The feedback loop is alive and well in this list of films changed due to feedback from the fans.
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00:00 The use of studio test audiences can be really, really helpful when it comes to fine-tuning
00:05 your movie. You can find out what your audiences want to see, what they don't want to see,
00:08 and hopefully, in the end, put out a film that will be better reviewed,
00:11 better enjoyed, and make more money. I'm sure there will be plenty of films out there that
00:15 we don't even know looked totally different before the test audiences got their eyes on them.
00:19 But here I have to present to you 10 films that, for better or worse,
00:23 were definitely influenced by the audience's feedback. I'm Amy from WhatCulture,
00:27 and here are 10 movie changes influenced by the fans' feedback.
00:30 10. The Genie - Aladdin
00:32 The early reactions for the teaser trailer for Aladdin were, to say the least, not flattering.
00:38 Whilst Will Smith seemed as good a choice as any to take over the role made famous by Robin Williams,
00:42 for someone that's meant to have blue skin, people said that he was too blue. And for some reason,
00:46 because nobody has any perception of what bodies are actually meant to look like these days,
00:50 people also said that he looked overweight and fat. And they really didn't like that.
00:54 The negative reactions to the look of the Genie had a two-fold effect,
00:58 with changes made to both the marketing for the film and the aesthetics of the Genie himself.
01:02 Subsequent trailers placed a greater emphasis on moments in the film when the Genie resembled
01:06 Will Smith's normal, human form, hoping that you'd focus more on the Genie's character traits
01:11 than his look. There was also some definite tweaking of the look, though. The CGI fine-tuning
01:15 made him actually look a little less blue, and whilst he still looked like a very much
01:19 out-of-this-world character, the more human look they gave him was less of an eyesore.
01:23 The end result was a product that was much better received than what was expected,
01:27 and the box office returns managed to top the $1 billion mark. The film was also a great reminder
01:32 to Hollywood execs that, given the right role, Will Smith is still one of the world's biggest
01:36 and best draw cards going around.
01:38 9. Suicide Squad - Snappier Editing
01:42 The first of two entries featuring Margot Robbie's interpretation of Harley Quinn,
01:46 this is one example where the influence of the fans' feedback was not used for the greater good.
01:50 In fact, in this case, it was the filmmakers' attempt to utilize the positive trailer reactions
01:54 that proved to be the film's fatal flaw. The first two trailers for the film were snappily edited,
01:59 highly stylized, and energetic, and it served as an excellent advertisement for the upcoming feature.
02:04 But that's exactly the problem - it's an advertisement. The choice was made by the
02:09 creative team to make the final product feel like one big, long trailer, and unsurprisingly to any
02:15 of us that have more than two brain cells to rub together, this proved to be an unmitigated disaster.
02:20 Rather than keeping audiences engaged throughout the film, the final product proved to be extremely
02:25 choppy, with far too many characters and a distinct lack of heart. No heart in advertising?
02:30 Ugh, who would have seen that one coming? It was impossible to find any genuine connection with any
02:35 of the characters, which is really a shame because a lot of the performances were solid.
02:38 Will Smith and Margot Robbie were particularly strong as Deadshot and Harley, but there's so
02:42 little backstory and character development due to the chaotic pacing that those performances
02:47 were largely wasted. At the end of the day, the test audiences aren't really to blame for this,
02:51 but I hope that Hollywood learned a very valuable lesson. An advert is an advert,
02:55 and it's short and snappy for a reason. If you hadn't figured it out already,
02:59 no one wants to watch a 90-minute advert.
03:02 8. Toning Down the Violence - Slender Man
03:05 The feedback that caused alterations for this film hit a little closer to home than usual,
03:09 with the main critic being an outraged father of a child involved in a hideous crime. The real-life
03:14 stabbing of a 12-year-old girl linked to the Slender Man legend left a dark stain on the
03:19 character, and this meant that any future products addressing the character were always going to be
03:23 controversial. While members of the press and the general public voiced their concerns, it was the
03:28 criticism leveled by the father of one of the perpetrators of the stabbing that really made
03:32 the impact. Bill Ware, whose daughter Anissa was sentenced to 25 years to life in various
03:37 institutions for her involvement in the stabbing crime, described the film as distasteful and
03:42 campaigned for local theaters not to show it. The filmmakers' reaction to these comments was to tone
03:46 down the violence and gore, so much so that the final product came out with a PG-13 rating.
