SPOILER WARNING: Inevitably, this piece talks about the ending of many of the films concerned.
Its best to avoid individual entries about films youre not familiar with to be on the safe said.
That said, weve tried to be as spoiler-light as possible.
As far back as 1939, movies were being test screened.
For the feedback came in that Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow was slowing the film down.
In this instance, the studio held its nerve.
Thats not been the case.
But what weve tried to dig up here is a few lesser known stories.
In some instances, the test audience improved the film.
In some, it damaged it.
In others, it barely make a scratch.
It saw Cillian Murphys character lying in his hospital bed, having being shot, slowly dying.
Thats too downbeat!, screamed the test audiences.
But then Fincher has learned the hard way to protect his work.
Theres no final directors cut ofAlien 3available, after all, because he never ultimately got to make one.
Eventually, the-then young director refused to have anything more to do with it.
APOCALYPSE NOW
Many directors embrace the test screening process, using it to help shape their films.
Francis Ford Coppola in particular would be grateful to it when piecingApocalypse Nowtogether.
Coppola would continually use test screenings throughout his work, and well be coming back to him soon.
And thus Miller was given relatively free reign to make a follow-up.
And Universal didnt have much time to make changes.
A special premiere had to be cancelled to accommodate the changes.
For more on this, heres our piece onedgy, expensive films that got through the studio system.
The film sees Tom Hankss Josh return to his youth, to the delight of his parents.
Meanwhile, were left with the still-adult Perkins, left to solemnly drive away, alone.
Thats not what test audiences wanted, however.
However, Marshall and her co-producer stood firm.
Perkinss character was doomed, therefore, to eternal loneliness.
THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES
More Tom Hanks.
Julie Salamons bookThe Devils Candyis an exhaustive and brilliant account of the Hollywoodisation (is that a word?
Bah, it is now) of Tom WolfesThe Bonfire Of The Vanities.
Late on, she talks about how De Palma tested the film.
The audience didnt get the film.
Interestingly, Salomon also revealed that De Palma regularly used Steven Spielberg to help preview his films.
I had that same reaction.
The scores came back as passable, but nowhere near the numbers that Warner Bros was looking for.
Given that this was a low budget production though, funding was relatively sparse.
Turns out, it was Mel Brooks who paid the bill.
Thats a conventional tactic for a big movie now, but not in 1992.
Bram Stokers Draculawould go on to take over $200m at the global box office.
Both Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn came out of the project well.
That ending went down just as badly, as it happened.
But the film hit big anyway.
BUFFALO SOLDIERS
Gregor Jordans excellent war comedyBuffalo Soldierswas a well-charted victim of timing.
However, it screened the film to a test audience in January 2002, in New York City.
Miramax needed to leave more time.
It eventually got a small and not entirely successful release in July 2003.
As a result, thats exactly what happened.
New scenes were filmed with Goodman, and added to the final cut of the film.
That test audience should be allowed to watch more films, and request more John Goodman.
CLIFFHANGER
Interesting one, this.
In the trailer for Renny Harlins 1993 hitCliffhanger, Sylvester Stallone is seen jumping from one cliff to another.
Its a 40 foot leap, and when test audiences were presentated with this, they guffawed.
They just didnt buy it could be possible.
It made it to the film.
Perhaps inevitably then, the early test screenings ofThe Dark Crystalwere not positive ones.
As soon as the movie started, people began walking out.
The negative press followed, but Henson stood form.
He reworked the film a little, but not much.
He insulated himself from the excesses of the test screening process by buying his own negative back.
His excellent movie was originally set to end with with none of the lead characters survivors.
DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY
Rumours still abound regarding a sequel to Rawson Marshall-ThurbersDodgeball.
But this was a film that test audiences demanded, and got, a change to.
He would not be alone in that regard.
In fact, the film changed dramatically.
It had a happy ending, but only just…
ERIN BROCKOVICH
Simple one, this.
The arguments got to the point where the studio wanted to change the title of the film.
However, when the test scores came back high, Universal relented.
The title stayed, the film became a hit, it won gongs, and Roberts career was revived.
The Extra Terrestrialhardly had the most chipper ending when it did finally make it cinemas.
But the story goes that in one cut of the film that was tested, E.T.
died, rather than popped into his spaceship to go home.
A new ending, where E.T.
lived, was duly filmed.
Then get this the film fast forward nine months, and Ali Larters Clear gives birth to his son.
Both of these endings were nixed by test audiences, leaving the one that the film ultimately used.
Kerr Smiths Carter reportedly at a cost of a couple of million dollars was knocked off instead.
In the original story, John Rambo perished at the hands of Trautman.
This is also what happens in the novel upon which Rambo is based.
Yet the test audiences were not happy with this, and demanded that Rambo lived.
Now, Stallone is getting to work onRambo 5.
But also, the test audience, according to New York magazine, giggled at Kevins penis.
Proof positive that sometimes, if you build it, they wont come.
Its okay, thats taxi out theres for us.
FRIENDS
A brief sojourn into television.
When they had the opportunity to see the pilot episode, they werent impressed.
Furthermore, the coffee house setting was confusing to viewers.
It was scored 41 out of 100, and ranked weak.
Yikes.you’re able to find the full report here.
Then, at the behest of Warner Bros, a pair of test screenings were arranged in California.
40 people walked out of the first one within ten minutes of it starting.
Thats the version that ultimately made it to cinemas.
However, Miramax a firm with something of a reputation for chopping away at films wanted changes.
