Alternate versions

ABC edited 4 minutes from the film for its 1983 network television premiere.

Stanley Kubrick shot Jack's typewriter pages in different languages for release in different countries. Such localized versions were released internationally in theaters, on video and on TV. The DVD releases of 2001 and 2007, however, only feature the English version of the text.

Early releases featured end credits in the same blue as in the opening titles, instead of the white credits seen today.

In the 1985 ABC "Sunday Night Movie" broadcast (and possibly other network broadcasts) there are at least two scenes featuring footage that was not seen in the original film: When Dick Halloran is watching TV in his apartment in Miami, the scene has been re-edited, and we see footage on the TV of snow plows pushing around huge piles of snow. When Dick is at Stapleton Airport and calls Larry Durkin, the line where Dick says "they turned out to be completely unreliable assholes" has been shortened, and we cut to Larry saying "I'm sorry to hear that, Dick", which he never said in the original film.

The opening Saul Bass variant of the Warner Bros. logo is plastered with the 1984 variant in the 1990's VHS prints, and early to mid-1990's variant in the post-2001 prints.

In all previous video versions of The Shining, (prior to the 2001 DVD re-release), each title card failed to change in synchronization with the music. Upon being released on DVD, each title card does in fact change in sync with the music, the way it was originally intended.

"The Shining" initially opened on 10 screens in New York City and Los Angeles on Memorial Day weekend in 1980. Three days after the release of the film, Stanley Kubrick and Warner Bros. ordered all projectionists to cut about 2 minutes from the end of the film, and send the footage back to the studio. Starting after the closeup of frozen Jack, the camera goes to a pullback shot with part of a state trooper's car and the legs of troopers walking around in the foreground. We then cut to the hotel manager Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson) walking down a hospital hallway to the nurse's station to inquire her (Robin Pappas} about Danny and Wendy. He's told they're both doing well and proceeds to Wendy's room. After some gentle conversation, he tells Wendy that searchers have been unable to locate any evidence of the apparitions she saw. Additionally, Jack's body cannot be located. We then cut to the camera silently roaming the halls of the Overlook Hotel for about a minute until it comes up to the wall with the photographs, where it [back to the ending as it is now known] fades in on the photo of Jack in the 1921 picture.

When released theatrically in the USA, the film ran approx. 146 minutes. However, as explained above, less than one week into its release, Kubrick cut the 2 minute coda from the end, reducing its length to 144 minutes. After meeting with poor reviews and erratic box office, Kubrick decided to further edit the film for its theatrical release outside the US by cutting appr. 31 minutes of footage, reducing the length to 113 minutes. Contrary to popular belief, Kubrick regarded both the 144 minute 'US version' and the 119 minute 'European version' as director's cuts. Nevertheless, the longer version is the one now most commonly available. The following is a list of all the scenes or parts of scenes not present in the shorter 'European version':

