History BookEnds / Film

[[BookEnds In the early days, a projector would have a beginning and an end slide.]]

'''Note that some {{Bookends}} can be spoilers, so beware.'''

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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Films — Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Antz}}'': Z muses he's back where he started -- he's just a worker. The difference is, this time he ''chose'' it.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood'' starts with Jason Todd's [[spoiler: last day]] as Robin and ends with [[spoiler: his first day]]. Also, both the beginning and the climax of the movie involve Batman, the Joker, [[spoiler: Jason, a crowbar and a bomb]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoxtrolls'' begins with Fish looking around for Eggs. In the end, Eggs is asking around for Fish.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'': "I eat losers for breakfast."
** ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'' begins and ends with Mater rescuing Otis from a ditch and dragging him to Radiator Springs.
** ''WesternAnimation/Cars3'' begins and ends with a race. [[spoiler:Also, The last race of the first film ends with the rookie Lightning [=McQueen=] choosing to help an old racing legend finish his last race. In this movie's last race, he's an old racing legend who doesn't finish but gives up his place to a rookie, and they both win.]]
* Some examples from the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon:
** {{Lampshaded}} in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}''. Not only is the film set inside a book bearing the film title, opened by Jiminy Cricket, but near the beginning of the film, the Blue Fairy brings the eponymous puppet to life, and Geppetto celebrates by activating all his music boxes and dancing. He does the same thing at the end of the film when Pinocchio [[BecomeARealBoy Becomes a Real Boy]], and Jiminy remarks, "Well, this is practically where I came in."
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' begin with the births of Bambi and Simba, respectively, and end as the respective protagonists have BabiesEverAfter. ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' also [[CloseOnTitle begins and ends with its title]] appearing immediately after the ceremony on Pride Rock.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' is bookended by Clopin asking to figure out, "Who is the monster and who is the man?" and also to "sing the bells of Notre Dame." This is even referenced by the commentators.
** ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' begins by showing the evening star, then fireflies flying down from the night sky onto New Orleans. The film ends by showing fireflies flying up from New Orleans into the night sky, [[spoiler: encircling '''two''' evening stars.]]
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'s'' ''The Rite of Spring'' begins and ends with the same sequence of notes, played on the same instrument.
*** An almost series-wide example would be the fact that at the near beginning of the first ''Fantasia'' film, the second segment involves several small fairies changing spring in summer, summer into fall, and finally fall into winter. At the end of the second film, there is a segment involving a larger fairy changing winter into spring, therefore bringing the series full circle.
*** The first song of the first ''Fantasia'' film, Bach's ''Toccata in Fugue'', ends with what appears to be a sunset; the last song, Schubert's ''Ave Maria'', ends with a sunrise. The second film starts with the "cutter-flies" of Beethoven's 5th Symphony and ends with the cloud of butterflies after the ''Firebird'''s Sprite restores the land.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' starts with the Peddler singing "Arabian Nights". ''WesternAnimation/AladdinAndTheKingOfThieves'', Aladdin's final movie, ends with the Peddler singing a reprise of "Arabian Nights". The reprise was originally composed for the ending of the first movie, but [[CutSong rejected]].
** ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'': Jim has fun on his homemade solar surfer and then the police bring him to the Benbow Inn, which is absolutely ''packed'', followed by an indirect view of Silver. And the entire thing doubles as an [[spoiler:IronicEcho]].
** ''WesternAnimation/LadyAndTheTramp'' actually begins and ends on a Christmas Day.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' begins with the first scene [[PicturePerfectPresentation fading in from parchment]], and ends with the last scene fading into parchment.
** Verna Felton. The first character she ever voiced in her entire career was an elephant from ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}''. Coincidentally enough, the last character she ever voiced before her death in 1967 was yes, an elephant from ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967''.
*** Speaking of ''The Jungle Book'', this is how Kaa and the Elephant Patrol are both introduced: at the very beginning of the film, Kaa appears, then the Elephant Patrol; and towards the end, the Elephant Patrol appears, and then Kaa.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' begins and ends with a shot of a Greek vase in a museum.
** ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' begins with the former Queen of Atlantis sacrificing herself as an attempt to save her kingdom from a tidal wave which then drowns said kingdom. The film ends with her daughter, Kida, becoming [[TheHighQueen the next Queen]] as a result of [[spoiler: [[Creator/LeonardNimoy her father, the King of Atlantis]] dying of internal bleeding]].
** The RKO logo at the very beginning of ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'' is shown as a banner held up by two playing cards. So is the "TheEnd" [[IncrediblyLamePun card]].
** Similarly, one of the opening title cards seen at the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'' is placed on an orange circle background. That exact same background was used again for the film's "TheEnd" card.
** Near the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'', Ariel and her friend Flounder can be seen exploring a sunken ship. At the end of the film, [[BigBad Ursula,]] now in her OneWingedAngel form actually traps Ariel inside a large graveyard full of sunken ships, one of which was actually used by her love interest Prince Eric to kill Ursula.
** ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' begins and ends by showing stained-glass windows depicting the characters.
** Similar to the ''Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron'' example below, ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'' begins and ends with an eagle (representing the late Sitka) in the sky.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' begins and ends with Tom Jones (the Theme Song Guy) singing "Perfect World", with the first time happening after we see Llama Kuzco stranded in the jungle leading up to the flashback, but before Yzma turns him into a llama; while the second happens after Kuzco and Pacha defeat Yzma and turn Kuzco back into a human, but before we see Feline Yzma grumbling as her former crony Kronk starts teaching several children how to speak Squirrel.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'': Little Brother the dog leading the chickens.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'': When we first see Elsa and Anna [[AMinorKidroduction as kids]], Elsa creates a winter wonderland with her magic, she and Anna build a snowman named Olaf and the three of them skate together. [[spoiler: In the final scene, Elsa converts the courtyard into a skating rink and she, Anna and Olaf skate together again.]]
*** Also, Elsa accidentally reveals her powers to the public by freezing the fountains and most of the surrounding courtyard frozen, prompting her to flee the castle. [[spoiler: In the end, Elsa celebrates her powers by turning the courtyard into an ice rink and using the fountains as decorations.]]
*** Anna's first encounter with Hans ends with him accidentally falling out of a boat into the fjord. [[spoiler: In their last encounter Anna punches him off a boat into the fjord after his attempt to kill Elsa.]]
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'':
*** When Judy arrives in Zootopia for the first time, she listens to Gazelle's "Try Everything". The last scene set in Zootopia is a DancePartyEnding where Gazelle is giving a concert while singing this song with most of the cast attending.
*** The climax of the movie is a real-life reenactment of the dramatic scene from the [[AMinorKidroduction talent show in the beginning]] where a bloodthirsty predator stalks and attacks a helpless bunny. Judy even [[LargeHam repeats her last lines word for word]].
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': It begins with the animals gathering at Pride Rock for the presentation of Simba where the first musical number ends on the drum beat where the camera zoom out shot cuts to the film's title in red. At the end of the film, the final scene shows the animals gathering at Pride Rock where the presentation of Simba and Nala's newborn cub is held, the reprise of the musical number also ends with that drum beat and the last shot cuts to the [[CloseOnTitle film's title]].
** ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder'':
*** Marahute's first appearance involves her rescuing Cody from falling after he sets her free from a poacher's trap. At the film's climax, she does the same thing after Bernard, Bianca, and Jake set her free from [=McLeach=]'s cage on his truck.
*** Similarly, [=McLeach=]'s first scene involves him falling into a pit due to Joanna accidentally knocking him into it while trying to take on Cody. His last scene also sees him fall, which was partially caused by Joanna. (Bernard also had a hand in it, as he ran up the man's leg and tricked her into jumping on him and making him lose his balance.) This time, however, after averting a death by crocodiles, he falls to his death when he goes over the waterfall.
* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'': "Time for school! Time for school!" [[note]]At the beginning, Nemo says this to Marlin, and at the end, ''Marlin'' says it to ''Nemo!''[[/note]]
** ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'' ends with Marlin and Dory at the drop-off looking at the view, while the first ''Finding'' had Marlin and his late wife Coral looking at the view in their new home.
* ''WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie'' actually begins and ends with the sound of Goofy screaming.
* ''WesternAnimation/HappyFeet'' begins and ends with a shot of Antarctica seen from Earth orbit.
* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' has Hiccup's narration.
-->'''Beginning''': "This is Berk. It's twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. [...] We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice, or mosquitoes. We have... dragons."\\
'''End''': "This is Berk. It snows nine months out of the year and hails the other three. The food that grows here is tough and tasteless. The people that grow here are even more so. The only upside is the pets. You see, most people have ponies or parrots. We have... dragons."
** Also, in the beginning of the film, Hiccup opens a door, seeing a dragon flying and quickly shuts the door. [[spoiler: The ending has the same thing, only this time the dragons have now integrated into the community.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'' begins and ends with a round of Dragon Racing.
** A "This is Berk" speech also takes place at the beginning and end of the movie.
--->'''Beginning:''' "This is Berk. The best-kept secret this side of, well, anywhere. Granted, it may not look like much, but this wet heap of rock packs more than a few surprises. Life here is amazing, just not for the faint of heart. You see, where most folks enjoy hobbies like whittling or needlepoint, we Berkians prefer a little something we like to call... dragon racing!"\\
'''End:''' "This is Berk. A bit trampled and busted and covered in ice, but it's home. It's ''our'' home. Those who attacked us are relentless and crazy, but those who stopped them? Ohhhh, even ''more'' so. We may be small in numbers, but we stand for something bigger than anything the world can pit against us. We are the voice of peace, and bit by bit, we will change this world. You see, we have something they don't. Oh sure, they have armies, and they have armadas, but we? We have... Our Dragons!
* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' opens with Mr. Incredible proceeding to intercept a high-speed pursuit in his Incredibile. The ImmediateSequel ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'' ends on a similar note, with Mr. Incredible and his family proceeding to intercept a speeding car in their new, improved, [[RedIsHeroic red-colored]] Incredibile.
* Creator/WesAnderson's animated film ''WesternAnimation/IsleOfDogs'' begins and ends with three kids playing the same taiko drum music.
* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' opens with [[TheHero Po]] having a dream where he is a great warrior, loved by many, and to whom even the Furious Five, the most elite fighters, respect and bow down to. [[spoiler:It all comes true at the end]].
* The very first and very last shot of ''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn'' are almost identical, and a refrain of the opening song plays over the last minute or so.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'':
** In the first movie, Emmet's EstablishingCharacterMoment has him follow instructions for a morning routine, with step nine directing, "Eat a complete breakfast with all the special people in your life." Cut to Emmet on his couch, with no company other than a potted plant. Right before the SequelHook, Emmet has dinner with the other Master Builders, including his new girlfriend Wyldstyle, as they sit on the Double Decker Couch, which Emmet built without instructions.
** The SpinOff ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOBatmanMovie'' has some early scenes of Batman returning to the Batcave, then eating lobster thermidor in front of ''Film/JerryMaguire'' alone. At the end of the movie, Batman flies the whole Bat-family (now also including Robin, Batgirl, and Alfred) into the Batcave, and they all eat lobster and watch ''Jerry Maguire'' together. As a straighter example, the very first lines in the movie have Batman comment via voice-over, "Black. All important movies start with a black screen", and his last voice over begins with him commenting, "White. All important movies end with a white screen."
** After the prologue of ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie2TheSecondPart'', the movie follows Emmet on a morning coffee run through Apocalypseburg. At the end of the movie, Lucy joins Emmet on a morning coffee run through the new world of Syspocalypstar. On a meta level, this ending is also one for [[CallBack Emmet's routine]] from the first movie.
* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' begins and ends with a monster sneaking up to a sleeping child's bed in silhouette.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'', in the beginning of the film, little Mike walks past the safety line at Monsters Inc. At the end of the film, [[spoiler: he does the same thing on his first day as a scare assistant after working his way up Monsters Inc.]]
** When Mike first walks into Monsters University, he hesitates a moment before taking his first step through the gates. When [[spoiler: he is expelled, he hesitates a moment before [[TearJerker taking his first step out of the gates.]]]]
* The first ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' features pony princess [[TheHero Twilight Sparkle]] crossing over into the human world to defeat [[{{Foil}} Sunset Shimmer]], ending with her offering her hand to a remorseful Sunset. Two movies later in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'', a fully reformed Sunset Shimmer offers her hand to the human version of Twilight whose gone mad with power, fulfilling her character arc.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOldLadyAndThePigeons'' begins and ends with a gaggle of American tourists talking in front of the Eiffel Tower.
* ''WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar'':
** The movie begins and ends with Private hatching out of something: his egg at the beginning and [[spoiler:a chrysalis]] at the end.
** Also the "95%" line.
--->''Young penguins stranded on an ice floe floating out to sea''\\
'''Skipper:''' Kowalski, What's our trajectory?\\
'''Kowalski:''' 95% certain we're still doomed.\\
'''Skipper:''' And the other 5%?\\
'''Kowalski:''' Adventure and glory like no penguins have ever seen before!\\
''Penguins flying on jetpacks''\\
'''Skipper:''' Kowalski, What's our trajectory?\\
'''Kowalski:''' 95% certain this will end in massive, flaming disaster!\\
'''Skipper:''' And the other 5%?\\
'''Kowalski:''' Irrelevant, sir! Jetpacks are AWESOME!
* ''Literature/ThePlagueDogs'' begins with Rowf being drowned in a tank of water at a research facility. It ends with he and Snitter [[BolivianArmyEnding presumably]] drowning after trying to swim to an island that may or may not exist.
* ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'' begins at a lake when Jack awakens [[spoiler: from where he had drowned as a human]] and ends at the same lake when [[spoiler: he is initiated as a Guardian.]]
** Jack's face in the beginning of the movie when a child runs through him has the same expression when [[spoiler: Jamie hugged him]].
** Pitch first appears from under Cupcake's bed. In the end, [[spoiler: his nightmares drag him down to his lair... under a bed]].
* ''WesternAnimation/RockADoodle'' actually begins with an orbital shot of the Sun rising above the Earth. At the end of the film, when Chanticleer finally crows for the very first time since his departure, we see the exact same shot of the Sun rising above the Earth just right before it [[spoiler: turns the evil Duke of Owls into an [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark Eric Cartman-lookalike]]]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRugratsMovie'' opens with the babies imagining themselves in an ''Franchise/IndianaJones''-esque adventure. At the end, they play their game again, only now, new baby Dil is part of the team.
* The first and last ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' films both begin with the Creator/DreamWorks logo in the middle of a nighttime sky. Since the Creator/DreamWorks logo at the end is static, ''Forever After'' also ends with the logo in a night sky.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'' begins and ends with the song "Mountain Town" sung by the main characters.
* ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' has the family walking through the tunnel with the mother chiding "Chihiro, don't cling like that, you'll make me trip."
%%* The eagle from ''WesternAnimation/SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron''.
* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'':
** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] for the songs. The first song in the movie is a cover of Music/ElvisPresley's "Can't Help Falling In Love".[[labelnote: Note]] Its sung by Marianne and her fiancee Roland. Since the song ends with Marianne catching him cheating on her, its brutally accurate. [[/labelnote]] [[spoiler: At the end of the film the Bog King uses it as part of his LoveConfession, only to have Marianne interrupt him with The Troggs' "Wild Thing".[[labelnote: Note]] Presumably she learned a lesson about TemptingFate with your musical numbers. [[/labelnote]] ]]
** Played straight for the boutonniere. The film starts out with Marianne collecting flowers to make a boutonniere give her fiancé but never ends up giving one to him. At the end of the film, she gives [[spoiler: the Bog King]], her new LoveInterest, a boutonniere. [[note]] Interestingly, her sister Dawn made both of these boutonnieres. The first was supposed to be good looking to match her fiancé. By the time she give the boutonniere to [[spoiler:The Bog King]], its a hideous mess, much like how he is. It also looks a lot like the boutonniere she was making by hand for her fiancé before she went with Dawn's boutonniere, reflecting how Marianne and [[spoiler: the Bog King]] relationship is more messy but also more genuine than her relationship with Roland. [[/note]]
* The beginning and the ending of ''WesternAnimation/Tarzan2013'' are both related to the meteor.
* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerryTheMovie'' begins and ends with WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry chasing each other, all without any dialogue.
* The opening shot of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' and the final shot of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' are of a blue sky with uniquely-shaped white clouds, those of Andy's old wallpaper. (''3'' also starts with a sky, making both a film- and a series-wide bookend.)
* ''WesternAnimation/TheTripletsOfBelleville'' begins and ends with the previous scene being shown on a TV screen, accompanied by the only real lines of dialogue in the film.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheWaterBabies1978'' begins and ends with live action BookEnds while the rest is animated.
* ''WesternAnimation/WonderWoman2009'': In the battle at the beginning of the movie, Hippolyta is seen slicing off the head of the son that she was forced to conceive with Ares. In the last battle of the movie, Diana beheads [[spoiler:Ares in a similar manner]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'': An alternate ending for this film has the protagonist dying in a hospital, having woken up in one at the beginning of the film. The movie has a bookend even without that scene. In the theatrical version the first line spoken is hello, which is also what the sign the survivors hold at the end says.
* ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' has shots of the Earth, Moon, and Sun, accompanied by "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". There's a [[EpilepticTrees theory]] that the opening shot is actually from the Star-Child's perspective, and that the rest of the film is a flashback.
** The first and last twenty-five minutes also have no dialogue and start and end with a two minute blank screen of just music.
* ''Film/FiveHundredDaysOfSummer'': Has three, Tom examining his relationship with Summer in each. The Music/SimonAndGarfunkel song "Bookends" even plays during one of them.
* ''Akira Kurosawa's Dreams'': the first dream features a wedding parade, and the last dream features a funeral parade.
* ''Film/AlienAbduction2014'' begins and ends with a near-identical tracking shot of Riley's camera being carried through an alien craft and then dumped out a garbage chute to tumble from low-Earth orbit into a field. The second time, the footage continues, showing the military scientists recovering the camera for study.
* ''Film/AlmostFamous'': The intro music starts with the sound of a record needle being placed, the end of the credits finishes with the sound of a needle hitting the lock-track.
* ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'' begins and ends with Peter fighting against Aleksei Sytsevich.
* ''Film/AmericanBeauty'': Begins and ends with an aerial shot of the residential street the majority of the story takes place at.
* "The End" by Music/TheDoors is played in ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' during the beginning, and during the end [[spoiler:during the killing of Colonel Kurtz]].
* Creator/WesAnderson does this from time to time:
** ''Film/TheDarjeelingLimited'' begins and ends with people running to get on a train as it pulls away from the station.
** ''Film/TheLifeAquaticWithSteveZissou'' starts at the premier of Part One of the Jaguar Shark documentary, and ends at the premier of Part Two.
** ''Film/MoonriseKingdom'' begins and ends with the Bishop children sitting in the house, reading and listening to opera.
* ''Ass Backwards'' begins and ends with the two female protagonists dropping their pants to urinate in public.
* The Chinese film ''Assembly'' begins and ends with a crane shot of a war memorial (for the Communist/Nationalist civil war). In between is the battle in which the men died, and the sole survivor's struggle to have them recognised as dead and deserving a memorial, and not just missing in action.
* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'': Begins and ends with Jake's [[EyeOpen eyes opening]]. In addition to that, the last background shot of the credits before the fade to black is identical to the very first shot of the movie.
* ''Film/TheAvengers1998''. Near the beginning Steed warns Mrs. Peel not to eat a macaroon when taking tea with Mother, because they're Mother's favorite. She does so anyway, which annoys Steed. At the end they're taking tea with Mother again and she declines a macaroon, showing that she's fallen in love with Steed and is showing her friendship for him.
* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'': the 1955 Doc sends Marty back to 1985 by using the lightning storm that stopped the Hill Valley clocktower. In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', Doc and Marty attend the 1885 ceremony in which the clocktower was first started, which Doc lampshades.
** The first and third movies have a FlyAtTheCameraEnding featuring a time-travelling vehicle: the [=DeLorean=] in the first, a train in the third.
