11 Awesome Movie Scenes That Almost Didn't Happen

3. Damien's Smile - The Omen

Richard Donner knows a thing or two about alternate cuts of movies, having been involved in one of the most notorious of all time in Superman II, but it wasn't the only time his vision didn't quite sit with the way the film was originally intended to be released. It happened when he made The Omen too.

Originally, that film was set to end with Damien and his entire adoptive family dead, suggesting, somehow that the actual devil could be killed, which sort of spoils the whole mythology of the character. And the chance for potentially lucrative (though mostly terrible) sequels.

Donner decided that couldn't happen and turned to the studio to change things, which they greenlit to allow Donner to preserve Damien to terrorise more victims another day. And in the process, we got that haunting shot of the Devil Spawn turning to the camera and smiling weirdly before the end credits as the audience feels the pits of their stomachs fill with dread.