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The feedback loop is alive and well in this list of films changed due to feedback from the fans.
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00:00The use of studio test audiences can be really, really helpful when it comes to fine-tuning your movie.
00:05You can find out what your audiences want to see, what they don't want to see, and hopefully, in the end,
00:09put out a film that will be better reviewed, better enjoyed, and make more money.
00:13I'm sure there will be plenty of films out there that we don't even know looked totally different before the test audiences got their eyes on them.
00:19But here I have to present to you 10 films that, for better or worse, were definitely influenced by the audience's feedback.
00:25I'm Amy from WhatCulture, and here are 10 movie changes influenced by the fans' feedback.
00:3110. The Genie
00:32The early reactions for the teaser trailer for Aladdin were, to say the least, not flattering.
00:38Whilst Will Smith seemed as good a choice as any to take over the role made famous by Robin Williams,
00:42for someone that's meant to have blue skin, people said that he was too blue.
00:46And for some reason, because nobody has any perception of what bodies are actually meant to look like these days,
00:50people also said that he looked overweight and fat. And they really didn't like that.
00:54The negative reactions to the look of the Genie had a twofold effect,
00:58with changes made to both the marketing for the film and the aesthetics of the Genie himself.
01:02Subsequent trailers placed a greater emphasis on moments in the film when the Genie resembled Will Smith's normal human form,
01:08hoping that you'd focus more on the Genie's character traits than his look.
01:12There was also some definite tweaking of the look, though.
01:14The CGI fine-tuning made him actually look a little less blue,
01:17and whilst he still looked like a very much out-of-this-world character,
01:20the more human look they gave him was less of an eyesore.
01:23The end result was a product that was much better received than what was expected,
01:27and the box office returns managed to top the $1 billion mark.
01:30The film was also a great reminder to Hollywood execs that, given the right role,
01:34Will Smith is still one of the world's biggest and best draw cards going around.
01:389. Suicide Squad
01:40Snappier editing
01:42The first of two entries featuring Margot Robbie's interpretation of Harley Quinn,
01:46this is one example where the influence of the fan's feedback was not used for the greater good.
01:50In fact, in this case, it was the filmmakers' attempts to utilize the positive trailer reactions
01:54that proved to be the film's fatal flaw.
01:57The first two trailers for the film were snappily edited, highly stylized and energetic,
02:02and it served as an excellent advertisement for the upcoming feature.
02:05But that's exactly the problem.
02:06It's an advertisement.
02:08The choice was made by the creative team to make the final product feel like one big, long trailer,
02:13and, unsurprisingly to any of us that have more than two brain cells to rub together,
02:18this proved to be an unmitigated disaster.
02:20Rather than keeping audiences engaged throughout the film,
02:23the final product proved to be extremely choppy,
02:26with far too many characters and a distinct lack of heart.
02:29No heart in advertising.
02:30Ugh, who would have seen that one coming?
02:32It was impossible to find any genuine connection with any of the characters,
02:36which is really a shame because a lot of the performances were solid.
02:39Will Smith and Margot Robbie were particularly strong as Deadshot and Harley,
02:42but there's so little backstory and character development due to the chaotic pacing
02:46that those performances were largely wasted.
02:48At the end of the day, the test audiences aren't really to blame for this,
02:51but I hope that Hollywood learned a very valuable lesson.
02:54An advert is an advert, and it's short and snappy for a reason.
02:57If you hadn't figured it out already, no one wants to watch a 90-minute advert.
03:028.
03:02Toning down the violence.
03:04Slender Man.
03:05The feedback that caused alterations for this film hit a little closer to home than usual,
03:09with the main critic being an outraged father of a child involved in a hideous crime.
03:14The real-life stabbing of a 12-year-old girl linked to the Slender Man legend
03:17left a dark stain on the character,
03:19and this meant that any future products addressing the character
03:22were always going to be controversial.
03:24While members of the press and the general public voiced their concerns,
03:27it was the criticism levelled by the father of one of the perpetrators of the stabbing
03:31that really made the impact.
03:32Bill Ware, whose daughter Anissa was sentenced to 25 years to life in various institutions
03:37for her involvement in the stabbing crime,
03:40described the film as distasteful,
03:42and campaigned for local theatres not to show it.
03:44The filmmaker's reaction to these comments was to tone down the violence and gore,
03:48so much so that the final product came out with a PG-13 rating.
