Warning: If you don't know what a cue dot is, you probably want to stop reading now. It's the curse of the cue dot: once you have seen a cue dot, you are likely to keep seeing them whether you like it or not.


A cue dot (also known as a change-over mark) is a bright circle or oval that briefly shows up in the upper right corner of multi-reel movies as an indication to the projectionist that the reel is a few seconds away from its end. The projectionist takes this as a cue to cut over to the projector prepared with the next reel. When all goes well, the audience doesn't notice that a reel change took place.

As cue dots only show up for a small fraction of a second, most moviegoers never notice their existence. However, once cue dots have been pointed out to you and you've seen one, you're likely to keep seeing them, whether you like it or not.


In the movie Fight Club, the character Tyler Durden points out cue dots to the audience.

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