20 films that could have had a completely different ending (21 photos)
Filming is a complex and multi-stage process. Sometimes the director, already in the process of viewing the filmed material or based on surveys of the audience, comes to a decision, for example, to change the ending. And there are times when it actually made the movie that much better! Beware, spoilers. 
1. "Misery", 1990 
The alternate ending for this film was not much different from what was eventually shown in theaters. In both cases, it was the main character, writer Paul Sheldon, running away from his fan Annie Wilkes, who almost drove him to his grave. The difference was that in the first ending, Paul could walk without a cane. But the audience who came to the test run of the film did not agree that he could recover so quickly from his serious injuries. Therefore, director Rob Reiner had to reshoot the ending and add a significant detail - a walking cane.
2. "Thor 2: The Dark World", 2013 
This superhero film is considered the worst in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, and test audiences especially disliked the original cut. According to him, Loki actually should have died in Thor's arms. But in order to meet the wishes of the audience, the filmmakers ultimately decided to end it differently: they revealed that Loki's death was a ruse and that the God of Mischief disguised himself as Odin and took his place as ruler of Asgard.
3. "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy", 2004 
The original film featured a plot involving a group of terrorists leading up to the final showdown at an observatory. But somehow the whole thing was remade and Ron (Will Ferrell) and his news crew were fighting a family of bears at the zoo. While the final version is considered a comedy classic, you can still watch an alternate version on DVD.
4. "Gangster Hunters", 2013 
Unlike other films on this list, the ending of this action film was changed due to a real-life tragedy. The film was supposed to show the shooting at Grauman's Chinese Theater, but everything changed after the real-life event - the 2012 massacre at the Century Aurora 16 Movie Theater in Aurora, Colorado. Following this horrific event, extensive reshoots were carried out, and the film's climax was moved from the theater to Chinatown.
5. "Dodgeballs", 2004 
Here's another classic comedy with an unexpectedly dark ending. The audience was shown the finale, in which Pete LaFleur (Vince Vaughn) and his team of “averages” won the match against the team of White Goodman (Ben Stiller). But the original idea was different: they were not supposed to win. Goodman's team should have won. But audiences at test screenings did not like this ending, and the filmmakers were forced to replace it with the victory of “Average Joe” and show Goodman depressed and obese.
6. "Superman 2", 1980 
Like Justice League, this superhero classic underwent reshoots after director Richard Donner was replaced by Richard Lester. This resulted in many more comedic moments, Marlon Brando's Jor-El being written out of the film, and Superman (Christopher Reeve) somehow erasing Lois' (Margot Kidder) memories of his true identity with a kiss. However, unlike Snyder's film, Donner's film was released to the public over two decades later, and the film now ends with Superman turning back time, just like in the first film.
7. "Pretty Woman", 1990 
Everyone knows this story about Cinderella, but few people know that initially this film was not planned as a romantic comedy at all. Its creators wanted to film a serious dramatic story in which Vivian (Julia Roberts) is a drug addict, and, despite her feelings not breaking out, the main character Edward (Richard Gere) gets her out of his car after paying for the work. But it all ended with the film turning into a cheerful comedy with a fairytale ending.
8. "Little Shop of Horrors", 1986 
For a film that was supposed to be a musical comedy, its initial ending was quite dark, to say the least. It featured an alien plant, Audrey II, eating Seymour (Rick Moranis) and his true love, Audrey (Ellen Greene), before being reproduced and sold around the world. Of course, it all ends with Audrey II and her creation taking over the world. During test screenings, viewers agreed that this ending looked too depressing. Therefore, the ending was changed: Seymour destroyed the evil plant, saved the girl and, in the end, moved to live in the suburbs.
9. "Army of Darkness", 1992 
The final installment in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead trilogy, Army of Darkness, had an unusually optimistic ending. In it, main character Ash (Bruce Campbell) used a magic potion to return to the present after his war with demons in the Middle Ages, and faced the last demon in a department store before kissing his girlfriend. For those who think this ending sucks, listen up: in the original draft, Ash wakes up in a post-apocalyptic future after drinking the wrong amount of potion. Many people consider this ending to be excellent, but Universal Pictures thought it was too dark, so they made a different one instead.
10. "E.T.," 1982 
Everyone knows the ending of this classic sci-fi movie: the alien dies, he is brought back to life, he and Elliot (Henry Thomas) escape the government, and he goes home. But it was not always so. It was originally assumed that the alien dies without any hope of resurrection. This would be a very sad ending, especially for a family film.
