10 Movies You Didn’t Know Also Have Alternative Endings

We now mainly know the film in the “Director's Cut” or “Final Cut” of Blade Runner. The original theatrical version had a very different ending, a voice-over by Harrison Ford and an optimistic drive through a sunny landscape. Ridley Scott wanted to keep it ambiguous – is Deckard himself still alive, or is he also a replicant? The alternate ending he later brought back, with the famous unicorn dream, made Blade Runner a philosophical masterpiece.

In an early version of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Ullman visits Wendy in the hospital, who tells her that Jack's body has never been found. The fragment was cut from all prints within a week on Kubrick's orders. Only a few screenshots survive, making it one of the most mysterious alternate endings in film history.

In cinemas, Terminator 2 ends with hope: the future is unwritten. The alternate ending, which was rarely shown, shows an elderly Sarah Connor in a peaceful future where Skynet never existed. Although positive, it felt too final. James Cameron wanted to keep the door open for sequels.

The beloved romantic comedy once had a completely different script. Instead of a fairytale romance, it ended with Vivian (Julia Roberts) being rejected by Edward and returning to her old life. The film was supposed to be a harsh indictment of the American dream, but test audiences wanted romance. Disney flipped the script, and the rest is movie history, but the cynical version is still in the vault.

In the alternate version of Ridley Scott's Alien, Ripley would be killed by the alien, who then imitates her voice to communicate with Earth. Scott thought it “went too far” and opted for the heroic survival scene we know today.

The musical version we know ends happily, with Seymour and Audrey escaping. In the original ending, the carnivorous plant Audrey II devours the main characters and then conquers the world. It cost millions to film that spectacular ending, but audiences found it too depressing. The lost version was later restored and featured in a special director's cut. complete with monsters marching through New York.

Jordan Peele's horror classic initially had a much grimmer ending. Instead of being rescued by his friend, Chris is arrested by the police, a direct indictment of racial prejudice in the US. Test audiences thought that was too gloomy, after which Peele wrote a more positive ending. However, the alternative version is still chilling and reinforces the social charge of the film.

The theatrical version of The Butterfly Effect ends with hope and reconciliation. The original ending was much darker. In that version, Evan travels back to his birth and strangles himself with the umbilical cord in the womb to prevent everyone's suffering. The scene was considered too shocking by test audiences and was replaced. Yet this alternative can still be seen on DVD and online and leaves a very different message.

In the original version of Titanic, Rose throws the famous diamond, the Heart of the Ocean, into the sea without anyone seeing it. In the alternate ending, she is caught by the crew and gives an almost comical speech about possession and letting go. James Cameron didn't like it and decided to delete the scene. And rightly so, the mysterious, silent gesture fits much better with the rest of the film.

The theatrical version of I Am Legend ends with Will Smith's character sacrificing himself to save humanity. In the film's alternate ending, he survives and realizes that the mutated creatures are not evil, but are trying to protect their kind. It changes the entire theme of the film: from man versus monster to understanding what is different.