10 Movies Totally Ruined By Test Audiences

Back in 2007 Will Smith was eager to rebrand as a new kind of action hero. Jason Bourne and Daniel Craig’s Bond had ensured snappy goofy one-liners were out and shaky cam and gritty realism were the new normal.

Thus, I Am Legend was born. A dark, serious Richard Mathewson adaptation, the film told the story of a lone survivor evading ravenous inhuman monsters in post-apocalyptic New York. Only that’s not quite the whole story: the film was supposed to end with a politically charged twist, as the unrecognisable monsters were revealed to be thinking, caring beings who Smith has unintentionally terrorised for years.

Living in fear of him, the quote-unquote ‘monsters’ actually avoided the lone survivor until he took one of their own as a hostage. The title comes from Smith’s status among these creatures, who view him as a mythical monster bent on killing them. It’s a thoughtful, tragic, and resonant ending, so it’s no surprise that test audiences wanted it replaced by a corny self-sacrifice as Smith blows himself and the monsters up without ever discovering their humanity. Stellar stuff.