15 Movies With Plots Driven by the Most Famous MacGuffins (Whatnerd)

"What the heck is a 'MacGuffin'? If you're a novelist or scriptwriter, it's a term you'll hear time and time again—but even if you aren't, you might still encounter the word in movie reviews. Coined by the English screenwriter Angus MacPhail and popularized by Alfred Hitchcock, the term 'MacGuffin' refers to a prop, object, or person that primarily exists to push the narrative forward. The movie MacGuffin is the central trigger for conflict and character motives. The actual MacGuffin object or person may not hold any significance or affect the plot on its own—the important thing is that it propels the character(s) forward. For example, the Marvel movies are full of MacGuffins. Most of them are driven by a nebulous inter-dimensional object that threatens to end the world and consequently spurs the superheroes into action." - whatnerd.com