** After the [=DeLorean=]'s first and last trips, its rear license plate spins around before falling down.
* In ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'', [[DaChief Inspector Todd]] angrily orders Axel to go to the hospital to get his [[TapOnTheHead head]] checked out after Mikey Tandino is killed. At the end of the movie, [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Lieutenant Bogomil]], in a much more friendly tone, tells Axel to go to the hospital and get his [[OnlyAFleshWound shoulder]] looked at after the shootout at Maitland's mansion.
* ''Film/BeyondTheLights'' starts with Noni singing "Blackbird" by Nina Simone at a local talent competition and winning massive appeal from the audience but disappointment from her mother when she places second. The film ends with [[spoiler:Noni debuting a song she has written titled "Blackbird" at a concert in London while her mother listens wistfully via a cellphone in America.]]
* ''Film/BigGame'' begins and ends with a shot of Oskari's family's TrophyRoom, although in the end, a photograph of Oskari with his "hunt" is added to the row of photos.
* ''Film/TheBigRedOne'': Begins with [[SergeantRock TheSargent]] (played by Lee Marvin) stabbing a German claiming that the armistice has been signed at the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, and returns to base to find out that it actually had. Repeated almost exactly at the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI but when he finds out the war ended, he goes back and saves the life of the man he just stabbed.
* In the opening scene of ''Film/BladeII'', the titular character kills several vampires, and tells the single remaining one [[spoiler:that he'll be back for him. As the scene goes on, the character doesn't reappear, but guess where it does?]]
* ''Film/BlueIsTheWarmestColor'': [[spoiler:The hangdrum music plays when Adele sees Emma for the first time and it also does when she leaves the gallery which could possibly be the last time she'll ever see Emma]].
* ''Film/BlueVelvet'': Begins with shots of rose gardens and smiling firemen and ends with the same images. The opening credits play over an extreme close-up of Dorothy's blue velvet robe, lightly swaying. The last shot is the close-up again, making it seem almost like opening and closing curtains.
* ''Film/BohemianRhapsody'' begins and ends on July 13, 1985, the day of UsefulNotes/LiveAid.
* ''Film/TheBourneSeries'':
** ''Film/TheBourneUltimatum'' ends with Jason Bourne [[spoiler: being shot at from behind, falling into water, and being lost and presumed dead by his pursuers]]. This directly mirrors the events preceding the first film, where we first meet Bourne [[spoiler:being rescued from the ocean, having been shot in the back and left for dead by Wombosi and his men]].
** [[spoiler:And like ''Film/TheBourneIdentity'', it turns out that he's [[OnlyMostlyDead not quite dead]] although unlike ''TBI'', Bourne swims away under his own power in ''TBU''.]]
* ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'': [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088847/quotes?qt0547898 The opening narration]] is Brian reading an essay about the events that are about to unfurl. [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088847/quotes?qt0475594 The closing narration]] is presumably the final version of the essay, with some differences and each of the five students in detention reading their description (a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal).
* ''Film/BrideOfFrankenstein'': Opens with Creator/MaryShelley, played by Elsa Lanchester, [[FramingDevice telling the story of Frankenstein]]. As she begins relating the sequel, she spreads her arms wide... and at the end of the film, the Bride of Frankenstein, also played by Lanchester, makes the same gesture.
* ''Film/BroadwayDannyRose'': Uses a FramingDevice to tell the story. The movie starts and ends with the story teller and his listeners at a diner.
* ''Film/BruceAlmighty'' starts with Bruce recording a news report, annoyed at being there. The final scene is Bruce recording another news report, loving it.
* The movie version of ''Theatre/ByeByeBirdie'' begins with Kim singing the title song, lamenting how dull her life will become without Conrad Birdie. At the end, she sings a rewritten version, proclaiming that she's ready to get over Birdie.
* ''Film/BurningBright'': Near the beginning, the tiger's owner tells John a horrific story, claiming the tiger paralyzed and started eating a circus horse in front of tourists. At the end, the tiger does the same thing to John.
* The 1991 version of ''Film/CapeFear'' begins with chilling music and a blood-red negative shot of a [[CloseupOnHead on the daughter's eyes]] zooming out into a positive shot of her giving a speech. The final scene inverts this, starting with a positive shot of her monologing AnAesop and zooming in on her eyes, turning the shot into a b/w and then red negative.
* ''Film/CaptainPhillips'' begins with one woman (his wife) asking Phillips if everything is going to be OK, and ends with another woman (the Navy medic) telling Phillips that he's going to be OK.
* ''Film/{{Centurion}}'': My name is Quintus Daius. I am a Centurion of Rome. And this is neither the beginning, nor the end of my story.
* ''Charly'', based on the book ''Literature/FlowersForAlgernon'', begins and ends with Charlie Gordon playing on a swing in a playground.
* ''Film/CitizenKane'': Opens on a "no trespassing" sign before moving in closer to Kane's mansion. At the end, when the audience but not the characters learns the secret of Kane's final word "Rosebud," the camera retreats from the mansion and ends on the same sign, signifying that Charles Foster Kane will forever remain a mystery.
* ''Film/{{Clerks}}'': The first ''Clerks'' starts in black and white, with the guys opening the Quick Stop. At the end of ''Film/ClerksII'', the guys are at the quick stop, the color goes away and the guys are at the quick stop.
* ''Film/CloudAtlas'' opens and ends with old Zachry telling a story.
* ''Film/ColorOfNight'': Begins and ends with a suicide attempt in Capa's presence. The first is successful, causing him to lose part of his color vision (the color red), and the second is interrupted, causing him to regain it.
* ''Film/{{Copycat}}'' starts and finishes with Helen being attacked in a bathroom.
* ''Film/TheCuriousCaseOfBenjaminButton'': A particularly sad example involving a clock.
* ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' begins and ends with Bruce Wayne [[spoiler:presumed dead]].
* ''Film/DarlingLili'' opens and closes with scenes of Lili singing "Whistling Away the Dark" at two different concerts. At the second concert, characters she met during the movie are watching from the wings and encouraging her.
* ''Film/TheDaVinciCode'': Begins and ends with a dead body in the Louvre. The first time it's Jacques Saunière's. The second time [[spoiler:it's the corpse of Mary Magdalene, whose tomb was hidden under the Louvre by the Priory of Sion]].
* ''Film/{{Daybreakers}}'': The first and last shot in this movie is that of a bat flying overhead.
* ''Film/IlDesertoRosso'' starts and ends with Giuliana taking a stroll near the production plant. In the beginning thу workers are on strike, in the ending the plant operates at full capacity.
* ''Film/DirtyHarry'': This Creator/ClintEastwood film begins and ends with Harry facing down a criminal and doing a version of the 'do you feel lucky punk?' speech. In the opening sequence he's phrasing it to intimidate the criminal and keep him from taking a shot. In the final sequence, he's phrasing it to get the killer to take a shot at him so he has an excuse to kill him.
* ''Film/DodgeballATrueUnderdogStory'': Begins and ends with a commercial for a successful gym, as well as the rivals' response to them: "Spare me."
* The opening monologue of ''Film/TheDuff'' is exactly the first sentences from Bianca's final article, which is also her closing monologue.
* ''Film/EightLeggedFreaks'': Starts and ends with Harland's radio broadcast.
* ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'': A subtle one was that the first song sung in the film contained the lyrics "I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss." The last song sung by Carrie Underwood in the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue contained the lyrics "I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss."
* ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff'': Starts and ends with Ferris in bed.
* ''Film/FinalDestination5'': Flight 180. [[spoiler:Yes, the ''same'' flight 180. "Boy, it's a good thing we survived that whole bridge collapse and aftermath, now we can enjoy our flight to Paris. Hey, why are those [[{{Prequel}} students getting kicked off the plane]]...?"]] Ironically, given that the franchise [[FranchiseKiller appears to have stagnated after this movie]], this means the series begins and ends [[spoiler: on the same catastrophic plane disaster.]]
* ''Film/TheFirstWivesClub'': Begins with the 3 women attending their friend's funeral and their all wearing black. It ends with them celebrating the opening with opening of a Crisis Center for Women dedicated to their friend and their now wearing white.
* ''Film/DasFinstereTal'' begins and ends with shots of Greider riding in and out of town, set to the song "Sinnerman."
* ''Film/ForrestGump'': Starts and ends with a shot of a floating feather and Forrest waiting for a bus.
* ''Film/TheFugitive'' begins with a shell-shocked Richard Kimble being put into the back of a police car to be taken to the station for questioning about his wife's murder. It ends much the same way, albeit on a far more triumphant note, as now Kimble has finally caught those responsible for her death and is in fact about to start the process of reclaiming his freedom.
* ''The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight'' begins and ends with scenes of mob boss Antonio "Baccala" Vestrummo watching the morning news (which is airing a story about him and/or his business associates) over breakfast, then sending his wife out to start the car. As they both fear Baccala's enemies have booby trapped the car with a bomb, Baccala hides under the breakfast table while his wife winces in fear as she turns the key... only for the engine to start without incident. Baccala heads outside, kisses his wife goodbye, and gets into the car. [[spoiler:At the end of the film, the car blows up when he closes the door.]]
* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'' opens and closes with [[ThemeAndVariationsSoundtrack the main theme]] -- Starting with the end of the last episode of [[ShowWithinAShow the "Galaxy Quest" show]] and ending with the title theme of the renewed series.
* Director Creator/TerryGilliam is an obvious fan of this trope and uses quite regularly:
** ''Film/TimeBandits'' begins with the map of the timeholes being unrolled across the screen, and finishes with it being rolled back up.
** ''Film/TwelveMonkeys'' begins and concludes with closeups of the main character when he was a child.
** ''Film/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'' begins with Creator/HunterSThompson (Raul Duke) driving to Las Vegas and ends with him driving from the city.
* ''Film/GetOut2017'' begins and ends with the same ominous chanting music.
* ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' starts with Maximus imagining himself walking through the fields of his home, and ends [[spoiler:with him walking through similar, perhaps the same, fields in Elysium, reuniting with his murdered family.]]
* ''Film/GlengarryGlenRoss'': Starts and ends with a shot of a passing train.
* ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'' has Godzilla's first appearance in the opening sequence come in the form of his spines rising from the ocean, while the film ends on Godzilla's spines submerging as he goes back beneath the sea.
* ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'':
** The film begins in 2014 where the Russell family are standing in the ruins of San Francisco and Mark calling the name of his son that he is trying to find amidst the chaos. Close to the end of this film, Mark finds himself in a similar situation, screaming for and trying to find Madison as Godzilla and Ghidorah fight in Boston.
** During Godzilla and Ghidorah's first battle, Madison is in a helicopter with her mother, flying away from her father who is on the ground. In the last battle, Madison is yet again on a chopper, this time with her father, watching her mother who is on the ground.
** The ending credits mimic the opening credits of the 2014 film, including white-out of various words that obscure the credits and scientific articles with photographs and headlines about the Kaiju.
* ''Film/GoingTheDistance'': has in the beginning and towards the end, Dan contemplating that there are no baby pigeons in New York and Garrett playing Pac Man at the bar.
* ''Film/GrandHotel'': This 1932 drama opens with a character stating of the title locale: "People come, people go... [[NothingExcitingEverHappensHere nothing ever happens]]." At the film's end, and following numerous dramatic episodes, the same character repeats the line with [[IronicEcho unknowing irony]].
* The first and last word uttered in ''Film/GreenRoom'' is "shit", albiet in a sentence in the end.
* ''Film/TheGuardian'': Begins and ends with narration of the legend of the Guardian.
* ''Film/Halloween4TheReturnOfMichaelMyers'': The ending would have applied this to the entire series, had the film bombed and no more sequels been made. The theatrical cut of Zombie's ''Film/HalloweenII2009'' ends with [[spoiler:Laurie committed to Smith's Grove, and having the same vision young Michael had at the beginning of the film.]]
* ''Film/{{Hanna}}'': Opens and closes with Hanna shooting her prey with a bow, running it down, saying, "I missed your heart" and finishing the job with a gun. At the start of the movie, it's a moose. At the end of the movie... it's not.
* ''Film/HardEight'': The movie opens and closes with scenes at the same diner.
* ''Film/HarryPotter'':
** The music which plays at the end of ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' when Hagrid is waving off Harry, Ron and Hermione at the train station is 'Leaving Hogwarts'. The same music is played in the epilogue of ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows Part 2]]'' when Harry, Ron and Hermione are waving off their own children at the train station, as the movie ends. Cue tears/emotional breakdowns for anyone who watched the first movie as a kid and has grown up with the series.
** In the first book, Harry arrives at the Dursleys when he was just a baby, brought there by Hagrid on Sirius' bike. In the last book, Harry leaves the Dursleys when he was an teenager, being taken away by Hagrid on Sirius' bike. Hagrid even lampshades this.
-->''"I brought you here 16 years ago, when you were no bigger than a Bowtruckle. Seems only right that I should be the one that takes you away."''
** Also, near the end of the first movie, Harry hugs Hagrid. Near the end of the last movie, they embrace again.
** Dumbledore says the the first line of the series, while Harry's son - who is named after Dumbledore - says the last line of the series.
* ''Film/{{Heathers}}'': Begins and ends with the song "Que Sera, Sera".
* ''Film/Hellboy2004'':
** Compare the opening monologue:
--->'''Dr. Trevor Bruttenholm:''' What is it that makes a man a man? Is it his origins, the way things start? Or is it something else, something harder to describe?
** To the ending monologue:
--->'''Agent John Myers:''' What makes a man a man? A friend of mine once wondered. Is it his origins? The way he comes to life? I don't think so. It's the choices he makes. Not how he starts things, but how he decides to end them.
* The first ''Film/{{Hellraiser}}'' ends right where it started, with the Arabian man selling the retrieved Lament Configuration to another unwitting explorer of the boundary between pleasure and pain, just as he did with Frank:
-->'''Salesman:''' What's your pleasure, Sir?
* ''{{Film/Her}}'' begins and ends with Theodore Twombly writing a heartfelt letter and sending it. At the beginning, he's writing a letter as somebody else as a part of his job. At the end, he's writing a letter of apology as himself for his ex-wife.
* ''Film/{{The Hindenburg|1975}}'' (1975) starts and ends with a shot of the eponymous airship flying across the sky and disappearing into the clouds, accompanied by narration.
* ''Film/TheHitcher'': The original ''Hitcher'' begins and ends with C. Thomas Howell's character lighting a match, although photographed in very different ways.
* ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' starts with the dophins leaving Earth and singing "So Long and Thanks For All The Fish." The movie ends with the dolphins returning to the new Earth and fthe credits playing a new version of "So Long and Thanks For All The Fish."
* ''Film/TheHungerGamesMockingjay Part 1'' opens with Katniss waking up in a District 13 hospital after her rescue from the Arena. The movie ends on Katniss waking up in the same hospital after Peeta almost strangles and beats her to death.
* ''Film/{{Identity}}'': Opens with a recording of Dr. Malick's session with Ed Dakota, where Ed tells the doctor the "man going up the stairs" poem. At the very end, [[spoiler:Timmy, Malcolm Rivers' only remaining personality, forces Malcolm to murder Dr. Malick, and whispers the poem just before the screen fades to black.]]
* ''Film/TheImpossible'': Flying in and then out of Thailand.
* ''Film/IntoTheWoods'' begins and ends with a shot of the sky, as well as the narration starting the story over.
* At the start of ''Film/ItHappenedHere'' the SS are shown massacring civilians found in a restricted area. At the end of the movie LaResistance gun down unarmed prisoners from the British Legion of SS.
* ''Film/TheJerk'': Ends with the hero singing and dancing on their porch just like at the start.
* ''Film/{{Juno}}'': Begins and ends with a shot of a chair, with the narration explicitly pointing it out.
* ''Film/KaizokuSentaiGokaigerVsSpaceSheriffGavanTheMovie'': Gavan first appears to the Gokaigers beaming down from his spaceship, landing on top of a flight of stairs. At the ending, for old time's sake, Gavan, with [[Series/BattleFeverJ Battle Kenya]] and [[Series/DenshiSentaiDenziman Denzi Blue]], poses on top of those same stairs before saying goodbye.
* In ''Film/TheKidWhoWouldBeKing'', the pose Alex and his knights are in near the end of the film [[spoiler:after slaying Morgana]] closely resembles the one Arthur and his Knights were in during the prologue [[spoiler:when they defeated Morgana]].
* ''Film/{{Killshot}}'': The opening and closing lines are both Mickey Rourke's character reciting/narrating the set of rules that he lives by as a contract killer, albeit in truncated form the second time around:
-->You gotta know what you're doing when you go in. You gotta have it figured out. Those are the rules. How you get in, how you get out. How many shots you're gonna need. Make sure you know where everybody is. Make sure nobody sees you. Don't hang around. Don't get interested. And you don't make mistakes.
* ''Film/TheKingAndTheClown'': Begins with Jaeng-sang and Gong-gil on a tight-rope doing their usual routine and ends with their [[DrivenToSuicide final]] [[TogetherInDeath performance]].
* Near the beginning of ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', Harry Hart beats up some of Eggsy's mother's boyfriend's {{Mooks}} in a pub. At the very end, [[spoiler:the scene is repeated, with Eggsy emulating Hart's every action. The look on the Mook's faces when they hear "manners maketh man" again [[OhCrap tells you exactly what]] happens after the credits roll]]. The film also opens and ends with a zoom out shot of a radio.
* ''Film/KingsmanTheGoldenCircle'': [[Film/KingsmanTheSecretService In the previous film]], Eggsy, wearing casual clothes, has his Kingsman journey begin when he is led to a mirror by Harry. There, he told Eggsy that what he saw in the mirror was a man who could become better, and do something with his life. The ending of this movie has the same thing happen, only [[spoiler:Eggsy is wearing a suit for his wedding, and Harry is talking about the good Eggsy has achieved due to his time in the Kingsmen]].
* ''De Laatste Zomer (The Last Summer)'': The film starts with the main character at home during the start of summer vacation. After a fair bit of drama and adventure the film finishes with him sitting at home again and with his family returning from their vacation.
* ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'': Begins with a barn owl flying into a park in time to observe the arrival of the heroine, and ends with it flying away after observing her and her newfound friends celebrating her triumph at her house. In the interim, this creature has been revealed as the villain's shapeshifted form.
* ''Film/TheLastPictureShow'': Opens on a shot of the Royal Theater and pans left along Anarene’s main street. The closing shot of the film is the exact reverse -- the camera pans right and pauses on the [[spoiler:closed and shuttered]] movie house before [[FadeToBlack fading to black.]]
* ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'': Begins with Lawrence's death in a reckless motorcycle accident. The rest of the film, which is told in flashback, ends with Lawrence being driven along a road in a jeep, while a man on a motorcycle speeds by and recklessly passes him.
* ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen''. Near the beginning of the movie, Allan Quatermain shoots a villain at a long distance with a rifle, wounding him. During the film he teaches Tom Sawyer long-distance shooting. Near the end, Sawyer shoots the BigBad with a rifle at long range, killing him.
* ''Film/TheLegendOfFrenchieKing'': It begins with a train robbery and the culprits riding across the prairie, and ends with their leader and her rival-turned-friend saving the rest of the gang by assaulting a train in the same fashion and the entire gang riding across the prairie again.
* ''Film/LetterFromAnUnknownWoman'': The film begins and ends with the male lead being escorted to/from his apartment in a carriage.
* ''Film/LifePartners'': The film starts on Sasha and Paige playing out a mock 'road rage' scene. Near the end, they have another one.
* ''Film/TheLivesOfOthers'': Features a play written by Dreymann, one of the film's protagonists, at the very the beginning and towards the end. The first time, it takes place in Soviet-controlled Berlin and Dreymann's girlfriend has a lead female role. The second time it's shown, Communism has fallen, Christa-Maria has been DrivenToSuicide and the play has gone a drastic change in tone and costume.
* ''Film/LordOfWar'' starts and ends with Yuri providing exposition standing in a war-torn and apparently abandoned village, the ground almost completely covered in bullet casings.
* ''Film/LostHighway'' begins and ends with a shot of the road while Music/DavidBowie's "I'm Deranged" plays.
* In ''Film/TheLostWeekend'' opens with a shot of the Manhattan skyline and then pans over to the hero's apartment window. The last scene is an exact reversal of that sequence.
* ''Film/LoveActually'': Begins and ends with the arrival's gate at Heathrow airport, with shots of families and friends reuniting.
