# Anyone else remember the alternate ending to "Big"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864
**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:** 6
### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/101 "2013-05-14T03:45:12Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#):
>
> It would appear that we’ve moved from _Big_ to _Groundhog’s Day._
I wonder why nobody can find the original ending to that one. When I first saw it at the theater on the last day he wakes up, goes to the golf course, and tries to blow up the groundhog. I remember it clearly, but every time I see it on cable there’s some other ending.
---
### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/102 "2013-05-14T04:13:06Z")
> [@smilelio](#):
>
> The girl coming in to his class is DEFINITELY the alternate ending to Big. I grew up in Indonesia (near Australia/New Zealand so I guess that makes sense) and watched that movie ALL the time. Then, when we left all our Beta-Max there and got a VHS version of the movie in the US… I freaked out when I saw the “walking down the street” ending. There is no confusing two different movies going on here. There are two endings out there, and the US version is clearly the only one of anyone has any real evidence of. I don’t know why they won’t release the alternate ending on the DVD. It’s a real shame - it was a very sweet ending.
The reason I believe that there is no alternate ending that people watched in Indonesia or Australia or the UK or the Canary Islands, is that it doesn’t make any sense. Why would they have an alternate ending, and make special prints of the movie, and only show the alternate version outside the US?
Thing is, they have the internet in Australia nowadays. New Zealand too. People have VCRs, they can fire up the VCR, point their phone at the screen, and post the video on Youtube. This is a thing nowadays. And so until you can show the video on a video site, I think the more likely explanation is that you watched another crappy movie with a similar plot, but it was so boring and stupid and crappy unmemorable compared to Big that you completely forgot about it and only remember the ending because you thought the ending happened in Big.
It is very easy to prove my theory wrong. Just post a link to a video of the alternate ending. We have a video clip of the ending from 14 going on 30 that exactly matches in every detail the scene that people claim they saw from Big. That is right here: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6783tkwbZw0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6783tkwbZw0). Watch that, it is the “alternate ending”. Except it isn’t from Big.
Now, it’s possible that there really is the exact same scene, except in Big. That could be true. If so, post a link. No one can do that. No one has the tape, even though it apparently plays in the UK and Australia and New Zealand and Indonesia every five minutes. Until someone can show me the clip, I won’t believe them. Future people of the future, when you resurrect this thread in the future, please include a link to the clip on some future video hosting service of the future or don’t bother to bump the thread.
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### Author:  [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/103 "2013-05-14T06:40:11Z")
On Elizabeth Perkin’s [official website](http://elizabeth-perkins.org/2931) there is a description of her appearance on ABC’s _The Chew_, where she supposedly said the following:
> [@](#):
>
> She said when she signed on for the movie Robert de Niro was going to be playing the role of Josh, the young boy who makes the wish to become big. She said they never shot the alternate ending either, which would have been Perkins’ character shrunken down and turned into a child again.
I included the De Niro part because it’s weird.
Of course, if they did shoot an alternate ending, they wouldn’t have needed Perkins to be present.
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### Author:  [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/104 "2013-05-14T11:27:34Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> I wonder why nobody can find the original ending to that one. When I first saw it at the theater on the last day he wakes up, goes to the golf course, and tries to blow up the groundhog. I remember it clearly, but every time I see it on cable there’s some other ending.
😃
---
### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/105 "2013-05-14T13:12:17Z")
> [@cyren\_hatton\_1993](#):
>
> Christmas 2011 in the uk I watched big for the first time on national television and I can assure you the ending scene was the little girl in a classroom with josh.
The film was indeed shown on Christmas Day 2011 on Channel 4, at 5.20pm ([listings here](https://sites.google.com/site/ukchristmastv/c4-2011)). So Channel 4 ought to know about this mystical “alternate ending”, right? Go on, get in touch with them. I bet they won’t. I remember watching the film that Christmas, too, and it had the same ending it’s always had, with the bright autumn leaves as Tom Hanks walks down the street and turns back into a kid in a big suit.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/106 "2013-05-14T14:45:53Z")
This is becoming one of the most frustrating threads in SDMB history.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/107 "2013-05-14T14:53:21Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> This is becoming one of the most frustrating threads in SDMB history.
Wait, no, that’s not the original ending. Didn’t TubaDiva step in and say “This is one of the most fascinating threads in SDMB history?”
---
### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/108 "2013-05-14T16:30:12Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> This is becoming one of the most frustrating threads in SDMB history.
:takes of hat and tips it to everyone:
[I’m more stunned that I started a thread 6 years later on the same topic.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=109762) My bad!
Oh, and for the final time:
The ending is definitely the one in 14 going on 30!
