You'd think the first thing that would be locked down on a $200 million Brad Pitt blockbuster would be the script, but World War Z's famously troubled production proves that even the biggest movies in Hollywood aren't immune to the dreaded reshoot. Many things can determine if a movie needs a new ending – duff scripts, scissor-happy producers, finicky test audiences – but it's almost always an indicator that something just ain't right. With a mandatory spoiler warning before we begin, here are 10 movies that needed their finales tweaked – and it wasn't always for the best...
World War Z (2013)
The ending you saw: Brad Pitt's plane crash lands in Cardiff, Wales, conveniently near the World Health Organization. It plays host to a tense finale in which Pitt's character Gerry Lane navigates through a series of zombie-filled corridors in order to test out his theory about immunity from zombies. It has not been particularly well received due to a huge tonal shift, but that could be because people know how the movie was originally to end...
The original ending: The plan was for the movie to climax in a gigantic battle in Moscow – one trailer even has Pitt asking "If I could get into Russia, where would I start?" Gerry eventually becomes a hard-nosed zombie killer who discovers that the cold slows the zombie hordes down. When he gets the chance to call his wife, he discovers that she's in a semi-consensual relationship with the parajumper who saved her at the beginning of the movie – thereby explaining Matthew Fox's bafflingly small role in the movie. Lane then begins an epic trek back to the US to win her back. Blimey.
I Am Legend (2007)
The ending you saw: Last man alive Robert Neville (Will Smith) heroically saves humanity and sacrifices himself by blowing up his laboratory filled with Darkseekers. In slow-motion, natch. Fellow survivors Anna and Ethan miraculously survive the explosion by hiding in a coal chute. Mankind lives to fight another day. Yay for Will Smith. Again.
The original ending: Blame the test audiences for torpedoing this vastly superior finale. When the Darkseekers come knocking, Neville realises they have come for the female subject he's been working on. With balls of steel, he slides open the glass, gives her back, and they leave. It's only then he realises that, due to his constant experiments on the creatures to find a cure, he is the one considered the monster. It ends the movie on a huge existential downer, but at least justifies its title.
Men In Black II (2002)
The ending you saw: Alien queen Serleena (Lara Flynn-Boyle) has her plan foiled and is eaten by a giant worm. Agents J and K save the day, but the citizens of New York have no idea, because they have their minds wiped by a giant neutralizer hidden in the Statue of Liberty's torch.
The original ending: While the movie was in production, terrorists flew two planes in the Twin Towers on September 11th, 2001. Out of respect, the filmmakers cut the ending which saw the World Trade Centre open up to reveal a swarm of Serleena's UFOs. MIB2 wasn't the only movie to remove scenes featuring the World Trade Centre – Spider-Man famously cut a scene in which a helicopter was stuck in a web spun between the two towers.
Little Shop Of Horrors (1986)
The ending you saw: Softly-spoken florist Seymour (Rick Moranis) and his true love Audrey (Ellen Greene) survive their brush with alien plant-life Audrey II after it is electrocuted and killed. They get married and move out into the suburbs – where a smiling Audrey II bulb grows from their garden. Somehow.
The original ending: Way darker. Frank Oz initially opted to film the ending of the Broadway play, which saw Seymour feed a dying Audrey to Audrey II, then attempt to commit suicide. Upon realising Audrey II's plan to replicate across America, Seymour instead squares off with the killer plant, only to be eaten for his trouble. Audrey II then takes over America, destroying buildings and eating trains. So a bit different, then.
Fatal Attraction (1987)
The ending you saw: Spurned lover Alex (Glenn Close) turns up to threaten Beth (Anne Archer), wife of dirty dog Dan (Michael Douglas), but is drowned in the bathtub after attacking them with a kitchen knife. Even replacing oxygen with bath-water doesn't kill her completely, and after rising dramatically from the tub, Alex is shot dead by Beth.
