12 Sci-Fi Movie Endings That Were Almost Completely Different
4. The Running Man - Arnie Almost Drove A Plane Into A Skyscraper
This eighties satire seems ahead of its time, not unlike Paddy Chayefsky’s iconic Network, in terms of its unsparing look at the amoral obsession with ratings which drives television producers to condoning insane and often dangerous stunts. Following Arnie as a cop framed for a crime he didn’t commit, the film sees our hero pursued across America on the titular gameshow as the producers send a rogue’s gallery of villains to kill him to the delight of a viewing audience.
Based on a 1982 novel from horror icon Stephen King, the original story ends with our hero driving a plane into the network headquarters to kill the show’s producers, broadcasters and, er, basically anyone involved in the entire project. The film tones this down and sees only the primary protagonist offed and the audience at home being shaken out of their TV addiction once they discover the terrible truth that… the titular gameshow is fixed.
Not quite as intense as the mass murder option, then.