Post-credits Scene Information
A post-credits scene (also called a stinger, tag, credit cookie or movie coda) is a short clip that appears after some or all of the closing credits of a film have run. It is usually either included for humor (where it may be called a "stinger gag") or to set up a possible sequel, as well as to inspire the audience to stay through the credits during the theatrical release.
Contents |
History
The use of stingers may be traced back to the 1963 James Bond film, From Russia with Love, which was the first in the series to show the ubiquitous "James Bond will return in..." just before the ending credits.[citation needed] The 1978 film Superman featured a tagline promoting the film's sequel, due out the following year. However, these were simply text at the end of the credits, and did not include clips or teasers from the upcoming films (although the original shooting script for Superman contained a stinger that featured General Zod, Ursa, and Non being freed from the Phantom Zone following the credits).[citation needed]
One of the earliest appearances of a true stinger[citation needed] in a mainstream film was in The Muppet Movie in 1979, and use of such scenes gained popularity throughout the 1980s at the end of comedy films. The Muppet Movie also began a trend[citation needed] of using such stingers to break the fourth wall, even when much of the rest of the film had kept it intact. The scenes were often used as a form of metafiction, with characters showing an awareness that they were at the end of a film, and often telling the audience directly to leave the theatre. Films using this technique include Ferris Bueller's Day Off (in which the title character frequently broke the fourth wall during the movie) and Spice World. Stingers also appeared on the long-running TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000, introduced in episode 205 ("Rocket Attack USA"), continuing until the end of the series. The stingers, with a few exceptions, highlighted moments from the films that were either particularly nonsensical or had simply caught the Brains' attention.
The 1903 film The Great Train Robbery ends with the leader of the outlaw band taking aim and firing point blank at the audience (after having been killed in the previous scene). After the credits of 1985's "Young Sherlock Holmes", the villainous schoolmaster Rathe is revealed to have survived his drowning and taken the name Professor James Moriarty.
Roger Ebert's "Ebert's Little Movie Glossary" has an entry (written by Serdor Yegulalp) called "Monk's Reward," which defines it as "A surprising final line or image, tagged on after the credits have finished rolling (e.g., in Airplane!, the fellow in the taxicab at the airport, still waiting for the driver). It is named so because it takes monk-like devotion to sit through the credits to get to it. (Also known as Credit Cookies)"
Modern examples
Stingers lacking the metafictional aspects also gained prominence in the 1980s,[citation needed] although they were still primarily used for comedy films.[citation needed] Post-credits scenes became useful places for humorous scenes that would not fit in the main body of the film. Most[citation needed] were short clips that served to tie together loose ends—minor characters whose fates were not elaborated on earlier in the movie, or plotlines that were not fully wrapped up. At the end of the Disney animated made-for-video film Aladdin: The Return of Jafar, Abis Mal asks for his third wish; in its sequel, towards the end of the song "Welcome to the Forty Thieves", which plays over the credits, the Genie is seen squished between the black background and the credits with a bit of dialogue at the very end. During its wide release, Napoleon Dynamite features a stinger that reveals that Kip and LaFawnduh get married. The film version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets features a stinger showing a poster at a book store for a new book by Gilderoy Lockhart (who accidentally wiped his memory earlier in the movie) entitled "Who Am I?" Also, in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, there is a scene that usually connects to another story. The first movie ended with Jack (the monkey) becoming cursed after removing a medallion from the Aztec chest. The second movie ended with the dog from the jail being the new god of the native tribe. The third movie ended with Elizabeth and her son witnessing Will's return from the sea.The most recent installment, Pirates of the Caribbean:On Stranger Tides, ended with Angelica discovering Blackbeard's voodoo doll of Jack which gives her a way of revenge against Captain Sparrow.
