Alternative Endings To Films
Pretty Woman, Titanic & Fatal Attraction could have ended so differently. Here's how... (WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT)
Picture Editor: Sandra Waibl
Disney / SKYFrozen
How It Ends:
Anna is caught in a dangerous blizzard created by Elsa, who is held captive by Prince Hans after he reveals his true colours. When he tells her that she has killed Anna, Elsa is distraught and just as Hans lifts his sword to kill her too, Anna runs in just in time as her whole body freezes so hard that the impact from the sword causes it to shatter and throw Hans onto his back. Elsa cries as her sister has just turned into solid ice - she throws her arms around her and sobs. Slowly, Anna begins to unfreeze and they realise that their sisterly love is the true love they were looking for.Alternative Ending:
In the original ending, Elsa is a super villain (as she is scorned for being left at the alter by the man she was in love with) who enlists an army of snow monsters to attack Anna. In response, Prince Hans creates an avalanche that will destroy the whole city but Anna manages to convince Elsa to save everyone. Suddenly, it's revealed that Elsa's not the subject of the prophecy, Prince Hans is. Her heart unfreezes. The end
Rex FeaturesTitanic
How It Ends: Titanic crashes into an iceberg, it sinks; Jack dies and the current-day Rose tosses the Heart of the Ocean into the, err, ocean.
Alternative Ending: In the original ending, the ship didn’t sink. Just kidding, but there were some differences. James Cameron filmed another ending which came to light on the DVD extras and saw Rose giving Bill Paxton some important lessons about life, treasure and love. He then watches as she chucks the rock behind her into the sea. It ends with Bill asking Rose’s grand-daughter to dance. It’s pretty naff to be honest.
Rex FeaturesThe Princess Diaries
How It Ends: Mia (Anne Hathaway) reluctantly agrees to become a princess and there's a shot of her European castle with a Genovian flag.
Alternative Ending: The original ending didn’t include the castle. This only came about because director Gary Marshall’s five-year-old grand-daughter was disappointed she didn’t get to see a fairytale castle at the end of the film. "She wanted to see the castle where Mia would be living and she wanted to make certain Mia's old car would accompany her because it was Mia's favourite possession," he said. Marshall convinced Disney to let him buy some footage: "It cost us a penny or two but it made my granddaughter happy.”
Rex FeaturesThe Godfather
How It Ends: Kay Corleone (Diane Keaton) discovers that her husband Michael is a murderous gangster when his office door is slowly shut in her face.
Alternative Ending: Francis Ford Coppola’s alternative ending mirrored that of the original book with Kay lighting a candle to try and save her husband’s soul. Ford Coppola decided to leave out this scene so the film ended with brutality rather than hope.
Rex FeaturesPretty Woman
How It Ends: The pair drive off into the sunset after Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) woos Vivian (Julia Roberts) by climbing up a fire escape with flowers.
Alternative Ending: The screenwriter J.F. Lawton revealed that the original ending was “completely different”. Firstly, they don’t end up together; even worse Edward drags Vivian from his car, throwing her onto Hollywood Boulevard, where he first picked her up. He then chucks money at her, saying: “You'll regret it tomorrow if you don't take it. You'll regret it the minute I drive away.” Lawson added: “The film ends with Kit [Vivian's prostitute friend] and Vivian on a bus bound for Disneyland... with Kit anticipating a fun day financed by Vivian's week with Edward, as Vivian stares out emptily ahead.”
DisneyThe Lion King
How It Ends: Simba discovers Scar killed his father and throws him off a cliff where his former allies, the hyenas, devour him.
Alternative Ending: The original ending, which was never fully animated, saw Scar die slightly differently. He is still beaten by Simba but perishes, cackling manically, in the fire that consumes Pride Rock. Unsurprisingly, the clip was deemed too upsetting for Disney and test audiences of children were left in tears and asking for their mum.