03:51The film was critically panned, but managed to make a small profit.
03:55It's hard to make a final judgement as to how Sony Pictures would judge the effectiveness
03:59of the changes, but at least they were made in the interest of good taste.
04:027. Digital Re-Asianing
04:05Ghost in the Shell
04:06Oh, Hollywood, when will you ever learn?
04:09The choice to have the whitest of American actors,
04:12MCU poster girl Scarlett Johansson,
04:14play the role of Major Motoko Kusanagi
04:16was the kind of mind-bogglingly stupid and insensitive decision
04:20that only Hollywood producers could make.
04:22Considering the wealth of amazing Asian-American actors
04:25that were literally at their fingertips,
04:27choosing Johansson was incredibly lazy and just beyond insane.
04:31With accusations of whitewashing flooding in from the very fans of the anime the producers
04:35were targeting, the decision was made to, and I s*** you not,
04:38make Scarlett Johansson look more Asian.
04:41Yes, that is correct.
04:42The producers chose to address the issue of whitewashing
04:45by making a white woman look slightly less white
04:47instead of, you know, hiring an Asian actress.
04:51Unsurprisingly, the changes did nothing to quell the concerns of the fans of the anime,
04:55the final product proving particularly mediocre.
04:58Considering the film had strong visuals and great source material to fall back on,
05:02one can only ponder if the choice of a young, talented Japanese actress
05:05in the lead role could have allowed for a better film product.
05:08Actually, you know what?
05:09Not much pondering is necessary.
05:11We all know the answer.
05:136.
05:14Patching the cats.
05:15Cats.
05:17There isn't a lot more that can be said about the catastrophic disaster
05:20that was this 2019 bomb.
05:22The idea of translating the unfilmable stage musical to the big screen
05:26was in itself a significant misjudgment,
05:29and the horrifying visual design for the titular cats
05:31was just a final nail in the coffin.
05:34Director Tom Hooper and his creative team
05:36made the poor decision to largely ignore
05:38the torrid audience feedback to begin with,
05:40maintaining the overall hybrid half-cat, half-human look
05:43that we were all having nightmares about for months.
05:46Hooper did, however, pick up on the criticisms
05:48of the patchy CGI for the cats,
05:50most notably the human hands popping out from the felines' bodies.
05:54In a sign of just how rushed the final product was,
05:57freshly edited final products were rushed to cinemas with added fur.
06:00The problem was that the new changes were added ridiculously late,
06:04and meant that audiences viewed different products
06:06depending on where they were and when they watched the film.
06:09In hindsight, the cats' producers needed to either take on board
06:12the initial negative feedback and make adjustments,
06:14or just ignore it completely.
06:15Trying to make last-second changes felt like reorganising the chairs
06:19on the Titanic after the boat had already sunk.
06:225. Changing Alita's Appearance
06:24Alita Battle Angel
06:26The key to being a learned critic
06:28is to be able to have a good eye for picking up on things,
06:30and when the trailer for this James Cameron passion project was released,
06:34many viewers had a significant issue with one aspect of Alita's looks,
06:38her eyes.
06:39The common theme among viewer criticism
06:40was that their eyes were just too big,
06:42but, as was noted by the visual effects supervisor for the film, Eric Seynden,
06:46the issue wasn't that the eyes were too big at all.
06:49If anything, they were too small.
06:50As Seynden explained in an article for The Insider,
06:53after consulting with his creative team, including Cameron,
06:56the decision was made to enlarge the eye's iris.
06:59The idea of making the eyes bigger was strongly considered,
07:01but the changes to the overall look of the eyes did the trick.
07:04There were subtle lighting changes that also added to the effect,
07:06but it was the changed size of the iris that proved the most effective.
07:09The final product was definitely enhanced from this modification,
07:13and whilst it was slightly more subtle than the changes made for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie,
07:16not having the audience consumed by the lead character's weird eyes proved a major benefit.
07:224. Making the movie
07:23Deadpool
07:24It's hard to fathom now,
07:26but the idea of an R-rated Deadpool movie
07:28didn't exactly have Hollywood excited when the idea was first brought up.
07:32R-rated movies regularly struggled to become box office successes,
07:35whilst the idea of having Ryan Reynolds resuming his role after the mediocre X-Men Origins Wolverine
07:40seemed a poor one.
