Random Movie Endings That Are Better Than Books They Were Based On (12 items)

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  (#5) It

  • Tim Curry, Seth Green, John Ritter, Annette O'Toole, Jonathan Brandis, Harry Anderson, Chelan Simmons, Olivia Hussey, Richard Masur, Laura Harris, Emily Perkins, Richard Thomas, Jay Brazeau, Venus Terzo, Dennis Christopher, Tim Reid, Frank C. Turner, Tom Heaton, Michael Cole, Gabe Khouth, Florence Patterson, Sheila Moore, Ryan Michael, Charles Siegel, Ben Heller, Brandon Crane, Steve Makaj, Adam Faraizl, Tony Dakota, Jarred Blancard, Donna Peerless, Drum Garrett, Marlon Taylor, Caitlin Hicks

  How the book ended: The book jumps from "the Losers" characters as children to the same characters in adulthood. But the childhood portion ends with a Bill-versus-It sewer showdown with the help of an ancient tortoise named Maturin. After defeating It, the Losers have a casual orgy and make a blood oath to return to Derry if It should ever return. 

  How the movie ended: The Losers venture into the sewers to save Beverly, who has been captured by It. It attempts to lure in Bill by appearing as his deceased brother Georgie, and then attempts to turn the group against Bill, offering to take only him and go into hibernation. Ultimately, the friends all face their fears to defeat It, and they swear to return to Derry if It comes back.

  First of all, the book's version of events is way too complicated for the film version. The more otherworldly and fantastical elements that are added to the final battle, the less terrifying and important It seems. By simplifying the film's ending into the characters all battling their own fears, the audience can better understand what It is and what It wants, making It a more satisfying monster. And thankfully, the movie decided to do away with the child group sex scene.
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  (#3) The Notebook

  • Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, James Garner, James Marsden, Joan Allen, Sam Shepard, Gena Rowlands, Kevin Connolly, Paul Johansson, Obba Babatunde, Jamie Anne Allman, Heather Wahlquist, David Thornton, Ed Grady, Matthew Barry, Mark Johnson, Cullen Moss, Traci Dinwiddie, Rebecca Koon, Starletta Dupois, Scott Ritenour, Milton Buras, Michael L. Nesbitt, Sylvia Jefferies, Deborah Hobart, Jennifer Echols, Robert Fraisse, Chuck Pacheco, Meredith Zealy, Jonathan Parks Jordan, Sandra W. Van Natta, Sasha Azevedo, Matt Shelly, Michael D. Fuller, Mark Garner, Lindy Newton, Nancy De Mayo, Barbara Weetman, Erin Guzowski, Stephanie Wheeler, James Middleton, Riley Novak, Leslea Fisher, Geoffrey Knight, Todd Lewis, Elizabeth Bond, Andrew Schaff, Eve Kagan, Peter Rosenfeld, David Abrams, Robert Ivey, John Cundari, Anthony-Michael Q. Thomas, Daniel Chamblin, Kweli Leapart, Ronald Betts, Hugh Robertson, Daniel Czekalski, Jude Kitchens, Pat Leonard, Madison Wayne Ellis, Renée Amber, Patricia Buckley-Moss, Meredith O'Brien, Tim O'Brien, Frederick Bingham, Bradley D. Capshaw, Sherril M. Turner, James Scott Deaton, Tim Ivey, Robert Washington, Julianne Keller Lewis

  How the book ended: Nicholas Sparks's book ends in a similar scene to the film - Noah slips into Allie's bedroom at night. The book's ending is more ambiguous: He kisses her and she starts to unbutton his shirt, and... that's it. We learn in the sequel, The Wedding, that Allie passed that night but Noah lives on.

  How the movie ended: Noah sneaks into Allie's room. She has a lucid moment where she remembers him and the two pass away in each other's arms... to sobbing heard round the world. 