The original ending: Instead of turning her aggression onto her ex-lover and his family, Alex slashes her own throat to make it look like she was murdered, with Dan arrested for her death. Glenn Close favoured this original ending as a more fitting psychological breakdown for her character, but reluctantly returned for a three-week reshoot after test audiences were disappointed with the lack of revenge.
Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995)
The ending you saw: John McClane (Bruce Willis) necks an aspirin given to him by villain Simon Gruber, assumed to have escaped scot free. However, on the bottom of the bottle lies a clue to his whereabouts, and before long, McClane has a helicopter and an attack squad on his ass. It's he who finally kills Gruber II, shooting power lines into his chopper with that immortal sweary kiss-off – you know, the one he's not allowed to say any more.
The original ending: The much more downbeat original ending saw McClane eventually track down Simon Gruber in Austria some months later. Having lost his job and his family, McClane has nothing to lose, so challenges Gruber to a game of rocket launcher Russian Roulette: "McClane Says". The sights are removed, leaving Jeremy Irons' baddie unable to know which way it is pointing, but he guesses wrong and blows himself up.
What Dreams May Come (1998)
The ending you saw: Robin Williams' dead character Chris journeys from Heaven to Hell to rescue his wife Annie (Annabella Sciorra), who committed suicide while grieving over him. Racked with guilt, Williams agrees to spend the afterlife with his wife in her own personal Hell, but his intent is so powerful it leads to the both of them ascending to Heaven. They are later reincarnated to meet and love each other all over again. Bleurgh.
The original ending: Here's another example of a darker ending getting thrown out and replaced with a happy-clappy ending, regardless of how much sense it made. Originally, the pair did get reincarnated, but in order to atone for her suicide, the powers that be made it so Annie would die young in her new life, forcing her husband to live the majority of his life as a widower. Which is pretty harsh for a Robin Williams weepie, it has to be said.
Army Of Darkness (1993)
The ending you saw: After successfully leading his medieval solders to victory over an army of Deadites, Ash (Bruce Campbell) is whisked back to his own time and his old life. Now a plain old S-Mart worker, he tells tales of his adventures to uninterested co-workers, until he's forced to slay a possessed woman in the store. Groovy.
The original ending: Far more suited to Sam Raimi's devilishly dark sense of humour is this spurned final scene, considered too deflating for the movie's climax. Having defeated the Deadites, Ash accidentally takes one drop too many of the potion that'll have him kipping until he wakes up in his own time. Ash rises, and upon surveying the apocalyptic wasteland that surrounds him, bellows "I slept too long!" A fitting gag for a hilarious movie.
Pretty In Pink (1986)
The ending you saw: High school girl Andie (Molly Ringwald) attends the prom in her own (hideous) home-made dress. Accompanied by best friend Duckie (Jon Cryer), Andie is confronted by cool love interest Blane (Andrew McCarthy), who concedes he's treated her poorly and leaves. Third wheel Duckie tells Andie she should go after him, and she and Blane end up smooching in the parking lot. John Hughes has done it again!
The original ending: Legend has it Pretty In Pink's original ending, in which Andie spurns the advances of Blane to stay with Duckie, was cut because test audiences didn't respond to Cryer's character. It certainly explains how Blane could spend the whole movie acting like a douchebag and still get the girl – because everyone in the 80s loved a good bad boy.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
The ending you saw: The theatrical ending to Terminator 2 is perfect – a voiceover from Sarah Connor as we travel down a road uncertain: "The unknown future rolls toward us. I face it, for the first time, with a sense of hope. Because if a machine, a Terminator, can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too." Dun-dun dun dun-dun.
The original ending: James Cameron might be the king of the box-office, but he frequently has trouble ending his movies – The Abyss' mega-tsunami ending was shot but scrapped, Titanic originally featured a hilariously naff encounter with the old lady on the boat ("That really sucks lady!") but by far the worst offender was his epilogue for T2. It flashed forward to the future, with Linda Hamilton in old lady make-up watching her grandkids lark about in a playground. "August 29th,1997 came and went," she says. "Nothing much happened. Michael Jackson turned 40." Seriously. We're not even kidding.
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