Retrospective imaginative involvement (RII) involves audiences reflecting back on narrative elements such as story characters, events and backstory after a story has ended. This study examines the impact of story resolutions on audience reactions, gratifications sought by them vicariously from a story and their long-term asynchronous engagement with the narrative. It also investigates the role of the fulfillment of SDT needs of the protagonist in affecting how satisfied audience members are with the story resolution. From time-to-time Hollywood directors have selected the ending for their movie on the basis of test audience reactions. This study provides a theoretical rationale exploring why certain story endings are more likely to be positively evaluated by the audience. It also explores the long-term appeal of a narrative content and why and how such narrative content is revisited by audiences. In other words, this study is a step forward in the direction of translating academic research into successful industry practices by providing theoretical explanations for such industry practices. With RII being a relatively new research domain, this research is also one of the few RII studies employing an experimental design. Alternate endings of the famous movie First Blood from the Rambo franchise were used for this experimental study to understand the impact of story resolution on enjoyment, appreciation, different RII behaviors and other long-term lasting effects of narrative engagement. Further results and implications are discussed in this study.
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