  The movie ending is memorable and bittersweet. It provides closure to the two characters and their love story. To have them start to get freaky and then call it a wrap in the film version would've cheapened their romance to viewers, and to have only one of them pass would've been too cruel to digest. The whole point of the story (and all those tears) is that their love defies all obstacles and odds, and the movie proves that to be true with its ending.
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  (#1) Forrest Gump

  • Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Brendan Shanahan, Dick Cavett, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Bobby Richardson, Mykelti Williamson, Afemo Omilami, Michael Jace, Sam Anderson, Mary Ellen Trainor, Geoffrey Blake, Joe Alaskey, Peter Dobson, Hanna R. Hall, Sonny Shroyer, Brett Rice, Al Harrington, Greg Brown, Aaron Michael Lacey, Bob Penny, Harold Herthum, Jim Boeke, Hallie D'Amore, David Brisbin, Jacqueline Lovell, Stephen Bridgewater, Byron Minns, John Voldstad, Mike Jolly, Margo Moorer, Rob Adams, John Randall, Richard D'Alessandro, Shann Johnson, Markus Alexander, Robb Skyler, Vanessa Roth, Don Fischer, Rebecca Williams, Dick Stilwell, Bill Roberson, Marla Sucharetza, Michael Connor Humphreys, Bryan Hanna, Shawn Michael Perry, Troy Christian, Jeanne Hanna, Zach Hanner, George Kelly, Ellsworth Hanna, Ione M. Telech, Michael Burgess, Charles Boswell, William Shipman, Daniel C. Striepeke, Nora Dunfee, John Glenn Harding, Kirk Ward, Michael Mattison, John William Galt, Bob Harks, Christopher Jones, Jason McGuire, Tyler Long, Deborah McTeer, James Ent, Rob Landry, Jed Gillin, Elizabeth Ann Hanks, Keri-Anne Bilotta, Joe Abby, John Worsham, Christine Seabrook, Nathalie Hendrix, Joe Washington, Paulie DiCocco, Timothy McNeil, Isabel Rose, W. Benson Terry, Steven Griffith, Eric Underwood, Christopher James Hall, Scott Oliver, Timothy Record, Matt Wallace, Hilary Chaplain, Ed Davis, Jim Keller, Lazarus Jackson, Kevin Mangan, Joe Stefanelli, Alexander Zemeckis, Lonnie Hamilton, Bonnie Ann Burgess, Grady Bowman, Steve DeRelian, Juan Singleton, Logan Livingston Gomez, Frank Geyer, Teresa Denton, Emily Carey, Chiffonye Cobb, Tim Perry, Tiffany Salerno, Aaron Izbicki, Mark A. Rich, Kitty K. Green, Mark Matheisen, Daniel J. Gillooly, Marlena Smalls, Danté McCarthy, Jim Damron, Ben Waddel, Jack Bowden, Gary Robinson, Calvin Gadsden, Lenny Herb, Pete Auster, Jeffrey Winner, Kevin Davis, Russ Wilson, Fay Genens, Aloysius Gigl, Michael Flannery, Matt Rebenkoff, Bruce Lucvia, Michael McFall, Michael Kemmerling, Paul Raczkowski, Jay Ross, Kenneth Bevington, Angela Lomas, Peter Bannon

  How the book ended: Forrest runs into Jenny (a very different character than in the film) after an impromptu trip to Savannah, where he is playing harmonica on the street. She is with a boy, also named Forrest, who she reveals is his son. Forrest Gump talks to the boy briefly and then they part ways. Forrest decides to set aside money for his son from his shrimping business. He briefly considers attempting to reunite with Jenny, who is married and raising Forrest Jr. with another man, but ultimately decides his son is better off without him as the father.

  How the movie ended: Forrest is visiting Jenny in Savannah after receiving a letter from her. Upon seeing her, he meets his son, Forrest, and Jenny reveals that she is sick with an incurable virus (thought by many viewers to be HIV/AIDS or hepatitis C). Mother and son move back to Alabama to live with Forrest, where he and Jenny marry. She passes the following year, and Forrest is shown taking his son to the bus stop for his first day of school.

