9 Movies You Didn't Realise Are Set In The Same Universe

In the last decade or so, producers of mainstream movies have become obsessed with finding ways to create far-reaching "universes" that allow for numerous franchising opportunities. Marvel can be credited for kicking this trend into high gear, as The Avengers -- and every ancillary movie gravitating around it -- made the studio ridiculous sums of money. (As a bonus, fans seemed to love the idea, too!)

But while it's one thing to have various Marvel comic book characters overlapping in each other's movies -- since the properties are owned by the same studio -- it's a little more impressive when familiar characters pop up in unrelated movies to create continuity in seemingly disconnected stories.

It's not always blatant. Sometimes directors are sneaky about it, casting the same actor in a role that requires some sleuthing to uncover the overlap.

Now, just to be clear, we're not talking about vague Easter Eggs that probably connect two films -- like the presence of unnamed, E.T.-like beings in Star Wars: Episode I or hieroglyphics that seem to depict R2D2 and C3PO in Raiders of the Lost Ark -- but actual, confirmed connections that may have floated under the radar for a little while.

So no fan theories or anything that can only be confirmed via deleted scenes. Everything here is canonical.

Admittedly, this is a pretty flimsy connection, but it's still something that proves two of Eddie Murphy's most popular movies from the 80s exist in the same world.

If you recall, the main premise behind Trading Places involves the ultra-rich owners of Duke & Duke brokerage firm trying to settle a bet about whether it's a person's heredity or their environment that sets them on a path to success. To find their answer, Randolph and Mortimer force one of their own high-ranking staff members (Dan Aykroyd) into homelessness and promote a street hustler (Eddie Murphy) to his position.

Aykroyd and Murphy's characters ultimately join together to ruin the Duke brothers careers while simultaneously getting extremely rich themselves. By the time the credits roll, Randolph and Mortimer are destitute.

Five years later, Murphy starred in Coming to America, playing Prince Akeem, heir to the throne of a (fictitious) African kingdom. In one scene, Akeem walks by two elderly homeless men and hands them a huge wad of bills. After counting it, one turns to the other and exclaims "Mortimer, we're back!"

It's the same actors who played the Duke brothers in Trading Places, confirming the two films share a universe -- despite taking place in two different cities.