14 Iconic Movies Forever Altered By Huge Last-Minute Changes

Can't think of a way to end your movie? Let the editors get it in post!
14 Iconic Movies Forever Altered By Huge Last-Minute Changes

In many ways movies are the cathedrals of the modern media landscape. They are massive financial and logistical undertakings, that involve armies of people with vastly different skill sets: from carpenters, electricians and audio technicians, to directors, writers, actors, make up artists, musicians and computer graphics experts. Obviously they require massive amounts of planning and coordination to pull off. Frankly its surprising films make it to the finish line at all.

With all that said, what's maybe even MORE surprising is the fact that films are often just as much defined by improvisation, unplanned deviations and the unanticipated changes that alter them forever.

You'd think the directors of some of the greatest movies of all time would have every last detail planned out, before even starting their masterpieces, right? You'd be extremely wrong! Scroll on down for more examples of iconic movies that were forever altered by last minute changes that no one anticipated.

Kubrick redacted the epilogue after the film was already in theaters.. THE SHINING The first audiences to see The Shining in theaters saw a scene where Wendy and Danny explain their ordeal to police in a hospital. But Kubrick decided he didn't like it, and sent assistants out to
George Lucas' Death Star was a harmless mecha-moon. A NEW HOPE George Lucas just kind of... filmed a bunch of goofy aliens, and left the actual storytelling to his editors. The most glaring example: he didn't think to make the Rebel base actively under attack. Before the editors worked
They skipped a choreographed fight scene because of dysentery. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK CRACKED COM This iconic scene, where Indy simply shoots the sword guy with a gun, was supposed to be a long, impressive fight scene. But Harrison Ford had the runs, and suggested they cut it short.
Woody was almost a total jagoff. TOY STORY CRACKED COM Tom Hanks says his character, as originally written, was a jerk. They'd already begun producing scenes with that jerk when they realized something wasn't right, and paused production to do some major script surgery.
Frodo originally just straight-up murdered Gollum. RETURN OF THE KING Peter Jackson initially had Frodo kick Gollum into the fire, but realized that would subvert the character's whole arc. So he made Andy Serkis put his tights back on for a reshoot.
Kevin Smith killed Dante. CLERKS CRACKED COM As originally filmed, Dante is shot by a burglar and left to die on the floor... because Kevin Smith was out of ideas. He got around to coming up with a better ending after a test audience made it clear they hated it.
Scott almost ended up with Knives. SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD CRACKED COM The graphic novel series hadn't wrapped up by the time they were writing and filming the movie, sO they had to write their own ending. They went with Scott crawling back to his high school ex, but Knives

George Lucas

George Lucas forgot to have Obi-Wan yoink Anakin's saber. REVENGE OF THE SITH Lucas got all the way to the cutting room when he realized he'd forgotten to shoot this one tiny, but hugely consequential action. Whew! Star Wars fans almost found a reason to complain about this movie!

World War Z

They rewrote the last act after production wrapped. WORLD WAR Z CRACKED.COM They'd already filmed and edited a gigantic zombie brawl, and were ready to call it a day, when the directed decided it wasn't character-driven anymore. They went back to the drawing board and rewrote a full third of
They reshot the ending because test audiences preferred the hunk. PRETTY IN PINK As originally filmed, Andie ends up choosing the doofus, Duckie. But, according to the director, the girls in the test screening didn't go for that. Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy had real chemistry, and people wanted
The last line was dubbed in during last-minute edits. CASABLANCA CRACKED CON The whole thing was still being written as it was being filmed, sO naturally, they figured they'd just get the last line in post. They tried dubbing a few different lines, including Louis, I might have known you'd mix
Tony Stark's final line was added in a reshoot. AVENGERS: ENDGAME Instead of hitting us with one last I am Iron Man, Stark's last words, as originally flimed, were... nothing. Directors realized in the editing room they needed their funny guy to say something, sO they had RDJ come
There was no real plan for the transition to color. THE WIZARD OF OZ Before they actually began shooting the iconic sepia-to-color transition scene, they had vague notions of maybe de-colorzing the first part of that scene, frame by frame. The solution they landed on was to actually color
Rambo was supposed to off himself. FIRST BLOOD After filming the intended ending -- where Rambo pulls the trigger on the gun of his hesitant, would-be executioner -- Stallone had the bright idea to maybe keep their hero alive to make boatloads of money for decades. Producers actually hated his proposed
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