We've all groaned about how a movie adaptation of a book we love just isn't up to scratch; it either isn't how you imagined it in your head, or by changing so much of what made it great in the first place, it has missed the point entirely. It's generally accepted that books tend to be superior to the movies made about them, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. Indeed, there are rare instances when, with a director who at once respects the source material and is also aware of the disparity between the written and cinematic mediums, is able to turn a great story into an even better one in a new form. Some of these adaptations were so successful that their writers and directors were lavished with the ultimate complement - the author even conceding that the changes made were in the best interests of the movie, and in some cases, an ending they wished that they had written themselves. Some written endings just don't work, and these filmmakers recognised that; they took a classic rule of filmmaking - "show, don't tell" - and delivered potent climaxes that far outdid what the original authors put to the page. Here are 10 movie adaptations that changed the ending for the better.
10. The Mist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY1ULaOciIc In the ending of Stephen King's original novella, protagonist David Drayton ends up realising his wife is likely dead - though this isn't confirmed - before he and the few remaining survivors set up camp while he writes down everything that has happened for the sake of record. Over some fuzzy radio static, they hear the word "Hartford", and prepare to head there in the hope that they might find safe haven from the extra-terrestrial creatures. Frank Darabont's movie ending, however, has Drayton (Thomas Jane) finding his wife dead, and in a stew of futility among the other survivors, they all enter a suicide pact, in which Drayton will shoot all four of them, including his own son, before himself. Drayton kills the three adult survivors and then his own son, before running out of ammo on himself. He walks out into the Mist, ready to be devoured, only for the Army to show up, in the most depressing instance of bad timing in cinema history. The film ends with Drayton crying uncontrollably as he realises he just killed four people for no good reason. Stephen King even admitted it's a better ending; it gives audiences a shocking note to go out on compared to the ambiguity of the novella ending. Besides, doesn't the novella just sound like it's cheaply setting up a sequel? Cinema audiences might have sniffed at this; Darabont's more definitive climax is far superior.