Award season is in full swing and Oscar nominations are, once again, upon us.
As we all rehearse our Oscar acceptance speech in front of the mirror, what better time to recap some cinema records to show off at parties?
For example, did you know that, with 26 awards from 64 nominations in a little over 30 years, Walt Disney is the person who holds the record for most Oscars in a lifetime?
He is also the person with the overall most nominations.
Although winning an Academy Award is no stroll in the park, you can also lose your Oscar!
Although some movies can be disqualified from the race, the coveted accolade was recalled only once in cinema history.
The one and only Oscar winner disqualification happened in 1968, for the documentary The Young Americans.
The scandal exploded when it was revealed that the almost-winner for the Best Documentary category had been shown in theatres the preceding calendar year – thus disregarding the Academy’s guidelines.
But movies are not only about actors and actresses.
Often overlooked, but necessary to bring any movie to life, the world of props and set dressing is also a serious (and prop-erly amazing!) business.
Prop-making is not used to simulate reality, but often to set a scene and create a specific atmosphere.
In other words, it's all about the vibes!
The ancient art of creating a scene and enhancing atmosphere via objects has its roots in Ancient Greece, where props managers and craftsmen known as "skeupoios" worked for the classical Greek theatre.
They were mainly tasked to create masks, though they likely created or sourced other stage property.
Now, collectors and movie enthusiasts collect props and spend plenty of money to own relics from their favourite movies and shows.
For example, the falcon statuette from 1941 film noir The Maltese Falcon is the most expensive hand propsold at auction ever.
Several statuettes were made for the movie and, in 2013, one of them was sold by Bonhams in New York for $4,085,000 (£2,517,054).
The overall most expensive movie prop was an original Robby the Robot, who sold for a jaw-dropping sum in New York in 2017.
Now a movie superstar in his own right, the iconic Robby debuted in the 1956 sci-fi movie Forbidden Planet and was sold for $5,375,000 (€4.06 m, the current equivalent of £4,226,926) more than 60 years later.
The design of the robot was praised as ground-breaking, thanks to its cutting-edge exterior and advancements, and it influenced several other movies and other media in the genre.
Robby remained stored in horror filmmaker William Malone's original Forbidden Planet props collection for many years before the record-breaking auction.
The hammer came down at Bonhams, where the legendary robot was sold as a full system along with an alternative head, the control console and all the accessories he used on screen.
A pillar of the genre, Forbidden Planet was directed by American director Fred M. Wilcox.
The production house Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer didn't spare while creating Robby, which reportedly cost more than $100,000 to build, which is the equivalent to $1.1 m (£920,000) with today's inflation.
However, it's safe to say that the investment paid off and created a legend.
Do you know what Titanic (1997), Ben-Hur (1959) and The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King (2003) have in common?
They all won 11 Oscars, the most Oscars won by a film EVER.
The most filmed Sci-fi prop is the Dual Axis Generator, also known as “The Most Important Device in the Universe” and it does… well, no one is sure what it does.
In fact, it’s not even sure it does anything!
Will it save the world? Maybe. Will it destroy it? Equally possible.
All we know about this (fascinating, but rather vague) machine is that it's made out of a pair of clear tubes filled with flickering lights, supported by industrial-looking fittings.
Can you spot it in all these clips?
The machine was first built for The Incredible Hulk (1977–1982) and it has been used in plenty of other movies and TV shows after.
The mysterious apparatus has appeared on set for more than 200 TV shows and films, from The Last Starfighter to eight episodes of Star Trek.
This piece of futuristic set dressing was built in 1977 by John Zabrucky (USA), co-founder of Modern Props, a properties rental house in Los Angeles, California. Zabrucky collaborated with movies such as the Ghostbusters Franchise and Batman Returns.
The legendary Star Wars hero Han Solo used a very special gun for his adventures around the galaxy: it was the most expensive prop gun ever.
The BlasTech DL-44 Heavy Blaster was used by the intergalactic hero during the original Star Wars trilogy, and it was sold for a whopping $1,057,500 (£904,342).
The auction house released a video showcasing the legendary weapon, which was used by Harrison Ford in the iconic role.
One of the most well-known and loved characters in the George Lucas' fortunate franchise, it's no surprise that Solo's gun made history - just as its owner.
The history-making transaction happened at Rock Island Auction in Illinois, USA, on 30 August 2022, and featured the only surviving gun out of three 1976-made originals.
The guns where created by London props house Bapty & Co. for A New Hope (1977).
It comprises a blank-firing Mauser C98, decorated with parts from a World War II machine gun, a 19th-century hunting rifle and a model aircraft kit.
But props aren’t always as small as a robot or a gun.
The most expensive car from a film comes straight from the set of Bond's Thunderball.
This one-of-two modified 1965 Aston Martin DB5 debuted in 1965 and belonged to the iconic fictional spy, who was played by Sean Connery at the time (Connery starred in a total of seven James Bond movies, Thunderball being the third).
The car came with plenty of spy-approved gadgets, including machine guns in the bumpers and a retractable, bulletproof rear screen.
The Bond car was sold for a whopping $6,385,000 (£5.2 m) during an auction in Monterey, California, USA.
If you're hungry for more curiosities from Hollywood, or if you want to know more about the incredible world of cinema records, grab your copy of Guinness World Records 2023.
If you love watching records being broken you should check out our Records Weekly series on YouTube...
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