10 Sci-Fi Movies That Almost Had Way Better Endings

There are few ways to improve on the films of infamous perfectionist Stanley Kubrick, but his Cold War-era sci-fi satire almost closed with a famous alternate ending which far outdoes even the demented world-destroying cut the helmer eventually went with.

Yes, the sight of Slim Pickens’ Major T. Kong is a fitting end to the flick’s escalating tension and absurdity, marrying the worrying implications of the war room’s machinations with the inherent silliness which has run throughout the film and alleviated the inherent darkness of its subject matter. However, as the world ends to the tune of We’ll Meet Again, it’s worth remembering the original ending which veered harder into the comedic absurdity of the film’s premise, and was all the funnier for it.

Originally the film ended with a slapstick pie fight breaking out amongst its major players in the war room, reducing their international stand off to an adult iteration of Bugsy Malone’s cartoony food fights and sapping the until-now unbearably tense flick of its seriousness.

It’s a classic comedic ending, utterly anarchic and out of line with everything preceding it but acting as a flawless escalation of the surrounding story’s silliness, but Kubrick ultimately leaned harder into the sci-fi thriller side of the film and gave us the darker ending we all recognize.