- 2 days ago
We all love a happy ending, but sometimes what seems like a perfect conclusion is actually hiding a much darker reality. Join us as we explore more movie endings that fall apart under scrutiny, revealing grim possibilities and unresolved problems.
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00:00It's almost instinctive for an audience to want, and typically expect, to see a happy ending to a
00:06film. Of course, there are some exceptions, but it's often the satisfying conclusion to see the
00:12heroes ride off into the sunset with the conflict of the story fully in the rearview mirror that
00:17cinema-goers came to see. This is particularly true when connections have been formed with
00:22certain characters, even over such a short period of time. And for the most part, filmmakers tend
00:28to give the masses what they want in this regard. Good usually prevails over evil. The will-they-won't-they
00:35narrative tends to end with, of course they will, and anyone trying to get home for Christmas
00:40typically does. Again, though, there are exceptions to this, some that are actually hidden beneath what
00:45may seem to be a happy ending on the surface, but in truth are anything but. Now, we do already
00:52have
00:52a video on this topic, but there are plenty more to talk about. I'm Ellie for WhatCulture, and here are
00:57some more so-called happy movie endings that absolutely aren't. Let's begin with X-Men Days
01:05of Future Past. Time-travelling stories can be a tricky business, as there is typically always some
01:11loophole or some aspect that doesn't quite make perfect sense. X-Men Days of Future Past was actually
01:18pretty tight in this regard, but there were still certain consequences that weren't truly explored.
01:24When Professor X and Magneto sent Wolverine back in time to save the world from a terrible dystopian
01:30fate, they were successful in that when Logan returned to the present, things were much better.
01:36This essentially retconned everything that happened in the original trilogy, and though several members
01:41of the team survived through to 2023 this time, there is no telling what other consequences there were.
01:47The theory is that even the tiniest changes in the past could cause a huge ripple effect,
01:53and in doing something as big as this, who could possibly say what else changed?
01:59Tony Stark once said that when you mess with time, it tends to mess back, and there is absolutely no
02:04way that every single change, no matter how big or small, was for the better. There's not even a
02:10guarantee that such a future was actually stopped and not just delayed. And who knows? Such meddling may
02:16have directly put the universe on the path that led to Logan's ultimate death, and the subsequent
02:21crumbling of the entire reality. Being a media lover on the internet can be pretty exciting. You've got
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02:33I know it, and also shops to fuel your fandom further. But it's also a bit of a Wild West
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03:36Jurassic World Rebirth
03:38Jurassic World Rebirth was undoubtedly an improvement over the last two Chris Pratt-led efforts,
03:44but both Fallen Kingdom and Dominion were pretty bad that this isn't exactly saying much.
03:49The story was certainly flawed, and the final moments didn't quite wrap things up as well
03:54as it seemed. The story revolved around a group of people heading on an island expedition
03:59in order to extract DNA from the biggest dinosaurs left on the planet for the sake of huge medical
04:05advances. However, evil businessman Martin Krebs would of course have likely made it far too
04:10expensive to actually help anybody because of evil businessman reasons. As Henry and Zora left the
04:17island, and with Krebs in the belly of the D-Rex, they decided not to give the DNA to a
04:22heartless
04:23corporation, but to allow the entire world to share in it. A lovely idea, sure, but flawed and all but
04:30impossible. Where would they even start? Neither were in the medical industry and would have no idea
04:37how to actually navigate it to get the matter to the right people. How would they ascertain for sure
04:42which companies would have the same outlook as Krebs and which wouldn't? It's a huge assumption that
04:47Henry and Zora would just walk into a world they know nothing about and ask to speak to the least
04:52money-driven people available. In all likelihood, it still either ends up with another Martin Krebs
04:58or with no one at all. El Camino, a Breaking Bad movie. Breaking Bad is arguably one of the few
05:05TV
05:05series that ended on a perfect note, with no loose ends to speak of and an almost universally satisfied
05:12audience. There really was no need to follow up with El Camino, a Breaking Bad movie. The story
05:17detailed Jesse Pinkman's journey after Walter White helped him escape his captivity at the hands of
05:23Jack and Todd. However, Jesse driving off as a free man was all the ending that was needed.
