Trivia

Clips from this movie are used in numerous parodies that appear on YouTube in which a scene (usually the one of Adolf Hitler yelling at his subordinates) is re-subtitled to imbue it with unintended comedic meaning. The first such video was "Hitler gets banned from Xbox Live;" other subjects include: Nashville's gas crisis of 2008, changes to Epcot at Walt Disney World, the delay of the release of Harry Potter und der Halbblutprinz (2009), fans' disappointment with the first Avatar - Aufbruch nach Pandora (2009) trailer, the "Balloon Boy" hoax of October 2009, and Brett Favre signing with the Vikings. Many of the parodies have Hitler yelling at his subordinates about punctuation or spelling errors, in reference to the fact that sticklers for editing are sometimes derided as "Grammar Nazis." In 2010, Constantin Films, which owns the rights to Downfall (2004), started taking down the parodies, arguing that their copyright was being infringed. Shortly thereafter, new parody videos appeared decrying Constantin Films' actions as "Naziesque." Contrary to the reaction of Constantin Films, director Oliver Hirschbiegel claimed to have seen over a hundred of such parodies and enjoyed them very much. YouTube has since stopped blocking these parodies. As of August 2019, the most well-know creator of the parodies, "Hitler Rants Parodies", continues to have a presence on YouTube, with new material ranging from light comedy to biting political satire subtitling. See more