11. "28 days later", 2002 
Director Danny Boyle revitalizes the zombie film genre with this modern horror classic. The film was dark, even for a horror film, and its original ending was too much for test audiences to handle. The film should have ended with main character Jim (Cillian Murphy) dying in hospital after saving comrades Selena (Naomie Harris) and Hannah (Megan Burns) from both a zombie horde and a team of corrupt military personnel. But in the end, an alternative ending was chosen - the heroes, alive and unharmed, await salvation in a house by the lake. Well, at least something light.
12. "Get Away", 2017 
It's hard to imagine this modern masterpiece existing without its now iconic ending.
And the original ending was different - yes, Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) also escaped from captivity in which he was held by the Armytage family, but he had to be arrested by the police for the murder of this family. Director Jordan Peele claims that at the very end he wanted to remind everyone of the manifestations of racism that are still firmly rooted in American society. However, the test audience rejected this ending, and the director decided to give Chris hope for the future - the opportunity to remain free.
13. "I am Legend", 2007 
The film follows Robert Neville (Will Smith), an army virologist who is trying to find a cure for a virus that has infected much of the world's population. The survivors became mutants known as the Seekers of Darkness. Although the film ends with Neville sacrificing himself to save the cure, it should have ended very differently. In the original ending, Neville sees the Seekers of Darkness display love and fear as Alpha Male (Dash Mihawk) tries to save his girlfriend (Joanna Numata). He also learns that mutants see him as a true monster, experimenting on his fellow humans to find a cure, thus regretting his cruel actions towards them.
14. Titanic, 1997 
There are people who complain about the ending of James Cameron's romantic classic, but don't worry. Could be worse. The old main character Rose (Gloria Stewart) throws the Heart of the Ocean into the sea. It's strange that she does this, because this thing was found at the bottom and is the result of the hard work of an entire team of researchers. Now, in the original ending, she would have thrown the stone away right in front of the people who picked it up from the bottom, and after they begged her not to do it. Pretty mean.
15. "The Shawshank Redemption", 1994 
Hailed as one of the greatest films of all time, this Stephen King adaptation is renowned for its rousing ending, in which Red (Morgan Freeman) is reunited with his longtime friend Andy Dufresne on the beach in Zihuatanejo. Surprisingly, the original ending was planned differently. The story should have ended with Red trying to adjust to life outside of prison, violating his parole and breaking into Mexico. This would have ended the film on an ambiguous note, and worst of all, we wouldn't have seen the main characters meet.
16. "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story", 2016 
This spin-off follows a special team of rebels who steal the plans for the Death Star (events leading up to the fourth episode of Star Wars). One of the most spectacular scenes is when Darth Vader kills the entire rebel ship at the end. Now you will be surprised: this scene should not have been in the film at all, and Darth Vader was only planned for a small cameo. But then the reshoots and alterations began, and it can be said that the footage for the finale of Rogue One at least somehow saved the film.
17. "X-Men: Dark Phoenix", 2019 
The film was widely criticized for being a lackluster conclusion to the X-Men saga. However, the ending we got was originally planned to be completely different. It was supposed to represent the final showdown at the UN, as Jean Gray (Sophie Turner) ascends into Earth's orbit to fight the alien armada. This ending was eventually changed due to similarities with the ending of Captain Marvel, released the same year. Therefore, the audience saw a fight on a moving train - by far the best scene in the entire film.
18. "Suicide Squad", 2016 
Just like with Zack Snyder's Justice League, we now know that David Ayer's version of Suicide Squad was also radically changed by the studio. The ending changed the most. In the original version, the Joker would have teamed up with the Enchantress to take over Gotham City, setting up an intense showdown between him and Task Force X. Harley Quinn would have tried to break things off with the Joker and we would have seen her kissing Deadshot. And El Diablo would have survived the battle. Perhaps Warner Bros. will still decide to show this version to fans of the film.
19. Justice League, 2017 
Now that Zack Snyder's Justice League has finally arrived, most viewers agree that they were denied a pretty stellar ending in 2017. The differences between this version and the Joss Whedon film version are quite obvious (aside from the CGI Superman mustache). From Darkseid (Ray Porter) appearing on Earth, Flash (Ezra Miller) racing back in time to save the world, and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) heroically standing up to the Mother Boxes, the studio cut away a lot of unnecessary stuff, robbing viewers of standout moments. They even replaced Steppenwolf's (Ciarán Hinds) epic death with him being dragged back to Apokolips alive.
20. "Blade Runner", 1982 
Ridley Scott's sci-fi masterpiece is known for its multiple endings: in the original version, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) left his apartment with his android lover Rachel (Sean Young). But preview audiences didn't like what they saw, so the studio reshot the ending, sending Deckard and Rachel into the village (and using aerial footage left over from The Shining wherever they could stick it). It wasn't until 2007, 25 years after the film's release, that audiences were able to see the final cut of what is now arguably the greatest science fiction film of all time.
