Weapons' Original Dark Ending Was Changed Because Of Test Audiences

This article contains spoilers for "Weapons."

Zach Cregger's "Weapons" is a bona fide box office sensation, which is great news for anyone who values original, mainstream-skewing movies boasting honest-to-god production value. Along with Ryan Coogler's "Sinners," its adult demographic suggests that studios are leaving money on the table by training their focus on four-quadrant cash grabs built around superheroes or other wildly popular IP. There is a generation that used to love going to movie theaters; if you hire major talent and bait the hook correctly, they will come back to the multiplex.

While I'm tempering my enthusiasm at the moment (if only because a couple of expensive originals flopping at the box office could quickly drive risk-averse execs to over-prioritize tried-and-t