**THERE IS NO ALTERNATE ENDING TO BIG!!!**
---
### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/109 "2013-05-14T16:49:52Z")
The biggest surprise I got out of this thread was that there was actually a movie called _14 Going on 30_. I wonder if the Jennifer Garner movie makers knew this?
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### Author:  [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/110 "2013-05-14T18:35:30Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> This is becoming one of the most frustrating threads in SDMB history.
It’s not even in the conversation.
Why does .99999… = 1?
Plane on a treadmill
Monty Hall problem
---
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/111 "2013-05-14T18:42:31Z")
OK, I’ll cop to an exaggeration. But the other topics are more interesting!
---
### Author:  [@Sally\_Mander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sally_Mander)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/112 "2013-05-14T19:20:00Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> This is becoming one of the most frustrating threads in SDMB history.
Really? I think it’s incredibly entertaining.
---
### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/113 "2013-05-14T19:34:19Z")
Actually, there \*\*is \*\*an alternate ending. It’s just not particularly different from the original. I don’t have my copy here, but there was a 1988 comic book adaptation, and it’s basically the same, somewhat simplified ending.
For more info:
[http://brandedinthe80s.com/6241/filed-under-obscure-comic-book-adaptations](http://brandedinthe80s.com/6241/filed-under-obscure-comic-book-adaptations)
---
### Author:  [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/114 "2013-05-14T20:01:04Z")
> [@smilelio](#):
>
> The girl coming in to his class is DEFINITELY the alternate ending to Big. I grew up in Indonesia (near Australia/New Zealand so I guess that makes sense) and watched that movie ALL the time. Then, when we left all our Beta-Max there and got a VHS version of the movie in the US… I freaked out when I saw the “walking down the street” ending. There is no confusing two different movies going on here. There are two endings out there, and the US version is clearly the only one of anyone has any real evidence of. I don’t know why they won’t release the alternate ending on the DVD. It’s a real shame - it was a very sweet ending.
You sure about that? Big, a movie made in 1988, was released on Betamax?
Nevermind. I see they went way beyond that date.
---
### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/115 "2013-05-18T13:07:30Z")
What happened to the alternate ending of this thread? I could swear when I first read this six years ago, we reached a consensus that we were just conflating memories, the ending was always the fadeout, and everybody had a good laugh about it. But maybe that was just in the Australian/New Zealand version of this board.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/116 "2013-05-18T23:39:11Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> What happened to the alternate ending of this thread? I could swear when I first read this six years ago, we reached a consensus that we were just conflating memories, the ending was always the fadeout, and everybody had a good laugh about it. But maybe that was just in the Australian/New Zealand version of this board.
Must have been on Giraffe’s board. 😃
---
### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2013, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/117 "2013-05-19T00:10:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> What happened to the alternate ending of this thread? I could swear when I first read this six years ago, we reached a consensus that we were just conflating memories, the ending was always the fadeout, and everybody had a good laugh about it. But maybe that was just in the Australian/New Zealand version of this board.
[Don’t forget that there is an alternate thread on this topic…sadly, made by me as well.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=109762)
---
### Author:  [@80\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/80_s_Child)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/118 "2013-06-23T16:17:55Z")
I have never posted a comment in my life but some of you people are making me Mad! Just because you haven’t personally seen the other ending doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or the poster must be thinking of a different movie.
I saw Big when it came out in the theatre and it had the ending where the girl becomes 13 and is introduced to his class at school.
When I first rented the movie on VHS, I almost went ballistic when it ended differently where the two boys were walking their bikes down the street.
YOU ARE NOT CRAZY! THIS VERSION DOES EXIST!
Thank you.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/119 "2013-06-23T16:42:59Z")
Then show us evidence of it. You would think that if it actually existed someone would have footage of it, no, that would make it to the internet by now, given that all and sundry is available. Or that one of the actors/directors/scriptwriters, _someone_, would have mentioned it.
This thread is over 11 years old, and in all that time, no further actual evidence of it has been discovered. It seems far, far more likely that it’s a conflated memory. My own memory is similar to yours. If asked, I would have thought the ending was the “happy” one. I really don’t remember the fade-to-black ending. But the scene from the other movie posted here fits exactly with my memory, so I think I’m almost certain I’m just mixing two memories into one. Happens all the time.
---
### Author:  [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/120 "2013-06-23T17:12:55Z")
Is this turning into the movie version of the “lost Thunderbird photo?”
> **[Strange Tales of Thunderbird Photos](https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2012/03/strange-tales-of-thunderbird-photos/)**
>
> Back in the 1960s, a photograph, said to date from the late 1800s, appeared in the pages of a popular newsstand magazine
[http://www.prairieghosts.com/tbirdaz.html](http://www.prairieghosts.com/tbirdaz.html)
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