Movies That Had A Happy Ending, Until You Really Think About It...

Who doesn’t love a great movie? Especially when you feel as though justice was served and it seems like all the characters you were rooting for will go on to live joyful, fulfilling lives in movie land. It’s the worst though, when a movie ends poorly or when a movie seems to end well until you think back to it and take it all in…

The following AskRedditors responded to the question, “What movie had a happy ending until you consider what had to happen next?”

You should be warned that this article may include a few spoilers! And, if you are interested in other film woes, take a look at the original thread at the end of the article.

Toy Story 3. It’s all going to happen to them, again, in another 10 years. And they are going to do that for the rest of their lives.

max-peck

At the end of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, you just know that Cameron is gonna get the living daylights kicked out of him by his dad.

brassmonkey4288

In Wall-E, where it would still take decades before the people were actually able to live off the earth, and their quality of life would still be awful compared to their lives in the ship.

Euthy

The Truman Show. This guy has no idea what the real world is like and he is just thrown into it, most people have 18 years of preparation.

Swanny5674

Return of the Jedi. I’m not familiar with any of the Star Wars expanded the universe, but I would imagine that the collapse of a political entity as large as the Galactic Empire would be EXTREMELY messy.

Elendilofnumenor

In the Breakfast Club, Bender most likely went home and got beaten by his Dad again after the movie ended.

joe6313

Robin from the Dark Knight trilogy. Batman had handed the mantle to a guy who had no training, which has a lot of implications.

zim117

It isn’t hugs and giggles, things DO NOT go back to normal.

The human race got a major wake up call. Much of the upper hemisphere is covered in ice. Let’s not mince words, a few billion people died. Whole nations were wiped off the map. Yes, you have survivors, but ponder this… FOOD.

A huge section of the world’s agriculture was taken away. How are you going to feed the remaining masses? Doesn’t include the shelter. Those lucky ones – who were on the edge of the frost are going to move further down, South America and Africa. While true, the ice will melt, eventually – this massive snow front will have a huge effect on global climates… colder. Sunlight is being reflected off the surface, rather than absorbed.

The survivors will have such terrible hardships ahead. It will take a generation or more to bounce back.

I’m not even talking about political turmoil – warlords, tyrants, and dictators will rise to power. Wars over limited resources. The movie ends with our gang getting picked up by what remains of the U.S. government. The future is so uncertain, much more will perish from harsh weather, starvation, sickness and/or hostilities.

We don’t just hold hands and sing ‘Kumbaya’. The human race will suffer from huge blood losses to come.

JohnIan101

Braveheart. I mean, the movie is historically inaccurate, but it ends at the battle of Bannockburn, where the narrator says they “won their freedom”. But this freedom only lasted for like 5 years before war broke out again.

shirtlessin1stclass

Up. Little kid’s dad bailed on him and his only friend is old as heck and knocking on death’s door.

___Magnitude__

Forrest Gump. Jenny dies of AIDS. Forrest is married to Jenny. Married people have unprotected sex…

jasonkruger1313

In “Mad Max: Fury Road.”They just open up the mains and empty out the water onto everyone below the Citadel. Immortan Joe may have been a brutal dictatorial monster, but he managed those resources. They’re going to deplete that reservoir in no time.

chthonical

Back to the Future. Uh, you still keep the guy who full on tried to sexually assault Lorraine, your wife, around and in employ? Why?

Jay_Eye_MBOTH_WHY

Monsters Inc. There’s a reason they made a prequel and not a sequel. Laughter being ten times more powerful means a lot of factory monsters would’ve lost their jobs, even accounting for the energy crisis.

bog-doggie-46

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. It seems as though they were meant for each other because even with no memory of each other, they still find each other and fall in love. As the movie foreshadows with repeating and glitching, in the last shot of the film, they are doomed to a cycle of meeting, falling in love, breaking up, heart break, erasing their memories about the other and repeat.

ChrisMorrison93

‘The Beauty and the Beast’ would most likely end with a Robespierre-style uprising.

That, and they would have no furniture.

smartybeagle

The original ending of Office Space.

There was an audio at the end where the construction foreman comes up to Peter and starts talking just like Lumberg. Meaning that Peter was in the exact same ‘hell’, just a different location.

Test audiences thought it was too depressing so they edited out the audio…It just shows them talking as the camera pans back.

Buttfukkmagooo

After the survivors escape from the theme park, they file a class-action lawsuit against the company that owns the park, the directors, and officers. Alleging their negligence allowed the dinosaurs to escape and kill people.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation also investigates whether the company was criminally negligent. The Jurassic World company goes bankrupt and Bryce Dallas Howard’s character goes to jail.

omegadirectory

Mimi has AIDS and she’ll definitely be dead soon. Roger and Collins have HIV in the 80’s and they’ll probably be dead soon. Mark is all alone and is gonna watch his best friends die.

Joanne and Maureen might get a happy ending though.

triggerhappymidget

Even after solving what killed the planet, the planet is still dead, with at least 55 more Tom Cruises flying about.

I shiver at the thought of that many Tom Cruises.

MoosetheStampede

The Lion King.

When a new male takes over a pride, he kills all of the last head male’s cubs.

Badgers_Are_Forever

Liam Neeson gets arrested for mass murder.

And, if we consider Taken 2, it isn’t a happy ending not only for that but also because his wife gets kidnapped by the revenge-seeking relatives of those he killed in the first film.

bonster85 & cp_7

Dorothy wakes up and tells people about her silly dream. That’s great! Miss Gulch is still going to kill Toto tomorrow.

BearonVonMu

Zootopia.

The whole plot of the movie hinges on reshaping the natural order by all living in unity. That’s great, right until you realize that herbivores are still super good at reproducing to make up for carnivores, as shown by the “Rabbit population sign counter going up at a ridiculous rate” gag, except nobody’s eating them anymore.

By the end of the movie, it’s also revealed that there are herbivore extremists which want to take it further and get rid of carnivores. Overpopulation and possibly genocide is on its way.