The titular character is barely on screen at all

104

Kangaroo jack is barely in the movie

https://giphy.com/gifs/kd35FjYeVwpclcuCMK

24

u/linton411 3h ago

That one 4chan greentext where they started genuinely hallucinating that the kangaroo was on screen and spoke and everything it said was a sick rap and then they got the dvd and remembered reality and one of them started crying

6

u/NotActuallyMeta 2h ago

I just googled this and I can’t believe Kangaroo Jack isn’t about a talking kangaroo.. for once I kinda agree with the green text, this is some bull shit

5

u/LongjumpingSector687 2h ago

It was originally an R rated mob comedy that somehow got turned into a kids movie. Not even kidding. 😂

2

u/55cHzDARKSTAR 2h ago

You, me, and Daddy are going to see Kangaroo Jack

7

u/Crimson097 2h ago edited 2h ago

Original title was "Down and Under", and it was meant to be an adult comedy, but they turned it into a kid's movie to salvage it after poor test screenings.

8

u/op_is_not_available 3h ago

Egregious example! (meaning I’m in support of what your pick)

51

u/Crimson097 3h ago

Zelda

She's been getting more screentime recently though

17

u/Jephph0624 3h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/NVBR6cLvUjV9C

What do you mean? This is Zelda

12

u/Crimson097 2h ago

No, that's URL

7

u/tapout928 2h ago

No, this is URL.

39

u/nichirintrey420 3h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/12CSpwCtoy1Vfy
Akira in the movie. He’s shows up more in the manga.

52

u/EclipseHedgie1954 3h ago

Godzilla - all his movies.

https://giphy.com/gifs/wazvvYSGdvJhm

Most he's shown up is about 22 minutes.

8

u/boarbar 2h ago

I remember walking out of -1 absolutely shook by what an amazing undertaking it was and some dude behind me was like: That’s it? The monster was barely even in the movie.

48

u/vteezy99 3h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/10wgT5PDnOwMQE
The Lord of the Rings gets less screen time than a certain Fool of a Took

23

u/dddoinyomom 3h ago

Not a movie but Waiting for Godot

24

u/OneAcceptablePerson 2h ago

The Blair witch is barely even seen once

https://giphy.com/gifs/QxN21tPFMTx0k

4

u/BirbMaster1998 2h ago

It's been a bit, when, if ever, is it seen at all? I can't recall. Unless you mean the very end.

3

u/catadvice02143 2h ago

You see her once in the terrible 2016 legacy sequel where she’s like a giant bug or something but never in the 1999 movie

2

u/Consistent_Creator 59m ago

To be fair the movie leaves everything intentionally vague.

There may not have been a Blair Witch at all.

17

u/GenoThyme 3h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/oOJsauystcMgQFLgn5

Waiting for Guffman, which is obviously inspired by Waiting for Godot. Neither titular character ever shows up.

16

u/Realistic_Caramel341 3h ago

3

u/Tiny-Preference-1913 1h ago

Well, I guess its not called "Currently in the Presence of Godot" so fair

18

u/OneAcceptablePerson 2h ago

In Silence of the Lambs, you never see the lamb

https://giphy.com/gifs/VvTG9RrCeGrza

33

u/Individual-Boss-819 3h ago

Beetlejuice is on for not long in Beetlejuice (1988)

13

u/ooothatsgottahurt 2h ago

You said it twice, don’t say it again third time

14

u/papasmurf303 2h ago

2

u/BlueWolf934 1h ago

careful now

16

u/killer-rabbit-932 2h ago

High School Musical , the musical theyre all auditioning and practicing for isnt even in the movie

7

u/killer-rabbit-932 2h ago

Is that even an answer? Is that even a character? I do not know, for this is a lawless land.

5

u/Ridley_Himself 2h ago

I thought it was just called that because the movie itself is a musical that takes place in a high school.

14

u/Ecstatic_Entrance_13 3h ago

I'll do you one better! The excellent 2011 film Margaret doesn't even have a Margaret in the film. Cannot recommend it enough.

2

u/op_is_not_available 2h ago

Never even heard of it but I’m so confused on why it’s called “Margaret” if there’s no Margaret in the film and I’m now so intrigued to know why it’s called “Margaret” that I wanna see it now, lol

3

u/Ecstatic_Entrance_13 2h ago

Theres a poem of the same name that comes under discussion in the film.

1

u/Bulky_Dress3523 1h ago

Now I have to watch it just to find out who the title was even talking about.

11

u/Curious_Ad4716 3h ago

To a certain extent- Scott pilgrim takes off

Main character is Ramona, Scott dissapears in the 1rst episode and doesnt return until the last 2 episodes if I recall correctly

10

u/lanceturley 2h ago

Can't say they didn't warn everyone with the title.