03:51 The film was critically panned, but managed to make a small profit. It's hard to make a final
03:56 judgment as to how Sony Pictures would judge the effectiveness of the changes, but at least they
04:00 were made in the interest of good taste. 7. Digital Re-Asianing - Ghost in the Shell
04:07 Oh, Hollywood, when will you ever learn? The choice to have the whitest of American actors,
04:12 MCU poster girl Scarlett Johansson, play the role of Major Motoko Kusanagi, was the kind of
04:17 mind-bogglingly stupid and insensitive decision that only Hollywood producers could make.
04:22 Considering the wealth of amazing Asian-American actors that were literally at their fingertips,
04:27 choosing Johansson was incredibly lazy and just beyond insane. With accusations of whitewashing
04:32 flooding in from the very fans of the anime the producers were targeting, the decision was made
04:36 to - and I sh*t you not - make Scarlett Johansson look more Asian. Yes, that is correct, the
04:42 producers chose to address the issue of whitewashing by making a white woman look slightly less white,
04:48 instead of, you know, hiring an Asian actress. Unsurprisingly, the changes did nothing to quell
04:53 the concerns of the fans of the anime, the final product proving particularly mediocre.
04:58 Considering the film had strong visuals and great source material to fall back on,
05:02 one can only ponder if the choice of a young, talented Japanese actress in the lead role could
05:06 have allowed for a better film product. Actually, you know what, not much pondering is necessary,
05:11 we all know the answer.
05:12 6. Patching the Cats...Cats
05:16 There isn't a lot more that can be said about the catastrophic disaster that was this 2019 bomb.
05:22 The idea of translating the unfilmable stage musical to the big screen was in itself a
05:27 significant misjudgment, and the horrifying visual design for the titular cats was just a
05:32 final nail in the coffin. Director Tom Hooper and his creative team made the poor decision
05:37 to largely ignore the torrid audience feedback to begin with, maintaining the overall hybrid
05:42 half-cat, half-human look that we were all having nightmares about for months. Hooper did, however,
05:47 pick up on the criticisms of the patchy CGI for the cats, most notably the human hands popping
05:52 out from the felines' bodies. In a sign of just how rushed the final product was,
05:57 freshly edited final products were rushed to cinemas with added fur. The problem was that
06:01 the new changes were added ridiculously late, and meant that audiences viewed different products
06:06 depending on where they were and when they watched the film. In hindsight, the Cats producers needed
06:11 to either take on board the initial negative feedback and make adjustments, or just ignore
06:15 it completely. Trying to make last-second changes felt like reorganizing the chairs on the Titanic
06:20 after the boat had already sunk.
06:22 5. Changing Alita's Appearance
06:24 Alita Battle Angel
06:26 The key to being a learned critic is to be able to have a good eye for picking up on things.
06:30 And when the trailer for this James Cameron passion project was released,
06:34 many viewers had a significant issue with one aspect of Alita's looks - her eyes.
06:39 The common theme among viewer criticism was that the eyes were just too big. But, as was noted by
06:44 the visual effects supervisor for the film, Eric Saindon, the issue wasn't that the eyes were too
06:48 big at all. If anything, they were too small. As Saindon explained in an article for The Insider,
06:53 after consulting with his creative team, including Cameron, the decision was made to enlarge the
06:57 eye's iris. The idea of making the eyes bigger was strongly considered, but the changes to the
07:02 overall look of the eyes did the trick. There were subtle lighting changes that also added to the
07:06 effect, but it was the changed size of the iris that proved the most effective. The final product
07:10 was definitely enhanced from this modification. And, whilst it was slightly more subtle than the
07:14 changes made for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, not having the audience consumed by the lead
07:18 character's weird eyes proved a major benefit.
07:22 4. Making the movie - Deadpool
07:24 It's hard to fathom now, but the idea of an R-rated Deadpool movie didn't exactly have
07:29 Hollywood excited when the idea was first brought up. R-rated movies regularly struggled to become
07:34 box office successes, whilst the idea of having Ryan Reynolds resuming his role after the mediocre
07:39 X-Men Origins Wolverine seemed a poor one. That was all turned on its head when prospective
07:43 director Tim Miller secretly released test footage for a possible Reynolds-starring Deadpool. The
07:48 three-minute scene was a massive smash, viewed by millions and universally loved. In fact, it was
07:53 loved in particular by fans still reeling from the character's woeful previous interpretation.
