The Big Picture
- Multiple endings for movies in different markets are common, often to make them more palatable to the public.
- The Notebook has an alternate ending on Netflix UK, featuring a shot of birds soaring instead of the original conclusion.
- The Descent and 21 & Over are other examples of films with altered endings, catering to different audience preferences or cultural norms.
At this point, every part of The Notebook has become famous enough that you don't even need to have seen the movie or be that much of a fan to know about its emotional ending. This touching conclusion involves the reveal that the young couple, Allie (Rachel McAdams) and Noah (Ryan Gosling), who we've been watching fall in love in the 1930s, are in fact also the elderly couple (James Garner and Gena Rowlands) in the movie's framing device, who’d been previously reading the period-era exploits of the film’s younger leads as if they were different fictional beings. It's revealed that Allie has dementia and doesn't remember her epic love story with Noah, so he visits her daily and reads her the tales of their forgotten romance. At the end of the movie, Allie briefly recognizes Noah, and they slow dance and reminisce before going to bed and dying peacefully in each other's arms. It's a beautifully bittersweet ending that put the movie on the map as one of the most well-known modern love stories, but did you know that an alternate ending to The Notebook also exists?
The Notebook (2004)
PG-13An elderly man reads to a woman with dementia the story of two young lovers whose romance is threatened by the difference in their respective social classes.
Release Date June 25, 2004 Director Nick Cassavetes Cast Ryan Gosling , Rachel McAdams , James Garner , Gena Rowlands , James Marsden , Kevin Connolly , Sam Shepard , Joan Allen Runtime 123 minutes Main Genre RomanceAllie and Noah's Fate is Ambiguous in 'The Notebook's Alternate Ending
The notoriety of The Notebook's original ending means that, if somebody were to adjust it, it would cause quite a stir. So it was when Netflix UK uploaded an alternate version of The Notebook, one where an awkward shot of birds soaring above a lake closes out the feature instead. Considering how famous The Notebook is, not to mention that it hails from a high-profile American film studio, it may be baffling to realize there were multiple endings floating around for the movie in different markets. But creating alternate endings is actually a common practice for certain films, albeit for wildly diverging reasons.
Even with the multitude of possibilities for why a movie can get a different ending, no concrete purpose for the existence of this alternate ending to The Notebook has ever been revealed, nor why it was just restricted to Netflix UK. However, given that the revised ending dilutes the original conclusion and makes it ambiguous whether or not the elderly couple passes away, it’s likely this tweak was done to make something more palatable to the public. This is a common refrain in these altered endings, as most of them hinge on wanting not to disturb or alienate moviegoers.
'The Descent' Is Another Movie With an Alternate Ending for a Different Market
Though a wildly different film from one like The Notebook where Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams smooch in the rain, the Neil Marshall horror film The Descent is another perfect example of how a movie’s downer ending can get tweaked for a certain territory. Hailing from the United Kingdom, the American version of The Descent concluded with Sarah Carter (Shauna Macdonald) seemingly escaping the caves she and her friends were trapped in, getting into her car, and then getting spooked by one final jump scare in the form of a hallucination of friend Juno (Natalie Mendoza). As she screams, the credits begin to roll.
The Descent's original ending from the United Kingdom, though, kept going, with this scream being followed by the reveal that Sarah never made it out of the caves — she’s still stuck down there with the ravenous monsters that lie inside. She would then see her dead daughter Jessica holding a birthday cake, paying off a recurring motif throughout the film, before the audience sees Sarah surrounded by pitch-black darkness and hears noises indicating that she’s about to be devoured. It was a brutal conclusion … and one that was deemed a no-go for U.S. audiences.
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Related‘Return of the Jedi’ Originally Had a Much Darker Alternate Ending
Not only would it have changed the beloved franchise, but everything that followed would have been different.
The primary reason for the alteration was relatively simple. The Descent got its ending changed simply because American audiences were not as enamored with such a downbeat conclusion. Even with its final jump-scare involving Juno, the American version of The Descent does at least end with Sarah explicitly surviving and getting out of the caves. There’s a sense of hope for the future here that’s wiped away in the original conclusion. Of course, going with the bubblier American ending has its share of drawbacks, including removing the pay-off to the recurring motif of Jessica’s spirit.