Even when post-credit scenes started to be used by films with little comedy development, the same format of giving closure to incomplete storylines or inconsequential characters remained in use. Using humor in such scenes is also still common for more serious films, as in the film Daredevil, in which Bullseye is shown after his defeat by Daredevil in a full body cast. Another example happens in Hellboy when Tom Manning is shown still wandering around the catacombs when he was last seen previously in the film when the other major players have left. Other films eschew the comedy in favor of a twist or revelation that would be out of place elsewhere in the movie, as in X-Men: The Last Stand's post-credits scene, which suggests that Professor X may have transferred his mind to the body of a comatose patient (which was revealed in the DVD commentary to be the identical twin of Charles Xavier, whose mind had been crippled and destroyed due to Charles's growing powers in utero).
In The Rugrats Movie, there is a scene with Grandpa Lou in the Reptar Wagon and the goat bumps the wagon and he rolls down the street.
At the end of the credits in the 2006 film Cars, Minny and Van were shown on screen for a few seconds, saying they were lost.
In the post-credits scene of Fast Five, Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) is given a special file by U.S. Customs agent Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) concerning the hijack of a military convoy in Berlin. In the file, Hobbs discovers a recent photo of Leticia Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), Dom (Vin Diesel)'s presumed-deceased girlfriend, revealing she survived the events of Fast & Furious.
Marvel Studios uses post-credits scenes to develop connections for its cinematic universe. Iron Man had Samuel L. Jackson appear as Nick Fury to recruit Tony Stark for the "Avenger Initiative". While it did not appear after the credits, a scene from 2008's The Incredible Hulk had Stark offer the services of the Avengers to General Ross, and Iron Man 2 showed S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) finding a mysterious artifact in the desert. The documentary "Ultimate Iron Man: The Making of Iron Man 2" on the Iron Man 2 Blu-ray has a short clip presented after the credits on filming the "Thor" sequence, interviewing director Kenneth Branagh and Clark Gregg. Thor showed Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig talking to Nick Fury where it was revealed that Loki has mind control over Selvig and is seeking revenge.
After the credits of Kung Fu Panda 2 there is an extra scene with Po.
Post-credit scenes in video games
Video games, particularly the ones that make use of complex stories, have begun using post-credits scenes.
- Almost ubiquitously, the Metroid series games feature a post-credits scene that generally involves Samus Aran revealing her identity.
- The post-credits scene has been a recurring motif in the Metal Gear series since the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake for the MSX2, which featured text-only epilogues after the closing credits.
- In another early example, the SNES game EarthBound features a very short gameplay sequence after the credits, rather than a cutscene.
- In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a minigame can be played over the credits, where the players break the blocks upon which the credits are printed, competing to gather the most coins.
- Another notable example is Call of Duty: World at War, where a short clip was shown before thrusting the player into a house being attacked by Nazi Zombies following the credits.
- Post-credits scenes are customary in the Halo series as well:
- In the original game, it was revealed that 343 Guilty Spark, a secondary antagonist, survived the conclusion of the game.
- In Halo 2, Cortana — who assists the player throughout the game — agrees to answer the Gravemind's — a main antagonist — questions in Flood-infested High Charity.
- In Halo 3, a post-credits scene reveals that the main protagonist Master Chief and Cortana actually survived the finale.
- In Halo 3: ODST, Sergeant Major Johnson, a fan favorite, appears after the credits.
- In Halo: Reach, the main protagonist Noble Six makes a last stand against the Covenant. However, in the latter example, the post-credits stinger was a fully playable level.
- In the "Game of the Year" edition of the 2000 game The Operative: No One Lives Forever, there is another level after the credits entitled "Rest & Relaxation" where the protagonist is sent on vacation to a small island, only to discover and destroy a secret H.A.R.M. base.
- In the 2008 game, Prince of Persia, the credits play over the scene of the Prince carrying the body of his companion, Elika, out of a temple, laying her to rest on a plinth outside in full view of the land they have returned to life. After the credits, the player gets a post-credit gameplay scene where the Prince re-enacts the circumstances that led to the events of the game in the first place, destroying the mystical trees that protected the land just to return Elika to life, believing there to be a way to succeed against the antagonist without her having to sacrifice her life.
See Also
- Outtakes (sometimes played while the closing credits are still rolling, such as in many Pixar films)
- Bloopers
External links
Categories: Film and video terminology | Film scenes
|