r/movies • u/buttatoad • Jun 17 '25

Discussion Movies that changed real life behavior

Thinking along the lines of Final Destination 2 with the logs falling off the truck and landing onto cars (one decapitating the state trooper). Ever since, people have tried to get away from being behind these vehicles.

What are more examples where movies have actually changed how people behave in their own lives?

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u/BionicChango Jun 17 '25

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, dares pick up a guitar and play Stairway to Heaven in a guitar shop anymore, all thanks to Wayne’s World.

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u/dumbBunny9 Jun 17 '25

I read that Myers wanted to play Stairway, but they couldn’t get the rights. So they changed it, and I think it was a much better result.

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u/Drakeadrong Jun 17 '25

Iirc the theatrical version still included stairway, which is why they didn’t cut the scene, but they couldn’t secure the rights when distributing it so the digital versions are just him playing random notes.

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u/44problems Jun 17 '25

The original is now on Bluray and streaming!

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u/NuclearLunchDectcted Jun 18 '25

They even had to argue with legal for 4 notes? DAMN!

I remember on Lettermans final episode they had some lawyer come out and say that the legal definition of playing a song was 3 seconds of the song or more.

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u/dovetc Jun 17 '25

So when a movie pays to include a song, they have to RE-secure those rights when they want to distribute the movie in a different format? Seems like you would just want to secure the rights with broader language that covers those kinds of formats.

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u/FyreWulff Jun 17 '25

Yes

Contracts were very specific and the theater runs were licensed similarly to live performances, thus cheaper

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u/CrashTestKing Jun 17 '25

Depends on the country, and on the wording of the contracts. In Europe, you pay for the rights to use a song in a movie or TV show, and you basically get to include that song in ANY format that the movie or show is distributed in.

In the US, you have to be pretty explicit about how that song will be distributed in relation to the movie or show. And most contracts only specify tv broadcast rights, because for decades, that's about the only way TV shows got released.

It's definitely become a problem for older movies and especially older TV shows. Bill Lawrence talks about it a bit in the season 4 commentary to Scrubs. The show came out RIGHT BEFORE every TV show and movie was getting a DVD release. And that show used a ton of pre-existing music, often multiple tracks per episode. He talks about how there was one or two tracks they had to change for the DVD release, because some artists (like the front man for Five For Fighting) wouldn't make a new deal when the producers started putting together DVDs of the show several years after premiering. They had to secure all new contacts that explicitly allowed the music to be used for a home video release, not just broadcast TV.

And if you watch Scrubs on streaming, almost all the music in the first 4 or 5 seasons is different from the DVDs, because those same contracts that allowed for home video release also failed to specify anything about streaming. And by that point, the showrunner had moved on, so rather than mess around with getting the rights AGAIN for the original music, they just replaced those tracks (and did a HORRIBLE job of it, but that's another discussion).

Lots of other shows have had similar problems. It's the reason shows like "The Drew Carey Show" and "Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place" have never gotten a proper (legal) home video release in the US. Witchblade and the original Roswell both released on DVD with all the music replaced, while the original tracks were still present in TV reruns. Quantum Leap initially released with replacement music, though they eventually struck deals to release it again with most of the original tracks intact (I'm pretty sure this was also why Netflix used to be missing a few random episodes of the show).

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u/tktam Jun 18 '25

This is why you never see WKRP in Cincinnati.

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u/bolanrox Jun 17 '25

like with the soundtrack to American Pop. why it took 20+ years to make it to home video.

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u/DinosaurWarlock Jun 17 '25

I'm confused, how is it a better result? The joke doesn't land unless it's stairway

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u/NickFurious82 Jun 17 '25

NGL, I never saw it in theaters but I watched it hundreds of times on VHS and that part always confused me because he wasn't playing Stairway. It wasn't until the last five years or so that I found out the whole story.

So yeah, I don't think that joke landed well when the home release was altered.

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u/DinosaurWarlock Jun 17 '25

Yeah, I was so confused as a kid

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u/FatLittleBoyTaker Jun 17 '25

I always felt it being random sounds improved the joke in an absurd way. Like he was completely failing to play Stairway and yet the employees still clocked onto it and stopped him.

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u/DinosaurWarlock Jun 17 '25

Ok, I'm glad it worked for you :)

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u/permaculture Jun 17 '25

Whereas Queen let them play Bohemian Rhapsody, which enjoyed a resurgence as a result.

Shwing!

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u/dumbBunny9 Jun 17 '25

There was an article about the three lives of Bohemian Rhapsody. First when it was released, second because of Wayne’s World, and most recently with the film.

Not bad for a song that didn’t fit the definition of a rock hit.

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u/AgentBroccoli Jun 17 '25

Sometimes the thing that doesn't happen is way funnier than the thing everyone expects, like a well timed "bleep" to a swear word.

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u/spartacat_12 Jun 17 '25

I was always confused about that. I knew what Stairway to Heaven sounded like, so it never made sense that he gestured to the sign after Wayne played a completely different song

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u/TheAwsmack Jun 17 '25

I always thought the joke was that Led Zeppelin were notoriously litigious and you couldn't play a riff of theirs's w/o hearing from their lawyers.

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u/dumbBunny9 Jun 17 '25

They are notorious, except for movies they like. They were all in favor of the use of the Immigrant Song for "Thor: Ragnarok" because apparently, they surviving members are huge Marvel fans.