  In the book version, Jenny is content raising Forrest's child with another man and never informs him of his existence until she happens to run into him on the street. Rude. The other problematic piece of the book ending is that Jenny and Forrest both seem to believe that because he is intellectually disabled he is incapable of raising a child. The ending of the book suggests that Forrest does the right thing for his son by removing himself from the picture, whereas the film ending shows Forrest as the loving and devoted father we all know his character can be.
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  (#6) The Devil Wears Prada

  • Anne Hathaway, Heidi Klum, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Gisele, Stanley Tucci, Simon Baker, Rebecca Mader, Adrian Grenier, Bridget Hall, Daniel Sunjata, Tracie Thoms, Valentino Garavani, Alyssa Sutherland, Stephanie Szostak, Inés Rivero, Emily Sandberg, Nina Lisandrello, James Naughton, John Rothman, George C. Wolfe, David Marshall Grant, Alexie Gilmore, Julie Jei, Rich Sommer, Tim Krueger, Pamela Fischer, Tibor Feldman, Lauren Weisberger, Jennifer Elise Gould, Andrea Bertola, Denis McKeown, Robert Verdi, Colleen Dengel, Taylor Treadwell, Carl Burrows, Guy A. Fortt, James Cronin, Justin Restivo, Carla Collado, Brandhyze Stanley, Suzanne Dengel, Hector Lincoln, Scott Hatfield, David Callegatti, Mateo Moreno, Alexander Blaise, Mira Tzur, Molyneau DuBelle, Ivan Magrin-Chagnolleau, John Graham, Paul Keany, Laura D. Williams, Jimena Hoyos, Stan Newman, Laura McDavid, Steve Benisty, Robert Stio, L.J. Ganser, Stuart Lopoten, Lindsay Brice, Eric Seltzer, Zev McAllister, Caroline Slaughter, Wells Dixon, Ingrid Schram, Rori Cannon, Matt Murray, Ilona Alexandra

  How the book ended: After telling off Miranda Priestly, Andrea is blacklisted from the publishing industry and moves back home with her parents. She works on her writing and sells off her designer clothing. She eventually lands an interview in the same building as Runway and sees Miranda's latest miserable assistant. 

  How the movie ended: On the Paris trip with Miranda, Andy realizes she is morphing into the monster that is her boss, and walks away on the spot. She reunites with her boyfriend Nate and is shown interviewing at another writing job. She gets the job and the editor tells her that Miranda Priestly informed him that Andy was her "biggest disappointment" but that he would be an idiot not to hire her. Andy later sees Miranda getting into a car and waves. Miranda doesn't acknowledge her but smiles once inside the vehicle.

  Lauren Weisberger's ending just feels meh. Andrea moves on from Runway but we don't get a lot of closure on her relationship with Miranda or what her future holds. In the film ending, Miranda and Andy demonstrate a mutual respect for each other that feels true to the characters and their relationship. Neither are black and white characters. They may take different paths but they also share an understanding and appreciation for what the other is trying to accomplish.
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  (#2) The Mist

  • Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Alexa Davalos, Toby Jones, Andre Braugher, Samuel Witwer, Melissa McBride, William Sadler, Jeffrey DeMunn, Frances Sternhagen, Buck Taylor, Chris Owen, Andrew Stahl, David Jensen, Ritchie Montgomery, Julio Cedillo, Louis Herthum, Juan Gabriel Pareja, Nathan Gamble, Ron Clinton Smith, Jackson Hurst, Ted Ferguson, Amin Joseph, Robert C. Treveiler, Ron Fagan, Kim Wall, Cherami Leigh, Eric Kelly McFarland, Jimmy Lee Jr., Ginnie Randall, Brian Libby, Chuck Vail, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339472/, Dodie Brown, Tiffany Morgan, Jay Amor, Amy McGee, Walt Hollis, Travis Fontenot, Cindy McBride, Kip Cummings, Kevin Beard, Steven E. Williams, Tammy Eaton, Gregg Brazzel, Kristin Barnhart, Brandon O'Dell, Mike Martindale, Michaela Morgan, John F. Daniel, Brian Scott Hunt, Derek Cox-Berg, Taylor E. Brown, Kelly Lintz, Walter Fauntleroy, Sonny Franks, Susan Malerstein, Darrick Mosley, Pamela Houghton

