50 cuts and revisions that changed your favourite films

Dawn Of The Dead (1978)

What Was Cut: The original, much bleaker ending. In the original script, Peter and Francine decide to kill themselves rather that venturing further into the unknown of a zombie-strewn US. Peter shoves Francine's head into helicopter blades before shooting himself. 

If It Had Stayed In: Everybody would have left the cinema on a real downer. We much prefer George A. Romero's more ambiguously hopeful ending, though there's no denying the original was spectacularly ballsy.

Elysium (2013)

What Was Cut: They look like sex bots, but these unused android designs were actually for 'sexy robot fashion models', as designed by Aaron Beck.

They still look like sex bots to us…

If It Had Stayed In: It would have added an extra wrinkle to the fascinating world that Neill Blomkamp created with Elysium

Iron Man (2008)

What Was Cut: Ghostface Killah - whose first album, Ironman, was released in 1996 and calls himself Tony Stark - originally had a cameo appearance in the 'real' Tony's first big screen outing.

If It Had Stayed In : It would have been a bizarre little joke that arguably few viewers would have understood.

Especially, as Killah explains: "We called each other Tony onscreen. I'm like, 'Tony Stark, I got your jet, I didn't mess it up.' He was like, 'I got the Bentley for you, I laced it up.'" Um, yeah…

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

What Was Cut: "If you want the truth about your parents, Peter, come and get it."

Numerous elements from this reboot's trailer were mysteriously absent when the finished film hit screens - including a ton of stuff about Peter's parents, and the ominous question: "You think what happened to you was an accident, do you have an idea what you really are?"

If It Had Stayed In: It might have over-clogged an already busy origin story, which is probably why the plot-thread was moved over to The Amazing Spider-Man 2. 

Skyfall (2012)

What Was Cut: Appearing in the teaser trailer but never making it into Skyfall's final cut, a scene of Bond jogging through Regent's Park, presumably in a sequence that takes place before his MI6 Re-Evaluation test.

If It Had Stayed In: Sam Mendes' film is a real, visual celebration of London, and this shows off Regent's Park in a way that few film's have. 

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

What Was Cut: A really exciting ground-level fight between the Howling Commandos and HYDRA, in which bombs explode, the earth shakes and people get vaporised by blue energy.

Yes, that's us getting our first glimpse of the Cosmic Cube tech.

If It Had Stayed In: It would have given Cap an even more personal vendetta against HYDRA, and also given us a really cool action scene.

Alien: Resurrection (1997)

What Was Cut: A scene scripted by Joss Whedon involved Ripley 8 (Sigourney Weaver) et al making their way through a jungle-like greenhouse, only to be attacked by xenomorphs through the foliage.  

If It Had Stayed In : It would have been a really interesting, and potentially very cool, look at Aliens stalking and killing in fresh environment. And probably been a much better, and more fitting, action set-piece than the shonky, underwater CG xeno sequence we got. 

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

What Was Cut: A nightmare of a scene. After Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) sends Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) to Toontown, he removes a sack from Eddie's head and reveals that Eddie now has a cartoon pig's face over his own.

One turpentine shower later and Eddie's back to normal. Close shave…

If It Had Stayed In: The film would have been even more terrifying than before. And it's already brilliant horrific. 

X-Men: First Class (2011)

What Was Cut: In what has now been affectionately branded 'Dragneto', Michael Fassbender wore a wig and a dress in the stripclub scene of this prequel.

Professor X (James McAvoy) shows off his psychic powers by making Angel (Zoe Kravitz) see a vision of Magneto in drag…

If It Had Stayed In: It might have made us less intimidated by Magneto, which wouldn't exactly have worked in the film's favour later on. 

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

What Was Cut: Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber's film originally went out with a far superior ending, making for one of the best deleted scenes ever.

Realising that he has truly, irrevocably fucked up with his temporal tinkering, Ashton Kutcher's time-traveller journeys all the way back into his mother's womb. There, he strangles himself using the umbilical cord…

If It Had Stayed In: The tweenie Kutcher fans would have been upset, but we would have applauded a film that dared to got for a far braver, far smarter conclusion. 

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.