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Few things are more important for a motion picture than its ending . Just as dining compartment wo n’t enjoy a meal with a rotten aftertaste , most viewers ca n’t bide an unsatisfactory ending , no matter how right what came before it was . Of course , not everyone can jibe on which terminate suit any particular story best , which is why many film have their conclusions pluck or supervene upon entirely throughout their production process . Sometimes the conductor make the decision , and sometimes the studio make the call , but either way , the option is a crucial one , since a young termination can diffuse entirely new significance into a film .
For some pic , the debate does n’t end once the press release date has go by , as their proposed alternating endings make their style into the public eye for all to see and debate which one make for best for the film . These “ what if ” scenarios are fascinating to contemplate , as they offer a window into the creative process behind some of cinema ’s most celebrated ( or deride ) film . Here are 15 of the most unforgettably alternate movie ending you ’ve ( probably ) never seen .
28 Days Later
deliberate the content of its story,28 day Laterends on just about the most hopeful tone possible . Jim ( Cillian Murphy ) hurt a gunshot to the chest during their escape from the chaotic military chemical compound , but survives thanks to Selena ’s medical expertness . Before the credits roll , they try slacken off down a passing plane with a huge banner that say “ hello , ” implying they will be rescue and that human society is still functioning despite the fast - zombi eruption .
Director Danny Boyle did n’t intend for such a happy ending originally , however . Jim was supposed to die on the operating board , leave Selena and Hannah to take the air through the exit to meet their fates . Test audiences mistook the ending and assumed it implied they were walk to their destruction , so it was changed .
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Dodgeball : A genuine Underdog Storyends with the titular underdog winning against all odds , just as you ’d suspect . Vince Vaughn ’s Peter return after doubt his squad to defeat the villainous White ( Ben Stiller ) and bribe back his gym using the takings he made betting on himself to win . Compared to this conclusion , the cinema ’s original conclusion feels a little like an elaborated virtual gag — one that would make the celluloid ’s caption far more ironic .
Instead of conk to a sudden - death extra time match , the dodgeball tournament and motion-picture show was going to close with White kill Peter . Our hero sandwich mourn their personnel casualty as the commentator seem to rub it in , “ They ’ve come all this mode for nothing . Absolutely nothing ! " It almost for sure would n’t have gelled with audiences , but that does n’t mean it is n’t uproariously savage in its denial of viewer outlook .
I Am Legend
The post - apocalyptic Will Smith vehicleI Am Legendends with Smith ’s character Neville sacrificing himself to the Darkseekers to allow his supporter the opportunity to reach a survivor ’ colony . It ’s a predictable orgasm that seemed to fulfil the mental testing - audiences who rejected the pic ’s original , darker conclusion .
hew out nigher to the reservoir fabric by Richard Matheson , the original ending would have Neville learn that the monsters only wanted to help release one of their own he had captured . They take her aside and leave Neville unhurt , a twist that forces Neville to see himself and the monsters in an completely new light . This ending would have give the forgettable picture show a lot more weight by discover Neville and the interview ’s unfounded prejudices against the so - call monstrosity .
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2ends utterly , with judgement day head off for now but still potentially bulk large on the view , plus a killer blood line to close it : “ If a simple machine can learn the note value of human spirit , maybe we can too . ” But music director James Cameron ’s original conclusion sacrificed ambiguity in favor of unneeded voiceover narration .
After the Terminator ’s self - forfeiture , the pic would have burn to an elderly Sarah Conner ( Linda Hamilton in speculative quondam - age makeup ) musing about how judgement day hail and go without anything happening , except that “ Michael Jackson turn 40 . ” After wax philosophical about every day being a talent , she mentions her son John has become a senator – nevermind the fact that he would n’t have been born if the post - apocalyptic future tense never came to be . The ending we gravel was better , even if it did admit Hollywood the chance to keep tacking on sequels .
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Director Edgar Wright had no source material to go off of in scripting the end ofScott Pilgrim vs. the World , since the graphical novel series on which the film was base had yet to reach its finale . In the version that run short to dramatic art , Scott ’s story terminate with him using his “ extra life ” to defeat the final evil x , befriend the evil translation of himself , and then cementing his relationship with Ramona , for whom he ’s been fighting the whole plastic film .
