Ever wondered how different your favorite films could have been? Join us as we explore fascinating deleted footage that would have completely altered these movies' storylines! From crucial character developments to alternate endings, these cut scenes would have given audiences a totally different experience.
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00:00But how did she do it?
00:06You think I did it?
00:08Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the scenes that didn't make it into the final cut,
00:14but would have drastically altered the movie if they had. There will be spoilers ahead.
00:19Be prepared for anything.
00:23Number 20. Cap adjusting to modern times. The Avengers.
00:27At the end of his first solo adventure, Steve Rogers wakes up in the 21st century and realizes the world is no longer the one he knew.
00:34The table's yours as long as you like.
00:36Nobody's waiting on it.
00:38Plus we've got free wireless.
00:40Radio?
00:42You can imagine that skipping over 70 years of history, pop culture, and technological evolution would be pretty disorienting.
00:49This deleted scene shows Cap dealing with that emotional fallout, and reveals that he's not as well-adjusted as he appears on the surface.
00:57It's a bit of character development that would have affected how we see Cap through the rest of the film.
01:01Plus, it includes another Stan Lee cameo.
01:04It's for her to be a moron.
01:06Number 19. Shot in the back. Back to the Future Part 3.
01:10That's far enough, Tannen. I don't want any trouble.
01:13You stay out of my way and there won't be none.
01:16We knew Buford Mad Dog Tannen was dirty, but shooting an unarmed man in the back in front of his young son is especially evil.
01:23This deleted scene not only tells us just how rotten Tannen is, it also explains a lot about the Strickland legacy.
01:29In the franchise's modern day, Principal Strickland is obsessed with discipline.
01:34If your grandfather watched his dad get gunned down by an outlaw, it would presumably have a lasting impact on your family's way of thinking too.
01:41No wonder Principal Strickland never turns his back on a slacker.
01:44I've never seen you before in my life, but you look to me like a slacker!
01:48Number 18. Saruman's Downfall. The Lord of the Rings. The Return of the King.
01:53Come down, Saruman. And your life will be spared.
01:57Save your pity and your mercy! I have no use for it!
02:01Considering how important Saruman is to the story of this trilogy, it's a little weird that he doesn't even appear in the theatrical cut of the third film.
02:09The last we see of him is in the Two Towers, when the Ents attack Isengard and destroy his fortress.
02:15If you've never seen this deleted scene, you might assume that's the end of Saruman.
02:19However, the extended version of The Return of the King shows us his actual end.
02:24Although Gandalf tries to capture him alive, Saruman is ultimately stabbed in the back by his slimy lackey, Grima Wormtongue.
02:31The filth of Saruman is washing away.
02:38Number 17. Letting Lector Go. Hannibal.
02:41It's obvious that Hannibal Lector has a thing for Clarice Starling, but we never had the impression that she reciprocates his feelings.
02:47Tell me, Clarice. Would you ever say to me, stop? If you loved me, you'd stop?
02:57Not in a thousand years.
02:59That is, until we saw the alternate ending of Hannibal.
03:02In the original ending, Clarice attempts to trap the cultured cannibal by handcuffing his wrist to hers, forcing him to cut off his own hand to get away.
03:10In this deleted version, none of that happens.
03:13Instead, she simply gives up and allows him to escape, knowing full well that he will likely kill again.
03:31The scene paints Starling and her relationship to Lector in a completely different light, and makes us wonder if she found herself falling for him after all.
03:39Number 16. The Manager Knew All Along. The Shining.
03:43In this Stanley Kubrick classic, Jack Torrance slowly loses his mind while working as a hotel caretaker.
03:49Here's Johnny!
03:51The finale culminates with Jack trying to murder his wife and son, who escape, leaving Jack to freeze to death.
03:57That's the last we see of them, but the original script included one more scene.
04:01In the lost footage, the hotel manager visits Wendy and Danny in the hospital, telling them that nothing unusual was found in the empty hotel.
