Movie Trivia for the movie 2012
Memorable Movie Quotes
Adrian Helmsley: The moment we stop fighting for each other, that’s the moment we lose our humanity.
Trivia
The doomsday theory arose from a non-Maya Western idea, not a Mayan one. Mayas insisted that the world would not end in 2012. The Mayas had a talent for astronomy, and enthusiasts found a series of astronomical alignments they said coincided in 2012. Once every six hundred forty thousand 640,000 years, the sun lines up with the center of the Milky Way galaxy on the winter solstice, the sun’s lowest point in the horizon. The last time that happened was on December 21, 2012, the same day the Maya calendar expired.
The great disasters of the “galactic alignment” in 2012 were supposed to have occurred on December 21st, the day of the solstice. The filmmakers decided to move those events up a few months, to midsummer. This relieved them of having to decorate the sets for the winter holidays.
When Jackson rents a plane, he gives the pilot his watch as payment. He tells the pilot that it was given to him by his editor when he thought he was going to be someone, and that it’s worth something. The watch is a Classic Pilot Mark XVI, and sells for at least $3,000.
When Jackson goes to pick up the Russian oligarch’s boys, he drives up to the Fleur de Lys estate in Bel Air. At the time, it was one of the most expensive real estate listings in the country, with an asking price of $125 million.
When leaving for China they appear to be on an six-engine Antonov AN-224 cargo plane with most people travelling in the cargo bay. Due to the size of the cargo doors, the cargo bays in the An-124/225 planes are not pressurized and the cargo bay is off-limits for the crew during flights.
The film’s title plays upon the myth of the Mayan calendar ending in 2012. It actually ends in 3770 and doesn’t predict any end of the world. New Age hoaxers claimed the calendar ended in order to make money. Mayas never claimed that and were annoyed by outsiders pestering them with questions about it.
After flying to Yellowstone in the small Cessna with his family, John Cusack’s character approaches Woody Harrelson’s character atop a mountain in order to retrieve the “map”. The mountain they are on is Mt. Big Horn, and after the large volcanic eruption, a sign can be seen atop the mountain which reads “Mt Big Horn – Elev 2,779 ft. In actuality Big Horn Peak is one of the tallest peaks in Yellowstone and has an elevation of 9,930 ft. Additionally, in the movie, Cusack’s character drives an RV to the summit, however in reality there are no roads within many miles of this mountain and it can only be reached by foot.
The title card “2012” does not appear until 11 minutes, 45 seconds into the film.
Wisconsin is mentioned three times in the film. Executive producer Michael Wimer, Roland Emmerich’s friend and business partner, is from Neenah, Wisconsin.
The plane Gordon flies them to Vegas in was a Cessna 340A with the registration number of N340SB. Was manufactured in 1979.
Goofs
The news reports of riots in London is actual footage of the poll tax riots which occurred in 1989.
The scientific paper on crustal shifting is said to have been published in 1958, and Albert Einstein agreed with it. Einstein died in 1955.
In the Antonov plane, Jackson scans FM frequencies on the Bentley’s radio. FM frequencies are relatively short-range, and can’t be heard at all when flying over open ocean. Jackson may not realize that.
The Antonov that takes off at the Las Vegas airport is clearly a 124 model, with its two engines on either side and its normal tail. When they are in the air it is an Antonov 225, which has three engines on either side, and a double tail made to carry the Russian Mryia space shuttle.
The time lines in the movie imply that Yellowstone and Los Angeles are a few hours from each other. Yellowstone is 1,000 miles from Los Angeles.
When Charlie is broadcasting in Yellowstone, he says he is at the top of Mount Bighorn. He also passes the wooden sign that says “Mount Bighorn – Elevation 2500 feet”. Not only is Mount Bighorn completely fictitious, the lowest elevation in Yellowstone is 5,314 feet.
Likely there would have been damage to most or all cell phone towers rendering cell phone useless for most of the movie.
All of the waves shown crashing onto land, through snowy mountain passes, and into vehicles would be cold enough to induce hypothermia in minutes, and too dirty to see through. Even calm ocean water is too murky to see through at the distances and scales shown.
To pay for ark construction, Carl explains they sold tickets to extremely wealthy passengers. This notion is unnecessary and wasteful because–as any savvy financial expert would predict–the impending global catastrophe will render all currencies and bank accounts worthless, essentially wiping out all forms of debt.
Box Office Info In USA
Budget $200,000,000
Gross: $166,112,167
Filming Locations
Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
Los Angeles, California, USA
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Ashcroft, British Columbia, Canada
Cache Creek, British Columbia, Canada
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Washington, District of Columbia, USA
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Vancouver Film Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
(studio)
Japan
Vatican City
Tibet, China