Rex FeaturesSe7en
How It Ends: Serial killer John Doe (played by Kevin Spacey) lures agents Mills (Brad Pitt) and Somerset (Morgan Freeman) to a remote location where they are given a box containing the severed head of Mills’ wife Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow). Doe wants Mills to shoot him dead and, in so doing, “become wrath” (aka the seventh deadly sin). He does this.
Alternative Ending: In a different ending, knowing that he’s only a few days from retirement, Somerset intervenes at the last minute, shooting John Doe himself and avenging Tracy’s death for Mills.
Rex FeaturesThe Break-Up
How It Ends: Vince Vaughn’s character Gary Grobowski runs into Brooke Meyers (Jennifer Aniston) in the street. After a polite chat, they part ways and, as they walk away from each other, they both look behind them at the same time and smile at each other.
Alternative Ending: They broke up but never saw each other again. Test audiences apparently didn’t like this, especially considering Jennifer Aniston was in the middle of a very public break-up with Brad Pitt in real life. The ending was changed to appease Aniston’s legions of fans.
Rex FeaturesDodgeball
How It Ends: Peter and White play dodgeball and, while Peter wins, he’s already had to sell his business. Luckily he bet $100K on his team's triumph and is now a multi-millionaire; he can buy White’s company and Average Joe’s gym, and fire White.
Alternative Ending: White triumphs in the last piece of action and the commentators say: “They've come all this way for nothing. Absolutely nothing!" So quite different then!
Rex FeaturesFatal Attraction
How It Ends: Michael Douglas’ character Dan tries to drown his ex-lover, now-bunny-boiler Alex (Glenn Close) in the bath. She comes back but Dan’s wife Beth shoots her dead, leaving Dan and Beth to return to their life together.
Alternative Ending: Alex commits suicide and frames Dan, but Beth finds a tape which suggests Dan’s innocence. The ambiguous ending leaves the possibility of Alex claiming the final victory and not Michael Douglas’ cheating Dan.
Rex FeaturesThe Sixth Sense
How It Ends: Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) returns home to find his wife sleeping. While still asleep, she asks him why he left her and drops his wedding ring which she has been holding. He realises that he is dead and tells his wife he loves her; he is then free to leave the mortal world.
Alternative Ending: More of an extended ending than an alternative one; after Malcolm has gone, the camera pans out from his wife to the TV which shows their wedding video and Malcolm expressing his love for her.
Rex FeaturesRocky
How It Ends: Rocky and Apollo Creed fight for 15 rounds; as the final bell sounds the fighters promise there will be no rematch. After the fight, described as "the greatest exhibition of guts and stamina in the history of the ring", Apollo is declared the winner due to a split decision while Rocky and Adrian (his girlfriend) declare their love for each other.
Alternative Ending: In Sylvester Stallone’s original script, Rocky accepted money to throw the fight against Apollo Creed and then uses the cash to help Adrian buy a pet store. Yes really. “Not as dramatic, is it?” admitted Stallone himself.
Rex FeaturesThelma & Louise
How It Ends: Thelma and Louise drive off the cliff and their car sails into the air. You assume that that's it for them but it's left hanging. They could have survived.
Alternative Ending: The scene continues so that the audience sees the car near the bottom of the canyon behind a large rock, or at least a cloud of dust. Harvey Keitel's character, the sympathetic detective, runs to the edge of the canyon and stares down and a helicopter swoops down into the ravine. The song Better Not Look Down by B.B. King plays in the background.
Rex FeaturesSweet Home Alabama
How It Ends: Reese Witherspoon's character Melanie, an up-and-coming fashion designer, decides to stay married to her (ex-)husband Jake (who she had been trying to divorce). They have a second (shotgun) wedding, she becomes a high-end fashion designer and then they have a child together.