3

u/RoomNervous4 2h ago

The title warned us first.

3

u/NickHeathJarrod 1h ago

They thought it's just a cool title, like Executive Producer.

11

u/Endgame_04 2h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/Rfeku3MGlfuPm

2

u/Rowsdower888 1h ago

Results may vary, but he was on screen for about 15 minutes total. And it keeps getting funnier every single time!

28

u/BingBongtheArcher19 2h ago

The Big Lebowski is only in a few scenes. Instead, the movie follows The Dude.

7

u/throwaway_1440_420 2h ago

I just now realized that. I’m going to be having an existential crisis over that now.

2

u/quitterman 1h ago

I like to think that the real “Big Lebowski” is the dead wife/mother, since she was the one who acquired all the family wealth. In which case, the title character isn’t in the movie at all and we never even see her photo.

30

u/Seed0fDiscord 3h ago

Bill (Kill Bill), aside from a few moments, he only primarily appears in 3 chapters in the 10 chapter revenge saga

6

u/tapout928 3h ago

Yeah he's essentially not in Vol. 1 at all except his voice.

3

u/nondescriptun 2h ago

And his right hand.

1

u/Seed0fDiscord 1h ago

And if only Tarantino can focus on the right foot

21

u/Olookasquirrel87 3h ago

In his defense, Dr. Strangelove was maybe the best character in that movie?

Mein Führer, I can walk!

6

u/TheyTried2BanMeAgain 2h ago

Apparently, the surrounding actors were laughing so much at Sellers's performance as the doctor that they ended up including some shots of them cracking up in the background, because they couldn't make a take without someone grinning.

3

u/Consistent_Creator 1h ago

I think it works though because it could be argued everyone is crazy and horny

One of the scenes where everyone is smiling is the one where he gives the speech about how if they let the war happen then they can benefit from having so much access to the surviving women.

So it just kinda works having everyone smiling ig.

2

u/TheyTried2BanMeAgain 36m ago

Absolutely. I think that film is one of the best early examples of "meta-art" in movie history. Kubrick was great at that, the crazy bastard that he was.

7

u/Jdirty34 2h ago

Hobbit desolation of Smaug. Smaug shows up in the later half and that's about it

https://giphy.com/gifs/3zK7ClqJJZbzi

8

u/Local-Bid5365 2h ago

The Wizard of Oz?

8

u/lemnlym 2h ago

Tron: Legacy, for most of his limited screentime he's Rinzler, a version of Tron corrupted by CLU, and then a very brief glimpse of his redemption towards the end.

3

u/LarryKingshead 1h ago

Tron has even less screen time in TRON: Ares, as in zero screen time.

7

u/CaptBland 3h ago

Ok, but for 1 and 3 the titles are wrong.

It's Dr. Strangelove or:

How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb, and The Bomb ^TM is in it a lot, and when it's not on screen is being talked about.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Other Gunfighter Stories, Buster Scruggs is just one story.

5

u/Ridley_Himself 3h ago

Metroid Prime:
The titular Metroid Prime only appears as the final boss. You don't even find scans referring to it by that name until relatively late in the game.

6

u/TheBlackMafiaKing 2h ago

Charlie in Charlie's angels

8

u/IndifferentShrimp 3h ago

Godzilla 2014

John Godzilla is barely in it, at least until the last 30mins

https://giphy.com/gifs/mdUQOK0BC5CJIKzT3h

5

u/Froggy-Shorts1209 2h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/4ZuiUoC3Dlbkk
Totoro from My Neighbor Totoro

7

u/Dayman_C0meth 2h ago

Guffman in Waiting for Guffman (who actually never shows up in the movie)

5

u/Commercial_Corner_44 2h ago

“guess i could just go back to the dairy queen” is one of my favorite vocal stims lol

4

u/Sapphirebracelet13 2h ago

Rebecca, titular character from the novel by Daphne DuMaurier and subsequent film adaptations including one by Hitchcock

She's deceased by the time the story starts but her presence looms over everything

1

u/rekoil 1h ago

Yep, "Barely On Screen" is doing a lot of work. She doesn't appear at all, not even in flashbacks or photos.

4

u/pichael289 1h ago

Doctor strangelove is a lesbian AI scientist in the metal gear solid universe. She was in love with big bosses mentor, the boss, because everyone fuckin was and she tried to revive her in the form of a fail deadly nuclear equipped quadrupedal AI robot that sings songs and goes "la la la la la la" like it's the sound of music and then drowns itself in a lake when it's ordered to fire on cuba and MSF, sparking an all out nuclear war. It was supposed to prove MAD but didn't, literally made for the express purpose of humans being (historically, thank God) unable to end the world even if their county would fall. It didn't do that. She then lated married Huey, birthed the man who would become otacon, and got murdered by Huey for not letting him use their son in experiments. Huey then married another woman and had a little girl, and then when hal, little otacon, was 13 he fucked his step mom and Huey drowned himself and his daughter in the pool. She survived, and was trying to reconnect with and fuck her brother but she got killed by a vampire before she had the chance. Kojima hates otacon like marvel hates spiderman.

