10 Sci-Fi Movies That Almost Had Way Better Endings

This might be the most infamous case of executive intervention on this list, and luckily this story comes with a happy ending—well, insomuch as the director was finally able to get his distinctly unhappy ending seen by the public, taking away the film’s studio mandated happy ending and giving his own artistic story one.

Yes, former Monty Python member and bane of studio heads everywhere Terry Gilliam had hoped to end his dystopian blackly comic spin on 1984 with a brutally cruel twist wherein Jonathan Pryce’s hero is revealed to be a lobotomized shell of his former self, neutralized by the shadowy government conspirators he fought against and left to dream of an imaginary happy ending for his story.

However, the studio balked at this vicious turn and cut it from the theatrical release, resulting in audiences seeing a limp ending wherein Pryce and his love interest escape the hellish city. This infamous “love conquers all” cut of the ending is inexcusably at odds with the preceding film’s tone and sticks out as a blatant case of a clueless studio intervening unnecessarily.

Fortunately, we did get to see the director’s original vision in all its bleak glory soon after, and this movie did get the Way Better Ending released eventually—just not for the poor punters who saw it first.