04:08He then tosses Danny a tennis ball, just like the one used by the hotel's ghosts to lure him in.
04:13Is the manager a ghost too?
04:15Did he set up the family to be murdered?
04:17This ambiguity is exactly why test audiences didn't respond to the scene.
04:22That is, uh, quite a story.
04:25It is. It's still hard for me to believe it actually happened here.
04:32But, it did.
04:34Number 15. Ferris is a Thief. Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
04:38If the audience doesn't consider Ferris to be a likable guy, this movie really doesn't work.
04:43They all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude.
04:47That's probably why director John Hughes decided not to film the scene in which Ferris steals his dad's savings bonds to fund his day off.
04:54Early in the film, Mr. Bueller calls to check on his son, who he believes to be sick.
04:58In the original script, this scene was extended to show Ferris sneakily getting his father to tell him where his savings bonds are hidden.
05:05After he hangs up, Ferris breaks the fourth wall to make a snarky remark about how easy it was.
05:10Incredible. One of the worst performances of my career and they never doubted it for a second.
05:15We know Ferris isn't above lying, but stealing from his own family would have turned him into an actual villain.
05:21Number 14. Loki Didn't Steal the Throne. Thor.
05:25You can bring your urgent matter to me.
05:35You're king.
05:37This scene would have cast Loki in a totally different light.
05:40Just after Odin reveals to his younger son that he's actually adopted, the Allfather falls into the Odin sleep.
05:46An Asgardian version of a coma.
05:48A few minutes later, the film hard cuts to Loki sitting on the throne, leading viewers to believe he seized the opportunity to assume power.
05:55But in an earlier deleted scene, we see Frigga bestowing Odin's scepter on Loki, telling him to make his father proud as king.
06:02Thor is banished. The line of succession falls to you.
06:08Until Odin awakens, Asgard is yours.
06:14The look on Loki's face makes it clear that he is shocked, maybe even moved by this turn of events.
06:20The scene makes his later betrayal even more nefarious.
06:24Number 13. Peter's Dad. The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
06:27One of the quintessential aspects of Peter Parker's character and backstory is that his parents are dead.
06:32So what if we found out that his father is actually alive?
06:35In a deleted scene near the end of the film, Peter is mourning Gwen Stacy when his supposedly dead dad shows up out of nowhere.
06:42He gives Peter a spiel about faking his death to keep Peter safe, and the two have a heart-to-heart on a park bench.
06:57Since the sequels to this movie were cancelled, we never got to see where this surprise development would have led.
07:02But considering that critics already skewered the film for being unfocused and having way too many characters,
07:08it's probably best that the scene hit the cutting room floor.
07:11It was never my destiny to save anything.
07:16It's yours, son.
07:19With great power comes great responsibility.
07:24Number 12. Resetting the CPU. Terminator 2. Judgment Day.
07:29After narrowly escaping the T-1000, John, Sarah, and the T-800 retreat to an abandoned building.
07:35The theatrical version of the scene is pretty short.
07:38Sarah digs bullets out of Arnie's back while he and John chat.
07:41In the longer director's cut, the T-800 explains that if they reset a chip in his brain, he'll be able to learn more and become more human.
07:59They agree to do it, which explains why the Terminator later starts using John's slang and cracking jokes.
08:05While the android is powered down, Sarah wants to destroy the chip and kill him, but John talks her out of it.
08:23It's an important character moment for both John and the T-800, and theater audiences never got to see it.
08:29Number 11. Worst case scenario. Get out.
08:35I just take it from the top, walk me through it again.
08:38It's common for horror movies to have bleak endings, but this one would have taken the cake.
08:43In the theatrical cut, Chris narrowly escapes the Armitage house and his friend Rod arrives to save the day.
08:48In the original version, it's not Rod who shows up, but the cops, and Chris goes to prison for the murder of the Armitage family.
08:55Director Jordan Peele intended the ending to be a commentary on racism in the criminal justice system.
