costume as the
Barbenheimer phenomenon that resulted from the films
Barbie and
Oppenheimer sharing the same July 21, 2023, release date. •
Arthur – A 1996
PBS educational series that became popular on the Internet in July 2016 through humorous stills, including a still of the title character's clenched fist. •
The Babadook (2014) – An Australian
psychological horror film that started trending on Twitter in June 2017 when the
title character became an unofficial mascot for the
LGBT community. Prior to that, rumors of the Babadook's sexuality began in October 2016, when some
Netflix users reported seeing the film categorized as an LGBT movie on Netflix. •
Barbenheimer (2023) – A
portmanteau of
Barbie and
Oppenheimer.
Barbenheimer began circulating ahead of the
theatrical release of both films on 21 July 2023, with
social media users creating and sharing memes noting the
juxtaposition between the films. •
Bee Movie (2007) – Sped-up or slowed-down clips of the film have become popular on YouTube. One upload by "Avoid at All Costs" exceeded 12 million views as of December 2016. Many of the edited videos in this trend were taken down for spam due to the volume of videos posted by some channels. From September 2013 onwards, a few Internet users posted the entirety of the
Bee Movie script on sites like
Tumblr and Facebook. •
The Blair Witch Project (1999) – The film's producers used
Internet marketing to create the impression that the documentary-style horror film featured real, as opposed to fictional events. •
Bye, Felicia – A line from the 1995 film
Friday originally uttered by
Ice Cube's character to dismiss
Angela Means' character, Felisha. The line became viral beginning in the 2010s. •
Cloverfield (2008) –
Paramount Pictures used a
viral marketing campaign to promote the film. •
Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022) – An anthology
thriller true crime series by
Ryan Murphy and
Ian Brennan for Netflix. After its release, it became viral over Twitter and
TikTok. •
Dear Evan Hansen (2021) – A film adaptation of
the stage musical of the same name that featured then 27-year-old
Ben Platt reprising his role as 17-year-old high schooler
Evan Hansen, a casting decision that sparked widespread backlash from critics and the public, all of whom attributed it to
nepotism. Two scenes from the film instantly became internet memes the moment it was made available digitally as a result of the controversy: a close-up of Evan crying during the climax of "Words Fail," his expression wrenched and tortured, and the moment Evan runs off from Zoe Murphy (
Kaitlyn Dever) in the hallways during their first meeting at school. Jameson Rich of
The New York Times observed "The image of a crying Platt is already a much-iterated joke, and its thrust is, overwhelmingly, derisive. But being the target of the internet's scorn is not de facto a bad thing. When a meme circulates far enough, the underlying movie can gain what feels like cultural currency. The very fact that the images are not part of any intentional advertising actually lends them a note of authenticity. They are, in a perverse way, resonating on their own merit. Is there a better form of contemporary publicity?" •
Downfall (2004) – A film depicting
Adolf Hitler (portrayed by
Bruno Ganz) during his final days of his life. Multiple scenes in which Hitler
rants in German have been
parodied innumerable times on the Internet, including when Hitler finds out that
Felix Steiner has failed to carry out his orders and when Hitler finds out
SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein has gone
AWOL. This scene often has its English subtitles replaced by mock subtitles to give the appearance that Hitler is ranting about modern, often trivial topics, and sometimes even
breaks the fourth wall by referencing the Internet meme itself. While the clips are frequently removed for copyright violations, the film's director,
Oliver Hirschbiegel, has stated that he enjoys them, and claimed to have seen about 145 of them. •
Figwit (abbreviated from "Frodo is great...who is that?") – A background elf character with only seconds of screen time and one line of dialog from
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy played by
Flight of the Conchords member
Bret McKenzie, which became a fascination with a large number of fans. This ultimately led to McKenzie being brought back to play an elf in
The Hobbit. •
Goncharov – A nonexistent film invented by users on
Tumblr. It is purported to be "the greatest