* ''Film/LoveStory'': The opening and closing shot are the same, with the male protagonist at Central Park during winter.
* ''Film/TheLovelyBones'': Has Susie's narration of "My name is Salmon, like the fish. First name, Susie. I was fourteen years old when I was murdered on December 6th, 1973." said near the beginning and at the end of the movie.
* ''Film/{{Madhouse2004}}'' The scene where Clark is seen walking to the Asylum in the beginning is almost identical to the last scene.
* In ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven2016'', Bogue's first and last scenes are in the Rose Creek's church. [[spoiler: In fact, he is killed at almost the same spot where he first made his BlasphemousBoast in the beginning.]]
* ''The Maiden Heist'': Begins with Christopher Walken staring in wonder at a beloved painting. [[spoiler:It ends with a guard at the Danish museum looking at the ''fake'' painting and getting the same reaction.]]
* ''Film/{{Marmaduke}}'': The ''Website/AVClub'' review of this movie notes that it book ends itself with a fart joke. Which pretty much [[VulgarHumor sums it up]].
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'': We see green beverages at the beginning and end - the guarana sodas and that stuff General Ross keeps knocking back—which are, in fact, a real-life drink named "The Incredible Hulk."
** ''Film/IronMan3'':
*** Film/TheIncredibleHulk ends with a cameo from Tony Stark. ''Film/IronMan3'' ends with [[spoiler:a cameo from Bruce Banner]].
*** The movie begins and ends with narration from Tony.
*** The first and third movies end with Tony saying, "I am Iron Man."
*** The film begins with fireworks in 1999 and ends with "fireworks" in 2013.
*** In the first movie, Pepper has Tony's first chest-mounted arc reactor mounted in a glass case with a brass plate reading "Proof that Tony Stark Has a Heart". At the end of the third movie, [[spoiler:after having the arc reactor housing surgically removed from his chest,]] Tony gives Pepper a heart shaped pendant [[spoiler:made from the last fragment of shrapnel that was embedded in his heart]]. Proof that Pepper Potts has Tony Stark's heart.
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'':
*** Cap jumps into the sea at the film's start as part of a rescue operation, a confident man with a plan. In the final fight, [[spoiler:he falls into the Potomac from a destroyed Helicarrier, battered and nearly dead. S.H.I.E.L.D. is destroyed, and everything he fought for is put into question. However, it is a familiar friend who saves him in this time of need -- Bucky.]]
*** Steve repeatedly tells Sam "On your left," while running laps past him. At the end, Steve says the same thing while [[spoiler:lying in a bed to the left of Sam. Also, the Music/MarvinGaye song "Trouble Man", which Sam recommended, is playing over the ending montage.]]
*** Steve's first and last (not counting the part after where he doesn't fight back) fights in the movie end with him putting his opponent in a [[ChokeHolds sleeper hold]].
*** Also, in Steve's first major confrontation, against [[spoiler:Batroc]], he intentionally drops his shield and then takes off his mask. In his last major confrontation, against [[spoiler:Bucky]], he takes off his mask and then drops his shield. In both situations, he is doing so in order to prove that he is more than just the shield.
*** Natasha starts and ends the movie trying to find Steve a date.
*** Not counting credits scenes, the film opens at sunrise and ends with the Sun falling.
** ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''
*** In Clint and Pietro's first encounter at the Sokovian HYDRA fort, Clint is injured by gunfire after Pietro distracts him, quipping "What's that, you didn't see me coming?". In their last encounter, [[spoiler:Pietro sacrifices himself to save Clint from gunfire and says the same thing to him again.]].
*** The movie begins with the original Avengers already knee-deep in action and working as a team. At the end, [[spoiler:most of the team has either left or is missing, leaving Steve and Natasha to assemble a new unit that's yet to work together before]].
*** The movie's first and last setpieces are in Sokovia. However, the team is fighting against an existing enemy (HYDRA) at the start, and a new one (Ultron) at the end.
*** Pietro and Wanda start the movie with only each other in this world. [[spoiler:At its conclusion, Wanda has lost her only surviving kin, but gained a new 'family' as part of the Avengers]].
*** Falcon shows up at the start of the movie and is bummed about not being an Avenger. [[spoiler:In the final scene, he shows up as part of the new Avengers line-up]].
*** [[spoiler:Ultron first appears to the Avengers in a badly damaged robotic body. Ultron's last body is confronted by The Vision, badly damaged]].
** ''Film/AntMan1'': After an interlude with Baskin-Robbins and daughter's birthdays, the actual story begins with a convoluted chain of "I know someone who knows someone" that leads to the theft of the Ant-Man suit. At the end of the film, we have another convoluted chain of "I know someone who knows someone" that leads to the reveal that [[spoiler:the Falcon is trying to locate Ant-Man]].
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'':
*** The film opens with Bucky being brought out of cryogenic containment to perform a mission as the Winter Soldier. [[spoiler:TheStinger has Bucky willingly go into cryogenic containment until the Winter Soldier persona can be removed from his psyche.]]
*** The ''Captain America'' movie trilogy begins with Steve getting in a fight for his principles, picking up a makeshift shield, and saying "I could do this all day," when he gets beaten down before being saved by Bucky. It ends with [[spoiler:Steve fighting Stark for his principles, telling him "I can do this all day" when he can barely stand, getting saved by Bucky, and at the end abandoning his shield.]]
*** The ''Captain America'' trilogy begins with Steve being discovered in ice, being a [[FishOutOfTemporalWater man trying to deal with the future]]. It concludes with [[spoiler:Bucky going ''into'' cryogenic status to redeem himself from his DarkAndTroubledPast.]]
*** Here's a rather strange one: ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' establishes that the title character's accident was intended to recreate Captain America, thus {{Foreshadowing}} ''The First Avenger''. In this movie, Thunderbolt Ross from ''The Incredible Hulk'' appears, thus linking the latter movie to the rest of the MCU.
** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'': [[spoiler:Peter and Yondu's relationship ends as it began: With Yondu whisking Peter away to safety after he watches a parent die. Peter is also picked up by Kraglin and the others just after Yondu, whom Peter has just realised was his true father figure, sacrifices his life to save him]].
** ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'': The film begins and ends with [[spoiler:Peter [[FailedASpotCheck failing a spot check]] and blundering his identity away to one of his loved ones in his bedroom]].
** ''Film/ThorRagnarok'':
*** The movie begins and reaches its climax with [[spoiler:Surtur]].
*** "The Immigrant Song" by Music/LedZeppelin plays during the fight scenes from the same beginning and climax scenes. The scenes themselves would quality, as they both involve Thor kicking all kinds of ass.
** ''Film/BlackPanther2018'': The film begins and ends with kids playing basketball outside a California apartment, until one notices a Wakandan airship. In the beginning, it's the scene where [[spoiler:Killmonger's father]] is killed, while the ship remains cloaked the entire time, only spotted by its emissions. In the end, [[spoiler:T'Challa tells Shuri that he bought the apartment building where said murder happened as well as the neighboring ones, and plans to turn the area into an outreach center. Reinforcing this, the ship is completely decloaked to let the kids check it out, while T'Challa answers questions about it]].
** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'':
*** The film begins and ends with a distress signal, with an Asgardian demanding help while his crew are being attacked by Thanos in the beginning, [[spoiler:and TheStinger involving Nick Fury successfully paging [[Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}} an old, powerful friend]], [[RayOfHopeEnding just as he disintegrated into dust,]] [[TheBadGuyWins due to Thanos']] BadassFingersnap]].
*** In terms of Thanos's quest for the Infinity Stones, it begins and ends with the Mind Stone. In [[Film/TheAvengers2012 the first Avengers film]], he has possession of the Mind Stone as part of the Chitauri scepter, only for Loki's defeat in New York City to cause him to lose it. When Thanos finally goes and collects each of the Infinity Stones personally, the Mind Stone is the last one he collects.
*** As Loki [[spoiler:dies in the beginning of the film]], he utters that Thanos will never be a god. In the next to last scene, Steve Rogers breathes out "Oh, God," signifying that [[spoiler:Thanos ''has'' become one]].
** ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'': The film begins and ends with a superhero trapped in the Quantum Realm, with Janet van Dyne for the first instance, and horrifyingly, [[spoiler:[[AndIMustScream Scott Lang,]] [[SuddenDownerEnding due to the aforementioned]] [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar fingersnap]] [[DroppedABridgeOnHim wiping out the people who were supposed to get him out]]]].
** ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}'': Carol's first and last fight with [[spoiler:Yon-Rogg]] ends with her blasting him away with her powers. [[spoiler:The first time, it's because he bested her in hand-to-hand combat, and she reflexively escalated to photon-blasting him even after being chided that she'd be reprimanded with a lecture from the Supreme Intelligence over it. The last time is when she is unleashed from the Kree, and utterly apathetic to proving herself to Yon-Rogg anymore, essentially casually swatting him aside as inconsequential]].
** ''Film/AvengersEndgame'':
*** The original six Avengers from ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' all survived the events of ''Infinity War'', and reassemble (and team up with the other surviving heroes) to put an end to Thanos's conquest for universal "[[KillEmAll balance]]" that started with the Chitauri attack on New York City.
*** Character design-wise, Captain America and Iron Man, the MCU's two biggest players, whose stories are wrapped up in this movie, wear outfits that look almost exactly like their classic comic book designs instead of the MCU's signature "modernized" look. Tony doubles up by having a similar black tank top to the one he had in the original ''Film/IronMan1''.
*** Tony Stark's iconic "[[Film/TheAvengers2012 If we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it]]" line goes full circle considering they indeed ''couldn't'' protect the Earth, but are now seeking Thanos to avenge the fallen.
*** Iron Man is back in the same kind of dilemma he was in at the beginning of [[Film/IronMan1 his first movie]]: trapped in a prison on borrowed time, with his only hope for survival depending entirely upon someone else helping him out, surviving only off of materials that he has within his prison. As an added bonus, he's even wearing the same kind of shirt that he did when he was in that cave in Afghanistan.
*** Cap is wearing the same S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform that he wore in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' -- the first film in the Russo Brothers' MCU run. ''Endgame'' happens to be the last in the Russos' MCU run.