  How the book ended: David and his mist-surviving friends mostly escape the supermarket (RIP Ollie) and drive through the monster-filled mist. They eventually find an abandoned Howard Johnson's to stay the night, and David hears the word "Hartford" on the radio. He plans to make their way to Hartford in the hopes of finding refuge there.

  How the movie ended: David and his mist-survivng friends are again driving, but rather than succumb to a terrifying death-by-mist, they all agree to have David off them instead. He shoots the other passengers (including his son) and surrenders himself to death. Suddenly, the military arrives on site to save the day and the mist dissipates, leaving David with the realization that he took his companions' lives for nothing.

  The book ending follows a very familiar ending of the science fiction/apocalyptic genre, where the future is ambiguous but there is a thread of hope in some safe haven or future. This makes the film ending, where this is just a temporary catastrophe and the world is not, in fact, ending, all the more jaw-dropping and gut-wrenching. It emphasizes the importance of human actions and how we react to disasters and unknown phenomena over the phenomenon itself.
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  (#4) The Prestige

  • Scarlett Johansson, David Bowie, Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Piper Perabo, Rebecca Hall, Andy Serkis, Ricky Jay, Roger Rees, Edward Hibbert, Daniel Davis, Jim Piddock, Jamie Harris, William Morgan Sheppard, Christopher Neame, Gary Sievers, Ezra Buzzington, Mark Ryan, Enn Reitel, Chao-Li Chi, Ron Perkins, Sam Menning, Anthony DeMarco, James Lancaster, Basil McCurry, Russ Fega, James Otis, Ernest Heinz, Julia Sanford, Wendy Rosoff, Inna Swann, Zoe Merg, Olivia Merg, Kevin Will, Jodi Bianca Wise, Brian Tahash, Samantha Mahurin, Chris Cleveland, Monty Stuart, Jesse Wilde, John B. Crye, Tim Pilleri, Clive Kennedy, Deanna Lynn Walsh, Rob Arbogast, Erin Cipolletti, Sean Howse, Gregory Humphreys, Christopher Judges, J. Paul Moore, Johnny Liska, Scott Davis, Nikki Glick

  How the book ended: Angier is living in two duplicated forms after Borden mistakenly saves his duplicate version backstage. The Angier duplicate attacks a Borden twin, who later perishes. Original Angier, who is terminally ill, also passes. The duplicate version tries to teleport into dead Angier's original body in the hopes of uniting as a whole again. Through Angier and Borden's great grandchildren, it's revealed that Angier, in some version, lives on. 

  How the movie ended: After Borden is found backstage with a deceased Angier duplicate, he is eventually hanged for his murder. Before Borden's demise, Angier visits disguised as Lord Caldlow, with Borden's daughter as his ward. The remaining Borden twin later shoots Angier, revealing their "trick" as Angier perishes. As he leaves, Borden #2 finds the tanks of deceased Angier duplicates and realizes that Angier was effectively drowning himself night after night.

  Both tellings manage to be confusing as hell. But the book and the film diverge when the book has Angier live on in two forms. While both narratives have a supernatural element chalked up to "science," the book's version becomes unnecessarily convoluted and lowers the stakes. With two versions of a main character existing, neither of them fully whole, they both feel unimportant. The book breaks its own rules and ends up feeling like a cheap trick, while the film's ending is smarter and finishes like a well-executed illusion.

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