mafia movie ever made," released in 1973. Discussion of the film involved detailed critical analysis of the plot, themes, symbolism, and characters, as well as creation of gifs, fan art, and theme music, all presented as if the film were real. The meme's popularity caused it to become a trending topic on the Tumblr platform. A similar meme that emerged on
TikTok nine months later—about a fictional 1980s horror film,
Zepotha—drew comparisons to
Goncharov. •
Grogu – The popularity of the
puppet from the TV series
The Mandalorian led to many memes of the "Baby Yoda" character. •
LazyTown (2004) – A children's television program originating from
Iceland, which became very popular after one of the primary actors,
Stefán Karl Stefánsson, was diagnosed with cancer and set up a
GoFundMe page for support. The song "
We Are Number One" became a meme in October 2016, and many videos were created. It became one of the fastest growing memes in history, with 250 videos uploaded in 5 days. •
Les Misérables (2012) –
Tom Hooper's film adaptation of the globally popular
stage musical of the same name based on
Victor Hugo's
1862 novel of the same name. In April 2022, a clip of the film's version of the "
Do You Hear the People Sing?" musical sequence circulated on Twitter in protest of the lockdown during the
2022 Shanghai COVID-19 outbreak. The clip was ultimately blocked by the
Chinese government to stop further protest. •
The Lord of the Rings trilogy – Released between 2001 and 2003, just as meme culture was taking off, several moments from the films became part of the online culture, with, most notably,
Sean Bean's character of
Boromir stating "One does not simply walk into Mordor" as one of the most commonly referenced. •
Marble Hornets – A documentary-style horror, suspense short film series based on alternate reality experiences of the
Slenderman tale. Marble Hornets was instrumental in codifying parts of the Slender Man mythos, but is not part of the inter-continuity crossover that includes many of the blogs and vlogs that followed it, although MH does feature in other canons as either a chronicle of real events or a fictional series. •
Marriage Story (2019) –
Noah Baumbach's critically acclaimed drama about a warring couple going through a coast-to-coast divorce spawned multiple memes despite its serious tone. According to
Wired, a meme of Adam Driver punching a wall during Charlie and Nicole's argument scene has contributed to "re-contextualizing Charlie and Nicole's fight into something light and silly". Driver punching a wall has been repurposed to represent general arguments over trivial matters in which a participant becomes angry and overreacts. •
Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus (2009) – The
theatrical trailer released in mid-May 2009 became a viral hit, scoring over one million hits on MTV.com and another 300,000 hits on YouTube upon launch, prompting brisk pre-orders of the DVD. •
Minions – The mischievous yellow creatures from the
Despicable Me franchise have, since their introduction in 2010, become ubiquitous in certain layers of meme culture. The memes created with images of Minions have frequently been derided as bland or unintentionally absurd. In 2022, a phenomenon known as "Gentleminions" arose, in which young men and teen boys would arrive to
Minions: The Rise of Gru in formal attire. fandom of
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic grew from its 4chan roots. •
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic –
Hasbro's 2010 animated series to revive its toy line was discovered by members of
4chan and subsequently spawned a large adult, mostly male fanbase calling themselves "
bronies" and creating numerous Internet memes and mashups based on elements from the show. •
Re-cut trailer – User-made trailers for established films, using scenes, voice-overs, and music, to alter the appearance of the film's true genre or meaning or to create a new, apparently seamless, film. Examples include casting the thriller-drama
The Shining into a romantic comedy, or using footage from the respective films to create
Robocop vs. Terminator. •
The Nutshack (2007) – a Filipino-American adult animated television series that has been widely mocked for its obnoxious characters, bad writing and animation, and especially for the theme song. of
The Room (2003) •
Pingu – An animated Swiss children's television series. The show's animation style has spawned many memes. In particular, a meme in which Mozart's