*** Tony's [[spoiler:FamousLastWords, and the ones that finally mark the end of the battle, are the same words that ended [[Film/IronMan1 the first movie]]: "I am Iron Man"]].
*** Spanning back to ''[[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Infinity War]]'', the earlier film ends with Thanos watching the sunrise, as he smiles in pride having accomplished his goal. This film ends with Thanos [[spoiler:watching the sunrise, as he bows his head in shame and acceptance having failed, and about to turn into dust due to Tony's HeroicSacrifice]].
*** Moments before [[spoiler:his death]], present-day Thanos defiantly proclaims "I am inevitable" to the Avengers. In the final battle, before [[spoiler:[[OhCrap he realizes that Iron Man has the Infinity Stones]], Past]] Thanos arrogantly proclaims "I am inevitable".
*** The song that closes out the film, "It's Been a Long, Long Time", was previously used in Joe and Anthony Russo's first Marvel movie, ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier''.
*** After the credits, the sound of Tony hammering together his very first suit from all the way back in the opening act of ''Film/IronMan1'' plays.
*** Tony begins the film recording a potential ApocalypticLog / VideoWill for Pepper in case of his death. His final scene has the cast viewing another one he made five years later for [[spoiler:her and Morgan at his actual funeral]].
*** While Thanos has gained and lost a multitude of archnemeses in his 46-years-and-counting comic book history, he was first introduced in the pages of ''ComicBook/IronMan'' Vol. 1 #55. Therefore, it is only fitting that Iron Man himself would [[spoiler:see him out]]. Bonus points for having his creator, Jim Starlin, [[CreatorCameo make an appearance for this event]].
*** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' -- Steve Rogers' MCU debut -- had him begin his career as Captain America and fight the Red Skull, who was wielding an Infinity Stone (the Tesseract/Space Stone), and then get frozen into the 21st century. ''Endgame'' -- which is meant to close out Rogers's CharacterArc -- ends with him [[spoiler:travelling ''back'' in time and return the Infinity Stones back to their proper eras, including Vormir in 2014 -- which was where the Red Skull ended up after ''The First Avenger'']].
** ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'': This film, as well as the [[Film/IronMan1 first film]] in the entire ''Infinity Saga'', ended with [[spoiler:a hero's secret identity being revealed to the entire world. In ''Iron Man'', Tony did it willingly in front of a press conference, with the last shot being him smiling with what he said. Here, Peter's secret is forcibly leaked online by Mysterio and the Daily Bugle's machinations, and he can only react with a CurseCutShort]].
* ''Film/TheMaskOfZorro'': Begins and ends with a man recounting his adventures to his baby, seeing his wife, and saying that he never did anything that foolish again.
* ''Film/TheMatrix'': The movie begins with Trinity in the Heart of the City hotel. One of the last scenes is Neo's fight with Agent Smith, which occurs in the same hotel.
** ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'': In the beginning, one of the Agents described Neo as the anomaly. In the end, the Architect explained to Neo why he is the anomaly.
* ''Film/MazeRunnerTheDeathCure'':
** Lampshaded by Newt, as the group plan to get into the Last City.
--->'''Newt:''' [[Film/{{TheMazeRunner|2014}} Three years we’ve spent behind walls trying to break out,]] [[StormingTheCastle and now we're trying to break back in.]]
** The [[Film/{{TheMazeRunner|2014}} first movie's]] opening scene (before the titles) had an OrbitalShot of the Maze, while zooming out from Thomas, where he is seen from the back. This is meant to convey his uncertainty of being in a far, unknown place. The last shot of this movie [[spoiler:is yet another OrbitalShot, only with the camera zooming into Thomas's face instead, as he contemplates his brighter future in a place where all the Immune can be safe]].
* ''Film/MemoriesOfMurder'': Starts and ends at the corn field where one of the bodies was found.
* ''Film/TheMenWhoStareAtGoats'': Begins with a flashback of General Hopgood attempting to run through a wall... and failing. At the end, it features Bob attempting to do the same thing... [[spoiler:and succeeding.]]
* ''Metropolitan'': The plot is set in motion when the protagonist shares a cab with the other main characters, after they refuse to steal it from him. Late in the movie, he hails a cab, in the process stealing it from another person he barely notices.
* The first entry in ''Film/TheMightyDucks'' trilogy begins and ends its hockey-related plots with the Minnesota State Pee-Wee Championship tied at the end of regulation with a kid with a DisappearedDad awarded a penalty shot after being taken down illegally from behind on a breakaway. The kid gets one last pep talk from the coach who had become his surrogate father, before going out and taking the penalty shot using the triple deke, sending the puck straight for the nearside post. [[spoiler:The difference is that Bombay's shot in 1973 bounces out and he falls to his knees in devastation, while Charlie's shot in 1993 glances in for the winning goal to jubilation. The only thing that remains the same afterwards is that both times the Hawks lose.]]
* ''Film/{{Milk}}'' begins and ends with a shot of Harvey Milk sitting at his table with a tape recorder.
* ''Film/TheMonsterMaker'' begins and ends with Anthony Lawrence giving a piano recital in a concert hall.
* [[MrExposition Frank Stokes]] briefs President Roosevelt on the need for ''Film/TheMonumentsMen'', and President Truman on what they achieved.
* ''Film/TheMouseThatRoared'': Actually begins with the Creator/ColumbiaPictures Torch Lady being scared off by a mouse on her pedestal and dropping her torch, and ends with the same scene shown in reverse.
* ''La Moustache'': Begins and ends with Marc shaving off his moustache. [[spoiler:The second time he doesn't cause any problems]].
* ''Film/MysteryTeam'': Begins and ends with the eponymous trio getting a new case.
* A rare one that doesn't span the entire movie occurs in ''Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation''. After it switches from cartoon to live-action and the opening credits song fades out, we hear Clark and Ellen singing the last two lines of "O Come All Ye Faithful" while in their car. As the scenario ends with their car driving away, not only do we hear an instrumental version of the same song, it's only the last two lines.
* ''Film/NottingHill'': This film begins and ends with the song "She". There is also a walk through the seasons scene which starts with a pregnant woman and ends with the same woman holding a young child.
* Most of the films in the long-running Danish ''Film/OlsenBanden'' series opens with criminal mastermind Egon Olsen being released from prison, and ends with him returning to prison.
* ''Film/TheOtherBoleynGirl'': Starts and ends with 3 children playing in a meadow.
* ''Film/{{Outlander}}'': AvertedTrope, where even though the final version of the film ends with a VikingFuneral, a deleted alternate opening was actually originally going to begin with one too.
* ''Film/TheOxBowIncident'': Begins with two men riding into the town and ends with them leaving the same way.
* ''Film/PacificRim'': The beginning and the ending of the film involve [[spoiler:Raleigh being NotQuiteDead]] despite everyone else thinking otherwise.
** The end of the Jaeger era began with Gipsy Danger being brought down by Knifehead, proving that Jaegers weren't invincible. The end of [[spoiler:the Precursors]] began with Gipsy Danger [[spoiler:self-destructing and destroying the Precursors' labs and Kaiju production facility]], proving that they aren't untouchable. The movie starts and ends with one side realizing their finest weapons have failed.
** Also the first fight in the film has [[spoiler:the Jaeger's arm on Raleighs side being ripped off/damaged]]. Guess what happens in the last fight?
* ''Film/PaulineAtTheBeach'': Opens and closes with the same shot of the gates leading to the summer house.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':
** It ends its original trilogy with Jack Sparrow in a one-man dinghy, having lost the ''Black Pearl'' to Barbossa; as an echo of his iconic introduction in the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl first film]]. And the trilogy really opens (before the title) and ends (after the credits) with a child singing a song about piracy.
** Near the start of the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl first movie]], Pintel finds Elizabeth in a closet, and growls a menacing "'Ello Poppet." In the end, as Elizabeth is saying her goodbyes, Pintel waves with a sorrowful "Goodbye Poppet."
** The [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl first film]] alone begins and ends with young Elizabeth and Jack Sparrow respectively singing "A Pirate's Life for Me" to the sea.
*** Even more applicable to what Elizabeth's ''son'' is singing in the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd third film]]'s Stinger, as he's about the same age his mom was at the start.
** The first time we meet piratical Mr. Gibbs, Jack is waking him with a bucket of water. At the close of ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd At World's End]]'', Mr. Gibbs is once again, passed out and Jack wakes him with a cup of... Grog?
** In the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl first film]], it's mentioned that Jack was marooned on a remote island by Barbossa with only a pistol with a single shot. In the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides fourth film]], Jack does the exact same thing to Angelica.
** In the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl first film]], Elizabeth's first encounter has her giving Barbossa Will's surname as her own, to which he responds by excitedly repeating it to the whole crew: "Miss TURNER..." When they part company for the final time in ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd At World's End]]'', he respectfully (and a touch affectionately) greets her as "Miss'''us''' Turner," after she has become Will's wife.
** Similarly, in the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl first film]] the pirates ready a boat to take Elizabeth to Isla de Muerta, saying "your chariot awaits, Highness" as a sarcastic and condescending remark. By the time of the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd third film]], Elizabeth is elected Pirate King, and Gibbs says this line quite earnestly as he presents a boat for her.
* ''Film/PoisonIvy'': Begins and ends with the title character [[ArcWords "flying"]] -- on a rope swing over a small ravine at the beginning, [[spoiler:and [[DisneyVillainDeath off a third-story balcony at the end.]]]]
* ''Film/ThePrestige'': Every magic trick consists of three parts, or acts...
* ''Film/PrettyWoman'': The Happy Man walks by both near the beginning of the film and at the end, telling us that this is Hollywood, the Land of Dreams, and asking, "what's your dream?" The first time his appearance is ironic, the second time it is meant to be taken at face value.
* ''Film/PrideAndPrejudiceALatterDayComedy'' starts with Elizabeth introducing her roommates in narration, and it ends with the same song and a WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue.
* ''Film/PrideAndPrejudice2005'' begins and ends with a sunrise.
* ''Film/{{Privilege}}'' opens with a short clip of Steven saying, "I would just like to say to you all how happy I am to be back in Britain after my American tour." The credits play over an extended version of the clip, in black and white and with the sound removed.
* ''Film/PulpFiction'': Begins and ends with Pumpkin (AKA Ringo) and Honey Bunny.
