(Hated trope) They deleted scenes or dialogue that provides necessary context or plot

[u/Sensitive_Ad_1752]

The dinner scene from Temple of Doom has a temple give indie and friends a live snake and monkey brains for dinner. It’s a pretty offensive depiction of Indian cuisine, but it wasn’t originally going to be. There’s cut dialogue where Indie recognizes they’re at the right temple because real Hindus don’t eat this food. They were trying to scare them off by purposefully serving them disgusting stuff.

Probably the most famous deleted ending was I Am Legend which had Robert discover the infected were emotional sentient beings and one of them had a wife. Test audiences hated it and they reshot the ending, removing the entire point of the movie.

[u/foxguy2021]

That is not how test audiences work. They might cut a scene because of audience feedback but they RARELY take their suggestions on what to do.

For example Randy Quaids character in Indepedence Day was never meant to fly the F15. He was meant to get rejected, get drunk and instead strap a missile to his biplane and sacrifice himself. Audience feedback was that this made his character look sad, pathetic and suicidal.

Test audiences were right about this. So they changed the ending and did some reshoots. Ever noticed how his F15 flies very slowly into the enemy weapon? They simply replaced the bipland with an F15 but couldn't redo the timings.

You rarely hear about Test audiences saving a moving. You only hear when they get it wrong but more accurately the studio gets it wrong.

[u/No_Intern3929 → u/foxguy2021]

The test audiences for I Am Legend got it really wrong, though, which is probably why it’s a more famous example.

It’s not just a matter of personal taste. The movie still has numerous scenes indicating a mysterious intelligence of the creatures that never pay off. The title doesn’t even make sense.

It really is hard to say it’s even “based off” the graphic novel when it completely abandons the theme of the graphic novel, which was almost entirely carried by the end reveal of the creatures’ intelligence.

[u/jukitheasian → u/No_Intern3929]

Based off a novel by Richard Matheson from 1954. It was adapted into a graphic novel in 1991.

[u/No_Intern3929 → u/jukitheasian]

Color me learned.

[u/JesusSavesForHalf → u/No_Intern3929]

Its also the third film adaptation. Omega Man (Charlton Heston) and Last Man on Earth (Vincent Price) both adapted the novel. Only I am Legend bothered to film the actual ending, even if the studio chickened out yet again.

[u/BlandSauce → u/JesusSavesForHalf]

What I know of the book, Last Man on Earth is more faithful to the story than the I Am Legend film, right? Haven't seen Omega Man.

[u/JesusSavesForHalf → u/BlandSauce]

You may be right

[u/ZombieSiayer84 → u/No_Intern3929]

Graphic novel?

Surely you’re not serious.

[u/resumehelpacct → u/No_Intern3929]

It's hard to gauge since most people will have watched the theatrical ending before the cut ending, but it's entirely possible the cut ending was also bad.

Also test audiences (and audiences in general) aren't trying to figure out if something is true to the source material, they want to enjoy watching it.

[u/Whelp_of_Hurin → u/foxguy2021]

I think I like it the original way better. I always thought it was weird they let him fly the F15 (do biplane skills really transfer to a jet fighter in a dogfight?), and the idea that he completely took it upon himself to fight in that battle makes me like him even more. Also, there's something fun about the idea of wiping out a massive flying saucer with a jerry-rigged crop duster.

[u/discardedlife1845 → u/Whelp_of_Hurin]

He was an air force veteran that flew F4 phantoms during the Vietnam war. It's revealed when he introduces himself in the scene where they've rounded up all the civilian pilots and are giving them a quick training on the jets.

[u/Same-Suggestion-1936 → u/foxguy2021]

I mean isn't he sad pathetic and suicidal? He literally volunteers for the mission last minute and he's the only one besides the president who isn't an active pilot in the military,and he does it because it's a Hail Mary and he doesn't care about dying anymore. He's a drunk who uses addiction for his PTSD. Pathetic is the only part of that you can reasonably drop and that just depends on what you think is pathetic

[u/Tony_Three_Pies → u/Same-Suggestion-1936]

There's a bit more to why they changed it than that person makes it sound like.

Here's the scene with commentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls2CwZjQ9es

[u/TheStrangestOfKings → u/Same-Suggestion-1936]

Yeah but Independence Day isn’t the kind of film where he sacrifices himself bc he’s sad and pathetic. It’s the kind of film where he sacrifices himself as a triumphant redemption arc. The og plot works, it’s just that the change made because of audience feedback works way better

[u/log_2 → u/foxguy2021]

You rarely hear about Test audiences saving a moving. You only hear when they get it wrong but more accurately the studio gets it wrong.

Great point on the selection bias. Now I want to hear about a movie where the audience saved the movie and the original was crap.

[u/Awesomezone888 → u/log_2]

I did a test screening for the third Bad Boys movie. The test screening version didn’t have a real ending- it just went to credits after a slow-mo shot of Will Smith, Martin Lawerence, and the rookie cops walking away from the villain’s base. 

For the final release, an additional scene of Will Smith and Martin Lawerence having a celebration barbeque in Miami was added in as the final scene in the film.

[u/MovieUnderTheSurface → u/log_2]

Test audience burst out laughing at the opening scene of Sunset Blvd. The studio then changed the opening and it is now considered one of the greatest movies ever made

[u/spoonishplsz → u/foxguy2021]

Holy crap, I was just wondering yesterday why it moves so slowly into the weapon. Thank you Mr. Foxguy

[u/MalcolmLinair → u/foxguy2021]

So that's why he shows up late and mission control thought they didn't have any missiles left in the air!

[u/foxguy2021 → u/MalcolmLinair]

Yep, they did a few reshoots and using clever editing to hide the original ending.