Trivia / What Dreams May Come

• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $85 million. Box office, $71,382,927. The film received mixed reviews which derided its "morose sentimentality," and "insubstantial plot" but praised its elaborate, Academy Award winning Visual Effects.
• Completely Different Title: Considering the ethereal nature of the title, it earned many, mostly using 'beyond' to convey afterlife: Beyond the Horizon in Germany and Portugal, Beyond the Sky in Finland, Beyond Our Dreams in France, Beyond the Dreams in Spanish-speaking countries, Love Beyond Life in Brazil and I Will Find You in Paradise in Greece.
• Creator Killer: Director Vincent Ward saw his career stuck in purgatory for seven years.
• The Danza: An odd variation. Annabella's character is only ever named Annie by the other characters, except that Chris's nickname for her is Bella (which means "beautiful" so it works as a pet name between lovers, but seems too coincidental to be an accident).
• Disowned Adaptation:
  Richard Matheson: I will not comment on What Dreams May Come except to say that a major producer in Hollywood said to me, "They should have shot your book." Amen.
• Focus Group Ending: The original ending was the main character loses himself in his wife's personal hell. Test audiences didn't like it, so it was replaced with a more upbeat ending where he saves her, which is also how the original novel ends.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Annette Bening was originally cast to play Annie. She opted out and Annabella Sciorra replaced her.
  • Ennio Morricone originally did the score. Though completed, it was rejected and Michael Kamen replaced him.
  • Not long after Robin Williams died, Mara Wilson was interviewed about his life, mentioning that she had auditioned for the role of Marie, but was considered too old. She related that she had for the first time really seen the shyer, more reserved and vulnerable side of Robin when they met at the audition.

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