* ''Film/QuestForFire'' begins and ends with the same long-shot pan of the fire.
* ''Film/TheRaid'': A pistol runs out of bullets near the beginning and near the end. The consequences are different.
* ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'': The first installment of this franchise, ''Film/FirstBlood'', opens with Rambo walking along a lonely road to visit a friend. ''Film/RamboIV'' ends with him walking a road which will lead him home.
* ''Film/ReadyToRumble'' begins with Sean Dawkins talking to some children at the Lusk Stop 'N Shop about Jimmy King, before he and Gordie Boggs get verbally abused by the {{Jerkass}} shopkeeper. [[spoiler: At the end of the film, Sean is back at the shop talking to the same kids, and the shopkeeper gets thrown through a glass door by Gordie, King, and Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}.]]
* ''Film/TheRedViolin'': A musical version. The first music of the film is a woman humming a few notes -- "Anna's Theme." The woman's voice changes, gradually, to the tone of the violin playing that same melody. That melody becomes the basic theme for the violin's long journey through the years. Then, the End Titles music is the violin returning to that simple melody, for it to shift back gradually into [[OneWomanWail Anna's voice.]]
* ''Film/RichieRich'': Has the titular character wanting to play baseball for a group of kids but is pulled away before he could in the beginning of the movie. The end of the film has Richie playing baseball with that same group of kids.
* In ''Film/RoadToMorocco.'' Music/BingCrosby and Creator/BobHope's characters start out and end up on [[LostAtSea rafts in the ocean.]] (For a certain definition of "ocean" in the second case..)
* King Richard is shot in the neck during the battle at the beginning of ''Film/RobinHood2010'', and Godfrey ends up shot in the neck by Robin during the final battle.
* The film ''The Rookie'' (the one with Creator/CharlieSheen and Creator/ClintEastwood) begins and ends with a cop being called in by his boss to partner with a rookie. Much of the dialogue and action are the same.
* The 1985 film of ''Literature/ARoomWithAView'' ends with Lucy and George returning to the same pensione in Florence where the story began, where they encounter a stranger who is upset about not having a room with a view. George echoes his father's line from the beginning of the story: "We have a view..."
* ''Film/TheRose'' begins and ends in the garage of the title character's childhood home.
* ''Film/{{Rush 2013}}'' begins and ends with Niki Lauda FlippingTheBird to James Hunt. In the beginning he does it in anger after James calls him a chicken in Formula Three. By the end, [[spoiler: they're both UsefulNotes/FormulaOne World Champions and finally regard each other as equals worthy of respect. James had just joked that Niki's burns from a horrific accident actually made him look better and Niki grins as he flips him off, so it could almost be considered affectionate.]]
* ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'': Opens and ends with a shot of the American flag.
* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'': The series begins and ends in the same DisgustingPublicToilet. In addition, the first shot of the main character in the series is also the last via the last of the series' trademark flashback montages.
* ''Film/TheSearchers'': Begins with the camera moving from a darkened interior, [[OpenDoorOpening through an opening door]], to the spectacular vista of the Utah desert. [[DoorClosesEnding The reverse]] happens at the end.
* In the 1993 film version of ''Film/{{The Secret Garden|1993}}'', Mary mentions at the start that she didn't know how to cry. At the end of the film her closing narration says that her uncle learned to laugh and she learned to cry.
* ''Film/{{Serenity}}'':
** Starts and ends with majestic, sweeping shots of the ship, quickly interrupted by a part falling off the ship and Mal asking "What was that?"
** Before the opening credits, The Operative makes a short speech about ThePowerOfLove. At the end, Mal makes a short speech about the importance of love.
** In the beginning, Mal is telling Simon that River has to go on a job to earn her stay on the ship. Simon, of course, says that what he does should pay for both of them, and then Mal says that she should learn from his fine example. [[spoiler: She winds up being his new pilot since their previous one died.]]
* ''Film/{{Shane}}'': Begins with him riding into the valley on a clear morning and ends with him riding away in the middle of the night.
* ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'': This film is bookended with shots of the title character shambling in a zombie-like fashion after waking up in the morning.
* ''Film/ShinjukuIncident'': Has Creator/JackieChan's character save detective Kitano from drowning in the sewer near the beginning, and ends with Kitano trying to save Chan from dying in the same way.
* ''Short Term 12" is a story about a foster care center for troubled teens and begins and ends with them chasing one of the kids running down the yard.
* ''Film/ShotCaller'': The film opens with Jacob writing a letter to his son Joshua apologizing for failing him as a father and advising him to get on with his life. At the end, [[spoiler:Joshua sends him a letter back, telling his father that he has finally forgiven him.]]
* ''Film/SideEffects'' begins with a helicopter shot zooming in to the window of Emily's apartment, and ends with a helicopter shot zooming out from the window of her new residence.
* ''Film/{{Sightseers}}'': "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell plays when Chris and Tina are driving away from Tina's mother's house. "Tainted Love" by Gloria Jones plays over the end credits.
* ''Film/SinCity'' begins with an unnamed hitman claiming his victim before the opening credits. He is not seen again until the end of the film when [[FaceHeelTurn a character who turned traitor]] encounters him in an elevator. He introduces himself to both of them the same way.
* ''Film/SlingBlade'': Opens and closes with the protagonist in a mental hospital, gazing out of the window.
* ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'':
** Begins and ends with a more grounded female character assessing Mark Zuckerberg, specifically whether he is an "asshole".
** An IronicEcho version - the movie begins with Mark working with Eduardo on Facemash after being dumped by Erica. The movie ends with [[spoiler:Mark trying to friend Erica on Facebook after seeing how much of a chasm had grown between him and Eduardo.]]
* ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic'' opens with panoramic views of the mountains, then zooms onto Maria (Julie Andrews) singing ecstatically how "the hills are alive with the sound of music!" before she rushes back to the nearby abbey. The movie ends with Maria and her new family, having escaped the Nazis at the same abbey, hiking through the same mountains towards the safety of the border. As the soundtrack sings "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", the camera pulls back to another panorama of those mountains.
* ''Film/{{Spotlight}}'' begins and ends with silent young children who have been abused by priests sitting and coloring as they wait for a lawyer - twenty-five years apart.
* ''Film/StarshipTroopers'': The movie, begins with Rico watching the ad to enlist as soldier, and ends with him ''starring'' in an otherwise identical ad.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek''
** At the beginning of ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', Spock gives Kirk a copy of ''[[Creator/CharlesDickens A Tale of Two Cities]]'' as a birthday present. Kirk opens it and reads out "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." At the end he recites from memory, "It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before. A far better resting place I go to, than I have ever known." Bones is confused, but Kirk just says that he understands Spock's message.
** Similarly, ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'' uses the scenes of Kirk, [=McCoy=] and Spock at the campfire (singing ''"Row, row, row your boat..."'') as bookends to the movie.
** In ''Film/StarTrek2009'', a scene near the end of the first act features a special assembly of the Starfleet Academy, then immediately cutting to a scene of the Captain of the ''Enterprise'' addressing his crew before the depart. The end of the movie features another special Academy assembly and once again cuts right to the Captain of the ''Enterprise'' addressing his crew before they take off.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** An early scene in ''Film/ANewHope'' features Luke Skywalker gazing out at Tatooine's binary sunset. ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' ends with Owen and Beru Lars in the same position holding an infant Luke and also watching the suns set.
** The binary sunset in ''A New Hope'' also serves as a bookend with a scene near the end of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', where Luke is watching his father's funeral pyre, down to similiar musical cues.
*** That scene in ''A New Hope'' is once again reflected in ''Film/TheLastJedi'' some ''forty years later'' where [[spoiler:[[TheHeroDies Luke's journey ends with him contemplating under a binary sunset]]]].
** Likewise, the first line of ''A New Hope'' and the last line of ''Revenge of the Sith'' are both spoken by C-3PO aboard the ''Tantive IV'', the first ship ever seen in the Star Wars universe.
** In the original trilogy, the first and last lightsabers activated onscreen were both Luke's: Anakin's former lightsaber in ''Film/ANewHope'' (the first ever activated in the Star Wars universe), and his own in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''.
** ''Film/TheLastJedi'' begins with Luke Skywalker [[spoiler: callously tossing his former lightsaber off a cliff, and ends with him wielding it in battle against Kylo Ren to save the entire Resistance.]]
** The family saga chronologically started on Tatooine for the Skywalkers in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''. The last scene of the Skywalker saga in ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' happens on Tatooine.
** The first released ''Star Wars'' film, ''Film/ANewHope'', also started on Tatooine, with Luke's life-changing adventure starting at his home, the Lars homestead. The last scene of ''The Rise of Skywalker'' happens at the abandoned Lars homestead, with Luke's Force spirit watching as Rey takes the name "Skywalker".
** A fairly subtle one with all three trilogies -- they ''all end with Leia and Luke.''
*** The prequel trilogy ends with baby Leia being taken to Alderaan to meet her new family, and baby Luke being taken to Tatooine to meet his new family.
*** The original trilogy ends with young-adult Leia and Luke (having discovered they are twins) celebrating with the others while the Force Ghosts of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin look on.
*** The sequel trilogy ends with elderly Leia and Luke, as Force Ghosts, approving Rey adopting the Skywalker name, under the twin suns of Tatooine.
** The prequel trilogy ends with a Skywalker (Anakin/Darth Vader) and a Palpatine (Sheev/Emperor) coming together to bring ruin to the galaxy and the eradication of the Jedi. The sequel trilogy ends with a Skywalker (Ben Solo) and a Palpatine (Rey) coming together to save the galaxy and begin a new generation of Jedi.
* ''Film/StateFair'' has both versions of the film begin and end with a billboard advertising the titular state fair.
* ''Film/TakeShelter'': Begins and ends with similar dream sequences.
* At the beginning and end of ''Tammy and the Bachelor'' Tammy drops a key [[VictoriasSecretCompartment down the front of her dress]]. It falls to the floor during the former instance due to not having sufficiently developed her... assets yet.
* ''Film/TaxiDriver'': Begins and ends with Travis Bickle driving his cab on depressing, nighttime streets.
