10 Original Endings That Would Have Ruined the Movie
What would the world be like if Lord of the Rings had ended with a scene other than Frodo
and Bilbo departing Middle Earth with the Elves?
Our favorite films end in ways that stay with us and leave us wondering about the future
of the worlds in which they take.
That said, the endings were not always so great.
Sometimes those endings could have ruined the entire movie.
Here are 10 films we're glad ended the way they did.
Alien Ripley is one of the strongest women to appear
in cinema.
Aside from providing a heroine for feminism, she also established herself as a complete
badass when she emerged from the Nostromo as the only survivor.
Aweosome ending, right?
The alternative was so much worse.
Rather than killing the alien, Ripley would have her head quite literally bitten off,
after which the xenomorph would record a creepy impression of her voice into the recorder.
Little Shop of Horrors Little Shop of Horrors is already bizarre
enough as a film.
Come on, Seymour; who names a flesh-eating plant after their girlfriend?
The original film features Seymour feeding less-than-pleasant individuals to the plant,
until it eventually goes out of control and tries to eat both Seymour and his girlfriend.
In return, Seymour electrocutes the plant until it explodes (which goes against common
sense; grass is resistant to electric types!) and lives happily ever after.
The original ending had a different take: the plant eats both Seymour and his girlfriend
before beginning a rampage throughout the country with its offspring.
Scott Pilgrim v The World Scott Pilgrim is the stylized story of a guy
who fights his lover's exes in order to keep her safe and win her heart.
Scott saves the day and ends up with Ramona.
The alternate ending, on the other hand, shows him back with his first girlfriend Knives.
As viewers, we have to ask: what was the point of fighting all those exes if you weren't
going to end up with the girl anyway, Scott?
Talk about friend zone.
Die Hard With a Vengeance What are the things we love about Die Hard?
Oh, yeah.
Awesome explosions, an over the top action hero, and no Michael Bay.
The original ending saw an exploding helicopter, witty one-liners, and plenty of gun fights.
The alternate ending went in a different direction and channeled Stephen Marlowe.
McClane was blamed for Gruber's escape, but finally got his retribution by skewering him
with a missile.
You read that right: action movie ending with a film noir twist.
E.T Confirming what aliens have always thought
of Earth, E.T.
ends with our favorite extraterrestial escaping capture and returning to his home planet.
It's a touching, warm moment that brought us the line, "E.T.
go home."
The alternate ending tosses a voice-over on the ending and then hard-cuts to Elliot playing
Dungeons and Dragons.
You know, because after meeting a real alien, it's time to go back to playing in a fantasy
world.
Titanic Regardless of what you think of the love story,
we can all agree that old-lady Rose was a bit of a jerk.
She let someone set up a million-dollar expedition for a piece of jewelry she had on her the
entire time?
Class act, Rose.
In the original ending, Bill Paxton is so touched by Rose's story that he gives up his
search, and then she tosses the diamond overboard.
In the alternative ending, it turns into an old-lady hostage situation, before she manages
to convince him yet again that life is more valuable than the jewelry -- and then throws
it into the ocean again.
Dr. Strangelove Dr. Strangelove is one of those films that
we all look back on fondly.
We love it because it raises terrifying propositions and makes us laugh at absurdity.
The ending where Slim Pickens rides the bomb is iconic -- but it almost didn't happen.
Instead, the movie ended with a pie fight between the US and Russian officials...who
then start building sandcastles.
Not too dissimilar from Washington today, really.
Donnie Darko As a cult classic, Donnie Darko commands a
level of loyalty from its fans that few films can hope to achieve.
The ending shows Donnie looking around, having accepted his fate in order to preserve the
timeline.
It's a peaceful ending that teaches lessons about tranquility; the alternate ending, on
the other hand, pulls a Serenity -- showing Donnie impaled through the chest.
Not what fans want to see.
Rocky Balboa Let's get something out of the way now: Rocky
was never meant to win this fight.
The film makes it clear: he's up there in age, and Mason Dixon was a newcomer with youth
on his side.
The alternate ending shows Rocky knocking out Mason, but the film is far less satisfying
that way.
Whether Rocky wins the fight or not isn't the point; by getting in the ring and holding
his own, he's already won.
Despite his age, Rocky proves that he can still go the distance.
The Rocky series was never about victory, but always about a man proving to himself
that he has what it takes.
Return of the Jedi Return of the Jedi has one of our favorite
endings of all time: an Ewok dance party.
Come on, it doesn't get better than that!
But the original ending was far more bleak.
The script originally intended for Han to die defending the shield generator and for
Luke to be so distraught over his duel with his father that he disappears, leaving Leia
to pull together the tattered remains of the Rebellion by herself.
If that sounds familiar, that's because it's the exact plot of The Force Awakens.
Take that as you will.
Seriously -- none of these films would be on this list if they had stuck to their original
endings, although they may have ended up on a different list.
Maybe one for films that should have kept their alternate endings!
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