10 Insane Alternate Endings To 2017's Biggest Movies (So Far)

2. Lightning McQueen Wins The Race - Cars 3

Cars 3 was a dramatic set-up from the relative awfulness of Cars 2, and managed to bring the franchise back to its roots whilst giving fans a satisfying end to Lightning McQueen's long journey. In the film, McQueen adopts the role of coach after an accident causes him to reconsider his talents. Basically, he gets old.

In its final form, Cars 3 ends with McQueen giving up his spot during the final race so that a younger car, Cruz, can take his place. McQueen mentors her through the subsequent laps, and - to everyone's genuine surprise - Cruz manages to win. It was an apt and emotional ending, and one that felt appropriate to McQueen's arc.

The guys over at Pixar, however, weren't always invested in this ending. Originally the animation team had some very different - and arguably less interesting - ideas regarding the finale, such as McQueen winning the race, or both McQueen and Cruz racing together to triumph. In the words of director Brian McFee:

"We tried McQueen and Cruz both racing. We tried McQueen just beating her. We tried her just beating him. Nothing. It was all of this was all hollow. It was all an obvious wrong, wrong, do it again, figure something else out. And it took, it basically took what we’ve got on the screen now to finally feel like: of course."

McQueen "sacrificing" his career to pave the way for a new generation was definitely the best way to go, so it's a good thing the more conventional endings were eschewed in favour of one that essentially rescued the Cars franchise from oblivion.