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41 Movies That Changed Dramatically From Pitch to Premiere

April 05, 2024

The guy who wrote Saw II didn’t actually know he was writing a Saw movie. Huh?!?!

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41

Casablanca

RICK BECOMES FAMOUSLY CHUMMY WITH CAPTAIN RENAULT AT THE END OF CASABLANCA. A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP! BUT... НЕ WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ARRESTED. In the original, unproduced play, Rick is taken into custody for helping the fugitives escape, and presumably sent to a concentration camp. CRACKED.COM — Source

40

IN STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, SCOTTY LOOKS VERY UPSET BY A BOY'S DEATH. AND NO WONDER. IT WAS HIS NEPHEW. Scenes establishing they were related were cut from the theatrical release, making it look like Scotty was all weepy over some random crewmember. CRACKED.COM — Source

39

Terminator

41 Movies That Changed Dramatically From Pitch to Premiere — Source

38

Star Trek

41 Movies That Changed Dramatically From Pitch to Premiere — Source

37

41 Movies That Changed Dramatically From Pitch to Premiere — Source

36

Rocky Balboa

CRACKED.COM ROCKY IS A STORY ABOUT PERSEVERANCE. ROCKY BALBOA NEVER QUITS, NO MATTER WHAT. THAT'S JUST THE FINISHED MOVIE, THOUGH. ORIGINALLY, НЕ DID QUIT. The first script had Rocky throw the fight after realizing he didn't actually want to be a boxer. — Source

35

IN SCREAM 2, THE KILLER BEHIND GHOSTFACE'S MASK IS MICKEY ALTIERI. THAT WASN'T THE PLAN. НЕ REPLACED DEREK AND HALLIE. The identity of the killers was changed after the script was leaked on the internet. CRACKED.COM — Source

34

CRACKED.COM IN THOR, LOKI SEIZES THE THRONE OF ASGARD. НЕ DIDN'T NEED TO. IT WAS MEANT TO BE HIS RIGHT. Loki is made Odin's heir and rightful ruler of Asgard in a deleted scene. Still a villain, but within the law. — Source

33

32

SCAR IS DEVOURED BY HIS HYENAS, WHICH IS PRETTY HORRIFIC FOR DISNEY. BUT... ORIGINALLY, IT WAS EVEN WORSE. In an alternate ending to The Lion King, which was storyboarded but never animated, Scar believes that he's won and is engulfed by flames as he celebrates. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

IN ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, JOEL AND CLEMENTINE ERASE ONE ANOTHER FROM THEIR MEMORIES. NOT JUST ONCE OR TWICE, BUT... 15 TIMES IN 50 YEARS. In a version of the script, Joel and Clementine keep coming back together and then getting mind wipes repeatedly over several decades. CRACKED.COM — Source

30

CRACKED.COM THE RULED THE T. REX TOTALLY RULES THE ENDING OF JURASSIC PARK. HOWEVER... THAT WAS AN AFTERTHOUGHT. The scripted ending had Grant and Hammond killing the raptors themselves. Then Spielberg realized that the Rex just had to come back. — Source

29

IN THE HARRY POTTER MOVIES, THE ENTIRE DURSLEY FAMILY REMAIN UNSYMPATHETIC TO THE END. HOWEVER... IT DIDN'T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY. In the books, Dudley Dursley makes amends with Harry after years of mistreatment. The scene was filmed, but ultimately scrapped. CRACKED.COM — Source

28

CRACKED.COM THE BRIDE IN KILL BILL IS NOTORIOUS FOR HER KATANA. BUT AT FIRST... SHE ALSO HAD A BOOMERANG. An early draft describes the Bride using a steel boomerang in the fight against Gogo Yubari. — Source

27

CRACKED.COM RIPLEY KICKING ALIEN BUTT AT THE LAST MINUTE SPAWNED A FRANCHISE THAT STILL GOES ON. EXCEPT... SHE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO LIVE. Alien was going to end with the creature biting Ripley's head off and mimicking her voice to record a final log entry. — Source

26

YOU REMEMBER MARVIN GETTING SHOT IN THE FACE IN PULP FICTION, RIGHT? ORIGINALLY... IT WAS A SHOT TO THE THROAT. According to Phil LaMarr, who played Marvin, his death was a mercy kill after being accidentally shot. It was changed to make Jules and Vincent look less unsympathetic. CRACKED.COM — Source

25

GRACKED.COM IN STAR WARS' SOAP OPERA, UNCLE OWEN IS VADER'S STEPBROTHER. BUT AT FIRST... НЕ WAS OBI-WAN'S BROTHER. I took you to live with my brother Owen, on Tatooine, Obi-Wan reveals to Luke in the script of Return of the Jedi. — Source

24

FERRIS BUELLER IS AN ADORABLE, FREEWHEELING TRUANT. PERHAPS YOU DIDN'T KNOW... НЕ WAS ALMOST A THIEF AS WELL. In an early draft of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Ferris steals his dad's saving bonds to fund his day off. GRACKED COM — Source

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23

Se7en

CRACKED.COM SE7EN IS A BLEAK MOVIE WITH A BLEAKER ENDING. HOWEVER... THE SCRIPT WAS EVEN DARKER. John Doe was originally supposed to take Detective Mills hostage and kill him. Then Detective Somerset would torture Doe and burn him alive. PLEASE HANDLE WITH CARE FRAGILE — Source

22

THE XENOMORPH'S BREEDING CYCLE IS ALREADY NIGHTMARISH ENOUGH. AND YET... IT COULD HAVE BEEN EVEN SCARIER. A scene deleted from Alien showed Brett and Dallas cocooned, used as food for new facehugger eggs. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

