Top 10 Times Movies Had to Be Patched After Release

Stanley Kubrick was a filmmaker who—for better or worse—played by his own rules. A director wholly committed to his artistic vision, it’s hard imagining him working within the studio system of today. It’s also hard to imagine a major studio editing a film for artistic reasons after it’s been sent to theaters. But in 1980, that’s exactly what Warner Bros. did! About one week into The Shining’s theatrical run, the last two minutes were cut from the film. The film projectionists actually did it themselves at theaters and were instructed to send the removed portion to the studio. Before it was subsequently released in Europe, Kubrick shaved another 25 minutes off of the runtime.

Disney certainly has a knack for hiring songwriters who craft catchy songs. Knowing that kids around the world will be singing these tunes for years to come, however, it’s very important that the lyrics be appropriate. The film’s opening number, “Arabian Nights,” perfectly sets the mood and setting for the story that’s about to unfold. In the theatrical version, however, this song included the lines “Where they cut off your ear/If they don't like your face/It's barbaric, but hey, it's home." This understandably offended many people in Arabic nations and of Arabic descent, including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee . Though the lyrics stayed put for the duration of Aladdin’s theatrical run, they were permanently changed for the 1993 home video release.

This ‘90s sports drama underperformed at the box office and has largely been forgotten over the decades. If “The Program” is remembered for one thing, it’s the scene that had to be cut from the film. The moment in question sees Joe Kane, a college football quarterback, lie down in the middle of a busy street. To prove their mettle and show team spirit, other Timberwolves join him. As Samuel Johnson is credited with having said, “Hell is paved with good intentions.” And so while the filmmakers surely meant for this particular scene to be inspiring, what it actually inspired was a number of dangerous copycat stunts. After a teen was killed (and more injured) recreating the scene, the offending moment was removed from the film.

When a show dog is being evaluated by a judge, they’re examined from head to tail—including everything in between. Given that this buddy cop comedy was intended as a family-friendly film, however, you wouldn’t have expected them to focus so much on the dogs’ genitals. But they did! In the original cut of the film, Max the Rottweiler makes it all too clear that he is NOT okay with being touched in certain places. In response, he’s coached by other characters to “go to his happy place’” Links to real life abuse of children were made for obvious reasons, and the offending scenes were cut while the film was still in theaters, having been labelled disturbingly similar to child grooming.

We know what you’re thinking. What, pray tell, could these two adorable mice have done to warrant a patch after release? Don’t worry, the charming duo of Bernard and Miss Bianca remain entirely untarnished. Sadly, the same cannot be said for a certain employee. Early in the film, Orville the albatross takes to the skies of New York City to deliver Bernard and Bianca to their destination. If you freeze the film at the right moment, however, you can see that someone forgot to close their blinds before getting changed. In reality, an editor put an image of a topless woman in the background of the shot. It took years for anyone to spot it, but when they did, a 1999 recall of the film was issued.

There’s really no other character (or film franchise, for that matter) quite like Shrek. Mixing fairytale tropes, potty humor and more adult jokes and pop culture references, these films truly manage to appeal to all audiences. Unfortunately, it would seem that one of the latter jokes missed the mark with one specific individual—David D'Or. In the Hebrew version of the film, Donkey makes a reference to the high-voiced Israeli singer. He does it while suggesting that they get their new feline acquaintance, Puss in Boots, ahem... neutered. D’Or and his attorney argued that the film’s joke misportrayed the singer as a eunuch, and the distributors subsequently removed the offending line from the film.

Don’t get us wrong, we love ourselves a good apocalyptic film. But when inviting audiences into a world where life has been turned upside down by some unforeseen crisis, well… you want to avoid making reference to any real-life catastrophes. And you certainly don’t want to include footage from a recent tragedy. When first released, the film included actual stock footage from the 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster. When a freight train carrying crude oil derailed in the town of Lac-Mégantic, 47 people were killed. Given that “Bird Box” was released just 5 years after this tragedy, people were understandably offended. Netflix originally declined requests from survivors to remove the footage, but eventually acquiesced and edited Lac-Mégantic out of the film.

Released in 1994, this holiday comedy starring Tim Allen spawned two sequels and has become something of a modern classic. The film has got a few crude jokes and references to keep parents entertained, but it can generally be described as good clean fun. Unfortunately, one of the more adult-oriented lines eventually needed to be cut from the film when it led to a $400 phone bill. After being given a phone number, Scott jokingly pretends that it’s a sex hotline. Unfortunately, it turns out that “1-800-SPANK-ME” is a real sex hotline. And sure enough, in 1996, a kid called and racked up a massive phone bill after watching the movie. To avoid a repeat of the incidence, the scene has since been cut from all home media and digital versions.

In this age of hot takes, trailer breakdowns and YouTube film analysis, filmmakers are more careful than ever about what makes it into the finished product. As such, it’s kind of shocking that the movie included scenes that risked triggering viewers with photosensitive epilepsy. The bright flashing lights used by the villainous Screenslaver put certain audience members at risk for both migraines and seizures. Theaters posted warnings in response to the concerns raised by the Epilepsy Foundation and Disney followed suit by asking all theaters to do the same. For their part, Disney re-edited the film to reduce intensity of the scenes in question, and this edited version is the one that the UK and other international markets received.



Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

“Little Shop of Horrors” (1986)
Bad Test Screenings Resulted in the Filming of the Happy Ending We Know Today

“Django Unchained” (2012)
The Film Was Pulled from Theaters in China & Re-released with 3 Minutes Cut Out

“Brazil”(1985)
Gilliam Screened His Version of the Film to Critics & the Studio Eventually Put Out a Modified Cut - with Edits He Supervised - in Theaters

“2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968)
Kubrick Cut a Full 19 Minutes from the Film After It Premiered to Tighten Up the Plot

Looking back at the various films on our list today, the edits or patches were overwhelmingly made in the name of fixing something offensive or dangerous. “Cats,” however, feels more like a video game patch. Ahead of its release, the film was being heralded as a groundbreaking moment in the history of VFX. Upon release however, audiences and critics alike were too distracted by the many, many bizarre choices that permeated the film. As for the VFX, the catlike transformation of these stars left more people uncomfortable than impressed. In a bid to deliver on its visual potential (and fix a number of CGI bugs and glitches), the studio pushed an update with “improved visual effects." “Cats” made film history, sure… but not in the way people expected.