Why do movies always have a happy ending?

[Kraenen]

Bad for business to be more realistic. Better to feed into people's wish for everything to be pleasant and cheery. Fortunately there's an audience for movies that make you think a bit more

[Krystal]

OT, this isn't a movie, technically.. more of a long, stretched out movie across a TV series, but you would love it if you are not always after a happy ending.


Game of Thrones ftw. George R. R. Martin wrote his books where the hero does NOT always win. He wants people to be afraid when their fav hero is in danger because the audience doesn't know if they'll survive until the end of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulUBDu_97z8
interview

[Orlong]

And you think anybody is going to recognize them right away? Nope..

I doubt many people outside of comic book geeks recognized, Thor, Iron Man, That fire chick, or Captain America. And the only reason they heard of Hulk is because if the Bill Bixby show. And really, it doesnt matter. If it has the word Avengers in title, people are going to want to see it, regardless of what 5 members of the Avengers are in the movie

[Captain N]

If you want to see a series that never had a Happy Ending I suggest you start watching episodes of Tales From The Crypt...absolutely awesome series.

[Instructor Soki]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZvdZbboF4o

[Zoaric]

I doubt many people outside of comic book geeks recognized, Thor, Iron Man, That fire chick, or Captain America. And the only reason they heard of Hulk is because if the Bill Bixby show. And really, it doesnt matter. If it has the word Avengers in title, people are going to want to see it, regardless of what 5 members of the Avengers are in the movie

They did recognize them. Why? Because they built them up in other movies. So if Disney
were really to kill off the current Avengers, they'd have to build up another group of
heroes, which would be both annoying and time-consuming.

[Kaleredar]

Because a happy ending generally makes the viewer feel happy, and a crappy ending generally makes the viewer feel crappy. King Kong is a good example. It was a very good movie, and I liked 95% of it. But that 5% at the end ensured that, despite it being an excellent movie overall, I would never ever watch it again. People like things to end on a good note, whether in reality or fiction. Except for masochists and sadists I guess.

The original King Kong was a monster movie, and the monster always dies at the end of those. The remake was less of a "monster" movie, but everyone knows that it's supposed to end with him fighting planes at the top of the empire state building. It would have been pretty stupid to have a "just kidding he survives!" moment in there. It's supposed to be a sad ending.

Kong was perfectly happy chilling on Skull Island, and then humanity comes in and their greed fucks everything up for both Kong and, ultimately, themselves. There's your message.

[Rampant Rabbit]

I liked the ending in "The Mist".

I gotta agree with you on that one. It's one of those endings that complies to your own "I bet the world gets saved now" comment on a sad ending. Only to make it even sadder.

[Faesroll]

The mist and The Thing are one of the better movies with a "bad ending".

[Dispraise]

They don't. Hollywood movies almost always have a happy ending, because Americans don't like discomfort. Americans like happy feels that let them avoid reflection, introspection, and personal growth - the sort of things that art is wont to inspire.

That's horse shit. A good happy ending offers all of those things in spades. And throwing in a bad ending just for the sake of avoiding the cliche, is a cliche unto itself. It's not "artistic", it's hackneyed.

[Halicia]

That's horse shit. A good happy ending offers all of those things in spades. And throwing in a bad ending just for the sake of avoiding the cliche, is a cliche unto itself. It's not "artistic", it's hackneyed.

Reminds me of Sopranos there. Not a good ending. Not a bad ending. Not really an ending. Life goes on.

[zephid]

The only movie Ive seen that doesnt have a happy ending is "In the Mouth of Madness". Why does the hero always have to win. Why doesnt the villain ever win? Why do horror movies always end in the monster being killed?. Why do hostages always get saved? I think they should start making movies where the ending doesnt always have to be happy.

You should watch the first SAW movie.

[madmanx]

Romantic comedies and cheap thrill rides always have happy endings.

Don't watch garbage and then complain about how bad it is.

[Marston]

You should watch the first SAW movie.

Oh totally forgot about this. Definitly one of the best movies regarding this.

[Shampro]

I recomend you to watch the SAW saga. Spoiler alert. It doesn't end well for the good guys in that movie.

[Stormcall]

There are plenty of movies with less than happy endings, but the fact of the matter is, most people look at it like, there's enough fucking depression and sadness and misery in the real world, so in fiction, they like to see something end on a positive note.

[Zanito44]

I recomend you to watch the SAW saga. Spoiler alert. It doesn't end well for the good guys in that movie.

Most of the people that bite the dust during the series were arguably not even remotely good people.

[Powerogue]

The audience, more often than not, would rather the stories end happily.

[Ehrenpanzer]

The Wasp and Quicksilver are pretty recognizable to anyone who cares at all about comic books.

which is about 5% of the Marvel movie audience. Also, B grade at best superheros dont make to good stand alone movies..see: Daredevil/Electra

[Vandexander]

You don't want happy endings? Try real life. Lots of seriously non-happy endings there.