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1. Batgirl is astir apt the astir shocking movie ne'er to beryllium released, due to the fact that astatine 1 constituent it was thought to beryllium a imaginable aboriginal blockbuster. The $90 cardinal DC movie starred Leslie Grace arsenic Batgirl, Michael Keaton returning arsenic Batman for the archetypal clip successful decades, and Brendan Fraser arsenic the villain Firefly. They finished production, and each seemed to beryllium going arsenic planned. But successful 2022, aft WarnerMedia merged with Discovery, Warner Bros. Discovery abruptly decided not to merchandise it theatrically, connected HBO Max, oregon anyplace else. The authoritative mentation progressive a caller strategy for DC and HBO Max movies, with CEO David Zaslav saying the company’s occupation was to “protect the DC brand.” This suggests the finished movie whitethorn not person been precise good, but different reports tied the determination to a taxation write-off strategy — meaning the workplace could perchance prevention wealth by treating the unreleased movie arsenic a fiscal nonaccomplishment alternatively than spending adjacent much wealth to marketplace and merchandise it.
DC Films
The full happening lone got weirder aft the cancellation. Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah said they tried to entree footage from the movie afterward and couldn’t. According to them, Warner Bros. had blocked them from the servers.
The cast, understandably, was not thrilled. Brendan Fraser aboriginal called the cancellation tragic, particularly due to the fact that of what Leslie Grace’s Batgirl could person meant to young girls. Michael Keaton had a much darkly comic reaction, fundamentally saying helium didn’t suffer slumber implicit it due to the fact that helium got paid, though helium felt atrocious for the directors.
And specified months earlier the shocking news, Grace (Batgirl herself) was talking up the movie and revealed she and the directors were adjacent discussing sequel ideas. "There’s brainsick stunts, brainsick drops. She’s a biker chick, truthful you’re going to spot her bash a clump of badassery." She added, "There were a batch of nighttime shoots. There were a batch of agelong days, but it was truthful worthy it." Uh...
Warner Bros. aboriginal insisted the cancellation had thing to bash with Grace’s performance, and DC Studios co-head Peter Safran yet said the movie was “not releasable” and “built for the tiny screen.” Maybe that’s true. Maybe it wasn’t good. But plentifulness of atrocious superhero movies person been released.
2. A remake of Revenge of the Nerds really started filming successful 2006. Fox Atomic had assembled a precise mid-2000s formed — Adam Brody, Jenna Dewan, Kristin Cavallari, and Efren Ramirez ("Pedro" from Napoleon Dynamite) — and filming began successful Georgia with Kyle Newman directing and McG producing. Then, 2 weeks in, everything fell apart. The accumulation had primitively planned to sprout astatine Emory University, but Emory reportedly backed retired aft speechmaking the script. Considering the archetypal movie includes a sexual-assault-by-deception country played arsenic a joke, it does marque you wonderment what precisely was successful the remake publication that made Emory go, “Now THAT is conscionable going excessively far!” The accumulation moved to the smaller Agnes Scott College, but that seemingly made filming difficult, and Fox Atomic executives besides reportedly weren’t thrilled with the dailies. So they pulled the plug.
Michael Loccisano / Getty Images, Neilson Barnard / Getty Images
Fox Atomic topper Peter Rice said astatine the time, “Everybody worked precise hard connected Revenge of the Nerds, and we’re each highly disappointed that we can’t determination forward.”
In 2020, Variety reported that Seth MacFarlane and the Lucas Brothers were processing different Revenge of the Nerds reboot for 20th Century Studios, but it has yet to spell into production.
3. The Netflix sci-fi play The Mothership starred Halle Berry arsenic a parent whose hubby mysteriously disappears, lone for her and her children to observe an extraterrestrial entity nether their agrarian farm. But the movie — written and directed by Matthew Charman, who co-wrote Bridge of Spies — ended up mysteriously disappearing itself. Shooting finished successful 2021 and the movie was expected to travel retired successful 2022, but past it just...didn’t. Years passed. The kids successful the movie got older, which is not perfect erstwhile your movie inactive needs enactment and your kid actors are nary longer the aforesaid size. By 2024, Netflix yet decided not to merchandise it astatine all, reportedly due to the fact that finishing it would person required important reshoots that were present excessively costly and complicated. (I'm besides guessing they didn't emotion what they saw.)
Netflix
Netflix’s main contented officer, Bela Bajaria, said of the decision, “If you deliberation astir however galore things we make, it’s a uncommon thing. But it was 1 wherever determination were tons of accumulation issues, originative issues, and everybody connected some sides, the endowment and us, conscionable agreed that it was amended to not ticker it.”
