A movie's ending is the last chance it gets to leave an impression on us, whether that impression be "Boy, I'd like to see that again, and perhaps buy the DVD!" or "The combined weight of all my regrets is crushing my soul into powder, I should call my parents and tell them I love them before it is too late."
These movies all originally had that second type of ending, until the filmmakers, for better or worse, decided to change them to keep people from sobbing through several traffic lights on their way home from the theater.
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Return of the Jedi -- Han Solo Dies and Luke Abandons the Rebels
20th Century Fox
In Return of the Jedi, Han Solo and Princess Leia manage to destroy the Death Star's shield generator on the forest moon of Endor just in time for Lando to swoop in and detonate the Imperial superweapon. Meanwhile, Darth Vader changes his mind about evil and tosses Emperor Palpatine down a shaft, then dies himself shortly thereafter. Everyone reunites for an Ewok dance party. The end.
The Original Ending
According to producer Gary Kurtz, the first draft of Jedi left the Star Wars universe even more bleak than it was at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. For starters, Han Solo is killed while trying to destroy the shield generator. The Death Star still gets destroyed, but Luke becomes so disturbed over his final encounter with Darth Vader that he decides to venture off on his own, leaving Princess Leia to lead the tattered remains of the Alliance by herself. We assume that, after all that, nobody wanted one goddamn thing to do with the Ewoks.
20th Century Fox
Chewie, about to suplex Wicket off a tree.
Apparently, Harrison Ford really wanted Han Solo to be killed off at some point during the trilogy. In fact, the whole reason he was frozen in carbonite at the end of Empire was because the producers weren't sure if Ford was going to return for the next film. If he had decided not to, at least they'd found a way to write him out of the series.
20th Century Fox
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