2. Aliens
FoxBack before Peter Jackson unleashed the massively successful Lord of the Rings films on the world, the general thought was that audiences could not be trusted to sit through a film longer than two and a half hours. So when James Cameron turned in his heavily anticipated sequel Aliens, he was forced to pare it down, losing more than fifteen minutes of footage. The most crucial loss in the film is the relationship between Ripley and her daughter, which takes away some of the emotional context to her interactions with the young Newt. Cameron released a Director's Cut of the film years later, which restores this footage to its rightful place. Although fandom is split in half, preferring one version over the other, the film's cast made it clear which side they were on. James Cameron has, unsurprisingly, stated his preference for the Director's Cut, and star Sigourney Weaver went so far as to proclaim that she would not appear in any more Alien films unless the extended cut was released. Sigourney gets what Sigourney wants, and now Alien fans are spoiled for choices.