We gathered some of the more intriguing alternate movie endings out there, including some that might be better than the ones we saw in the theater. Your favorite film might have originally had a totally different ending!
Rocky Balboa
This movie sees a 50-something-year-old Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) come out of retirement to face the younger current champion Mason “The Line” Dixon (Antonio Tarver). Rocky goes the distance, proving that he is still a contender. However, the film’s alternate ending added more gold to Rocky’s golden years.
InRocky Balboa’s original ending, Rocky beats Dixon and becomes the world champion once again. While it would’ve been cool to see The Italian Stallion wearing the title belt one last time, it was ultimately decided to have Rocky’s victory be him going toe-to-toe with the world champ without quitting.
My Best Friend’s Wedding
My Best Friend’s Weddingis a favorite among rom-com fans. Julianne (Julia Roberts) tries to break-up her best friend’s wedding in the hopes of marrying him herself. In the original ending, Julianne fails to ruin the nuptials, but meets an interesting new guy at the reception. And test audienceshatedit.
People didn’t think Julianne got her proper comeuppance after nearly ruining her friend’s wedding for totally selfish reasons. So the ending was changed to Julianne dancing with George (Rupert Everett), her gay best friend, and not meeting any new romantic prospects.
Army of Darkness
After traveling to the past and defeating the army of the dead in the Middle Ages, Ash (Bruce Campbell) recites an incantation and takes a sleeping potion that allows him to wake up back in his own time. The original ending, however, was much darker.
Instead of waking up back in his own time, Ash sleeps too long, waking up in a desolate future. DirectorSam Raimiwas pressured to shoot a happier ending for American audiences, as Universal Pictures thought it was too much of a downer.
I Am Legend
Will Smithsaving the world? Check. Vampire-like mutants? Check.IAm Legendstars Smith as Neville, a man living alone in a post-apocalyptic city and working to discover a cure for the infection that wiped out most of the population. He heroically sacrifices himself to destroy a bunch of mutants so two other survivors can escape with the cure.
The original ending was much less action-hero-ish. Neville realizes that the mutants just want to live peacefully, and that to them, he is the monster. He and the mutants share a truce, with Neville able to deliver the cure to the human survivor colony himself.
Fatal Attraction
InFatal Attraction,Dan (Michael Douglas) has an affair with Alex (Glenn Close), but things spiral out of control when Dan tries to break it off. Alex gets more threatening and unhinged until finally killing herself and framing Dan for her murder. Or, at least, that’s what happened in the original ending.
Personally, we think that ending is better, because it’s more in line with the psychological terrorism Alex inflicts on Dan for most of the film. Producers felt that ending was too grim, however, so they changed it to the one seen in theaters - Alex breaks into Dan’s house and attacks him, only to be shot and killed by Dan’s wife, Beth(Anne Archer).
Alfred Hitchcock’sSuspicionstarsCary Grantas Johnnie, a con artist who woos and marries Lina (Joan Fontaine),fully intending to live off of her family’s fortune. As she continues to uncover Johnnie’s many lies, she begins to fear that he is actually planning to kill her and collect on a life insurance policy. And in the film’s original ending, that’s totally what he does.
However, the climax that wound up in the film is much different. The studio didn’t want handsome hero actor Cary Grant to play a murderer, fearing that such a role would hurt his appeal as a leading man. So, the original ending was changed to one in which Johnnie doesn’t kill anyone, and goes to prison for embezzlement.
The modern thriller hitSevenfollows two police detectives, the retirement-ready Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and hotshot new guy Mills (Brad Pitt), on the trail of a serial killer who commits murders inspired by the seven deadly sins. The killer ultimately murders Mills' wife to provoke Mills into shooting him, becoming the final sin, Wrath.
Amazingly, the original ending toSevenwas actuallylessdark. In that ending, Somerset shoots the serial killer instead, saving Mills from committing murder. When asked why he shot the killer, Somerset responds simply with “I’m retiring.”
A relentless alien lifeform invades a cargo ship, killing off the crew one by one, until only Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver)is left alive. She blows up the ship and escapes in a life pod, ejecting the alien out into space. At least, that’s what happened in the version we saw.
DirectorRidley Scottoriginally wanted the alien to kill Ripley. In the scripted ending, the alien tears Ripley’s head off, makes its way to the control room, and then mimics a human voice on the radio to Earth. An executive threatened to fire Scott for even considering that ending, so it was nixed, and a franchise was born.
First Blood
The firstRambofilm,First Blood, saw troubled Vietnam vet John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) go on rampage against an abusive police force in a small town. In the end of the movie, Rambo gets taken into custody after waging war against the cops.However, Rambo wasn’t originally meant to survive.
In the planned ending, Rambo steals a gun and shoots himself. DirectorTed Kotcheffwas talked out of this ending by Stallone after they had shot it, who argued that Rambo deserved a happier ending. Also, Stallone might have been thinking of all the possibilities forRambo: First Blood Part II.
Clueis unique for not only being a cult favorite comedy-mystery, but for having no true official ending! The movie was shot with three different endings, with three completely different solutions to the mystery. The filmmakers did this to pay homage to the original board game, and to encourage audiences to see the film multiple times to catch all the possible endings.
One ending saw Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren) revealed as the murderous mastermind, while another had Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan) commit all the murders in the house. The third ending had everyone except Mr. Green (Michael McKean) guilty of at least one murder, including the butler Wadsworth (Tim Curry).
On home video and when the movie is aired on TV, all three endings are usually shown in a montage at the end.
