The original filmed ending of Independence Day is so ridiculously comedic and unbelievable that test audiences kept laughing, so they studio changed it last minute.



    by Youngstown_WuTang

    29 Comments

    1. So thats why that F18 looked like it was going so slow in those last few seconds when it was flying straight up. That always kind of bothered me

    2. You’re telling me the finished version *wasn’t* ridiculously comedic and unbelievable?

      EDIT – just for clarity, it is a great feel-good soft-sci-fi film, but it’s not exactly meant to be an in-depth scientific study into potential alien invasion scenarios.

    3. This is the dad from not another teen movie, canonically tying both movies together and nobody can tell me otherwise.

    4. So, I was in that test screening. A few days before, some guys were on my college campus handing out invites to see a movie preview. My friend and I went. We didn’t know it was Independance Day until the theater went dark and it started. (Also, we were incredibly high.) Some of the effects weren’t finished but it was a lot of fun. Afterwards, about 12 of us were put in a focus group. When they asked what we thought of the movie, my friend and I ripped into how laughable the biplane ending was and everyone in the group joined in. Really, really didn’t think they would take our opinion seriously. A few months later, we went to see it in the theatre and it was completely changed. TBH, I like the new ending better. It’s funny to see the Randy Quaid character towing the biplane around the entire movie for no reason. This movie made a bajillion dollars so I guess it worked out for them.

    5. ChocolateSensitive97 on

      No shit y’all..I remember seeing this same biplane end in the movie at a draft house late 90s. Always thought it was the OG till I saw this.
      I’ve rewatched since on Flix and it’s jet. wth..am I nuts??

    6. Does he talk about the fact that Will Smith punched an alien wearing body armour unconscious, and that same alien in a later scene without body armour survives a hail of bullets and flying across the room, and is only killed by three direct bullets to the head at point blank range? I hope so, because I think about it a lot

    7. A spaceship 3 miles wide weighing 100 Brazilian tonnes, all power is cut and gravity pulls it… sideways

      LUCKY IT DIDN’T JUST FALL STRAIGHT FUCKING DOWN

    8. Unpopular opinion. At no point did it ever make sense that a crop duster pilot would be flying an f-18. I don’t give a flying flip about any past history or previous experience. The biplane actually makes way more sense.

    9. Its also a colossal distance for a biplane. Would take him like 30 mins to traverse that distance.

    10. misanthropicbairn on

      Good luck on your suicide mission buddy. Lol wtf! Like good luck!? He’s going to fucking blow himself up!?

    11. lettuceandcucumber on

      Reminds me of the alternative Titanic ending which is so ridiculously bad compared to how brilliant the movie is that I actively guffaw and have to cover my eyes from embarrassment whenever I see it. Baffles me that they ever released it to the public it’s that bad.

    12. Americans believed it and still do. Just look at what they voted into the office and believe all the crap the admin tells them… Just a short example of the madness continuation: the latest election in Tennessee… Republicans are screwing the country and Americans still voted for them… So why not believing this movie?

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