Who doesn’t like to watch a good movie every now and then? If people are being honest with themselves, there is a better-than-average chance that they like to sit down and watch a good movie a lot more often than they might want to admit to anyone else. After all, watching a good movie that you can really immerse yourself in is one of the most effective ways of escaping whatever reality you have to deal with on a daily basis. For at least a couple of hours, it gives you the chance to put yourself in some other world and even to see yourself reflected in someone else’s life as it plays out on the screen. If your daily life is not as exciting as you would like it to be or if you are dealing with a lot of stuff that you would rather not be dealing with, this can be one of the most effective means of escape. More importantly, it just might help you keep your sanity for a little while longer.
With all that being said, you might be surprised to learn that some of the most popular movies throughout the years have actually had a lot of things changed from the way they were originally written. More often than not, these changes involve alternate endings but in some cases, there are a large sections of some of your favorite films that have been completely altered or had entire scenes cut out because test audiences couldn’t stand them the way they were originally written. Below are five movies that have been dramatically altered in one fashion or another, all to suit the taste of the test audience.
1. Titanic
This is one of the best romantic movies of all time, according to many individuals. However, it is a very long movie and it was originally even longer. Test audiences felt that the movie was far too long and that there were scenes in the middle of film that really didn’t flow with the rest of the story. As a result, the scenes were cut out in order to reduce the movie’s runtime and to keep the story more cohesive from beginning to end.
2. E. T.
This is a film that is definitely a cult classic and it is one that will have you reaching for a box of tissues by the time you get to the end of the movie. Believe it or not, the end of the movie was even sadder when it was shown to test audiences because the famed extraterrestrial dies before he makes it back home. This definitely did not go over well, hence the change in the ending before the film was released.
3. Blade Runner
The original ending to this movie hinted that Harrison Ford’s character might actually be a replicant himself. This was not exactly something that test audiences were happy about. You see, this movie came out on the heels of such Harrison Ford films as Star Wars and Indiana Jones. As a result, fans wanted to see him as the hero of the film and they didn’t receive the idea well that he might be the very thing that he was trying to get rid of. As a result, the ending was changed.
4. The Blair Witch Project
This is a movie that really initiated the found-footage movement in Hollywood films. The problem was, there was so much of this footage that was shot during filming that it took months upon months for editors to cut the film down to an acceptable run time. Even after the film was shown to test audiences, it was believed to be far too long and was therefore taken back to the editing room where many scenes ended up on the cutting room floor once again.
5. 28 Days Later
This is a film that is pretty bleak to start with and the original ending had one of the main characters being shot and killed, which seemed to push test audiences right over the edge. Because of the enormous amount of feedback received that centered around this original ending, the ending was reshot with the character surviving.
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