05:29El Camino isn't a bad film by any stretch, but it didn't feel as if it really added anything to
05:34the
05:34overall story of the character. Essentially, Jesse worked to build up the money needed for Ed to give
05:40him a new life and a new identity, as he previously did for Walt. But there is only so much
05:46a new name
05:46could offer him after everything that he'd went through. Ed told Jesse he was lucky to get the
05:51chance to start fresh. But that's not what this was. The tragic circumstances in which Jesse lost
05:57both Jane and Andrea, the years of abuse and manipulation he suffered at the hands of Mr. White
06:02and others, and the scars of being held as a captive against his will for as long as he was,
06:08are things that will stay with him no matter where he lives or what he calls himself.
06:12Zootopia 2
06:13Though it may have been beaten by Nejar 2 at the global box office, Zootopia 2 was by far the
06:20highest-grossing Western film of 2025, which is saying a lot considering its competition was the
06:26third chapter of the ridiculously lucrative Avatar story. It was the biggest hit of the year and saw
06:32Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps come together again, this time as true ZPD partners, to take down
06:37the criminal Linksley family. However, even with an official badge, Nick was still the same
06:43sly, street-smart fox he had always been. At one point, as he and Judy got separated,
06:49Nick found himself inside a jail cell, and probably not for the first time in his life.
06:54But with the help of Nibble's maple stick, he was able to escape, reunite with his partner,
06:59and along with Kihei Kwan's Gary De Snake, save the day. A happy ending for both Nick and Judy
07:05as partners and for Zootopia as a city. But not wholly. It was only briefly mentioned,
07:11but when Nick escaped jail, so did 200 other dangerous criminals, some who were bound to
07:17be a huge threat to society. This was surely worthy of more than the passing comment it got.
07:22And though the next scene showed them tracking the escaped ex-mayor bellwether, there were still
07:27199 more out there, meaning Zootopia was definitely a more dangerous place than at the start of the
07:34film. Materialists. As a romantic comedy boasting the kind of star power given by Dakota Johnson,
07:41Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal, Materialists didn't exactly set the world on fire. It told the story
07:47of a love triangle, typifying the choice between love and financial security. Lucy had previously
07:54dated John, but ultimately broke up with him because he couldn't give her the financial security she
07:59deemed as essential in her romantic life. Harry could, but she never truly loved him. He simply
08:05ticked the boxes of someone she felt should be desirable. The film didn't exactly reinvent the
08:10wheel with its ending, as Lucy chose the poor love interest, but would this have been as happy an
08:15ending as it appeared? Since she broke up with him due to his financial restrictions, there was nothing
08:22to suggest she ever actually let go of the value she put on her partner having money. And no matter
08:27how nice the honeymoon period, it feels as though they were bound to fall into the same situation
08:32once again. Then there's the fact that the film acted as though Harry and John were Lucy's only two
08:37choices in the world. It's perfectly reasonable for neither man to completely satisfy what the
08:42materialistic Lucy wanted in a partner, and there was no need for her to settle for someone she knew
08:47couldn't make her happy. As nice as John was, he clearly wasn't the right man for her. Avatar.
08:54When Avatar released back in 2009, it was nothing short of a cultural phenomenon, as it smashed its
09:00way to becoming the highest grossing movie of all time. Though it may have taken well over a decade,
09:06sequels were always going to happen. Not only was it widely known that James Cameron had a plan for five
09:11films, but the story ended in such a way that invited trouble coming back to Pandora. Though this
09:18was disguised slightly as a happy ending for Jake and his Na'vi tribe. Led by Jake and Netiri, the
09:24native
09:24Pandorans were able to fight back against the Sky People and defend their land, though not without
09:29first suffering huge losses, both physically and spiritually. Eventually, the humans were defeated
09:35and sent back to Earth with their tails between their legs. The Na'vi had won, right? Except they
09:42weren't exactly sent home with any kind of deterrent to stop them from coming back. All the humans were
09:47ever going to do was regroup and return harder than before, something that was ultimately proved true
09:52in Avatar The Way of Water and Fire and Ash, as the humans' occupation of Pandora was stronger than
09:58ever before. Passengers. There have naturally been countless different ways people have lost their
10:05lives on the big screen, but few in such a unique way as Jennifer Lawrence's Aurora in Passengers.
