10 Strange Changes Test Audiences Forced Movies To Make
7. The Ending Was Too Sugary For The UK - Pride & Prejudice
If there's one thing a British audience apparently can't stand, it's that of a sickly sweet happy ending. Or at least that was the conclusion director Joe Wright came to after screening the original ending of his movie adaptation of Jane Austin's Pride & Prejudice to a number of (un)lucky fans in the UK before its domestic release.
Complaining that the final scene, which showcased Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy sharing a smooch and some excruciating dialogue beside the water, was unintentionally hilarious, the British test audience's response eventually resulted in this cringey scene being given the heave-ho domestically.
Yet, the director and Universal Pictures felt that the ending would still go down a treat with American viewers, with Wright confessing around the time, "I guess, in America, you just like a little more sugar in your champagne, and you like your film endings sweeter, too."
Judging from the overall positive reaction to the sight of the couple locking lips under the moonlight in the US, it looks this seemingly strange decision to keep the ending sugary Stateside actually paid off in the end.