07:41That was all turned on its head when prospective director Tim Miller
07:44secretly released test footage for a possible Reynolds starring Deadpool.
07:48The three-minute scene was a massive smash,
07:50viewed by millions and universally loved.
07:52In fact, it was loved in particular by fans still reeling from the character's woeful previous interpretation.
07:58The positive fan feedback for this mini-scene not only led to the film being made,
08:02but many doubts about producing a high-budget R-rated film were largely quashed.
08:06To say the film was a success would be a massive understatement,
08:09with the original film and sequel taking in over $750 million each.
08:14The film has also left a significant legacy,
08:16with its fourth-wall-breaking style and R-rated violence being replicated in many a future blockbuster.
08:21Yeah, and that's all thanks to one cheeky director who leaked some footage
08:24and the fans who let him know that they liked what they saw.
08:273. Bringing the horror
08:29When movie historians reflect back on the early 21st century cinema,
08:33The New Mutants will no doubt top the list for most troubled productions.
08:37The film is one of the most unlucky in history,
08:40with an abundance of issues unrelated to the product itself causing no end of problems.
08:44What makes it all the more frustrating for those involved was that the trailers were actually well-received.
08:49People were quite excited about the horror aspect of the film, which was something new.
08:53In fact, it was the audience excitement at the trailer,
08:55and also their dislike of the apocalypse movie that caused the filmmakers to make some changes.
09:00Reshoots for the new film were made that eliminated any references to the 80s or the wider X-Men universe,
09:05whilst also amping up the horror aspects that were received so well.
09:08Of course, just how effective these changes were is up for debate,
09:12but at least it's nice to know that we were listened to.
09:152. A change in title
09:17Harley Quinn, Birds of Prey
09:19This entry is a little bit different because it actually refers to something that's not materially in the film.
09:25Despite the film being well-received by critics and having a rising star in Margot Robbie promote the film,
09:30there was a lot of confusion as to what the film was actually about,
09:33an issue largely caused by its very convoluted title.
09:36Initially called Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn,
09:40the small paragraph of a title caused more confusion than anything else.
09:44Whilst meant to be a clever reference to the comics,
09:47the title instead made the film look like it was too far up its own arse.
09:50The title was also in contrast to the advertising,
09:53which had all but promoted the film as a Harley Quinn solo act.
09:55Realising that the title was holding back the film's hopes of success,
09:58the producers made a belated but sensible decision to change its name.
10:02The film was rebranded with the far more comprehensible name of Birds of Prey.
10:06It was unfortunately a case of too little too late because the box office wasn't great.
10:11But I think we can all agree that Harley Quinn Birds of Prey was clearly a much better choice
10:16for a title than what it had at the start.
10:181. Changing the Lines
10:20Snakes on a Plane
10:21Never has a fan's feedback been so well utilised as it was for this 2006 action caper.
10:27The choice by Samuel L. Jackson to sign up to the film caught everyone by surprise,
10:31including the film's director, Ronnie Yu,
10:33and it ended up proving to be the film's biggest strength.
10:36The hype for the movie hit a crescendo when a blog entry from screenwriter Josh Friedman
10:40was released with the details of the plot.
10:42Bloggers around the world followed up by creating parodies, original artworks,
10:46songs, and a variety of fanfiction related to the film's premise.
10:49And in response to this insane hype,
10:51the production even scheduled in five additional days of filming to make sure they got everything in.
10:56Reshoots were made to add more gore and gruesome deaths,
10:59whilst also adding some memorably uncouth dialogue.
11:02The addition of the line that is now synonymous with the film was the best example of the film embracing its campy fun.
11:08I've had enough of these motherf***ing snakes on this motherf***ing plane.
11:12Now we all know it's not exactly Shakespeare, but my god, it's pretty f***ing quotable.
11:16In addition to more gruesome deaths and more profanities,
11:20they also decided to revert back to the name Snakes on a Plane,
11:23because, you know, that's what everyone wants to see.
11:25At one point, the proposed title was Pacific Air Flight 123.
11:29So really, everyone came out of this better.
11:32And with that, we've reached the end of this list of 10 movie changes influenced by fans' feedback.
11:36If you know of any more, let us know in the comments down below.
11:39And remember to check out whatculture.com for more lists and articles like this every single day.
11:44As always, I've been Amy from WhatCulture, and I'll catch you next time.
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