09:01However, as he was filming, he realized that conversations around race in America were changing,
09:06and more people had become aware of systemic racial injustice.
09:09That convinced him that the movie actually needed a happy ending.
09:13I mean, I told you not to go in that house.
09:21And we also felt that Aragorn has come this distance with his journey, and that Sauron is his enemy,
09:28and that we had to somehow have this personal duel between Aragorn and Sauron, and that's not in the book.
09:33When originally putting the film together, Peter Jackson and company had the idea of a final showdown,
09:38pitting Aragorn head-to-head against Sauron himself.
09:41The theory was that Aragorn had his own journey, and facing Sauron was his final hurdle.
09:47And this blinding bright light shines on us, which blinds, you know, everyone,
09:52except Aragorn in a certain moment sees something and walks toward it.
09:56In the end, it was decided that a fight like that would take the emphasis away from Frodo and Sam,
10:01whose story it really was.
10:03You still got to see the footage, though,
10:05with the production team using CGI to create a troll for Aragorn to fight instead of the Dark Lord.
10:11It was not what Tolkien imagined, and we realized that was actually totally demeaning to what Aragorn was doing.
10:18Hunted Becomes the Hunter – Hostel
10:24Coming out at the peak of the gore porn craze,
10:26Hostel told the story of tourists who are kidnapped and tortured to death
10:30as part of a hunting club for the world's super elite.
10:33Those who went to see the theatrical cut of the film are well aware
10:37that the film ended with Paxton murdering one of the torturers.
10:40In the unreleased director's cut, however, instead of killing the businessman,
10:44Paxton kidnaps the man's daughter.
10:48Tosquio!
10:53It's a much darker tale, as instead of simply killing the businessman,
10:57Paxton's lust for vengeance makes him a monster.
11:02Tosquio!
11:07Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope
11:09You gotta take it a little easy, Luke.
11:11You may be the hottest bush pilot this side of Mos Eisley,
11:15but, uh, those little sky hoppers are dangerous.
11:18Star Wars was saved in the editing room.
11:21The original script and cut of the film involved a few additional scenes
11:24that kinda just went nowhere.
11:26Case in point, this scene,
11:28in which Luke meets with Biggs at the infamous Tosche Station.
11:31The scene was not only slow, but completely unnecessary,
11:35as all it did was give clunky exposition,
11:38while offering a few details on space politics we didn't have before.
11:41No, that's not gonna happen here.
11:43The Empire won't even mess with this old rock.
11:45Things can change.
11:46Similarly, in Return of the Jedi,
11:48part of Yoda's monologue originally had him explain
11:50that he instructed Obi-Wan not to tell Luke the truth about his father,
11:54which would have cast the Green Jedi Master in a different, more manipulative light.
11:58Obi-Wan would have told you long ago had I let him.
12:01Number 7 – Downer Ending – Clerks
12:04You're closed.
12:07Clerks tells the story of Dante and Randall,
12:10and the comings and goings of life in a convenience store.
12:12Along with their personal lives and relationships.
12:15When shooting the film, first-time writer and director Kevin Smith
12:18did not know how to end it,
12:20and he originally decided on the downbeat twist of Dante being shot by a robber.
12:25Oh, I'm sorry, we're closed.
12:31When looking for feedback, most people,
12:33including the actor who plays Dante, hated the ending,
12:37and Smith took a friend's advice to simply end the film with the shop closing up.
12:41You're closed.
12:49Number 6 – A Fitting End – Deep Blue Sea
12:53Let me tell you, man, I quit this job.
12:57Deep Blue Sea tells the age-old story of sharks who become hyper-intelligent
13:01after Dr. Susan McAllister tests brain-growing drugs on them
13:04in an effort to find a cure for Alzheimer's.
13:07You know, that old chestnut.
13:09Most audiences were shown the original ending,
13:11in which Susan saves the day by killing the shark,
13:14but they were basically unanimous in their hatred of this ending,
13:17and despised that the woman responsible for creating the deadly sharks
13:21got off scot-free.
