10 Movies Changes Influenced By The Fans' Feedback

The use of test audiences to garner audience feedback has been a significant tool in which a film's creative team can ascertain the effectiveness of their movie. Getting first impressions and responses from a section of their target audience can help the creative team iron out any potential chinks in the film's armour, and get a general feel for how their product will be received.

The power of the internet, in particular YouTube and blogs, has allowed filmmakers to garner direct feedback from potential audiences on a much broader scale. Audience reactions to trailers, test footage and leaked information has all been put to use by filmmakers, making changes to their films in an effort to 'please the fans'. The use of likes and comments may not be as scientific as the mechanisms put in place in test screenings, but this hasn't stopped filmmakers from utilising it all the same.

As can be seen from the entries on this list, altering a film based on trailer and internet reactions has had mixed results. Changes made to the aesthetics of the film have been generally well received, although major changes to aspects of the plot have been more miss than hit.

So let's take a look at those films that had changes due to the influence of fans, just like you and I.

The early reactions for the teaser trailer for Aladdin were, to say the least, not flattering. While Will Smith seemed as good as any choice to take over the role made famous by Robin Williams, his initial look was, well, quite blue. There was also the unfortunate situation where Smith's Genie was so big that he actually looked a tad overweight.

The negative reactions to the look of the Genie had a twofold effect, with changes made to both the marketing for the film and the aesthetics of the Genie. Subsequent trailers placed a greater emphasis on the moments in the film when the Genie resembled Will Smith's normal human form, placing more focus on the Genie's character traits than his look.

There was also some definite tweaking of the look of the Genie, the CGI fine tuning making him quite literally a little less blue. While still very much looking like an out of this world character, the somewhat more 'human look' made the Genie much less of an eyesore.

The end result was a product that was much better received than what was expected and box office returns that managed to top the $1 Billion mark. The film was also a great reminder to Hollywood execs that given the right role, Will Smith is still one of the world's biggest and best drawcards going around.