20 Movies With Endings That Had To Be Changed And Completely Reshot
These days, when audiences hear the word "reshoots," their minds will immediately go to a dark place.
While it isn't uncommon for films to undergo reshoots before their release, such a practice has caused many once-great films to fall flat in theaters. Other times, reshoots have been known to actually make films a lot better. With that in mind, let's take a look at 20 film endings that had to be reshot.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
20.Misery
You'll be surprised to hear that this film's alternate ending wasn't that different from what ended up in theaters. Both of them featured author Paul Sheldon (James Caan) escaping from his homicidal über-fan, Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates). The only real difference was that Paul could initially walk without a cane in the end. Test audiences took issue with him being completely fine after being severely injured in both his car crash and that infamous "hobbling" scene. And so, director Rob Reiner had to go back and reshoot the ending with Paul now relying on a cane to walk.
19.Thor: The Dark World
This superhero flick is widely considered the worst in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, and test audiences especially didn't like the original cut. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) was actually set to meet his maker after dying in Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) arms, but this didn't fare well in early screenings. So to meet the audience's demands, the filmmakers decided to end the film by revealing that Loki's death was all a trick and that the God of Mischief disguised himself as Odin and took his place as ruler of Asgard.
18.Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Much like how the cast improvised their lines, Anchorman as a whole seems to have been written on the spot. But that doesn't make it any less awesome. The original film featured an entire subplot involving a group of terrorists leading up to a final showdown at an observatory. In the end, we somehow got Ron (Will Ferrell) and his news team fighting a family of bears at the zoo. While the final cut is considered a comedy classic, you can still watch the alternate cut on DVD.
17.Gangster Squad
Unlike the other entries on this list, the ending to this ensemble action flick was changed due to a real-life tragedy. The film was meant to feature a shootout in Grauman's Chinese Theatre, but that all changed after the 2012 shooting at a theater in Aurora, Colorado. In the wake of this horrific event, extensive reshoots were made to move the movie's climax out of the theater to Chinatown.
16.Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Here's another comedy classic with a surprisingly downbeat ending. While moviegoers saw Pete LaFleur (Vince Vaughn) and his team, the Average Joes, live up to their movie's title and win their match against White Goodman's (Ben Stiller) team. But despite the promise of a "true underdog story," Pete and his team were initially not supposed to win. Instead, the movie was going to end with Goodman's team defeating our heroes before fading to black just moments afterward. Test audiences understandably did not like this ending, so filmmakers were forced to replace it with the Average Joes winning the game and Goodman ending up depressed and morbidly obese.
15.Superman II
Much like Justice League, this superhero classic went through massive reshoots after director Richard Donner was replaced by Richard Lester. This resulted in many more comedic moments, Marlon Brando's Jor-El being axed from the film, and Superman (Christopher Reeve) somehow wiping Lois's (Margot Kidder) memory of his true identity with a kiss. However, unlike the Snyder Cut, it took over two decades for the Donner Cut to be released to the public, with the film now ending with Superman turning back time, just like he did in the first one.
14.Pretty Woman
Everybody knows this beloved Cinderella story, but what if I told you that it wasn't supposed to be a rom-com at all? Filmmakers originally envisioned this film to be a serious drama, with Vivian (Julia Roberts) being a drug addict and her story ending with Edward (Richard Gere) throwing her out of his car, along with the money he owed on her. But, of course, the entire film was transformed into a feel-good comedy with a fairy-tale ending. I guess Dave Chappelle's parody of the movie was more accurate than we thought.
13.Little Shop of Horrors
For a film that's supposed to be a musical comedy, its original ending was pretty dark, to say the least. This scrapped ending showed the alien plant, Audrey II, eating Seymour (Rick Moranis) and his true love, Audrey (Ellen Greene), before being reproduced and sold worldwide. Of course, this ends with Audrey II and its offspring taking over the world in a global rampage that even breaks through the fourth wall. Test audiences agreed that this ending was too depressing, so we instead saw Seymour destroy the evil plant, get the girl, and move to suburbia in the end.
12.Army of Darkness
As the final installment in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead trilogy, Army of Darkness had an unusually upbeat ending. It saw Ash (Bruce Campbell) using a magic potion to return to the present after his medieval war with the Deadites, with him facing one last Deadite at a department store before kissing his girlfriend. For those who thought this ending was too cheesy, the original cut ended with Ash waking up in a post-apocalyptic future after drinking the wrong amount of potion. Though many consider this the superior ending, Universal Pictures thought it was too depressing, so another was filmed instead. But, hey, at least we were still able to get a sequel series with another film on the way.
11.E.T.
Everyone knows the ending to this beloved sci-fi classic: E.T. dies, he's brought back to life, he and Elliott (Henry Thomas) escape the government, and E.T. goes home. But that wasn't always the case. E.T. was originally supposed to end with the titular alien dying with no hope of resurrection. This would've been a very depressing ending, especially for a family film.
10.28 Days Later
Director Danny Boyle reinvigorated the zombie genre with this modern horror classic. It was dark, even for a horror film, and its original ending was too much for test audiences. The movie was supposed to end with protagonist Jim (Cillian Murphy) dying in a hospital after rescuing companions Selena (Naomie Harris) and Hannah (Megan Burns) from both a horde of zombies and a team of corrupt army men. While this wasn't the only alternate ending filmed, the one we ended up getting had the heroes, safe and sound, waiting to be rescued at a lake house. After sitting through such an intense film, I think we can say the audience deserved some relief with this final ending.
