Downbeat endings are by no means out of the question in mainstream movies, but there have been times where filmmakers have, often at the last minute, had to go back and shoot a happier ending for one reason or another. For your delectation, here are 12 examples of movies with downbeat endings that were filmed but ultimately replaced. Many of them still survive in some form, while others have yet to surface…

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956)

An irresistible amalgam of film noir and paranoid science fiction, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers is an out-and-out classic. It sees middle America taken over not by force of arms, but seemingly overnight; the inhabitants of Santa Mira are slowly replaced by identical, emotionless clones, one by one. Kevin McCarthy plays a doctor who spots the invasion, but seems powerless to prevent it. In the film’s most spectacular scene, the doctor rushes onto a California highway, shouting helplessly at passing cars and then directly into the audience’s faces: “They’re here! They’re here! You’re next!”

Director Don Siegel and screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring intended for his movie to end on this blood-curdling note. Studio bosses at Allied Artists reeled at such a gloomy conclusion, however, and effectively forced Siegel to shoot a new wrap-around sequence that framed the film’s events as a flashback. This way, the audience sees that McCarthy’s doctor’s already held in the safety of a hospital, and that the good old FBI had stepped in to save America just in the nick of time.

Years later, Siegel still maintained that the enforced studio change “nearly ruined” his movie. But even with the tacked-on beginning and ending, his Invasion still has a raw power. The 1978 and 1993 remakes, meanwhile, got to keep their downbeat final scenes.

We wrote much more about Invasion of the Body Snatchers here.

First Blood (1982)