10:11On a 120-year trip across space, Jim found himself awake and alone after his cryotube failed,
10:18leaving him with no choice but to face the rest of his life in such a way. That is, until
10:23he purposefully
10:24awoke Aurora and condemned her to live her entire life with him on the ship with no way of changing
10:30it. Yes, Jim was put into a horrific position, but stealing Aurora's entire life away from her
10:37essentially because he liked the way she looked was heinous. When she finally found the truth that
10:42her pod didn't malfunction and that Jim deliberately pulled her out of her sleep early, that should have
10:48been it. She may not have had anywhere to go, but the ship was big enough that Aurora didn't need
10:54to see or speak to him ever again. But instead, she fell in love with Jim and lived to old
10:59age with
10:59him. A happy ending? Well, not really, when you consider the possibilities and the life she had in
11:05front of her before having it ripped away by Jim. Monsters, Inc. Anyone who has watched a Pixar film or
11:12two will know that they are not all smiles and sunshine. There are some truly harrowing, emotionally
11:18traumatic moments throughout the likes of Toy Story, Up, Finding Nemo, Coco and more. But generally,
11:25at least the stories tend to end on a happy note. That may seem to be the case with Monsters,
11:30Inc. as
11:30Mike and Sully discovered the power of laughter as an alternate and more potent energy source to
11:36screams. But there was far more of a fallout to such a change than was shown. Imagine completely flipping
11:43such a huge and vital industry to Monstropolis on its head just like that. Monsters who had been
11:49scarers all their lives would simply not be able to make it as comedians and would in all likelihood
11:54wind up unemployed. The same could be said for any of the students going through Monsters University
11:59with a view of being a scarer. The latter was actually explored in Monsters at Work on Disney+,
12:06which showed Tyler struggling with transitioning to comedy after leading his class as the best scarer
12:11since James P. Sullivan. Teething problems and dangerous power outages as well as widespread
12:17unemployment and wasted education as a result of the big Monsters, Inc. change would mean the world
12:23would arguably have been thrown into more turmoil than before. The usual suspects. Now this entry is
12:30something of an oddity on this list as it focuses on a happy ending for the villain of the film.
12:35Kevin Spacey may well have played the protagonist in that the story was centered around him,
12:40but he was unequivocally the villain in The Usual Suspects. The debate can be had over whether
12:46Kaiser Soze truly ever existed, but verbal Kint spun such a story to the police using the character,
12:53as well as some of the things he saw in the background, that he got away scot-free. The
12:58moment where the camera focused on Kint's limp as it melted away into a normal walk is iconic,
13:04and signified that he had been lying the entire time. He was the almost mythical crime lord who
13:10operated from within the shadows, and just perfectly convinced the police that the man they were
13:16looking for was someone else entirely. However, what also happened at the end is that Agent Dave
13:21Kuyan put everything together, only just as Kint left the station, so Spacey's character wasn't
13:27exactly walking to freedom, was he? Kuyan then knew who and what Kint was, and it was surely
13:33only a matter of time before he was caught out and put behind bars. Rollerball. Within the subgenre
13:40that is dystopian futures heavily influenced by televised games, there are different ways the
13:45stories can go. 1987's The Running Man saw Arnie's Ben Richards bring down the titular reality show,
13:51while in The Hunger Games Katniss Everdeen did the same, but used it as a spark to revolt against the
13:57entire regime of oppression across the country. Rollerball was different. There wasn't much in
14:02the way of world building presented in this 1975 effort, nor were there any real rules to the game
14:08explained, but Rollerball was used as a way of portraying the futility of individualism on the
14:14biggest stage of all. Jonathan E's popularity as a player threatened the dominant position of the
14:19energy corporations who ran the country, and when they couldn't persuade him to retire, they changed
14:25the rules to try to get him killed on the field of play. Again, this was to no avail. The
14:31final scenes
14:31showed Jonathan celebrating victory in the final game of the season, but what did he expect to happen
