These People Think There’s A Parallel Universe Where Sinbad Made A Movie Called Shazaam

Back in the '90s, Sinbad played a genie in a flick called Shazaam, according to hundreds of redditors. One remembers that the cover of the movie "said 'Sinbad' in big letters that dwarfed the other print." Another said it had "a purple background, featuring Sinbad dressed as a genie, back-to-back with a boy who looks about 11 or 12 years old." "I had to handle the two copies we owned dozens of times over the years," a man who helped run a video store told New Statesman.

But, as Sinbad himself confirms, there never any such movie.

"It feels like a part of my childhood has now been stolen from me," one man told New Statesman upon finding out the film was never made. How is it possible that so many people have this same false memory? Maybe they're confusing this imaginary film with Kazaam, which starred Shaquille O'Neal as a genie. Reading descriptions of "Shazaam" online may have also planted memories in people's minds. False memories like this are actually pretty common, after all. According to a recent University of Warwick study, about half of people will believe an event from their childhood actually happened if you describe it to them and tell them to imagine it. But, as usual, Reddit has a more interesting theory. The discussion of Shazaam first arose on a subreddit called r/MandelaEffect, which is dedicated to the belief that when a bunch of people remember something that never happened, their memory actually comes from a parallel universe. According to this speculation, somewhere in another galaxy, people were once sitting in theaters watching Sinbad emerge from a bottle and grant wishes. Or maybe these people have come from the future and are remembering The Rock's upcoming movie Shazam!

Anything is possible.