As the years go by, movie fans learn each and every thing there is to know about their favorite films. But sometimes, a single detail or two that could explain plot holes and dangling plot threads is missed. Funny, informative, or downright disturbing, it’s these little known secrets that can forever change the way you see your favorite movies.
Here are Screen Rant’s 10 Amazing Details That Completely Change Popular Movies.
Gremlins
Most of the marketing for Gremlins focused on the innocent little creature that accidentally spawns the troublemaking critters, but it’s never explained why something so terrible could come from a sweet little pet like Gizmo. The original plan for the movie gives an answer, when Gizmo winds up as the Gremlins leader, and the mastermind behind the whole terrifying attack that follows. It seems they changed that for the finished movie… either that, or Gizmo actually was the villain, and just kept it quiet.
The Matrix
Some leaps in logic or suspension of disbelief are needed for the basic premise of The Matrix, since computers using people for electricity doesn’t work quite as well as the movie suggests. But the original plan made a lot more sense: the Machines weren’t using humans as batteries, but using their brains as processors. That’s the reason a human born in the system could use “mind over matter” to gain control over the system, or reject their purpose. In the end, the idea was a bit too complicated to explain, so the directors abandoned it.
E.T. The Extraterrestrial
Steven Spielberg’s alien movie was a monumental hit, but the story of E.T. started as something much, much darker. The original idea focused on ten evil alien visitors capable of killing cows with a single outstretched finger. One of the aliens, named Buddy, wasn’t as evil as his alien colleagues, and wound up becoming friends with a young boy. Spielberg eventually realized the story worked better as a kids’ movie, and kept the rest of E.T.’s race off-screen. Thankfully, E.T.’s glowing finger didn’t instantly kill the things it touched, either.
Monsters, Inc.
The idea for Pixar’s monster movie changed several times over the years, with one version of Monsters Inc. following George Sanderson, a scarer who couldn’t scare kids - until he met a little girl who faced terror daily from her older brothers. As the girl told George to be scary, she overcame fears of her own. The story was originally changed, but George appears just as he would have, as the victim of constant decontamination.
The Avengers
The Wasp may finally be coming to Marvel’s movie universe, but the superheroine was originally going to make her debut in the first Avengers team-up. Director Joss Whedon eventually decided against it, and claimed that he loved the heroine too much, using her - a completely new character - to bounce off the other Avengers, eventually making her the biggest star. In the end, she was replaced by Black Widow. Which helps explain why the un-superpowered, quick-witted SHIELD agent was given a spot on the team without anyone batting an eye.
The LEGO Movie
No one could have known how successful a movie made of LEGO could be, but the original script had a completely different take on its star - and the movie cameos that would appear. It was originally going to be Indiana Jones who lost the Kragle to the movie’s villain, who had to recruit the insanely creative builder Emmet to save the day. The duo would have used portals to jump from worlds based on Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. The latter still showed up in the finished movie, but it missed out on the best moment, when Emmet and LEGO Indiana Jones came face to face with LEGO Han Solo - with Harrison Ford voicing both of his iconic roles in one scene. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for the sequel.
James Bond
These days, it’s a name famous for deadliness, charm, secret missions to save the world, and a love of vodka martinis:“Bond, James Bond.” But when author Ian Fleming created 007, his vision for the secret agent was a different one: basically, a dull everyman who was always surrounded by insane villains and dangers. With that in mind, he searched for the absolute dullest, most boring name imaginable - and he found it in author and ornithologist James Bond. Bond’s most well known book even makes an appearance in Die Another Day, in the hands of a more exciting agent than his creator ever intended.
Batman Returns
Tim Burton’s Batman sequel may not have been the universal hit of his original, but the director’s vision of Catwoman and Penguin are impossible to forget. They weren’t the only famous Batman characters originally planned to appear, either. Tim Burton had officially cast actor Marlon Wayans to play Robin, recruited by Batman to take down these new threats to Gotham City. When the movie got too crowded, Wayans was cut, and replaced as Robin in Batman Forever. Audiences never got to see that take on the Boy Wonder, but Wayans made out all right: he still got paid for his two-picture deal, and apparently still earns residuals from the movie he never appeared in.
Fight Club
Most fans of the Ed Norton/Brad Pitt mind bender will assume that Fight Club follows the novel it’s based on to the letter. But the endings are actually completely different. In the movie, Tyler Durden is ‘killed’ by the narrator, forced to watch as the bombs he planted level skyscrapers, hopefully tearing down civilization and the economy along with it. In the book, things go differently: Tyler still disappears, but the bombs never blow.
Instead, the narrator wakes up in a mental hospital he confuses with heaven, eventually visited by his followers, who are still on a mission to build a new society. It changes the message of the movie completely, but even the novel’s author has admitted he likes the movie’s ending better.
Star Wars
Every fan of the Skywalker Saga has to have wondered: did Obi-Wan Kenobi really think that Luke wouldn’t eventually find out that Darth Vader was his father? It seems weird that the Jedi would force Luke to hear it from the worst possible person, but a deleted scene recently surfaced that helps explain it. Apparently, it was Yoda who ordered Obi-Wan to keep it a secret, with a plan to train Luke in the ways of The Force to defeat Vader, without him ever learning it was his father under the mask. The scene didn’t make the cut, but it’s a surprisingly sinister side of Yoda that shows he’s not as cute or cuddly as he might seem…
Conclusion
Those are the game-changing secrets and story details we found in hit movies, but which ones did we miss? Name them in the comments, and remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos like this one.