'21 & Over's Alternate Ending Completely Changed a Character's Arc
The Notebook and The Descent had alternate endings made for certain countries that mostly boiled down to cutting footage from the original cut. However, one can go in a more elaborate direction and create whole new conclusions for movie releases in certain countries. One of the more concrete, if obscure, examples of this phenomenon is from the 2013 raunchy comedy 21 & Over. An already largely forgotten Miles Teller vehicle, the film concerns a couple of buddies who decide to give their buddy Jeff Chang (Justin Chon) a big party to celebrate turning 21 years old. No matter what country you live in, lots of nudity and drinking will ensue.
However, for 21 & Over's alternate version that was played in China, drastic tweaks were made, including making Chang Chinese instead of Chinese American. This was to inform a new alternate ending where Chang would return to China at the end of the film and, having learned his lesson from so much Western indulgence, would become a better person. This is in sharp contrast to the theatrical conclusion of 21 & Over, in which Chang tells off his controlling father and informs him that he doesn’t actually want to become a doctor. By making these alterations, 21 & Over was given an alternate ending to make it more palatable to the customs of mainstream Chinese cinema norms.
How Is 'Fight Club's Alternate Ending Different From the Original?
CloseA much less elaborate, but no less fascinating, version of creating new endings for movies for China also emerged through the theatrical re-release of Fight Club in 2022. This entailed not filming a new ending but rather abruptly stopping the movie in the third act, to reveal on-screen text saying that local cops managed to foil a wicked plan to blow up buildings and send all the adversaries to prison, while Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) got sent to an insane asylum. It’s unclear who was behind the altered finale (specifically if it was done on the part of the film's financier, New Regency, or the Chinese government), but the intent behind the new finale seems to make for a more rule-abiding climax that didn’t suggest societal subversion of any kind.
'Lord of War's Alternate Ending Takes a Similar Path to That of 'Fight Club'
A New York Times piece breaking down the pattern behind instances like Fight Club's alternate ending revealed yet another instance of this occurring for an American film released in China, in the form of the 2005 film Lord of War. In this movie, Nicolas Cage’s arms dealer protagonist is supposed to go to prison, get out, and then return to his morally shady ways. The Chinese cut, though, just ends with the character in prison and, much like the altered version of Fight Club, has on-screen text explaining that he never got out. Once again, the wicked get their just deserts and anything too scandalous is restricted from appearing. A Lord of War sequel has been announced, so we'll see how its ending will fair worldwide.
Not Even 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' Can Escape the Fate of Alternate Endings
Chinese authorities also gave Minions: The Rise of Gru an alternate ending. Once again, hastily added on-screen text helps reshape a film's conclusion and instill some sense of consistent morality into a movie's world. In this case, Minions: The Rise of Gru's original ending, depicting adolescent Gru riding off into the sunset with his gaggle of minions and mentor Wild Knuckles, was altered. Since this finale hinged on Wild Knuckles evading the cops, on-screen text informed the audience that this crook would eventually be incarcerated after a heist gone wrong, while Gru would return to his family. It's consistent with how Western media depicting morally loose characters has often been altered in this country, though it's amusing that this trend even applied to a feature as wacky as Minions: The Rise of Gru.
American Studios Often Re-Edit Imported Movie Endings
This alternate-ending trend isn't just limited to foreign countries, of course. American movie studios also often edit features from foreign countries to make them more "palatable." This is often done in a manner that insults both filmmakers and moviegoers, as it robs titles of cultural specificity integral to their stories, and believes that American audiences are too dumb to understand films not made in an instantly recognizable Western style. A tragically appropriate example of this is the 2013 Wong Kar-wai movieThe Grandmaster, which received an alternate cut in America meant to make the film's plot more "comprehensible" to moviegoers in this country. This film, distributed in this territory by The Weinstein Company, is a classic example of how Harvey Weinstein acquired foreign-language films and then insisted on drastic edits to make them "more commercial," in the process robbing them of their artistry. Sometimes, the way films are tweaked for foreign audiences can be amusing or silly. In the case of how Weinstein impacted titles like The Grandmaster, it's downright tragic and speaks to issues of sacrificing creativity in favor of mainstream commercial appeal.
Movies get new endings for certain countries all the time; it’s an extremely common occurrence. However, the reasons for the individual tweaks go in a variety of directions, whether it be a technological goof on Netflix, a way to give a dark movie a happy ending, or a reflection of the creative restrictions facing mainstream cinema in China. Exploring the reasoning behind these assorted changes can lend insight into the very different standards and cultural norms for the cinema of varying countries. Best of all, it can make one appreciate just how much of an effective tearjerker the original proper ending to The Notebook really is.
The Notebook is available to stream on Max in the U.S.
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