The art of filmmaking is a delicate balance of storytelling, cinematography, and emotional resonance. One of the most crucial aspects of this balance is the conclusion of a movie, often referred to as the ending. While many films conclude in a definitive manner, some cinematic masterpieces have undergone changes in their endings, resulting in multiple versions of the same story. The Notebook, a classic romance film, is an example of such a masterpiece. For years, fans of the movie have been familiar with the touching conclusion involving the reveal that the elderly couple from the film’s framing device are in fact the young couple we’ve been watching fall in love. However, an alternate ending to The Notebook exists, featuring a shot of birds soaring instead of the original conclusion.
This phenomenon is not unique to The Notebook. The Descent, a horror film, has an alternate ending that differs significantly from the original. The Descent’s ending, which shows Sarah seeming to escape the caves, is replaced in the UK version with a more ominous conclusion, revealing that Sarah never made it out and is instead trapped with the monsters. These changes are often made to cater to different audience preferences or cultural norms.
Another example of this is the 2013 comedy 21 & Over, which had an alternate ending in China, where the main character, Jeff Chang, returns to China and becomes a better person, unlike the original conclusion, where he tells off his controlling father. These changes are made to make the movie more palatable to the customs of mainstream Chinese cinema norms.
Fight Club, a cult classic, also has an alternate ending, which abruptly stops the movie in the third act and reveals that the local cops foiled a plan to blow up buildings and Tyler Durden got sent to an insane asylum. The intent behind this new finale seems to make for a more rule-abiding climax that didn’t suggest societal subversion of any kind.
A Still From The Notebook 2004 (Photo: The Notebook)
Minions: The Rise of Gru, a children’s film, was also given an alternate ending, featuring on-screen text explaining that Wild Knuckles, a crook, would eventually be incarcerated and Gru would return to his family. This is consistent with how Western media depicting morally loose characters has often been altered in China.
American studios also often edit imported movie endings, often robbing titles of cultural specificity integral to their stories. A tragic example of this is the 2013 Wong Kar-wai movie The Grandmaster, which received an alternate cut in America meant to make the film’s plot more “comprehensible” to moviegoers in this country.
Movies getting new endings for certain countries is an extremely common occurrence, with reasons ranging from technological goofs to reflections of creative restrictions facing mainstream cinema in China. Exploring the reasoning behind these changes can lend insight into the different standards and cultural norms for the cinema of varying countries.
