A widely shared memory of a 1990s film called Shazaam, starring comedian Sinbad as a genie, is a false one. Wikipedia lists it as a common misconception, noting no such film was made. Instead, the memories are usually linked to Kazaam, a 1996 film in which basketball player Shaquille O'Neal plays the titular genie. Sinbad also appeared in a genie costume while introducing the 1977 film Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger on TNT in 1994, which likely adds to the confusion. The case is often cited as an example of the Mandela effect, where many people share the same false memory.

In 1909 D. W. Griffith made a 14-minute film about a speculator who corners the wheat market and doubles the price of bread. A farmer sows his field while a 'Wheat King' gambles in the Chicago wheat pit; bakers raise the loaf from five cents to ten and the poor line up for bread. Griffith cut back and forth between the farm, the feast and the breadline, a technique called parallel editing, so audiences saw both ends of the economy at once. The film drew on Frank Norris's stories and on a real scheme: months earlier Chicago financier James Patten had cornered wheat, sent bread prices up and made about $5 million, roughly $185 million today.