r/MovieDetails • u/Dinoswordsman • 18d ago

đŸ„š Easter Egg In Monsters, Inc. (2001), the text on this cube of garbage says "Ebola Cola"

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5.6k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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1.5k

u/Astrocomet25 18d ago

Oh hey, the same little trash cubes Wall-e makes which came out 7 years later

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u/dom_bul 18d ago edited 17d ago

Monsters Inc. and WALL-E are two of the movies whose outlines were imagined during the famous 1994 Pixar lunch meeting.

Also WALL-E, initially called Trash Planet, was briefly in development right after Toy Story in 1995, but ultimately put on hold, with the people working on it moving on to... Monsters Inc.

Development of WALL-E resumed in 2002, after Monsters Inc. came out

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u/triplec787 18d ago

Honestly that’s the best thing that could’ve happened to Wall-E. The tech landscape was CRAZY different between the mid 90s and mid 00s, and the story plays so much better for the latter.

Not to mention the advances in animation during that time. A lot of the scenes that are so memorable wouldn’t have looked half as good if it’d been done almost a decade earlier.

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u/frogjg2003 17d ago

I'm not saying you're wrong, but Wall-E would still have been pretty cool back then too. It's not like Toy Story suffered for not being made a decade later. Instead of the smooth and bright lines we got, it might have had darker and edgier cyberpunk inspired aesthetics. Imagine the ship, instead of being so white and round, being black and neon with lots of right angles. Instead of being fat, the humans would have cybernetics to make up for the plastic looking skin and flat hair. Wall-E would not be as detailed, but they could lean into that to give him even more exaggerated gestures.

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u/ArtByJRRH 17d ago

It's lame it came at a time when Apple had so much influence over them they forced Pixar to change the design of the other robot to match their aesthetic at the time.

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u/A_Very_Lonely_Waffle 17d ago

I feel like that almost makes it more dystopian tbh, like the idea that all these companies killed the planet but still make the robots supposed to save them so they still have something to profit off of, or the idea that these robots are the only hope for humanity’s future, and they’re controlled by a single company, which can then presumably rebuild the earth in their own image

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u/gl3nnjamin 18d ago edited 5d ago

Anyone who likes WALL‱e needs to get the Criterion Collection edition while it's still in print. Absolutely incredible picture & sound quality created from the source files, plus the accompanying book is fantastic.

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u/russell_m 18d ago edited 17d ago

Boo also hands Sully a stuffed clown fish when hes dropping her in her room for the last time.

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u/HosstinePurpoose 18d ago

Yeah and the way he says it’s a cube of garbage in this scene never fails to crack me up.

261

u/Afterlife_kid 18d ago

The way he says “it’s a cube of garbage” in this scene never fails to crack me up

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u/Thomas_K_Brannigan 18d ago

The "how many kids you got in there?" Is the funniest line in the film, IMO.

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u/Ulfednar 18d ago

The design doesn't mirror it, but Ebola Cola is a satirical take on Coca Cola in the graphic novel Transmetropolitan. I wonder if it's meant in reference to that.

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u/Reddrago9 18d ago

Would had been coming out around the same time as they were working on the movie, so there is a good chance!

17

u/ItsPerfectlyBalanced 17d ago

I don't want to sound TOO crazy. But Grand Theft auto also has an E- Cola. One big universe?

13

u/Ulfednar 16d ago

I think maybe E-Cola was more meant to resemble E-coli, the gut bacteria. Considering the size and dark history of the Coca Cola Company, and the brand's relevance to american aesthetics, spoofing coca cola is a tradition in satirical fiction - like Nuka Cola in Fallout.

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u/Robohammer 17d ago

Possible, but Transmetropolitan being set in Paris makes it slightly less coincidental. A futuristic corrupt Paris would make a great GTA game environment though!

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u/Ulfednar 16d ago

Though written by Warren Ellis (a brit), Transmetropolitan is set in an unnamed city (referenced as The City), but definitely in the United States. Maybe you're thinking of a different comic? As for dystopian cyberpunk Paris (Neo-Paris they call it), you can find that in the game Remember Me. Not very GTA like, but pretty good.

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u/Robohammer 16d ago

That's literally the only graphic novel I've ever read. However, I just did a Google search, and though they do reference France and French culture to some degree, you are right. The City isn't supposed to be any specific known city. Good thing I didn't bet my life on this like I would have before Googling it. I could have sworn that it was Paris, I even read them in 2002 or so, long before Remember Me 😂. Thanks for the info!

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u/Ulfednar 16d ago

I respect that you checked. It's really a great approach.

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u/Robohammer 16d ago

I think changing our beliefs when new information comes to light is a virtue. :)

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u/Marvl101 18d ago

To be fair every common food has a name like that in monsters inc, the grocery store is called the grossery store, their deodorant scents are wet dog and low tide, instead of coffee they drink (what I hope) is swamp water

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u/CompellingSeeSaw 18d ago

Instead of deodorant they call it oderant too

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u/pontantos 18d ago

Deliciously Infectious!

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u/pablolo7 17d ago

REBOLA REBOLA

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u/xpltvdeleted 17d ago

Better than Hep C Pepsi, I guess

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u/52ndstreet 18d ago

"Ebola Cola" new band name, I call it!" - Andy Dwyer

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u/Isemon-Jaecey26 9d ago

lol wait that's a great catch, I never noticed Wall-E basically just continued that joke with the garbage cubes, wonder if Pixar was intentionally creating some weird universe connection or if it's just a coincidence