New Ending To '28 Days Later'!

[dh1989]

The L.A. Times reports that a new, darker, ending will be tacked onto prints of Danny Boyle's sleeper hit, 28 Days Later, a film detailing a few humans' struggle to survive zombie attacks in a post-apocalyptic Europe....

Los Angeles Times... Published July 17, 2003

In an unusual marketing move to pump up the buzz surrounding its horror hit "28 Days Later," Fox Searchlight will attach the film's original, rather downbeat ending to all 1,400 prints now playing in theaters.

Although outtakes, filmmaker narration and alternate endings have become an expected part of DVD movie packages, Fox Searchlight said Wednesday it is aware of no other instance in which alternate scenes were added to a film still in theatrical release.

The ending now in theaters was the film's original scripted ending but was ditched by screenwriter Alex Garland and director Danny Boyle during production in favor of a darker coda. That grim ending was included in the first cut of the film and tested with preview audiences in theaters. But Boyle and his filmmaking team ultimately rejected the scene, set in a hospital, as simply too bleak.

The darker ending will appear beginning July 25 at the conclusion of the credits.

I really loathed the current ending, and I look forward to seeing a new ending. I won't see it in theatres, but I will view it on DVD.

P.S. The Other, I thought this would interest many filmgoers, who would not click on the '28 Days Later' thoughts & reviews again, because they already wrote their review, and would miss this. If you feel differently, please close it. :)

[EDsoulsurvive*]

wow, im interested, but still, theres nothing that would get me to bak to the theater to sit throght this again. I'll wait for the DVD, only if i hear that the ending is worth a rental. Still, i think itys a good move by Fox Searchlight.

[Fisting Ackbar]

I'll wait for the DVD to see that alternate ending.

[XvoorheesX]

I was thinking about going back for another viewing anyways, so come the 25th, I'll definately be there.

[ColinM]

*spoilers kind of, but not really*

In Roger Ebert's review, he said he thought the ending would've been better if the plane had opened fire and killed the main characters.

I'm kind of in the middle. I think a downbeat ending could've worked for 28 Days Later (part of me would have perferred Ebert's ending), but I had nothing against the ending that made the film. I'm very curious to see the alternate one, though.

[AgentSmith]

This man actually get me to the theater to see this!!

I really enjoyed this film and may see it again just for this!!

[Lazy Boy]

While I thought the ending to the film was disappointingly anti-climactic, it wasn't that bad...I can't think of any other ending that would work without resorting to some sort of "unhappy" conclusion.

[mrdeeds]

Here's another article about the ending:

Jam! Showbiz (http://canoe.ca/JamMovies/jul25_end-ap.html)

Up here in Edmonton, Alberta it is being advertised as:

29 DAYS LATER... SEE THE ENDING SO TERRIFYING, IT WILL HAUNT YOU FOR DAYS....

[Nate6]

Let's just put it this way: it's much better than the original's.

MODERATE SPOILERS
The ending is much more open and not so pat and happy. That's all I'm going to say for now.
SPOILERS ENDED

[Judge_Smails]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but this SOUNDS like sloppy storytelling to me. It sounds like a director who didn't really know what he wanted his film to be. I mean, how can you film two different endings?!

The ending of a movie is what everything else is building towards, right? So if you film two different endings, it would seem that some of the prior "building" isn't going to mean as much in one of the versions.

Which version should I see?

[MadsenOMC]

Two endings is hardly a sign of sloppy storytelling. Do you have any idea how often this occurs? Do you really think finding the perfect ending is that easy, and that every director knows what it is right from the start? Be realistic. It is hardly uncommon to film more than one ending, or at least have more than one written and ready to go. The original one didn't test well, so they shot a new one. Happens all the time. Now you can see both.

[chasingbanky]

I hella wanna see this ending but Im not ready to pay for it...I think they should let people with their ticket stubs get in for free(yea right) maybe i'll check out anyway.

[Judge_Smails]

Originally posted by MadsenOMC
The original one didn't test well, so they shot a new one.

I think that was exactly the point I was trying to make. Brilliant way to make a movie.

[MadsenOMC]

I don't understand your point. That happens all the time and it hardly means the shoot was troubled or whatever you were implying.

[Etrigan]

The new ending was the original, Boyle wanted this ending, but the STUDIO didnt like it, made cast and director to a new alternate ending that was happy, for some reason they changed their mind, now we get to see the original.

Therefore implying that the Boyle sorta shot different endings b/c he was being fickle is not true.


Plus you can have multiple visions of how things can end in a story, IF it was up to him to have more than one ending and the studio was paying for it, who could blame him, you dont really know how things like that work out until you see a finished product, lucky him to have more than one finished product.

[Judge_Smails]

Okay. So what you're saying is, if I want to see the movie that Danny Boyle really wanted me to see, I should see the version that just got released. Not the version that was originally released. Yes?

[MadsenOMC]

Apparently that is true. He preferred the ending that they recently added to the one in the original release. But so fucking what? That still doesn't prove your point. Again, it's hardly something that rarely happens.

[Droog989]

Aren't there 3 endings planned for the DVD release? So could it just be a possibility that multiple endings were filmed, and Boyle just picked the one he thought worked best? Or the studio picked it or whatever.

I'm not alone right, there's word of 3 different endings?

[MadsenOMC]

From what I understand, two different endings were filmed and a third never got past the storyboard phase.