• After the first scene with Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and Danny (Danny Lloyd), the film cuts back to Jack (Jack Nicholson) at the Overlook, where his interview with Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson) continues. Jack is introduced to Bill Watson (Barry Dennen), and they discuss Jack's work as a schoolteacher, and his decision to become a writer because he needed a change in his life. Ullman then explains that the Overlook is closed for almost six months every winter because it would be too expensive to keep the roads open, and he points out that the site was chosen specifically for its seclusion.
• When Danny first 'sees' the Grady twins in his bathroom at home, he blacks out. When he awakes, he is being examined by a doctor (Anne Jackson). Danny says that before his black-out he was talking to Tony, "the little boy who lives inside my mouth". Wendy and the Doctor then talk in private, and Wendy mentions an incident in which Jack dislocated Danny's shoulder in a drunken fit of temper, at which time he swore never to touch alcohol again. That was five months ago, and since then, he has kept his word. Both the examination scene and subsequent conversation were cut.
• During their tour of the Overlook, Jack and Wendy are brought into the Colorado Lounge, and Wendy asks if the Indian designs are authentic. Ullman explains that they are based on ancient Navajo and Apache motifs. He then mentions the prestigious history of the hotel, saying it was a stopping place for the jet set, for four presidents, movie stars and "all the best people".
• The beginning of the scene where Ullman shows Jack and Wendy the hotel grounds has been cut. He points out "our famous hedge maze" and warns them not to go in unless they have an hour or so to spare.
• Prior to the introduction of Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers), Ullman shows off The Gold Room and explains that all liquor is removed during the winter so as to reduce insurance costs. Hallorann is then introduced, and the secretary Susie (Alison Coleridge) appears, having found Danny outside the games room. Ullman then leaves with Jack, and Hallorann takes Wendy around the kitchen.
• Danny's conversation with Hallorann is longer. An excerpt cut has Danny asking Hallorann if he is scared of the Overlook, and Hallorann replies that he isn't, but that "some places are like people, some shine and some don't. I guess you could say the Overlook Hotel here has something about it that's like shining."
• The first few shots of Wendy wheeling the breakfast tray through the corridors have been cut.
• The scene where Wendy brings Jack his breakfast is extended. He comments that he has never been as happy or as comfortable anywhere as he is in the Overlook and Wendy reveals that she thought the place was scary when they first arrived. Jack replies that he fell in love with it straight away and he felt as if he had been there before.
• The scene of Jack throwing the ball against the wall is longer in the US cut.
• After Wendy and Danny explore the maze, a sequence shows Wendy working in the kitchen while a TV announcer talks of a search in the mountains for a missing woman, and a snow-storm that is predicted to be moving in on Colorado.
• The scene in which Jack loses his temper with Wendy for interrupting him is followed by the title card THURSDAY.
• After the scene in which Danny is confronted by the Grady twins in the corridor, and they invite him to play with them, a scene shows Wendy and Danny watching TV. Danny asks if he can go to his room to get his toy fire-engine and Wendy tells him to be quiet because Jack is sleeping.
• Extra dialogue is heard in the first conversation between Jack and Lloyd the bartender (Joe Turkel). Jack toasts, "Here's to five miserable months on the wagon and all the irreparable harm that it's caused me". Lloyd then asks him how things are, and Jack comments that they could be a whole lot better, that he is having trouble with his wife. Lloyd comments, "Women! Can't live with 'em. Can't live without 'em", and Jack wholeheartedly agrees.
• After he has returned from examining Room 237, Jack's conversation with Wendy is a bit longer in the US cut.
• After the scene between Jack and Grady (Philip Stone), there is a sequence in which Wendy is seen crying and talking to herself, musing about the possibility of getting down the mountain in the Sno-cat, and calling the Forest Rangers. She then hears Danny calling out "red rum" over and over, but when she tries to talk to him, she is only 'answered' by Tony, who tells her that Danny can't hear her.
• Hallorann tries to get through to the Overlook by calling the Ranger station. They tell him that they've tried to get through several times but there has been no answer, and they offer to try again later.
• Prior to the shot of Hallorann's plane, there is a title card stating 8AM.
• On the plane, Hallorann asks a stewardess what time they are due to land in Denver and she tells him at 8.20. Jack is then seen typing in the lounge of the Overlook. After landing at the airport, Hallorann calls Larry Durkin (Tony Burton), a garage owner, to rent a Sno-cat so as to get up to the Overlook over the blocked mountain roads. Hallorann motivates his plans by claiming that the people looking after the hotel turned out to be "completely unreliable assholes", and estimates that it will take him five hours to drive from the airport to collect the cat; Larry says the Snow-cat will be waiting for him when he arrives.
• An additional scene before Wendy finds Jack's type-written pages shows her and Danny watching television. She looks at her watch, telling Danny that she is going to talk to his father for a few minutes and that he should stay there. She picks up the baseball bat before leaving.
• In the finale, while Jack is pursuing Danny through the maze and Wendy is being confronted by some of the Overlook spooks, there is an extra scene where she enters a room full of skeletons, sitting at tables with champagne bottles and glasses.