As promised, here’s the second part of my Top Ten theories linking different films and franchises together. Bet you didn’t think it could get much weirder than Kevin from Home Alone growing up to be Jigsaw, didn’t you? Well, you were wrong.
5. The Pixar Unification
Pixar
Films Linked: Pixar Franchise
At first glance, the connections between the various Pixar films are pretty obvious. The mega-company Buy N Large appears in WALL-E, Up, and the Toy Story films. Similarly, the Pizza Planet truck appears in every Pixar film except The Incredibles.
The Pixar Unification Theory, as it is commonly known, was first proposed by Jon Negroni, who managed to draw a series of connections between every Pixar film from Toy Story (1995) to Monsters University (2013). Negroni proposed that the entire Pixar franchise is actually the tale of an epic struggle between humans, intelligent animals, and sentient machines.
The Theory posits that the sentient objects and machines in Toy Story, Cars, and WALL-E and talking animals in Bug’s Life, Up, and Ratatouille are a result of the magic performed by the Witch in Brave. The witch experiments on a variety of animals and objects over the course of the film, which is set in the Middle Ages. The animals become progressively more intelligent over the following centuries, as in Ratatouille. The same goes for the inanimate objects that the Witch enchants, which are shown first gaining sentience in the Incredibles (set in the 60s) before turning on humans in the run-up to WALL-E.
The big kicker in this theory is that the Witch in Brave is actually Boo, the little girl in Monsters Inc. The Witch is frequently seen disappearing through doors, just as the Monsters in Monsters Inc. use doors to reach children’s bedrooms.
4. The Cthulhu Evolution
Lionsgate/Columbia/Paramount/Regent
Films Linked: Conan the Barbarian, Hellboy, Evil Dead, Cabin In The Woods
The widespread popularity of the Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos links together dozens of films. The 1982 Conan The Barbarian film, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, saw Conan fighting against the Cult of the Serpent God Set, a figure originally based on the Old Ones of Lovecraft’s stories. This isn’t a surpsrise to anyone familiar with Lovercraft’s biography. His first stories were published in Weird Tales, the same pulp magazine that published Robert E. Howard’s Conan and Krull stories. As a result, the two quickly became friends and began slipping references to each other’s work in their stories.
However, Lovecraft’s creatures have gone on to appear in a broad range of horror films. The Eldritch Abominations were key (if largely unseen) in both the 1997 sci-fi film Event Horizon and the Evil Dead films (1981). Similar creatures appeared in 2004’s Hellboy, fans have highlighted the visual similarities between the Old Ones and the monster in Cloverfield (2008), and the thematic similarities between Lovecraft’s Old Ones and the Ancient Ones in 2012’s The Cabin In The Woods. Even the television series True Detective saw the protagonists hunting a killer who worships the Old Ones and is trying to open a portal to their dimension.
Because the Old Ones are said to exist outside of the normal Universe, existing independently of time and space, it has been assumed that they exist in a pocket reality that connects all of these different times and realities together. Every time anything even remotely Lovecraftian creeps into a universe, this is actually the same being, or group of beings, simply breaking into yet another reality.
3. The Leonardo Singularity
20th Century Fox/Warner Bros.
Films Linked: Titanic, The Great Gatsby, Shutter Island, Catch Me If You Can, Inception, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?
Jack meets and falls in love with Rose aboard the Titanic (the Titanic, 1997). Rather than falling in love with Rose, Jack intentionally seduces her, steals from her, and then fakes his own death as the ship sinks. Arriving in America, Jack changes his name to Jay Gatsby and makes a fortune through a string of dodgy deals (The Great Gatsby, 2013). However, he remains haunted by his actions aboard the Titanic and becomes increasingly divorced from reality.
Jack realises that all of the wealth he has previously enjoyed is actually a product of his imagination and awakens as Teddy Daniels, an extremely violent patient in a mental institute (Shutter Island, 2010). This actually worsens his condition, leading to a string of fantasies in which he is an airline pilot, a lawyer, a doctor named Frank Abignale Jr (Catch Me If You Can, 2002). At this time, he becomes haunted by Tom Hanks, who represents his repressed awareness that none of his delusions are real.
Things come to a head when Teddy finally accepts that everything he has experienced so far has actually been a set of dreams within dreams (Inception, 2010). He begins actively trying to extract himself from this tangled web, creating a system of indicators that will let him know once he reaches reality. He finally awakens to discover that he is Arnie; a young man with severe developmental disabilities and a phobia of water who has created his other personas to deal with the death of his mother (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, 1993).
2. The Shining Joker Continuum
Warner Bros
Films Linked: The Shining, The Dark Knight
In 1980, The Shining introduced the world to Jack Torrance, a writer and recovering alcoholic, who takes a job as an off-season caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel. Jack and his family become trapped in the hotel after a severe snowstorm. The isolation, coupled with the supernatural presences in the building, gradual drives Jack insane until he attempts to murder his wife and son, Danny.
Flash forward to 2008, and Heath Ledger’s celebrated performance as the Joker in the Dark Knight. The character gives two explanations for his disfiguring scars. Because the Joker is both insane and a pathological liar, the two versions are completely different. However, it is possible that they both contain a grain of truth. One of these origins involves his father:
“My father was a drinker and a fiend. And one night he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself. He doesn’t like that. Not. One. Bit.”
This is an almost perfect description of the dramatic climax of the Shining. When the Joker describes his father “taking the knife” and “coming at” him and his mother, he’s actually describing Jack Torance’s turn to madness in The Shining. The “scars” in this case aren’t physical scars, but emotional and psychological ones from being attacked by his father.
1. The E.T. Jedi Approximation
Lucasfilm
Films Linked: E.T., Star Wars Episode I
The first indication that E.T. and Star Wars are connected goes right back to 1990, when E.T. was first released. Eliot is shown to be a fan of Star Wars throughout the film, playing with a collection of Star Wars toys before E.T.’s arrival and so on. In one scene, E.T. meets a kid wearing a Yoda costume for Halloween and recognises him. He even says “Home” when they meet. For most, this just seemed like a typical cultural reference, highlighting the physical similarities between E.T. and Yoda.
But in 2001, Star Wars Episode I was released. The Senate scenes of the film included a wide variety of aliens, including some that were very clearly modeled on E.T. Again, most viewers took this as little more than an in-joke between Matt Lucas and Stephen Spielberg. But what if it’s more? Going back to E.T., we see the titular character move a variety of objects around using the power of his mind. The only logical conclusion is that E.T. is not just from the same Galaxy as Yoda, but is also a Jedi Master.
What are your favourite (and wildest) movie theories?
The Backstreet Imaginarium 