Alternative Ending: The exes still get back together but then there's a lightening storm which apparently strikes Melanie. Jake carries her body into the wedding at the end, leaving the audience thinking she's dead. But it's some strange (unfunny) practical joke that they're playing on family and friends. And she springs to life as he says: "Melanie Carmichael is dead, but Felony Melanie is alive!"
Rex FeaturesThe Shining
How It Ends: A crazy Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is seen freezing to death.
Alternative Ending: Right after Jack's frozen corpse is seen in the snow, his wife Wendy and son Danny are admitted into a nearby hospital. The Overlook Hotel's returning manager comes to visit, and informs Wendy that police "didn’t find the slightest evidence of anything at all out of the ordinary," implying that it was all in Wendy's head. Stanley Kurbick cut this scene after screening it for a few audiences in New York.
Rex FeaturesI Am Legend
How It Ends: Robert Neville (Will Smith) sacrifices himself to save his colleagues but, before he does, he gives them the antidote to the Darkseekers epidemic that has turned most of the human population into zombies.
Alternative Ending: In a Frankenstein-ian twist, it's implied that the Darkseekers are capable of thoughts and feelings and the only reason that they are attacking Neville is to save one of their own from his experiments. When he realises this, Neville is left to contemplate that it's he who is the real monster.
Rex FeaturesWorld War Z
How It Ends: Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) discovers a way to protect humans from the infected zombie population.
Alternative Ending: UN employee Lane becomes an enslaved soldier, fighting off zombies in Russia. The release of World War Z was pushed back six months so that film-makers could re-write and re-shoot the last third of the film. Ouch!
Rex FeaturesTerminator 2
How It Ends: T-800 sacrifices himself using a red hot vat in order to prevent the creation of Skynet.
Alternative Ending: The sci-fi flicks really love to play around with their endings, don't they? There's an epilogue to T2! It's 2029 and Sarah Connor is alive and well and a grandmother. John Connor is a senator and Skynet was never able to start a war on humanity.
Rex FeaturesPineapple Express
How It Ends: After an explosion and shoot-out, Dale carries an injured Saul from the burning barn. Red also escapes and reconciles with them. They all eat breakfast at a diner and talk over their adventure before Saul's grandmother picks them up and drives them to hospital.
Alternative Ending: Both Saul and Dale are killed off by Matheson, the man they forgot to shoot down. Pretty bleak.
Rex FeaturesDie Hard With A Vengeance
How It Ends: McClane and the police launch a successful attack on the warehouse where the robbery and the escape is taking place. Simon and his men escape via helicopter but McClane shoots at an overhead power line causing it to crash and kill all aboard. The bullion is located.
Alternative Ending: The robbery succeeds and McClane is used as the scrapegoat for everything. He's fired from the NYPD after 20 years in the force and has his pension taken away. McClane manages to track down Simon to Germany where he kills him with a rocket launcher after he gets a riddle wrong. The film's screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh said this version wasn't used because it showed McClane as a man who killed for revenge rather than in self defence.
Terry O'Neill/Getty ImagesReturn of the Jedi
How It Ends: The Galactic Empire is defeated, Leia and Hans are reunited, the Emperor is dead and Darth Vader redeems himself in his final moments and liberates the cosmos. Everyone is happy!
Alternative Ending: The alternative ending was not quite so chirpy: the rebel forces were in tatters, Leia was nervous about taking on the duties of being Queen and Luke wanted to walk out into the sunset alone.
Rex FeaturesLord of the Rings: The Return Of The King
How It Ends: Following Aragorn's coronation as King of Gondor and Arwen as his queen, the Hobbits return to the Shire where Sam marries Rosie Cotton. Frodo and his Uncle Bilbo, leave Middle Earth but not before giving Sam the Red Book of Westmarch, which chronicles all their adventures.
Alternative Ending: The ending cut out Tolkein's original “Scouring of the Shire”, the chapter which sees the Hobbits returning home to find it desecrated by Saruman. Screenwriters removed this as they found it anti-climactic and they wanted a happy ending.
