Warning! SPOILERS for The Bubble.
Judd Apatow’s The Bubble is filled with meta-references to iconic movies while mocking a variety of modern franchises through its Easter eggs. As a movie-within-a-movie premise, The Bubble’s plot points pull from many real-life experiences of filming major franchise movies at the height of the pandemic. Not only does The Bubble’s angle of the pandemic bubble lead to a mockery of franchise-star personalities, but the actual fake film that the characters are shooting, Cliff Beasts 6, is a parodic combination of popular sci-fi and action film series.
Starring actors like Pedro Pascal, Karen Gillan, David Duchovny, Leslie Mann, and Keegan-Michael Key, Netflix’s The Bubble follows the misadventures of Cliff Beasts 6’s cast and crew as they isolate within the boundaries of their hotel and film set. Taking place at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Bubble’s characters experience a series of misadventures as one of two movies actually filming, including the madness of self-quarantine, the contagious flu (rather than COVID), and nonstop TikTok dances. By the end of The Bubble, the daunting production has become so intense that Cliff Beasts 6 doesn’t finish filming, with the premiere that the characters attend later on being for the documentary on the making of the movie instead.
While The Bubble has many hidden movie references and Easter eggs to mock modern franchises, there are also various nods to franchises simply through the casting. Netflix's The Bubble doesn’t feature direct references to Star Wars, but it does feature a hilarious scene between Pedro Pascal and Daisy Ridley, who are well known for leading The Mandalorian and the Star Wars sequel trilogy, respectively. That said, some of The Bubble’s franchise parodies are so over-the-top that there’s no question which movie Netflix is giving a nod to. Here’s a breakdown of every Easter egg in Netflix’s 2022 movie The Bubble, including every movie reference and which franchises are mocked.
Jurassic Park
The franchise that received the largest parody treatment in The Bubble is Jurassic Park, particularly through the basis of the fictional Cliff Beasts film series. Judd Apatow described Cliff Beasts as a C-level version of Jurassic Park, which is really low in quality but has the scientific protagonists taking on flying dinosaurs. While Cliff Beasts 6 is an obvious spoof of Jurassic Park, the entire premise of Netflix’s The Bubble is also a take on the true story of the filming for Jurassic World Dominion, which is fittingly also the sixth film in the franchise.
Apatow was inspired by the stories he heard about Jurassic World Dominion’s filming, which took place at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020 when the entire cast and crew were confined to their hotel and set. Just as The Bubble depicts, Jurassic World Dominion was plagued by delay upon delay of production in England. The misadventures of The Bubble’s characters are largely inspired by what Apatow imagined the struggles of Jurassic World Dominion’s protective “bubble” at the hotel would have been like, and how that impacted the long delays of making the movie.
Alien
The Bubble also features a quick nod to the Alien franchise when the characters are filming Cliff Beasts 6, which occurs when they’re walking on a desolate planet. After Cliff Beasts 6’s script mentions that the movie-within-a-movie character Jarrar quit, Dustin’s character mentions that “the corporation” will not be happy about this, elaborating that he’s beginning to wonder more about “this corporation.” The Bubble’s reference to “the corporation” as they walk on a destroyed planet is a clear reference to Alien’s mysterious “The Company,” which is revealed to be the fictional Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Since the Alien movies often see the characters traversing dark, dangerous planets, it was fitting that The Bubble’s “corporation” line occurred in a similar setting.
Mission: Impossible
Netflix’s The Bubble has a few overt and subtle references to actor Tom Cruise, particularly in connection to his work on the Mission: Impossible franchise. When Keegan-Michael Key’s The Bubble character Sean prepares for filming, it’s revealed that he only agreed to sign onto Cliff Beasts 6 if he was allowed to fly the helicopter himself. As Mission: Impossible fans recall, Tom Cruise is notable for insisting on performing all of his own stunts, which includes learning how to fly a helicopter for 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
The Bubble later features a direct reference to Tom Cruise when Gavin the producer Zoom calls Paula the studio head about possibly shutting down production. Paula says they refuse to shut down production because they are the only movie shooting at the time aside from Tom Cruise’s, which is a nod to Cruise’s time filming Mission: Impossible 7 in late 2020. With The Bubble being a satire film about movie productions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tom Cruise reference was likely chosen due to his infamous rant to the cast and crew of Mission: Impossible 7 when he found out that they weren’t following the strict health protocols.
Tropic Thunder
The Bubble takes the movie-within-a-movie satire from the playbook of Tropic Thunder, which also ended up seeing its fake action film cast encountering real danger. Just as Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder character Tugg Speedman had to join the cast of the fictional Tropic Thunder after starring in a series of box-office bombs and the negatively-reviewed Simple Jack, The Bubble’s Carol Cobb (Karen Gillan) was forced to return to the Cliff Beasts franchise after starring in the critically panned, offensive Jerusalem Rising. While the overarching premise of The Bubble is largely an homage to Tropic Thunder, the most obvious rip-off comes at the very end of the 2022 Netflix movie. After the cast escapes the set of Cliff Beasts 6, the film is never completed, so the stars instead attend the premiere of Beasts of the Bubble, a documentary about the making of Cliff Beasts 6. This is nearly exactly how the Robert Downey Jr-starring movie Tropic Thunder ends, with the fake cast attending the Academy Awards for Tropic Blunder, a true story film compiled of footage from hidden cameras on set.
X-Men Franchise
James McAvoy makes a notable cameo as himself at the end of The Bubble, which initially sees him running after and tackling Carol, who was attempting to flee the set. Carol then chastises McAvoy for chasing her, with her insult being based on his role as Professor X. McAvoy then becomes extremely defensive, explaining that he’s played so many more roles than Professor X. While McAvoy has truly portrayed many more characters in his career, he’s perhaps best known for playing Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men prequel films.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
When Krystal (Iris Apatow) is depicted quarantined in her room, she does a live stream on social media in which she asks her fans for movie recommendations. Krystal mentions that many of her fans told her to watch Steven Spielberg’s classic sci-fi movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, but she felt the film was “a little racist.” Although Krystal doesn’t give much reasoning behind what she found to be racist, this seems to be The Bubble’s way of mocking that most iconic films from the 20th century are now regarded as having offensive or outdated themes.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
As the largest cinematic universe and franchise in history, it was inevitable that The Bubble’s franchise-mocking satire give a few nods to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The casting of Karen Gillan, who played Nebula in the MCU, already connected The Bubble to the franchise behind the scenes, but there are also a few direct references to the film series in the script. The biggest connection is toward the end of The Bubble when the Cliff Beasts 6 cast gets high together, with the characters hallucinating that Gunther, the health officer, has morphed into Benedict Cumberbatch. With The Bubble’s Benedict Cumberbatch cameo being accomplished via CGI, the movie then had Gunther say, “I’m Doctor Strange,” which references Cumberbatch’s iconic MCU character and eponymous films.
Don’t Look Up
Surprisingly, Netflix’s Judd Apatow satire movie also secretly mocks the streaming service’s own infamous 2021 satire film Don’t Look Up. The Bubble features a scene in which Dustin (David Duchovny) suggests that Cliff Beasts 6 needs to make its pro-environmentalism messaging clear, but the director Darren (Fred Armisen) responds that "people don't care about the environment" – people just want to go to the movies to see dinosaurs blow up because they kill people. While this is also a dig at many franchises geared at broad age ranges that have more adult themes and messages, The Bubble specifically mentioning the climate change message seems to be mocking Netflix’s Don’t Look Up, which was an unsubtle satire about the dangers of climate change.