20th Centuries facts
While investigating facts about 20th Centuries, I found out little known, but curios details like:
The star wars theme was written purposely on the same key as the 20th Century Fox fanfare (that used to appear before the movie started) so that there will be a continuous feeling and a smooth entry to the film for the viewers.
48 hours before Deadpool was green lit by 20th Century Fox, the studio cut the film's budget by $7-8 million down to $58 million. Numerous changes were made as a result, such as having Deadpool forget his bag of guns before the final battle sequence to avoid a costly gun fight in the third act.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about 20th Centuries I managed to collect.
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20th Century Fox, convinced that Star Wars was going to flop, agreed to George Lucas’s proposition to forgo an additional $500K directing fee in return to keep licensing and merchandising rights for himself. This decision cost Fox billions and made George Lucas a Billionaire.
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The most prolific mathematician of the 20th century (Paul Erdos) used amphetamines to fuel 20 hour number benders. When a friend bet him $500 that he couldn't quit for a month, he won, but complained "You've set mathematics back a month"
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Instant ramen was invented by Momofuku Ando in 1958 and. in 2000, voted Japan's greatest invention of the 20th century by the Japanese themselves.
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In 1915, scam artist Charles Hatfield convinced the town of San Diego that he could create rainfall using a secret mix of chemicals. The city offered to pay him $10,000 if he could end their drought, and the 'result,' a few days later, was the town's worst flood of the 20th century.
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In the early 20th century the term "Muggles" meant someone who smoked marijuana. Louis Armstrong and some bandmates would get high before recording sessions and even recorded a song called "Muggles".
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Braveheart has been described as one of the most historically inaccurate modern films. One historian took particular exception to the costumes and compared it to, "a film about Colonial America showing the colonial men wearing 20th century business suits, but with the jackets worn back-to-front"
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2016 had also taken Dr Donald Henderson. He led the effort to eradicate smallpox, which killed 500 million in the 20th century alone.
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Home Alone was originally financed/produced by Warner Bros. When the budget grew from $13 million to $18 million and no confidence of success, WB dropped the film, which was then picked up by 20th Century Fox. The film grossed $476.7 million worldwide (of which $285.8 million were from America).
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76% of all known serial killers in the 20th century were from the United States.
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When the Prussians forbade the Danes from displaying their flag in the early 20th century, the Danes responded by creating a new breed of pig that resembled the Danish flag and displayed it instead
20th Centuries data charts
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What is true about 20th centuries?
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Lyme disease was not as common in the past as it is now, and its prevalence is actually due to an explosion in the white-footed mouse population at the turn of the 20th century. This in turn coincides with the extinction of the mouse's primary ecological competitor: the passenger pigeon.
The the first deodorant for men was launched in 1935 (decades after the introduction of deodorants for women) because, at the beginning of the 20th century, body odour was not considered a problem for men; it was a part of being masculine. - source
In the early 20th century, several American condom manufacturers tested their condoms for defects and sold the rejects under cheaper brand names rather than discarding them - source
20th Century Fox made so much off of Return of the Jedi that they were looking for a tax write-off, so they paid for the entirety of a film with little faith behind it: Revenge of the Nerds.
According to a poll in the year 2000, the Japanese believe that their best invention of the 20th century was instant noodles. - source
20th Century Fox gave up merchandising and sequel rights to Star Wars in exchange for Lucas accepting a $150,000 salary instead of $500,000. George Lucas made over $7 billion from Star Wars.
A 20th century biologist discovered so many species of moths that he simply named them E. bobana, E. cocana, E. dodana, E. fofana, E. hohana, E. kokana, E. lolana and E. momana.
Deadpool (2016) is the highest grossing R-rated film of all time, the highest grossing X-Men film, and the highest grossing 20th Century Fox film not directed by James Cameron or George Lucas.
Pistol dueling with wax bullets was a popular pastime in the early 20th century and even featured as a sport in the 1908 Summer Olympics
In the early 20th century, trains in the US were destroyed in staged head-on collisions in front of live audiences for entertainment. This ended in the 1930s as it was seen to be wasteful of old but otherwise useful locomotives at the height of the Great Depression.
The filming of Leonardo DiCaprio's "The Beach" permanently damaged the ecosystem of the island where it was film, prompting Thailand's Supreme Court to get involved in the legal case against 20th Century Fox
20th centuries infographics
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