13:23The filmmakers took the criticism to heart,
13:25and chose to kill Susan in the theatrical ending.
13:29Let me ask you something.
13:32Are you sure it was just three sharks?
13:35Yeah.
13:36Number 5 – All Out War – World War Z
13:40This isn't the end.
13:43World War Z ended on a surprisingly intimate note,
13:46with Brad Pitt's Jerry reuniting with his family
13:49as a vaccine is developed to help in the war on zombies.
13:52But the original ending was very different,
13:55and featured a large-scale battle in Red Square.
13:58A tremendous amount of footage was abandoned,
14:01and the process cost the studio millions,
14:04but replacement writer Drew Goddard stated
14:06that it was done in an effort to make the film better.
14:08The original ending had Pitt's character Jerry surviving the battle,
14:11only to find that his wife had turned to prostitution
14:14to support their family.
14:16So, a bit of a bummer.
14:18Be prepared for anything.
14:19Number 4 – Becoming a Legend – I Am Legend
14:23Open the door, please.
14:24The book that I Am Legend is based on
14:26tells the story of a man who sneaks out during the day
14:29to hunt vampires.
14:30Building up to his realization that
14:32to the vampires that he stalks and murders,
14:34he's the monster.
14:35In the original ending to the 2007 film adaptation,
14:38Will Smith's Robert Neville realizes that he is under attack,
14:42simply because the creatures want back the female creature
14:44he kidnapped for testing,
14:46and upon returning her,
14:47finds that he's become the true monster.
14:54But someone somewhere thought that was too cerebral,
14:57so instead, everything just gets blown up
14:59in the theatrical version.
15:03Number 3 – Frame Job – Fatal Attraction
15:10Excuse me, you said homicide?
15:12That's right.
15:13Fatal Attraction is a thriller about a man who cheats on his wife,
15:16only for his paramour Alex,
15:18played by Glenn Close,
15:19to become an obsessive and violent stalker.
15:22The original ending had Alex taking her own life
15:25and framing Michael Douglas' Dan Gallagher for murder,
15:28making her more of a tragic figure rather than a total villain.
15:31If you don't come through for me,
15:35I don't know what I'll do,
15:38but it's gonna be something terrible.
15:40Many who saw the original cut of the film
15:42felt the ending to be anticlimactic,
15:44so it was decided that the violent and climactic showdown
15:47would be a more apt conclusion to such a tense story.
15:50I'm sorry, your husband's under arrest.
15:54Number 2 – And the Plants Take Over – Little Shop of Horrors
16:02Fans of the stage musical probably noticed
16:04that the ending of this film didn't ring true to the original show,
16:07but the original cut did.
16:09In the theatrical movie,
16:10the flesh-eating plant Audrey II is destroyed,
16:13and Seymour and his love interest Audrey
16:15live happily ever after in the suburbs.
16:18The original cut of the movie was straight out of the show though,
16:21which featured Audrey II eating both main characters
16:23before spreading around the world
16:25and growing larger and larger
16:27until it was powerful enough to take over the planet.
16:30Test audiences hated it however,
16:32so the safer ending was shot and presented instead.
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16:58Number 1
16:59A true finale,
17:00First Blood
17:05The original rough cut of First Blood
17:07was over three hours long and complete garbage,
17:10according to Sylvester Stallone.
17:12After it was cut down to just 93 minutes,
17:14one scene that didn't make it was this conclusion from the book,
17:17in which Rambo takes his own life
17:19rather than be taken into custody.
17:21Number 2
17:27Needless to say,
17:28not only would this have seriously changed the ending of this movie,
17:31but it would have also had a pretty big impact on the sequels.
17:34Like, you can't make a Rambo franchise
17:36if Rambo is dead.
17:42Which deleted scene do you wish had stayed in the movie?
17:44Let us know in the comments below.
17:52Do you agree with our picks?
17:54Check out this other recent clip from MsMojo,
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