Requiem accompanies a viral video of Pingu the penguin saying "Noot Noot" gained popularity, using the choir symphony to depict feelings of terror and dread. •
The Room (2003) – Written, produced, directed, and starring
Tommy Wiseau, the low-budget independent film is considered one of
the worst films ever made. However, through social media and interest from comedians, it gained a large number of ironic fans and turned into a
cult classic. It is a popular source for memes based on some of the poorly delivered lines in the movie, such as "You're tearing me apart, Lisa!" (a shoehorned reference to an iconic
James Dean line in
Rebel Without a Cause) and "Oh hi, Mark." •
Saltburn (2023) – A black comedy psychological thriller film written, directed, and co-produced by
Emerald Fennell. After its theatrical release, it became a streaming hit on
Amazon Prime Video and went viral on
TikTok. •
Sharknado (2013) – A made-for-television film produced by
The Asylum and aired on the
SyFy network as a
mockbuster of other disaster films, centered on the appearance of a
tornado filled with sharks in downtown Los Angeles. Though similar to other films from the Asylum, elements of the film, such as low-budget effects and choice of actors, led to the film becoming a social media hit and leading to at least four additional sequels. •
Shrek – A DreamWorks franchise that has an
internet fandom likes the series. The viral video "Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life" was based on a homoerotic story on
4chan depicting the
titular ogre engaging in
anal sex with a young boy. •
Snakes on a Plane (2006) – Attracted attention a year before its planned release, and before any promotional material was released, due to the film's working title, its seemingly absurd premise, and the piquing of actor
Samuel L. Jackson's interest to work on the film. Producers of the film responded to the Internet buzz by adding several scenes and dialogue imagined by the fans. •
SpongeBob SquarePants – A
Nickelodeon animated television series that has spawned various Internet memes. These memes include "Surprised
Patrick", "Caveman
SpongeBob", "Handsome
Squidward", and "Mocking SpongeBob". In 2019, Nickelodeon officially released merchandise based on the memes. •
Backstroke of the West – Around the time of release, a
bootleg recording circulated on the internet via
peer-to-peer sharing websites. It quickly became notorious for its notable use of
Engrish, like the translation of
Darth Vader's line "No!" rendered as "Do not want". About a decade after the release of the bootleg, a fandub matching its subtitles was posted on YouTube. •
Take This Lollipop (2011) – An
interactive horror short film and
Facebook app, written and directed by
Jason Zada to personalize and underscore the dangers inherent in posting too much personal information about oneself on the Internet. Information gathered from a viewer's Facebook profile by the film's
app, used once and then deleted, makes the film different for each viewer. •
The Three Bears (1939) – An animated short film made by
Terrytoons based on the story
Goldilocks and the Three Bears. One of the scenes from the short depicting Papa Bear saying "Somebody toucha my
spaghet!" in a stereotypically thick Italian accent became an internet meme in December 2017. •
Treasure Island (1988) – A Soviet animated film developed and distributed by
Kievnauchfilm based on the novel
of the same name by
Robert Louis Stevenson. A loop of a scene from the film showing three characters in a walk cycle with
Dr. Livesey showing a highly pronounced swagger, often overlaid with the phonk song, "Why Not" by Ghostface Playa, became an internet meme in August 2022. •
A Very Brady Sequel (1996) – A moment where
Marcia Brady says "Sure, Jan" became a popular internet meme during the mid-2010s, usually as a response
gif. The original writers and actors responded to the meme during a 2021 interview with
Vice. •
West Side Story (2021) – A clip of the opening
long take shot of "The Dance at the Gym" sequence from
Steven Spielberg's 2021 film version of the
musical was uploaded to Twitter on 25 February 2022, and went viral over the weekend, reaching 3 million views and over 32,000 likes. It led to many users sharing images and clips of their favorite scenes and shots from the film during that time, while praising Spielberg's direction and
Janusz Kamiński's cinematography. This was further amplified by a Twitter thread by filmmaker
Guillermo del Toro analyzing the camerawork and blocking on this particular shot. == Gaming ==