Some books are so good that they have to be turned into movies for more people to experience. But as evident by a majority of books-turned-movies, the ending or storyline is changes to make it more palatable for the audience. Here are some of the movies based on books which had a different ending than the books, and what happened to the characters after the movie ended – according to the books.
There could be some spoilers ahead, tread lightly!
1. Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump is based on Winston Groom’s 1986 novel of the same name. The book was darker and more bigoted than the movie. In the books, Forrest loses his shrimp business, plays and loses in the NFL, becomes homeless, gets visited by Jenny’s ghost, finds a new love interest, opens an oyster business which becomes very successful, meets Tom Hanks, and goes to the Oscars to receive the Oscar for “Most Lovable Certified Idiot in America,” and says, “I got to pee.”
2. Fight Club
David Fincher’s Fight Club is based on the novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. Did you know there are two sequels to Fight Club? Anywho, Palahniuk wrote a comic book sequel, where the narrator is married to Marla, who is bored of the marriage and replaces Sebastian’s medication with placebo pills to resurrect Tyler. Not just that, it is also revealed that Tyler Durden is secretly running a terrorist network.
3. Jurassic Park
The first two Jurassic Park franchise films are based on the novels by acclaimed sci-fi and techno-thriller author Michael Crichton. The movie ends much more positively than the book. In the book, the dinosaur island gets bombed, and considering that Michael Crichton was an MD, his depictions of the harm that can befall the human body are as detailed as they are horrific.
4. The Lord of the Rings: The Return Of The King
There are so many differences between The Lord of the Rings book and the movies. While the movies focus more on physical battles, the novel emphasises on moral battles. In the novel, the Hobbits return to the shire, only to find it under attack, which leads to the rebellion. Whereas the film omits the Shire rebellion, bringing the “happily ever after” a little sooner.
5. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
The movie version of Breakfast at Tiffany’s is only superficially similar to the novella. In the movie, the narrator and Holly end up together but in the novella, the narrator’s sexuality is left ambiguous and the two do not end up together. In the book, Holly is a wanderer, a traveller who goes to to South America and then travels the world, whereas in the movie, her character is changed for the sake of a happy ending.
6. My Sister’s Keeper
My Sister’s Keeper is a powerful book. The story revolves around two sisters, one who has cancer and the younger one who was conceived to donate cord blood to her elder sister. Later, she is asked to donate some organs for her sister to survive. While the book revolves mostly around the younger sister, the movie is focused on the sister with cancer. In the movie, the younger sister files for emancipation, and as a result, the sister with cancer dies. But that’s not where the story ends in the book. In the book, it is revealed that it was the older sister’s idea because she didn’t want the transplant. But through some tragic turn of events, the younger sister dies and the sister with cancer eventually gets the transplant, helping her fight cancer.
7. Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
The movie Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory ends with Wonka appointing Charlie as his successor, and them flying in Wonka’s glass elevator to bring Charlie’s family to the chocolate factory. Roald Dahl’s sequel picks up right after the, and the elevator climbs higher and higher until everyone inside it starts floating. They reach an orbit. Charlie And Wonka then get mistaken for being space pirates. Not just that, Wonka also accidentally turns Charlie’s grandparents into babies with one of his chocolates.
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