* At the start of ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'', Lisa says "Terrorize this!" when gunning down a terrorist during the battle in Paris. In the climax, she repeats the line before [[spoiler:kicking Kim Jong-Il off the balcony]].
* ''Film/TempleGrandin'': This film begins and ends with Temple looking right into the camera and saying "My name is Temple Grandin!" While in the beginning, she was standing in front of a closed room, at the end it's in front of a wide-open sky.
* ''Film/TheTenCommandments'': Began and ended with [[ArcWords "So let it be written. So let it be done"]].
* ''Film/TheyShallNotGrowOld'': The film begins with black-and-white archive footage in a small, square screen, accompanied by the sound of a film reel. When the war starts, the screen grows and colorizes. At the war's conclusion at the end of the film, the screen shrinks back down, fades back into black and white, and the film reel sound returns.
* The film version of ''Film/AThousandClowns'' begins with Murray hollering at his neighbors, followed by a montage of New Yorkers walking to work. It ends with him attempting to holler at his neighbors, then joining the throng.
* ''Film/{{Tomboy}}'': Near the start of this film, Laure introduces herself as a boy named "Michael" and at the end as "Laure".
* ''Music/{{Tommy}}'': The movie based on the book opens with a shot of Captain Walker on a cliff, looking at the sunrise. The final shot is Tommy on the same cliff, watching it set.
* ''Film/TotalRecall1990'': The original film begins and ends with Quaid and Melina looking towards the Martian horizon.
* ''Film/{{Trainspotting}}'': Renton's "choosing life" speeches. The speech at the beginning is bitter and cynical, with Renton explaining that he chose heroin instead of life. The speech at the end is sincere and hopeful, as he expresses his intention to [[CharacterDevelopment choose life for real.]]
* ''Film/{{Transformers}}'':
** The live-action ''Transformers'' films actually does this twice: In the first film, we see two Decepticons named [[ScaryScorpions Scorponok]] and [[DirtyCop Barricade]], who only appear during the first half of this film, and they both disappear about halfway. However, Scorponok eventually returns during the climax of ''Revenge of the Fallen'', and Barricade does the same in ''Dark of the Moon'', where they are both immediately killed off.
** Each film also begins and ends with Optimus' narration. Had the line not been cut, the ending of the third film would have even reflected the closing line of the first (the ''Dark of the Moon'' line survives in the novelization):
-->'''Optimus''': [''Transformers''] I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars. We are here. We are waiting.
-->'''Optimus''': [''Dark of the Moon''] I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message out into the universe. We are here. We are home.
* ''Film/{{Tron}}'' : Another one that crosses sequels: The first film ends with the city skyline fading from daylight to night, the contrast of neon and darkness making it almost indistinguishible from {{cyberspace}}, and carrying the message that humans are NotSoDifferent from their Program creations. ''Film/TronLegacy'' ends with the second movie's protagonist shutting off the computers, hopping on his CoolBike and taking Quorra for her first sunrise, acting as an IronicEcho: "We are ''very'' different."
* ''Film/TheUltimateGift'': At Red's funeral, a series of statues framed by dark clowds are shown to set the scene in the graveyard. When [[spoiler:Emily]] dies, the same statues are seen from the same angles, with a clear blue sky in the background.
* ''Film/UndercoverBrother'': At the beginning of the movie Undercover Brother jumps from the top of a building and deploys a parachute to drift to safety. At the end of the film he jumps from the top of a cliff, but one of the other characters says that he doesn't have his parachute! Not to worry, his '''bell-bottom pants''' act as a parachute.
* ''Film/VForVendetta'': Begins and ends with a British landmark getting blown up to the tune of the 1812 Overture on November 5th. The fact that ''everything else'' is so different between the two events shows just how much can happen in a year.
* ''Walkabout'': Has BilingualBonus BookEnds. The film opens with the sound of a roulette wheel, and the croupier's call to place bets "Fait vos jeux, mes sieurs, dames." (Make your plays, sirs, madams.) It ends with the printed text "Rien ne va plus" (Nothing goes any more), the croupier's call for no more bets. Perhaps a reference to the way that the protagonists lives were thrown to the whims of fortune by the events at the start of the film, and to the way that this has now reached a conclusion, and perhaps not the happiest one.
* ''War of the Worlds'' begins with the camera zooming out of the DNA of a microbe in a puddle of water and ends with the camera zooming into a drop of water, into a microbe, and into its DNA.
* Two scenes in the beginning of ''Film/TheWayHeLooks'' are given a callback to at the end. [[spoiler:The first being The TakeThatKiss this time however displays the CharacterDevelopment Leo has undergone. The second with a NewTransferStudent is more of a HereWeGoAgain.]]
* ''Film/WeWereSoldiers'': Also averted in this film, where an alternate ending actually shows a lizard emerging out of its hiding spot just right after the Americans leave Vietnam (when the Americans arrived there at the very beginning of the film, the lizard ran away).
* Doubles as a MeaningfulEcho in ''Film/WhatDreamsMayCome''. [[spoiler:At the beginning and end, Annie and Chris meet at a lake when their boats crash into each other. At the beginning as adults with actual boats, and at the end as children with remote-controlled toy boats. Both times sandwiches are being shared. Chris even says the same line from the beginning of the movie.]]
--> '''Chris''': [[spoiler: "When I was young, I met this beautiful girl at a lake."]]
* ''Film/WhenTrumpetsFade'': Begins with Manning giving his wounded friend [[Series/BurnNotice Bobby]] a piggyback ride. The film ends with Manning being given a piggyback ride by Sanderson.
* ''Film/WhiteHouseDown'': Opens and closes with President Sawyer requesting that the Marine One helicopter pilot do "the thing", a flyover of Washington D.C. ending with the helicopter skimming over the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
* The restored Final Cut of the original ''Film/TheWickerMan1973'' begins with a Christian Mass and ends with an pagan bonefire.
* ''Film/WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet'': Begins and ends with a news broadcast on TV.
* In the British {{Thriller}} ''Film/AWindowInLondon'', the main action begins when the protagonist (Creator/MichaelRedgrave) witnesses from a train window what appears to be a man stabbing a woman in a nearby apartment. He rushes to the scene, but it turns out to be a false alarm - an illusionist rehearsing with his assistant-wife. The last scene shows the protagonist travelling to work the next day on the same train, looking out the window at the same apartment, and laughing about the fact that all is normal within... except that [[spoiler:this time the illusionist has really shot his wife dead, but her body can't be seen from the passing train because she is slumped on the floor.]]
* ''Film/{{Wings}}'': Begins with Jack and Mary repairing a car. Mary paints a shooting star on it, and tells Jack that when you see a shooting star, you could kiss the girl you love. Jack then drives away to visit wealthy Sylvia. At the end of the movie, Jack and Mary watch a shooting star in the sky from inside Jack's car. Mary again reminds Jack what a man could do after seeing a shooting star, so he gives her a kiss as the film fades to black.
* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'': Begins and ends in a sepia toned Kansas.
* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': Steve Trevor is first introduced flying a plane into Diana's line of sight before crash landing into the sea. [[spoiler:His last action is flying a plane away while Diana looks on, before he blows the plane up to destroy the chemical weapons without harming anyone.]]
* ''Film/WorkingGirl'' begins and ends with sweeping helicopter shots of New York City. In the first, the heroine is an overworked, unappreciated secretary sporting 80's hair and makeup. In the second, she's a polished executive.
* ''Film/WorldsGreatestDad'' begins with the words "THE END" mirrored, it ends with the words the right way round.
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
** ''Film/X2XMenUnited'': Closes with Jean Grey (in narration) giving the same speech about evolution that Professor X did in the opening of the first film.
** ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'': Both the first scene of the first movie and the final scene of the third feature Magneto. [[spoiler:Or in a more technical way, feature Xavier: the original trilogy begins with his opening narration about mutation, and TheStinger of ''The Last Stand'' has Xavier awakening in his comatose twin brother's body.]]
** ''Film/TheWolverine'': Yukio tells Logan, "I'm your bodyguard."
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'':
*** The film opens and closes with narrations from both the old and young Charles Xavier, respectively; the former contemplates the future while the latter reflects on the past.
*** Logan waking up in a daze to Roberta Flack's 1969 cover of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" in both 1973 [[spoiler:and the new AlternateTimeline (playing on an oldies station on Internet satellite radio)]].
*** The mutant boy who is about to be fried by a Future Sentinel just before the main titles unexpectedly reappears in the [[spoiler:AlternateTimeline as one of Professor X's students, safe and sound]].
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'': Because this is the conclusion of a 6-movie saga, the first shot of ''[[Film/XMen1 X1]]'' can be compared to the final shot of ''Apocalypse''. In the former, we hear Professor X's voice, but he's not seen; in the latter, Xavier is staring straight at the camera, but he does not speak (although his IcyBlueEyes do convey a message--"Do ''not'' mess with me or my X-Men"). By starting and ending the hexalogy with the same character, it designates that Charles is the most important one (even if he doesn't necessarily have the most screen time).[[note]]It's deliberate because Professor X is Creator/BryanSinger's favourite X-Men character, and InUniverse, the X-Men wouldn't exist without Xavier.[[/note]]
** ''Film/{{Logan}}'':
*** [[spoiler:Funerals[=/=]burials are shown at the opening, middle, and endpoints of the film]].
*** [[Film/XMen1 Logan's first appearance involved giving a ride to a young mutant running away from her home (Rogue).]] His swan song involves him doing the same for another young mutant (Laura).
*** The movie begins with Logan waking up from sleep. [[spoiler:[[TheHeroDies It ends with him going to sleep for good]]]].
*** In a CallBack to ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'': [[spoiler:Logan's journey to becoming one of the X-Men started with William Stryker shooting the mutant in the head with an Adamantium bullet. What helps Logan end his journey is his clone, X-24, getting shot in the head with an Adamantium bullet]].
* ''Film/WarMachine'': Hilariously combined with PowerWalk to the very same tune.
* ''Film/TheGrandSeduction'': The film begins and ends with the people of Tickle Head, Newfoundland and Labrador "[[DoubleEntendre celebrating]]" the town's prosperity, followed by puffs of smoke rising from the chimneys.
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[[BookEnds Remember]] [[SelfDemonstratingArticle that any and every film has both a beginning and an end.]]
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