14:37next? The wind didn't change the way the government operated, and it likely only pushed them to harsher
14:43and more certain ways of getting him removed from the picture. He may have stood by his principles,
14:48but they almost certainly got him killed. 1917. As far as war movies go, there are few that force
14:55their audience to immerse themselves in the story quite like 1917. This is a result of it being
15:01designed to look like two continuous shots in real time, as Lance Corporal Blake and Schofield
15:08crossed German-occupied territory to save an entire regiment of British soldiers. The company in question
15:14was the Second Devons, who were stationed in northern France and had been given false information that
15:19would see them walk straight into a trap. A massacre of 1,600 men. Blake and Schofield headed out to
15:26stop
15:27the slaughter with a crucial message, and though Blake died along the way, Schofield reached Colonel
15:32Mackenzie and got the attack called off. The lives of hundreds of men were saved, thanks to Schofield's
15:38heroism and the sacrifice of Blake. However, Schofield didn't get there until after the first
15:44wave of the Second Devons was sent over the top to their unnecessary deaths. The story also raises
15:50questions about the British Army's communication, about their strategy, and how they could become so
15:55easily and simply misled by the enemy. Even Mackenzie conceded that ultimately the events changed nothing,
16:01as new orders to attack would likely come within the week, with the end of the war coming only with
16:06the last man standing. Schofield may have brought those men as little as seven more days of breathing.
16:13Avengers Endgame. As it acted as the final chapter for over a decade of storytelling involving dozens
16:19of characters, there were plenty of endings throughout Avengers Endgame. Most of these were done incredibly
16:25well. However, there were some more questionable decisions made. Plenty can be said for Steve Rogers
16:31living a life in the past, and all the issues coming from 3.5 billion people reappearing after
16:36five years, which were addressed by the likes of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, and both
16:41Spider-Man Far From Home and No Way Home. But arguably, the time travel aspect itself caused more issues.
16:49Bruce Banner made it very clear that no matter what, the Avengers could not change the past. It was
16:55impossible. Instead, they could essentially create a new branch of reality away from their own. And
17:01though his idea of returning the Infinity Stones to where they were taken was his get-out clause,
17:06this in itself would have been changing the past, which, as established, was impossible.
17:10The time travel rules laid out in Endgame were confusing and messy. But where the Avengers
17:16ultimately arrived at is a new branch of reality, where they defeated Thanos, leaving behind their old
17:22reality to suffer and crumble without the stability of the stones.
17:28E. The Jungle Book
17:30When Disney Animation adapted Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book into the iconic classic we all know
17:36and love, creative license was taken to aim the film more at children. It certainly isn't as dark as
17:42the source material could have allowed it to be. Having said that, though it may seem a far happier
17:47story, there is still one largely distressing aspect that is hidden quite well, in that it is what
17:53would unequivocally have happened after the credits began to roll. After Mowgli, the man-cub raised in
17:59the jungle by a combination of wolves, a panther and a bear, escaped the clutches of the evil tiger
18:04Shere Khan, he finally took his place back in the human village. A decision that was largely taken
18:10because he liked the look of one of the girls from the village, but in theory, it was where he
18:15belonged.
18:16However, living in the jungle was literally all the young boy had ever known, and any acclimatization
18:21to a human settlement would be next to impossible, filled with struggles and persecution and likely
18:27a longing to return to the home he had known since his birth. Now, Jon Favreau's 2016 live-action
18:33version of the story is far darker for the most part. But with Mowgli choosing to stay in the jungle,
18:39it ironically has a happier ending. Happy Death Day
18:43Some of the films on this list have presented an ending as an absolute win, when in reality it is
18:49merely a delaying of the inevitable at best. This is truer for none more so than Happy Death Day.