Strangeloves AIs were taken over by that black racial stereotype guy from mgs3 who told you about guns. This basically dooms the world. AIs should only be created by lesbians looking to revive their dead paragons and (in her mind, hopefully) Paramores. Being gay in the metal gear universe gives you superpowers which is why she could program modern AIs in the 70s, and why the AI (Gay-I?) can refuse orders of nuclear Armageddon.

3

u/nondescriptun 2h ago

Hannibal Lecter is only in Hannibal for about 35 minutes of the 131 minute runtime.

He's of course not the title character from The Silence of the Lambs, but he is arguably the most memorable character in the film and Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for Best Actor for the role. Despite this, he was only in that movie for around 16 minutes out of the 118 minute runtime.

3

u/Hamblerger 2h ago

Since a few havr already mentioned works in which the title character doesn't show up at all, I'll throw in Chasing Amy.

3

u/DrakonSpawn 2h ago

Tyrone doesn’t pop up until the scene right before credits roll.

2

u/IndieCurtis 2h ago

First Cow (2019)

The book doesn’t even have a cow.

2

u/jokersmoonlight 1h ago

John Exorcist

2

u/ImNotSkankHunt42 2h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/PkBhYNW4sG9ei4u0WU

1

u/SaulStephen 1h ago

The fuck are you talking about? He's all over that movie?

1

u/ImNotSkankHunt42 1h ago

Right, the Dentist Office

3

u/NPCtipicochileno 2h ago edited 2h ago

"Waiting For Godot" is an Irish-originated theater play that revolves around 2 dudes waiting for the titular Godot, he doesn't appear once in the whole play

3

u/Miserable-Ad-7956 2h ago

Waiting for Godot is by Samuel Beckett, an Irish writer and playwrite. How does Spain enter the picture?

2

u/NPCtipicochileno 2h ago

Oh sorry i didnt know

2

u/Miserable-Ad-7956 2h ago

No need to apologize. Now you know. If you liked Godot you might try reading some of his work. Its all permeated with an absurd degree of minimalism (very few characters, little to no setting description) that makes it very interesting from a writing perspective.

2

u/bout-tree-fitty 1h ago

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” by Edward Albee never has Virginia Woolf appear.

1

u/LordFunkyHair 1m ago

It’s not an Irish play it was originally written and performed in French by an Irish playwright who lived in france

1

u/akingofcrimson 2h ago

Excuse my ignorance, but Spanish-originated? I thought it was by Beckett in France, did he take it from somewhere?

1

u/Apprehensive_Emu9588 2h ago

Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990)

1

u/Snoo52682 2h ago

Julius Caesar

1

u/Kazumi_Tamura 2h ago

Animales fantásticos y donde encontrarlos.

Al menos en la segunda pelicula, los animales fantásticos dejan de ser el foco principalmente totalmente, y la trama pasa a tratarse de otra cosa. También, el subtitulo de la película es "los crímenes de Gridenwall". Es el villano, pero casi no sale en la película

https://giphy.com/gifs/QivnrGkMsT6EM

1

u/IronIrma93 2h ago

In a lot of Zelda games, Zelda is an NPC The protagonist is Link

1

u/PropertyEducational7 2h ago

The book of boba fett is basically just the mandlorian season 2.3.

1

u/Key_Fox_4479 1h ago

Sauron- Lord of the Rings
The Wizard of Oz

1

u/Oh_hi_doggi3 1h ago

Godzilla (depending on the film) but he's hardly in the OG

https://giphy.com/gifs/d6KIAkjy2oiYdyfOfk

1

u/Darth_Bane_1032 1h ago

Oscar from Oscar (1991) has about 2 lines at the very end of the film.

1

u/NickHeathJarrod 1h ago

Oscar only showed up at the end of the movie.

1

u/dividezero 1h ago

the jade falcon. it's on screen more during title cards than the rest of the movie

1

u/SmukLukDuck 3h ago

Batman Returns

1

u/Scattershot98 2h ago

What? Batman is all over in that film

1

u/teracoulomb_2 2h ago

The Third themed Mans

https://giphy.com/gifs/cnCwYWzCkwOoE

0

u/Electrical_Ad5592 2h ago

Waiting for Godot

-1

u/brickwallbimbo 2h ago

I turned Buster Scruggs off after that. If it was any other actor besides piece of shit James Franco, I may have stayed in. But I just couldn’t be bothered.

Lore The titular character is barely on screen at all

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