07:58 The positive fan feedback for this mini-scene not only led to the film being made, but many
08:02 doubts about producing a high-budget R-rated film were largely quashed. To say the film was a
08:07 success would be a massive understatement, with the original film and sequel taking in over $750
08:12 million each. The film has also left a significant legacy, with its fourth-wall-breaking style and
08:18 R-rated violence being replicated in many a future blockbuster. Yeah, and that's all thanks to one
08:22 cheeky director who leaked some footage, and the fans who let him know that they liked what they
08:26 saw. 3. Bringing the horror
08:29 When movie historians reflect back on the early 21st century cinema, The New Mutants will no doubt
08:34 top the list for most troubled productions. The film is one of the most unlucky in history,
08:39 with an abundance of issues unrelated to the product itself causing no end of problems.
08:44 What makes it all the more frustrating for those involved was that the trailers were actually well
08:48 received. People were quite excited about the horror aspects of the film, which was something
08:52 new. In fact, it was the audience excitement at the trailer, and also their dislike of the
08:57 apocalypse movie, that caused the filmmakers to make some changes. Reshoots for the new film were
09:01 made that eliminated any references to the 80s or the wider X-Men universe, whilst also amping up
09:06 the horror aspects that were received so well. Of course, just how effective these changes were is
09:11 up for debate, but at least it's nice to know that we were listened to.
09:15 2. A change in title Harley Quinn, Birds of Prey
09:19 This entry is a little bit different, because it actually refers to something that's not materially
09:24 in the film. Despite the film being well received by critics, and having a rising star in Margot
09:28 Robbie promote the film, there was a lot of confusion as to what the film was actually about,
09:33 an issue largely caused by its very convoluted title. Initially called Birds of Prey and the
09:38 fantabulous emancipation of one Harley Quinn, the small paragraph of a title caused more confusion
09:43 than anything else. Whilst meant to be a clever reference to the comics, the title instead made
09:48 the film look like it was too far up its own arse. The title was also in contrast to the advertising,
09:52 which had all but promoted the film as a Harley Quinn solo act. Realising that the title was
09:56 holding back the film's hopes of success, the producers made a belated but sensible decision
10:01 to change its name. The film was rebranded with the far more comprehensible name of Birds of Prey.
10:06 It was unfortunately a case of too little too late, because the box office, uh, wasn't great.
10:11 But I think we can all agree that Harley Quinn Birds of Prey was clearly a much better choice
10:16 for a title than what it had at the start. 1. Changing the Lines
10:20 Snakes on a Plane. Never has a fan's feedback been so well utilised as it was for this 2006
10:26 action caper. The choice by Samuel L. Jackson to sign up to the film caught everyone by surprise,
10:31 including the film's director, Ronnie Yu, and it ended up proving to be the film's biggest strength.
10:36 The hype for the movie hit a crescendo when a blog entry from screenwriter Josh Friedman was
10:40 released with the details of the plot. Bloggers around the world followed up by creating parodies,
10:45 original artwork, songs, and a variety of fan fiction related to the film's premise.
10:49 And in response to this insane hype, the production even scheduled in five additional
10:53 days of filming to make sure they got everything in. Reshoots were made to add more gore and
10:58 gruesome deaths, whilst also adding some memorably uncouth dialogue. The addition of the line that
11:03 is now synonymous with the film was the best example of the film embracing its campy fun.
11:08 "I've had enough of these motherf***** snakes on this motherf***** plane."
11:12 Now, we all know it's not exactly Shakespeare, but my god, it's pretty f***** quotable.
11:16 In addition to more gruesome deaths and more profanities, they also decided to revert back
11:21 to the name Snakes on a Plane, because, you know, that's what everyone wants to see. At one point,
11:26 the proposed title was Pacific Air Flight 123. So really, everyone came out of this better.
11:32 And with that, we've reached the end of this list of 10 movie changes influenced by fans' feedback.
11:36 If you know of any more, let us know in the comments down below. And remember to check
11:40 out WhatCulture.com for more lists and articles like this every single day.
11:44 As always, I've been Amy from WhatCulture, and I'll catch you next time.