Writing a movie is a tough task, and arguably the hardest part of that is coming up with
a memorable ending to your story.
When everything in the film has been leading up to this one final moment, you need to deliver
the goods or it’s going to derail the project before it even hits theatres.
Sometimes the script will go through a few revisions, leaving some tantalizing conclusions
that never see the light of day.
Here are Screen Rant’s 5 Amazing Movie Endings That You’ve Never Seen.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2 essentially ends its story, with the heroes stopping the creation of Skynet
and preventing Judgment Day from happening.
Still, James Cameron ended his sequel with an ambiguous shot of a dark highway as Sarah
Connor questioned the future of humanity.
Originally, things were a little more clear cut, skipping ahead to 2027 and society was
operating as normal.
Sarah was a grandmother, and an adult John was serving as a U.S. Senator.
It would have been a nice way to end the narrative, and would have made any more sequels completely
unnecessary.
Given how those turned out, we doubt many would have complained.
I Am Legend
The I Am Legend viewers saw in the theater was very different from the one they watched
at home.
The theatrical cut ended with Robert Neville sacrificing himself so Anna can escape with
the cure and save humanity.
But the original ending available on the DVD is regarded as the stronger of the two.
Following the source material more closely, it sees Neville’s arc come to a close in
a more emotional way, realizing that the “monsters” he’s hunting are living people with feelings
and that he is the legend of their horror stories.
It was poignant and heartfelt, and may have elevated this to sci-fi’s elite if it stayed
in the final cut.
28 Days Later
Danny Boyle’s post-apocalyptic horror flick painted a horrifying picture of a crumbling
society, reinvigorating the zombie genre as a result.
For all its terrifying scenarios and bleak settings, 28 Days Later ends on a positive
note, with survivors Jim, Hannah, and Selena all being rescued.
But Boyle preferred the original ending, which saw Jim die in a hospital after being shot,
leaving his two friends to move on by themselves.
Test audiences found it too dark, so the more uplifting conclusion was shot.
The grim finale may have been more appropriate tonally, but after spending the whole film
with Jim, it was nice to see him escape.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
When his girlfriend Gwen Stacey dies, Peter Parker is left without a purpose in his life.
Depressed, he even stops being Spider-Man, until he watches Gwen’s high school graduation
speech for inspiration.
In an alternate ending, Peter got emotional support from a different source: his father.
Coming out of hiding to be there for his son, Richard Parker gives Peter the encouragement
he needs to keep moving forward and help protect the world with his abilities.
The twist may have been jarring, but it provided a heartfelt moment and skipped over that bad
Rhino fight.
We’d call that a win-win any day of the week.
First Blood
Starting the Rambo franchise, First Blood is thought to be a great depiction of PTSD
in the Vietnam War era and a standout vehicle for Sylvester Stallone, who delivered one
of his finer dramatic performances.
The film took its original ending from the novel on which it was based, where John Rambo
committed suicide to escape his personal turmoil.
However, test audiences deemed it too depressing, and the conclusion was rewritten so that Rambo
lived.
Having the hero die would have been a somber way to end this journey, denying audiences
the catharsis of seeing Rambo escape from his oppressors – and we wouldn’t get sequels.
Those are our picks for alternate endings that would have drastically altered movies.
Are there any we missed?
Which alternate endings are your favorites?
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