Fly At the Camera Ending

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Harry charges the camera making his O-face.

The last scene of the movie is coming to a close. For some reason, something in the scene - perhaps a flying machine, an object, or even a character - decides to start flying, and comes straight at the camera. Just as it's about to "impact", the scene cuts to black and we go to the credits.

The flying person/object doesn't need to be actually flying, but more often than not, it is.

Most common in special-effects laden movies. After the rise of CGI, this became much more popular, but earlier movies display it as well.

Contrast Riding Into the Sunset where it ends with something moving away from the camera.

As an Ending Trope, Spoilers ahead may be unmarked. Beware.

Examples of Fly At the Camera Ending include:

Film

• The first Back to The Future ends with the DeLorean flying up in the air, turning around, then warping through time just as it hits the camera.
  • The third movie ends the same way, except with the train in the place of the DeLorean.
• Casper ends with Casper flying up to the camera, winking, spelling out "The End", then the friendly ghost apparently trying to devour the audience.
• Serenity has a chunk of the titular ship flying at the camera.
  • And with this, it manages both Riding Into the Sunset and Fly At The Camera at the same time.
    • And Book Ends nicely with the first time we see the ship in the movie...a piece of the ship breaks off, and Mal says, "What was that?"
• The Hitchhicker's Guide To The Galaxy ends with The Heart of Gold flying at the camera and engaging the Infinite Improbability Drive. The visual effects used for the drive mean the very last thing we see is Douglas Adams' head.
• Batman Forever and Batman and Robin both end with Batman and co. running past a light to the camera in homage to the beginning of the 1960's series
• Batman Begins ends with Batman swinging off a rooftop and into the camera.
• The end of The Matrix. Slightly averted as he flies by the camera before it goes black, thus slightly averting its path.
• The feather in Forrest Gump
• To many fans' horror, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ends with a freeze frame of Harry flying at the camera, so his giant face is smushed across the screen.
• The Evil Dead inverts this with the camera flying at Bruce Campbell at the end.
• The ending of Atlantis: The Lost Empire (happens right after the Book Ends), with an Atlantean flying machine obscuring the camera.
• The end of Night at the Museum Battle of the Smithsonian ends with an old fashioned biplane flying at the camera.
• Open Season ends with a rabbit thrown at the camera.
• Ghostbusters ends with Slimer flying at the camera.
• One of the endings of Paranormal Activity is demon-possessed Katie attacking the camera.
• Danny Zuko's car at the end of Grease
• In The Stinger of the first Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack the Undead Monkey charges at the camera.
• Daredevil throws his weapon into the camera at the end off the movie.
• Cars ends with a VW Beetle flying into the camera just right after we see the minivan couple still lost in the desert they were in.
• The original ending to Little Shop of Horrors featured Audrey II bursting through the screen to devour the audience.
• The first Spider-Man ends with Spidey swinging at the camera.
  • At the end of the first Fantastic Four movie, Johnny does this after recreating the team's Chest Insignia in the sky. Subverted in that the movie actually ends after a minute or so, following a sequence where Doctor Doom's return is foreshadowed through an incredibly eerie Sequel Hook.
• The Incredibles inverts, by finishing with the camera "flying" at Mr. Incredible's Chest Insignia.

Live Action TV

• The last episode of The Vicar of Dibley ends with Geraldine flying into the air and towards the camera. Yeah.
• The Smallville episode "Warrior" ends with Chloe firing an arrow at the camera.
• Star Trek: Voyager concluded at least two episodes this way:
  • In one, Janeway and Seven end up playing a game on the holodeck that involves knocking a floating disk around using hand phasers. Eventually, one shot finds the camera.
  • After Chakotay frees Voyager from "chaotic space" with some help from the local aliens, he ends up taking some time out for boxing on the holodeck. Boothby coaches him to make an adjustment to KO his opponent; then we get the second-person point of view as Chakotay punches said opponent in the face.

Video Games

• The ending sequences to many 2D Sonic the Hedgehog games feature Sonic (or Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream) jumping towards the player and posing while suspended in air. Sonic the Hedgehog 2's ending is the most notable in which both Tails's plane and (Super)Sonic fly away from the player only to come back head first.
  • This remake of said ending does it right.
• No Mercy in Left 4 Dead.
• Some of the Gradius games end like this.
  • One of the Parodius games combines that with Camera Abuse.
• Lego Harry Potter recreates the final scene from the third movie, but takes it further and ends with Harry in orbit.
• Super Metroid has Samus's gunship flies into the camera right before closing with a "See you next mission."
• The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon ends with Spyro and Cynder happily flying around in Avalar, then swoop in towards the camera.

Western Animation

• The last episode of Justice League Unlimited ends with Batman running into the screen.
• The 2009 DC Universe animated Wonder Woman feature has Wonder Woman charging into the camera as she is ready to take on the Cheetah.
• Batman: Mask of the Phantasm ends with Batman swinging towards the screen and then a little bit to the up and left (so technically its last shot is of Batman's armpit.)
• The Simpsons episode "Bye Bye, Nerdie" ends with Francine (a girl bully in which Lisa befriends in the episode who for some reason attacks only nerds and no one else because she is attracted to their sweat glands, and later on Lisa uses her for her science project because of this) charging at the camera after beating up several scientists at a science fair.

Francine: I hate you!