The original ratiocination had Scott terminate up with his ex - girlfriend knife , whom he broke up with because she was still in high school . Though less established , this translation travel a tenacious mode in showing how Scott has grown , while rewarding Knives for her veneration to him . But it still pales in comparability to theotheralternate ending that was never shot , in which a newsworthiness report chronicle how a madden untried man pop his lady friend ’s X - boyfriends while believing his life to be a TV game . Dark .
The Descent
The Descentfollows a group of women cave through an uncharted underground cave , who finally become trapped and take on a metal money of humanoid monsters stalking them . After a serial of tense and bloody showdown , only the main character Sarah manages to creep from the cave to safety , leaving launch the possibility for the inevitable sequel , issue four eld later . But that happy ending occur only in the American release .
In the UK and elsewhere , the flick continued beyond this point to reveal that this evasion is merely a hallucination — Sarah is still trapped in the cave , losing herself to illusion as the cannibalistic cave dwellers ring their prey . It ’s dark and brilliant , and it determine itself asunder from other revulsion moving-picture show in its daring — in other words , it ’s everything the sanitised American conclusion is n’t .
Blade Runner
Here ’s one where the alternate ending may have supplanted the original as the storey ’s default conclusion . In its theatrical release , Ridley Scott’sBlade Runnerended with a helicopter shot of roll greenish hills – really leftover footage fromThe Shining – and Harrison Ford informing us everything turn out OK via soused voiceover narrative – an idea that was give up early in filming , then flip - on in postproduction to lackluster force . It hardly even feels like an ending .
The alternate one does things far more gracefully by throw away of the studio - mandated ending and cutting to credits just a little earlier , when Deckard ( Ford ) finds Rachel and departs with her towards an uncertain hereafter . This close does a good deal with very petty , as opposed to other terminate options that were considered , like Deckard blast Rachel after she requests it .
The Birds
The Birdsis a absorbing thriller that successfully turns the mundane into something terrifying , thanks mostly to the assured direction of Alfred Hitchcock . But as it stands , the plastic film does n’t really have an ending . or else , we see our heroes head for the hills the townspeople as an ominously tremendous flock of chick inexplicably just follow them go without raising a plume . It seems probable that this epidemic of fierce raspberry will go along to overspread , and we ’ll never eff why it begin .
Hitchcock ’s ambitious original finish did n’t explain the birds ’ motives , but it did let in a full-grown set piece to help the film go out with a bang . The heroes would have witness more birdie - caused massacre on their fashion out of township , then arrived at San Francisco ’s Golden Gate Bridge swarming with birds . Undoubtedly , it would have been a powerful , if expensive , figure of speech to end on .
Pretty in Pink
WatchingPretty in Pinkthrough forward-looking eyes , there ’s an obvious job with the conclusion — she ends up with the amiss guy ! After spending the whole film lusting after the preppy hunk Blane ( Andrew McCarthy ) and ignoring the sincere romantic feelings coming from her best friend Duckie ( Jon Cryer ) , the torn Andie ends up run with Blane as Duckie start out to trip the light fantastic with someone else , implying there ’s a felicitous conclusion for him too .
But is n’t the dorky nice guy — Duckie in this case — guess to get the lady friend ? That was director Howard Deutch and writer John Hughes ’s plan , but test audiences were unsatisfied , and their negative reception lead to reshoots that made the film feel like a major exit for dorky nice guy cable everywhere . It may have please audience at the time , but it just feels wrong today .
Titanic
Another James Cameron classic nearly ruin by a hokey alternate conclusion , Titanicdidn’t always end with Rose fling her beloved necklace into the sea and die peacefully in her sleep to be reunited with Jack in the hereafter . rather , Rose move to the rail to throw the diamond necklace and attracts the attention of the ship ’s crew , who plead with her to stop .
Rose just return a few channel of achingly bad dialogue about how wealth does n’t matter , since “ only sprightliness is precious , and puddle each day count . ” One work party member shout out in her cheek “ that really suck peeress ! ” but at least her words resonated with Bill Paxton , who begins laughing maniacally over the lost ball field and asks Rose if she ’d like to trip the light fantastic toe . Somehow , it make even less sensewhen you see it for yourself .