18:55The unique and fun horror movie saw Tree Gelbman stuck in a time loop with her own killer. At the
19:00moment of her death, she woke up to relive the same day again and again and again, eventually using
19:06the curse to figure out who murdered her and stop it from happening again. Then, finally,
19:11she was able to continue to live a normal life. However, while the end of the movie was certainly
19:16a win for Tree, as she didn't die on that day, there was nothing to suggest that she ever actually
19:21escaped the time loop. Yes, she avoided dying on that specific day, but there will come a day when
19:26she does pass. And what will happen then? Now, the sequel confirmed that her murder had nothing to
19:32do with why she was stuck in a time loop. So, by the end of the film, she was still
19:37technically
19:37stuck. It just wouldn't reset until the next time she died. Even if she lived a long, full and rich
19:44life, she was bound to die and wake up on that fateful 18th of September once again.
19:50The Shawshank Redemption
19:52Widely regarded as one of the finest films of all time and certainly one of the most popular,
19:57The Shawshank Redemption fittingly has an iconic and memorable ending. Andy and Red
20:02reuniting outside of Shawshank is cinematic bliss and a fantastic conclusion to the story.
20:08Fantastic, but not necessarily as happy as it first seemed. The two grew close for the 19 years
20:14they shared the inside of the prison walls together after Andy Dufresne was wrongly incriminated for
20:19the murder of his wife. So, yes, seeing them together on the outside is better than being on
20:24the inside, but it's not quite that straightforward. While Red was officially released from Shawshank,
20:29Andy escaped, along with the means to blow the lid on Warden Norton's illegal activity,
20:34as well as getting a pretty penny for himself. But after Red violated his parole to meet Andy,
20:40the two would have been highly wanted men. On the run from the law, they would have always been
20:45looking over their shoulders, waiting to be caught. But even outside of that, there is the misleading
20:51title of the film. There was no redemption for Andy. He was never proven innocent. He was still
20:56believed to be a killer, and he lost 19 years of his life to the false accusations that he will
21:01never
21:01get back. The Purge. It may have eventually become oversaturated by multiple sequels, all declining in
21:09quality, but that first Purge film from 2013 was incredibly unsettling. Not only did it feel close
21:16enough to reality that it could potentially happen in the future, but there is something about losing
21:20all security in your own home that is utterly unthinkable. The initial story focused on one
21:26wealthy family, and how they navigated their daughter's rebellious boyfriend, jealous neighbours,
21:31and a group of purgers trying to get inside to the homeless man they were protecting.
21:36Things ultimately boiled down to Mary Sandin and her neighbours sitting at the dining table,
21:41waiting until the horn that signified the end of the Purge. Mary and her children had survived the
21:47night, and their would-be killers were sent home with their tails between their legs.
21:51However, ultimately their survival in this world isn't particularly cause for celebration.
21:55This would ignore the fact that the Purge is an annual thing, and the Sandin household would
22:00arguably even more of a target than ever before. Not only because their small community would hate
22:05Mary even more than before, and because they played their hand already, but also because the Sandin
22:11security systems were shown to be completely flawed, making them vulnerable. Did they seriously
22:16expect not to have everything thrown at them the next year and the year after that until they
22:21were eventually killed? Scream. In a time when slashers were about as formulaic and predictable
22:27as could be, Wes Craven brought Scream to life, which not only subverted such expectations,
22:33but played on them and made fun of them, spawning one of the most successful horror franchises of all
22:39time. The reveal that Billy Loomis and Stu Marker were working together in order to kill
22:43Eve Campbell's Sidney Prescott was genius, and made for one hell of an ending. Though Sidney
22:49ultimately survived and won the day, her role in the franchise was far from over.
