The most error-filled movie in cinema history, according to science
Some people watch a movie to escape reality, some watch to relive moments from their past, while others enjoy the connection they have with their favourite actors, but there is a small group of warriors with one particular mission, which is to poke massive holes in every single film ever made.
One of those very special people is Stephen Follows, a journalist who uses data and graphs to interpret the movie industry, even publishing a fascinating article in 2026 called ‘What do movies get wrong most often?’
Rather than sitting there and ripping his least favourite films to shreds, he used some good old-fashioned maths to prove what mistakes Hollywood makes time and time again, breaking down the different types of mistakes that a movie can make into two categories.
One is ‘Story Errors’, which includes things like plot holes, geographical impossibilities, or straight-up incorrect facts, and the other is ‘Filmmaking Errors’, which includes problems caused by the physical process of shooting a movie, including continuity mistakes and equipment being visible in frame.
On this front, Follows reveals that vehicles are the biggest cause of Filmmaking Errors across the 11,842 films he researched for this project. According to his findings, around six per cent of all films feature the wrong kind of vehicle. That’s all movies, not just the ones that feature modes of transport.
Issues like types of cars being shown before they were manufactured, incorrect number plates, or production vehicles accidentally appearing onscreen come up time and time again, and following vehicles, things like incorrect brands and historically wrong architecture are among the most common screw-ups.
When it comes to Story Errors, our hero went one step further, making a graph summarising the 15 movies with the most Story Errors per minute of runtime. Historical movies like Titanic and Hidden Figures make up a large portion of the list, as do action flicks like Die Hard 2 and Under Siege, with the silver medal going to The Iron Claw, an emotional wrestling drama that was criticised for changing too much about the real-life story.
However, right at the very top of the list, we have the 2015 science fiction drama, The Martian, one of the many films made about rescuing Matt Damon, following a mission to rescue an astronaut who was accidentally stranded on the red planet. According to Follows, the Ridley Scott movie makes over 1.2 mistakes per minute across its 142-minute runtime, with issues ranging from the in-space physics to the Martian weather to flaws in the main character’s approach to farming.
While this research might come across as one nerdy guy trying to ruin movies for everyone, it actually proves something beautiful about cinema as a medium. Despite its plethora of errors, The Martian was still a monumental success, making bank at the box office and is widely regarded as one of Scott’s best films, especially among his recent offerings. Follows’ findings prove that you can make as many mistakes as you like, but if you have a good story, strong characters, and gripping performances, nobody will mind.