THE FINAL BATTLE IN THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING COULD HAVE BEEN EVEN MORE ONE-SIDED. ORIGINALLY... SAURON WAS GOING TO FIGHT. A duel between Sauron and Aragorn was filmed, but not used, as that would have distracted from Frodo and Sam's quest to destroy the One Ring. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

CRACKED COM OBI-WAN HIDES LUKE'S PARENTAGE FOR NO APPARENT REASON OTHER THAN PURE SEMANTICS. ORIGINALLY, НЕ HAD A BETTER MOTIVE. YODA MADE HIM DO IT. In a clip deleted from Return of the Jedi, Yoda fesses up that he forbade Obi-Wan from spilling the beans. — Source

19

Emperor Palpatine

YOU KNOW SHEEV PALPATINE, EMPEROR OF THE GALAXY IN STAR WARS. BUT ORIGINALLY... HIS NAME WAS COS DASHIT. It's too bad he was renamed after the first draft. His original name was truly da shit, man. CRACKED.COM — Source

18

CRACKED.COM HANNIBAL LECTER SACRIFICES HIS OWN HAND TO SPARE CLARICE'S WHEN SHE HANDCUFFS HIM. BUT VERY EASILY... IT COULD HAVE GONE THE OTHER WAY AROUND. In an alternate ending to Hannibal, she just lets him go, implying that she is making a sacrifice for him. — Source

17

IF YOU THINK OF TITANIC, YOU THINK OF THE I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD! SCENE. EXCEPT... THAT WASN'T IN THE SCRIPT. Jack didn't even have dialogue in that scene. The line, which made the movie 100% more memorable than it'd be otherwise, was thrown in by Leonardo DiCaprio. GRACKED.COM — Source

16

CRACKED.COM IS CHILDS THE THING? IS IT MACREADY? MAYBE NEITHER OF THEM? OR PERHAPS... HOW ABOUT ANOTHER DOG? An alternate ending to The Thing shows the, well, Thing escaping from the burning camp as a dog, just as it had arrived earlier on. — Source

15

12 Monkeys

CRACKED.COM 12 Monkeys (the series) wasn't connected to 12 Monkeys (the movie). Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett never set out to make a show based on Terry Gilliams' film. Their idea for a time travel story was called Splinter. Their script was eventually retrofitted as a 12 Monkeys pilot. — Source

14

Evan wasn't supposed to be Almighty. The original script was titled The Passion of the Ark, and it was unrelated to Bruce Almighty. It was turned into a sequel after Jim Carrey declined to reprise his role. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Die Hard

Die Hard began as a sequel to a Sinatra movie. In 1968, Frank Sinatra starred in the movie adaptation of Roderick Thorp's The Detective. When the sequel novel Nothing Lasts Forever was filmed, Sinatra was in his 70s - so he declined to return, and the story was turned into Die Hard. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

The writer of Saw II wasn't aware that Saw existed. Darren Bousman was upset when he learned that his script The Desperate was very similar to this incoming movie named Saw. But it was precisely because it was so similar that it was made into a sequel. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

CRACKED.COM Minority Report was going to be a Total Recall sequel. After the success of the Verhoeven/ Schwarzenegger team-up, Carolco Pictures turned to Minority Report as a follow-up. When Carolco went under, the project went to Fox and was put on hold for a decade. — Source

10

CRACKED.COM Ghosts of Mars almost had Snake Plissken. The studio lost interest in the Escape franchise after Escape from L.A. bombed. So John Carpenter changed Kurt Russell for Ice Cube and turned the project into a stand-alone film. — Source

9

CRACKED.COM The Hateful Eight started out as a Django novel. Quentin Tarantino had already written a good chunk of Django in White Hell, when he realized that Django didn't fit in the story. His role was given to Samuel L. Jackson's Marquis Warren. — Source

8

The Cloverfield sequels weren't meant to be sequels. 10 Cloverfield Lane was written as The Cellar, and The Cloverfield Paradox was The God Particle. Both scripts were refactored to be part of the Cloverfield universe. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Cobra was Sylvester Stallone's Beverly Hills Cop rewrite. Stallone was fired from his role as Axel Foley when he kept pushing to turn the movie into a non-comedic (and expensive) action flick. So he recycled his ideas into Cobra. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

Pitch Black

CRACKED.COM Pitch Black came from a discarded Alien 3 script. Several scripts were written for Alien 3 before David Fincher took over. One of those was turned into Pitch Black, giving birth to Riddick. — Source

5

Final Destination

CRACKED.COM Final Destination was conceived for The X-Files. In 1994, Jeffrey Reddick wrote Flight 180, a script he intended for The X-Files, his favorite show. The original death cheater was Scully's brother. — Source

4

CRACKED.COM Cyborg was cobbled together from two different canceled movies. Cannon Films suddenly shut down Masters of the Universe 2 and a Spider-Man movie. The sets and costumes were hurriedly repurposed into a sci-fi film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. — Source

3

Colombiana

CRACKED.COM A sequel to The Professional was turned into a different movie. In Colombiana, Zoe Saldana plays Cataleya, a ruthless assassin out for revenge. The project was originally about Mathilda, Natalie Portman's character in The Professional. — Source

2

CRACKED.COM The Following was born from Scream. Kevin Williamson came up with The Following while working on Scream. Не also used ideas from his abandoned script for Scream 3. — Source

1

GRACKED.COM I, Robot had nothing to do with Isaac Asimov at first. The script, originally titled Hardwired, was a classic, Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, which happened to involve robots. Then Fox acquired the right to Asimov's short stories collection, so the movie was reworked as the first in a series (which never took off). — Source

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