22:54You could say the same about pretty much any slasher flick, but let's focus here on Sidney
22:59herself. No matter how many times she escaped with her life, she was consistently hunted down
23:04again, and even when the killer didn't actually target her in 2022's Scream, she still managed
23:09to find herself in the middle of the situation with her life at risk. And it's not just her own
23:14life. Sid's trauma naturally greatly affected her, but also how she raised her children,
23:19with Tatum being drawn into the horror as well in Scream 7. No matter how many times a final girl
23:25can survive, there will always be the trauma to deal with, the upsetting number of deceased
23:30friends and family members, and the effect on their lives that really means no movie ending
23:35could ever truly be happy for them. Guardians of the Galaxy
23:39While Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the most fun entries in the entire MCU, it also gets
23:45pretty dark. The tone was set early, with a young Peter Quill having to see his mother's cancer
23:50finally beat her, with the film then bookended by some of the most harrowing scenes in franchise
23:55history. Now in fairness, James Gunn did a decent job of hiding much of these scenes and their
24:00aftermath, but there can be no denying that they happened. The Guardians of the Galaxy formed,
24:04and Xandar was saved. But at what cost? Through Captain America Civil War, Thunderbolt Ross scolded
24:11the Avengers for the civilian losses in New York, Washington, DC, Sokovia and Lagos, which totalled
24:1874, 23, 177 and 26 respectively. The death toll in the fight between the Guardians and Ronan above
24:26and on Xandar, however, was over 83,000, which eclipsed the Avengers figure over 275 times, and is reportedly
24:35the highest on-screen death count in the history of cinema. The only real reference made back to the
24:41planet following this movie was when it was destroyed by Thanos at the beginning of Avengers Infinity War.
24:46But even the years in between would have been full of pain and loss, with society likely never truly
24:51being able to get back on its feet. Whiplash. You'd be forgiven for thinking that when a story about a
24:57character's desperate struggle for greatness ends with their success, it would be a happy one. And for
25:03the most part, that would be true. But Whiplash goes far deeper than just Andrew's passion for drumming.
25:09Yes, Miles Teller's character was at the centre of the narrative as the protagonist. But the film is
25:15all about Terence Fletcher, played by J.K. Simmons, as one of the most detested cinematic characters in
25:21recent memory. His abusive methods, both physical and mental, had driven one student to take their
25:27own life before attacking Andrew in a similar way. The target was for his protégé to become great,
25:33and for him to feel some vicarious success through him. Upon receiving Fletcher's approval at the
25:39very end of the film, Andrew essentially got everything he ever wanted. His greatness was
25:43confirmed. However, it's not always about the destination as much as the journey, and Fletcher's
25:49horrific methods were abhorrent. And yet, in Andrew still trying to impress him after everything,
25:55and in becoming as good as he did, such tactics and abuses of power were validated. Meaning that
26:00Fletcher would surely go on to treat more young musicians in the same way, to and past Breaking Point.
26:06Now before I move on to the next entry, spoiler warning for anyone who hasn't yet seen Project
26:11Hail Mary. Here is your spoiler warning. Project Hail Mary. Ten years after The Martian came another
26:19adaptation of an Andy Weir novel. And you could absolutely argue that Project Hail Mary is every
26:24bit as good, if not better, than its Oscar-nominated predecessor. The film had a career-best effort from
26:30Ryan Gosling. It made you laugh and cry in equal measure, and it was incredibly life-affirming.
26:36But was the ending as happy for Ryland Grace as it would first seem? Grace and Rocky ultimately found
26:42out how to save the sun. But lacking the fuel to return to Earth, Grace sent the information back
26:47and began a new life on Ered with Rocky. Yes, Grace was doing what he loved, teaching young minds,
26:53and yes, he saved the world. But there was no way for him to actually know that. How could Grace
26:59ever
27:00be certain that the information found its way home, and even if it did, that Earth scientists could
27:05replicate what he and Rocky did on the Hail Mary? The short answer is, he couldn't. He may have seemed
27:11okay, but as he said earlier in the film, being at peace with something is just what you say,
27:16not actually how you feel. How long until that uncertainty over the fate of the entire human race,
27:21and in particular those he came to call friends, began to eat away at him.