10 Great Movies That Had AWFUL Test Screenings

David Fincher's unforgettable Se7en is about as perfect as thrillers get, and yet, if studio executives had their way things could've gone very differently.

Fincher's ultra-grim serial killer movie suffered through a hugely contentious production, particularly with regard to its brutal twist ending, with Brad Pitt only agreeing to star if the infamous severed-head-in-a-box finale was retained.

Fincher and Pitt seemingly won out as this ending was ultimately filmed, but the fight was far from over. 

Predictably, such a bleak film tanked with milquetoast test screening audiences, with Fincher even overhearing one disgusted audience member saying, "the people who made that movie should be killed."

Though executives continued to push for a new, more hopeful ending, Fincher and Pitt remained steadfast, coming to a compromise with the studio that the film would end with Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) quoting Ernest Hemingway to cushion the blow of that horrific final reveal.