'Holmes & Watson' Apparently Has Two Different Opening Scenes

Despite starring comedic powerhouses Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, Holmes & Watson hit theaters [...]

By Patrick Cavanaugh

Despite starring comedic powerhouses Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, Holmes & Watson hit theaters in the last week of 2018 and immediately began being referred to as one of the worst movies of the year. Adding to the surprising disappointment is the new claim from some viewers that the film has different opening scenes, depending on what part of the world you're witnessing the movie.

Over on Reddit, one user claimed that the reviews they were seeing for the film included a different opening scene than what they saw, with reviews detailing that it depicted Holmes as a child being bullied before a young Watson intervenes. The Reddit user, however, detailed, "Holmes (is) in a garden tending to some papaya-looking plant, and smacking it and calling it a dirty b-tch, and narrating that Watson had come back from a war in Afghanistan. Then, Watson tries to jump off of 221B Baker Street into the garden. Holmes keeps trying to tell him to jump into the other garden, but Watson slips off and smashes the plant, and writhes around in it, and Holmes tells him to stop."

It's not uncommon for a film to be tested with audiences before its official release, with the response to these screenings resulting in changes being made to the film. What makes this claim so bizarre is that the user claims to have not attended a test screening, which would seemingly confirm there are multiple versions of the film being screened for the public.

One theory is that this was merely concocted by the Reddit user, though it's tough to discern how this would be beneficial to anyone.

Follow-up comments from other users claim to have also witnessed this opening scene set in a garden, which included the details that these viewers were seeing it outside of the United States. Films have been known to feature slight tweaks to certain scenes in different parts of the world, either due to cultural sensitivities or variations in censorship, though it's unclear why entire scenes would be replaced in a film.

The reimagining of Sherlock Holmes seemed doomed from the start, as it landed in theaters on Christmas Day without having been screened for critics. Those critics who did attend viewings had harsh things to say, with the film currently sitting at nine percent positive reviews on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

With widespread reports of audiences walking out of the film, it's possible there are even more differences in the film depending on territories that audiences will never discover.

Holmes & Watson is in theaters now.

Have you seen the film in theaters? Let us know in the comments below!

Trending Now: