Did you hear the word—Hollywood loves birds! Grab a bucket of popcorn and go behind the scenes of bird movies with these fascinating facts.
7 Fascinating Facts About Bird Movies
Published on Jun. 25, 2025
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Big Bird’s Movie Took Time to Take Flight
When Follow That Bird, a now-beloved movie about Big Bird, hit theaters in 1985, it was a total flop, earning only $2.4 million on its opening weekend.
Black Swan Required Intensive Training
To prepare for her physically intensive ballerina role in Black Swan, Natalie Portman trained five hours a day for a year. The hard work paid off — Portman won Best Actress at the 83rd Oscars in 2011. While many in North America might not know about them, black swans are also real birds. They’re found in Australia and Tasmania, although they’ve been introduced elsewhere outside of their native habitat.
Learn more amazing facts about swans.
What Kind of Bird Is Up’s Kevin?
After 10,297 balloons lift his house away in the Pixar film Up, 78-year-old Carl meets Kevin, a large tropical bird. While Kevin is referred to in the movie itself as a “snipe,” her plumage more closely resembles that of a Himalayan monal pheasant. Interestingly, the Himalayan monal pheasant is also the national bird of Nepal.
Puffin to Porg: Discover how nature inspired Star Wars.
Angry Birds Isn’t Just a Game
Angry Birds, a mobile game with hundreds of levels, inspired a movie featuring the titular characters. While the movie was released in 2016 and a sequel arrived in 2019, the birds have been angry since the game released in 2009. You might not know the birds have good reason to be angry, too: those green pigs stole their eggs!
These grumpy bird pictures will turn your frown upside-down.
Alfred Hitchcock Makes a Cameo Appearance
Director Alfred Hitchcock often made cameos in his films. The Birds was the 35th movie of his in which he made an appearance. Look for him leaving a pet shop with his terriers on a leash.
After you watch The Birds, read up to learn why a bird might dive-bomb you.
One Bird Movie Honors a Bird-watching Legend
One of the hypercompetitive protagonists of The Big Year begins his birding journey at Phoebe’s Diner, a nod to Phoebe Snetsinger, the first birder to see over 8,000 species. The film, released in 2011, stars Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson as the main characters.
Did you know bird-watching can boost your mental health?
This Bird Movie Is Based on a True Story
The black-and-white film Birdman of Alcatraz is based on real-life criminal and ornithologist Robert Stroud, who raised and studied canaries during many of his 54 years in multiple prisons.
After you finish reading about bird movies, learn about famous birds in literature.
Sources
- Filmsite.org, “Alfred Hitchcock Cameos“
- IMDb, “Black Swan (2010) – Awards“
- Disney Wiki, “Kevin“
- San Francisco Zoo, “Black Swan“