9.Get Out
It's hard to imagine this modern masterpiece existing without its now-iconic ending. Though Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) still escapes captivity from the evil Armitage Family, the film was meant to finish with Chris getting arrested by the cops for their murders. Director Jordan Peele claims he wanted to call out the racism still embedded in American society with the film's conclusion. However, test audiences hated this ending, so Peele decided to give Chris a more hopeful one. This led to the protagonist instead escaping with his friend Rod (Lil Rel Howery) a free man, ending with possibly one of the greatest fake-outs in cinema history.
8.I Am Legend
This is an example of test audiences leading to an arguably worse ending. This film follows Robert Neville (Will Smith), an army virologist struggling to find a cure for a virus that has infected most of the world's population, turning its survivors into mutant creatures known as Darkseekers. Though the film ends with Neville sacrificing himself to save the cure, it was supposed to end very differently. In the film's original ending, Neville sees the Darkseekers display both love and fear as the Alpha Male (Dash Mihok) tries to save its mate (Joanna Numata). He also learns the mutants see him as the real monster for experimenting on their brethren to find a cure, thus regretting his cruel actions toward them.
7.Titanic
There are some people who complain about the ending to James Cameron's romantic classic, but don't worry. It could've been worse. An elderly Rose (Gloria Stuart) throwing the Heart of the Ocean into the sea threw some audiences the wrong way, but the film initially featured the researchers that interviewed her pleading for her to do otherwise. The acting in this scene was silly, and Rose throwing away the object of the crew's hard work right in front of them was just mean.
6.The Shawshank Redemption
Highly regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, this Stephen King adaptation is renowned for its uplifting ending in which Morgan Freeman's Red reunites with his longtime friend Andy Dufresne (yes, that's how it's spelled), on a beach in Zihuatanejo. Surprisingly, this wasn't always the plan. At first, the filmmakers wanted the film to end with Red struggling to adjust to life outside of prison, violating his parole, and him making a break for Mexico. This would've left the film on an ambiguous note, and the fact that there's no reunion between Red and Andy (Tim Robbins) arguably made it the worse ending.
5.Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
While this spinoff follows the titular team of Rebels as they steal plans for the Death Star, its most beloved scene was when Darth Vader slaughters an entire Rebel ship at the end. But you'd be surprised to learn that this scene wasn't supposed to be in the film at all, with Darth Vader meant to only make a small cameo in the original film. This came with many other massive changes in reshoots, along with the third act taking the fight to space and some of the heroes surviving it all. Though reshoots have garnered a bad reputation in modern cinema, one can argue that those for Rogue One's ending actually saved the film.
4.Dark Phoenix
Dark Phoenix was widely criticized for being a lackluster conclusion to the X-Men saga. However, the ending we got was originally a lot different. The film's third act was originally supposed to present a final showdown at the United Nations with Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) going up into Earth's orbit to fight an alien armada. This ending was ultimately changed because of its similarities to that of Captain Marvel, which was released in the same year. Though audiences saw the climax take place on a moving train instead, it's still a pretty enjoyable scene and by far the best in the entire film.
3.Suicide Squad
With the Snyder Cut revealing an entirely new story to the public, more details about Suicide Squad have been revealed as well. Similar to Justice League, we now know that David Ayer's version of Suicide Squad had also been drastically altered by the studio. The film's climax was especially changed, as the Joker (Jared Leto) was supposed to team up with Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) to take over Gotham City, setting up a tense showdown between him and Task Force X. We would've seen Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) try to break it off with the Clown Prince of Crime, a kiss between her and Deadshot (Will Smith), and El Diablo surviving the battle. For the sake of the fans, let's hope Warner Bros. decides to #ReleasetheAyerCut as well.
2.Justice League
Now that Zack Snyder's Justice League has finally been released, most audiences agree that in 2017, they were denied a pretty stellar ending. The differences between it and Joss Whedon's cut of the film are glaringly obvious (beyond Superman's CGI mustache). From Darkseid (Ray Porter) appearing on Earth, Flash (Ezra Miller) racing back in time to save the world, and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) making a heroic stand against the Mother Boxes, the studio left a lot of outstanding moments on the cutting room floor. They even replaced Steppenwolf's (Ciarán Hinds) epic death with him being dragged back to Apokolips alive.
1.Blade Runner
Seriously, what is it with Warner Bros. and reshoots? Ridley Scott's sci-fi masterpiece is notorious for its multiple endings, with the Final Cut featuring Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard leaving his apartment with his android lover, Rachael (Sean Young). However, test audiences were left confused and unsatisfied by what they saw, so the studio brought the stars back for reshoots, which included Ford recording his widely panned voiceovers for the film. This also resulted in the theatrical cut ending with Deckard and Rachael driving off into the countryside, using leftover aerial footage from The Shining, of all places. It wasn't until 2007, 25 years after its theatrical release, that audiences got to see the definitive version of what is now arguably the greatest science-fiction film of all time.
