January 29, 2016 by Vinnie Leduc
After 22 Jump Street graced cinemaphiles with arguably the best movie stinger ever, most of this passionate community’s dedicated film fans who sit through the credits till the very end probably would’ve loved any extra scenes or goodies last year that came close to that unforgettable sequence of hilarious marketing overload. Not surprisingly, 2015 couldn’t match 2014’s crown jewel, but that’s not to say 2015 wasn’t another year full of worthy reasons to stay put for some bonus laughs, thrills, answers, and teasers. Because it definitely was. And we’re here to highlight some of the best and most popular (as rated by users like you) movie stingers of 2015.
Ant-Man
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Dope
Entourage
Goosebumps
Hitman: Agent 47
Inside Out
Kingsman: The Secret Service
The Martian
Minions
The Peanuts Movie
Pitch Perfect 2
Spy
Terminator Genisys
The Visit
Music and movies go together like peas and carrots, and such harmonious union was an integral piece of many of 2015’s hallmark stingers. Perfect soundtrack choices kicked off our stinger of the year, which we’ve saved for later, and played throughout the extra scenes in The Martian, which not only provided insight into a future related events (always a plus) but also continued what we hope is a mini-movement that Clint Eastwood revived the previous year in American Sniper. That is, Oscar hopefuls, especially more dramatic films, are allowed to have stingers! So we thank Mr. Eastwood and Mr. Ridley Scott for taking movie stingers a step away from tacky and closer to tasteful.
Taste in music can vary tremendously depending on the listeners, as seen in The Martian, and similarly, musical attempts by the aspiring artists can, too. We saw this as part of the additional shenanigans after the credits of Minions, as a wildly comical reality contest audition that spirals into an uncomfortably awkward serenade during the credits of Pitch Perfect 2, as a homemade dance video during the credits of Dope, and as a freestyle rap that summarized what went down in The Visit.
Acclaimed motion pictures Spy and Inside Out each kept the ball rollin’ by exploring its basic premise in some amusing extensions, while Entourage and The Peanuts Movie both left smiles on their fans’ faces by including surprise character cameos in their crowdpleasing conclusions.
Another revival, Goosebumps, also provided its fanbase with a reunion service of sorts. Although it’s the only extra here that’s not currently found on the user-rated Top 100 list, we gotta give it the love and recognition it deserves.
Action extravaganzas Terminator Genisys and Hitman: Agent 47 both utilized brief mid-credits scenes as classic villain revelations that doubled as potential sequel teasers, but these were overshadowed by the huge one in summer blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron. That should come as no surprise because what would any major discussion about stingers be without credits trendsetter Marvel?
The superhero mega-franchise delivered a pair of the year’s biggest and most talked about stingers during and after the credits of Ant-Man as the perfect bridge between Phase Two and Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These well-executed extra scenes, critical to the development of new and old major characters and the progression of important future events, are among the best stingers ever from Marvel.
But just like last year and the year before that, there is another… when it comes to MediaStinger’s Best Movie Stinger of 2015. This extra scene answered our call for more when the film ended, left us asking for more even after the stinger ended, marked the full emergence of a new badass blockbuster franchise, and rode hundreds of user votes all the way up to #3 on the all-time list, only trailing 2012’s The Avengers and 2013’s The Hangover Part III. The people have spoken, and for 2015, the year of the spy movie, it’s only fitting that we crown Kingsman: The Secret Service as MediaStinger’s Best Movie Stinger of 2015.
Honorable Mentions: Cooties, Crimson Peak, The DUFF, The Green Inferno, Hot Pursuit, Jem and the Holograms, Poltergeist, Rock the Kasbah, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, Shaun the Sheep Movie, She’s Funny That Way, Sisters, Ted 2, Unfinished Business, We Are Your Friends
