paper company?
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The Office
The US version ran on NBC from 2005 to 2013 and was adapted from the British series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.
Question 8
In Friends, what is the name of the coffee shop where the group hangs out?
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Central Perk
Monk's Café is the diner in Seinfeld. Central Perk is a pun on Central Park.
Question 9
Who played Jack Dawson in Titanic (1997)?
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Leonardo DiCaprio
DiCaprio starred opposite Kate Winslet. The film won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture.
Question 10
In which Star Wars film does Darth Vader reveal that he is Luke's father?
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The Empire Strikes Back
The 1980 film's line is usually misquoted. Vader actually says, "No, I am your father."
Question 11
Which of these films won 11 Academy Awards?
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The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
It shares the record of 11 Oscars with Ben-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997), and won in every category it was nominated for.
Question 12
Who played the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008)?
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Heath Ledger
Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Phoenix later won Best Actor for Joker (2019).
Question 13
Which TV series features the houses Stark, Lannister and Targaryen?
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Game of Thrones
HBO's series, based on George R. R. Martin's novels, ran from 2011 to 2019.
Question 14
What is the name of the cowboy doll in Toy Story?
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Woody
Woody was voiced by Tom Hanks. Toy Story (1995) was the first feature film made entirely with computer animation.
Question 15
What is the name of the hotel in The Shining?
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The Overlook Hotel
The Overlook is fictional. Stephen King got the idea while staying at the real Stanley Hotel in Colorado.
Question 16
Which film franchise follows the agent Ethan Hunt?
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Mission: Impossible
Tom Cruise has played Hunt since the first film in 1996, based on the 1960s TV series.
Question 17
Which 1994 film includes the line "Life is like a box of chocolates"?
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Forrest Gump
Tom Hanks won his second straight Best Actor Oscar for the role; the first was for Philadelphia.
Question 18
In Breaking Bad, what subject does Walter White teach?
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Chemistry
Bryan Cranston played the high school chemistry teacher in Albuquerque. The series ran from 2008 to 2013.
Question 19
In which city is Seinfeld set?
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New York City
Jerry's apartment is on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, though the show was filmed in Los Angeles.
Question 20
Which is the longest-running American animated series?
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The Simpsons
The Simpsons began as shorts in 1987 and as a half-hour series in December 1989.
Question 21
What is the name of Harry Potter's owl?
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Hedwig
Hagrid gives Hedwig to Harry for his 11th birthday. Errol belongs to the Weasleys.
Question 22
Which 1939 film is, according to Guinness World Records, the highest-grossing film ever when adjusted for inflation?
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Gone with the Wind
Adjusted for ticket-price inflation, Gone with the Wind leads every later blockbuster.
Question 23
Which studio made Shrek (2001)?
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DreamWorks Animation
Shrek won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, given for the first time in 2002.
Question 24
In The Lion King, what is the name of Simba's father?
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Mufasa
James Earl Jones voiced Mufasa in both the 1994 animated film and the 2019 remake.
Question 25
Which TV detective is famous for saying "Just one more thing"?
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Columbo
Peter Falk played the rumpled LAPD lieutenant from 1968 into the early 2000s.
Key numbers
Questions
25
Format
Multiple choice, 4 options
Explanations
Every question
Answers
Hidden until you open them
Classic films and famous lines
Quotes make great trivia because people half-remember them. "Here's looking at you, kid" is from Casablanca, and Darth Vader never says "Luke, I am your father." Questions like these reward real memory over guessing, and the explanation gives the exact line.
Oscars and records
A handful of questions are about Academy Awards history: the first Best Picture, the three films tied at 11 Oscars, and the first winner of Best Animated Feature. These are settled facts, unlike box-office records, which change whenever a new blockbuster opens. The one money question here is the inflation-adjusted record from Guinness, which has held for decades.
Sitcoms and TV
TV questions span from I Love Lucy-era classics on the trivia for seniors page to The Office, Friends, Seinfeld and Breaking Bad here. If your group skews older or younger, mix the two pages.
Prefer naming films from their stories? Try guess the movie, twenty one-line plots to identify.
For a film night, read the explanation aloud after each answer before moving on. Most of them carry a piece of trivia of their own, like the silver slippers in the original Oz book, which gives a second chance to score a point for anyone who knew it.
Holiday films have their own sets: Christmas trivia covers Home Alone, Elf and It's a Wonderful Life, and Halloween trivia has the horror classics.
Questions people ask
What's a good movie trivia question for a party?
Which Star Wars film reveals that Darth Vader is Luke's father. It's The Empire Strikes Back, and it's a chance to point out that the famous line is usually misquoted.
Why aren't there box-office questions about recent films?
Box-office records change every time a new blockbuster opens. We avoid them, apart from Guinness's inflation-adjusted record, which Gone with the Wind has held for decades.
Is there a TV trivia round on this page?
Yes. Roughly a third of the questions are about TV, including The Office, Friends, Seinfeld, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and The Simpsons.