# Anyone else remember the alternate ending to "Big"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [April 16, 2002, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864 "2002-04-16T02:03:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 49
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/961 "2021-10-18T17:34:03Z")
> [@dmcvay](#): > > This was the first movie that I asked a girl out on a date where it was just the two of us. This theater in the Dallas area had the alternate ending. I remember when the young Susan walked in I sat up in my seat, my jaw dropped open and I turned to my date and said “It’s her”. Isn’t it amazing how convincing the Mandela Effect can be? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/962 "2021-10-18T19:08:14Z")
> [@dmcvay](#): > > This theater in the Dallas area had the alternate ending. No, it didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/963 "2021-10-18T19:14:59Z")
> [@dmcvay](#): > > There is some interesting commentary by the writers on the Blu-ray, and I will talk more about that later. I am quite looking forward to that. ---
**Author:** ![Asylum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@Asylum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asylum)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/964 "2021-10-18T19:29:34Z")
I love this thread so, so much. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/965 "2021-10-18T19:35:19Z")
> [@dmcvay](#): > > There is some interesting commentary by the writers on the Blu-ray, and I will talk more about that later. Does this interesting commentary have anything to do with this alternate ending you claim to have seen, the ending the people that made the film claim never existed? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/966 "2021-10-18T19:38:40Z")
Why is dmcvay’s name greyed out, and he is neither a Member nor a Guest? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/967 "2021-10-18T19:40:05Z")
> [@dmcvay](#): > > There is some interesting commentary by the writers on the Blu-ray, and I will talk more about that later. I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this, which this post is too narrow to contain. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/968 "2021-10-18T19:43:00Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Why is dmcvay’s name greyed out, and he is neither a Member nor a Guest? Because, like the alternate ending to _Big_, he doesn’t actually exist? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/969 "2021-10-18T20:26:40Z")
I believe that indicates [Trust Level 0](https://blog.discourse.org/2018/06/understanding-discourse-trust-levels/), which all users start at. It’s a pretty easy path to Level 1, so people move up quickly if they do anything on the site. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/970 "2021-10-18T21:21:06Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I believe that indicates [Trust Level 0](https://blog.discourse.org/2018/06/understanding-discourse-trust-levels/), which all users start at. It’s a pretty easy path to Level 1, so people move up quickly if they do anything on the site I’ve been on this board I have achieved “threat level midnight”. 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/971 "2021-10-18T23:34:16Z")
Disqus is starting to advise me to get a life, and take a day off once in a while. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/972 "2021-10-18T23:36:27Z")
You’ve achieved Trust Level Plaid! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/973 "2021-10-19T01:13:21Z")
I’ve seen the alternate ending to _Big_. It features the grownup Josh and Susan, now married and appearing on _The Newlywed Game_. Bob Eubanks ask them where’s the most unusual place they’ve made whoopie. . . ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/974 "2021-10-19T01:15:27Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Bob Eubanks ask them where’s the most unusual place they’ve made whoopie. . . “That’d be in the Zoltar, Bob.” ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/975 "2021-10-19T01:20:13Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Bob Eubanks ask them where’s the most unusual place they’ve made whoopie. . . And Susan said, “Another inaccurate movie title…” ---
**Author:** ![dmcvay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@dmcvay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dmcvay)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/976 "2021-10-19T05:02:58Z")
You guys crack me up. OK, I have transcribed a segment from the special features of the Blu-ray version of BIG. It is also on the Extended Edition 2-disc DVD set of Big 2007. Its called “Big Brainstorming” - An Audio Documentary by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg. Anne made recordings of their sessions on micro-cassettes and we here segments here while the movie plays. Near the end at the one hour 40 minute mark we hear them create the final scene we all know. Except in this first version Susan drops him off at his school where his class is about to graduate (probably Jr High) and they are having a tribute to Josh. I would have loved to have seen that ending but this doesn’t fit with the shooting schedule that they had with Tom Hanks. He becomes big at a summer carnival and returns home in the Fall. Gary declares this the end of the movie but then immediately both start figuring out a way to get Susan to join him. Gary: "And that should be the end of the movie. That’s it, that’s the end of the movie. Yeah No, you know what the end of the movie is? You think that is the end of the movie. You cut back to her and she kind of has tears in her eyes, but a slight smile. She gets back in her car and there is some little game that he was fiddling with the whole way that she starts to play because she is still a little bit of a kid. Anne: No, I know what it is. Gary: What is it? Anne: She goes back to the carnival herself. Gary: I don’t know, it should be something she does that is childish. Anne: Maybe that thing the Wish is Granted is in the car. They both ended up rejecting this idea, but they may have pitched it to the studio as an option. Later I will transcribe where Anne brings up the idea of a classroom scene, and some unknown forces want it as the ending. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/977 "2021-10-19T08:45:03Z")
> [@dmcvay](#): > > and some unknown forces want it as the ending. Prolly Big Mandela. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/978 "2021-10-19T11:01:23Z")
Mark my words: in the not-too-distant future, after some improvements to the quality and accessibility of CGI technology, some prankster is going to create a very convincing deepfake of this alternate ending. And this forgery will be held up by those it duped as proof of the existence of the genuine article. Dozens of people, including many in this very thread, will emphatically swear that it’s _exactly_ the same scene they watched so many decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/979 "2021-10-19T12:15:14Z")
> [@dmcvay](#): > > They both ended up rejecting this idea, but they may have pitched it to the studio as an option. You’re going from “may have” to “this other different thing might have been suggested which means my other different thing definitely happened” without any actual evidence. It’s all just vague and, if you squint really hard, vaguely suggestive. Suggestive of what? Well…diddly squat. It means they’re writers. And writers are going to riff on ideas if you give them a couple hours to talk about stuff. Nobody - not these writers, the director, or even the kid that was supposedly in the scene - have any memories it was filmed. There are no pieces of such footage ever found. There are no receipts (literal receipts - from the pay that would have to accrue to crew and extra cast). To the contrary, the principle folks involved have all denied any such scene was ever filmed. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/980 "2021-10-19T12:18:04Z")
So in the natural place to discuss the imaginary “classroom ending” the writers don’t mention this ending, but instead talk about different ideas? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=48) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=50)