It would be fair to say that the final cut was notably different.
Enter the test audience.
It all made little difference.
JAWS
Sometimes, a test screening can make a great film even better.
He had scream number two.
Shones book, incidentally, is well worth a look, going in some detail through theJawstesting process.
Right then: page two of this list.
Weve had to split it up to help with loading times, and gubbins such as that.
But at least were getting started again with a chat about the infamousLast Action Hero.
Buckle up…
LAST ACTION HERO
Arnold Schwarzenegger had strong ideas aboutLast Action Hero.
And in a moment of prescience, Schwarzenegger wanted his latest action fest to have a family rating.
A PG-13 action blockbuster?
Theyd surely never catch on.
The problem was that the audience wanted an Schwarzenegger action film that didnt flinch.
Yet even on the poster forLast Action Hero, Arnie wasnt holding a gun.
Surely this wasnt a big film that was pretending the Austrian Oak was an actor?
Test screenings were not good.
But take place it did, and all concerned realised they had a problem.
Shown in an incomplete state, an audience that started off whopping and foot-stomping ended up catatonic.
In the words of one person at the screening, the movie lay there like a big friend egg.
Columbia tried to fix it.
The ad campaign threw in more guns.
But the battle was lost.
Thats what Dennis Hopper did with his sophomore directorial effort,The Last Movie.
A test screening was organized ofThe Last Movieat the University Of Iowa.
Hopper found himself booed and jeered afterwards, with the audience throwing objects in his direction.
Spotting a woman he took a liking to by a vending machine in the lobby, Hopper approached her.
Scott would eventually assemble a directors cut many years later, which jigsawed the movie into more convincing shape.
The title of Timothy Daltons final 007 adventure was originallyLicence Revoked.
TheJames Bondteam changed the title.
The changes were made.
THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS
Theres no happy ending here, either.
The majority of footage that was hacked away has never resurfaced.
The film consequently did badly on its original release and got poor critical notices as well.
Turns out this was not the finest work of a test audience.
The original ending surfaced on the DVD release, and leaves things in a more interestingly place.
Paltrows Emily shoots Douglas Steven.
She presents the whole thing as self-defeance.
Instead, the version that was first screened saw Gere walk away from Roberts after her week-long makeover.
They wanted the pair to end up together, thats just what happened, box office gold followed.
Whilst that was happening, British audiences were already on their way to the bus stop.
Theres a good jolt or two inRaising Cain, and a great performance from John Lithgow.
However, for a crucial time, De Palma lost confidence in his film.
Test screenings were reportedly disastrous, and as a result of that, he heavily recut his film.
The film, for starters, would have opened with her, rather than Lithgows Carter Nix.
It got generally good to strong reviews too, with the political content in particular coming in for praise.
However, as he told us, in the first test screening ofRoboCop, it tested very high.
And the second answer was because, It feels like it deals with current affairs.
And the third answer was, Because it feels emotional.'
Effectively, the list of things that the studio was looking to tone down.
But heres an example of a film where just the mere reports of bad test screenings blighted a project.
The film was thus recut, and reshoots were ordered.
That advance negative buzz from the aforementioned early screenings had no counterpoint.
A SAILOR-MADE MAN
Heres a story that goes right back to 1921.
Test screenings had been used for a few years by this stage, to help with silent films.
Fincher and Freeman were not keen on it.
Good job they werent….
Theres more on the Seven test screenings here.
THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
Gah.
Its well worth taking a look at Mark Kermodes book ofThe Shawshank Redemptionmovie story.
Instead, the original version hinged on hope, as did Stephen Kings original short story.
In fact, the last words of Kings prose were I hope.
That lingering question about hope was thus firmly answered, diluting the ending of the picture in the process.
So: would Denise Richardss character find love with Patrick Muldoon or Casper Van Dien?
You may recall, if you know that film, that Richards Carmen breaks up with Van Diens Rico.
But in the original cut, she has a smooch with Muldoons Zander.
And the test audience reportedly hated her character as a result.
An edit, that reduced the relationship we see between Zander and Carmen.
The test audience didnt mind that.
Furthermore, the original opening, set in a morgue, invoked laughter.
It would be fair to say that it did not go down well.
So what got cut?
Theres the Lacy and Clark romance.
Theres the first Nuclear Man.
Its unlikely that a directors cut could saveSuperman IV.
But it may just paper over one or two of its many cracks.
The very last shot hadTank Girlburping into the camera, Hewlett remembers.
Hewlett shared his view on the process, and its not too positive a one.
Its ridiculous having a bunch of snotty little 14-year olds deciding how a film should be made.
They were probably just snogging their bird or pulling each others hair throughout the whole thing, he suggested.
Hewlett also revealed that a scene withTank Girl, Booga and a ten-inch prosthetic cock also got cut.
A $5,000 cock.
It looked brilliant, he said.
The whole scene was very romantic.
But MGM took it out.
We were going its innocent, like seeing your mum and dad in bed together.
As Lawrence Journal-World reported back in June 1994, an early test screening in Dallas proved dismal.
So dismal, in fact, that Nichols would perform much surgery on his film.
Its a great Morricone score, incidentally, should you get the chance to try it.
ButWolfended up a strange mess, with some really good moments.
He didnt ultimately succeed, but the film nonetheless did at least do half decent business.
And thats what they got.
Like us onFacebookand follow us onTwitterfor all news updates related to the world of geek.
AndGoogle+, if thats your thing!