Despite the fiasco, Halle Berry besides remained successful concern with Netflix, aboriginal starring other Mark Wahlberg successful 2024's The Union.
4. First-time directors ever accent retired astir helming a film, and surely worry, "What if it someway ne'er comes out?!" Well, that's precisely what happened to Jamie Foxx. All-Star Weekend, the Academy Award-winning actor's directorial debut astir 2 friends who triumph tickets to the NBA All-Star Game, was reportedly finished successful 2016 and stars Foxx, Jeremy Piven, Eva Longoria, Benicio del Toro, Gerard Butler, Ken Jeong, and Robert Downey Jr. So wherefore has it ne'er travel out? Well, 1 evident contented is that the movie features actors playing characters of antithetic races and ethnicities, astir notably Foxx arsenic a racist achromatic bull and Robert Downey Jr. arsenic a Mexican man. (Major yikes.) Foxx himself talked astir this years ago, saying helium asked Downey to play the relation and that Downey aboriginal texted him, “I’m tense to play the Mexican.” Which, yeah, Robert, you should be. (I'm honestly shocked he'd effort this aft helium survived Tropic Thunder unscathed.)
Lester Cohen / WireImage
Foxx has suggested the drama clime is portion of the problem. In 2022, portion discussing the unreleased film, he said, "Man, it's been tough, with the laic of the onshore erstwhile it comes to comedy, man. We're trying to interruption unfastened those delicate corners wherever radical spell backmost to laughing again." He besides said trial audiences laughed a batch and that the movie was “definitely going for it.”
5. More than a decennary aft the 1999 deed 10 Things I Hate About You, the film’s director, Gil Junger, and 1 of its producers, Andrew Lazar, acceptable retired to marque a sequel of sorts called 10 Things I Hate About Life. It didn’t diagnostic immoderate of the archetypal film's characters, but was said to person "advanced situations" from the archetypal arsenic it told the communicative of 2 suicidal radical who autumn successful love. Huh. They started filming successful Dec. 2012 with Evan Rachel Wood, Hayley Atwell, and Billy Campbell, but stopped a period later, reportedly either due to the fact that A) the movie institution parted ways with its president and was having occupation making payments, oregon B) Evan Rachel Wood near owed to her pregnancy. At 1 point, they hoped to start filming again — and adjacent released a promo trailer — but it ne'er happened.
Vision Films
The film institution sued Wood, who pushed backmost with her lawyers, but it appears the litigation fizzled out. The movie remains unfinished.
6. Divine Rapture was expected to beryllium a charming small Irish drama astir miracles starring Johnny Depp, Marlon Brando, Debra Winger, and John Hurt. Instead, it became a disaster. In 1995, the movie started filming successful Ballycotton, a tiny sportfishing colony successful County Cork, and for astir 2 weeks, Ballycotton was overrun with Hollywood-style glitz and glamour. Brando was there. Depp was there. John Hurt was there. The municipality expected a large economical boost, and locals provided lodging, catering, supplies, and services. Then checks started bouncing, and CineFin, the financier down the $13 cardinal movie who claimed to person entree to $300 million, turned retired to person a nonexistent escrow account. Filming abruptly halted with conscionable 24 minutes successful the can, and the locals ne'er got paid.
CineFin
A 2009 documentary, Ballybrando, revisited the debacle, and successful 2025, the Irish Examiner reported that shaper Barry Navidi inactive wanted to resurrect the task 30 years aboriginal — not with Brando, obviously, but arsenic a caller mentation of the story.
7. Something’s Got to Give was expected to beryllium Marilyn Monroe’s large comeback. Instead, the 1962 movie co-starring Dean Martin became her final, unfinished film. Monroe missed overmuch of the aboriginal sprout portion suffering from sinusitis, bronchitis, fever, and different wellness problems. Things got adjacent much chaotic erstwhile she near to sing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to John F. Kennedy, which the workplace was not precisely thrilled about. But she did instrumentality and movie a swimming-pool country wherever she appeared nude, oregon adjacent capable to nude, successful a infinitesimal that became legendary adjacent though the movie was ne'er released. Fox fired Monroe successful June 1962 and adjacent sued her, but Dean Martin reportedly refused to proceed with replacement Lee Remick, saying helium had signed connected to enactment with Marilyn. Monroe was rehired, but earlier accumulation resumed, she died connected August 5, 1962. The workplace scrapped the movie and remade it arsenic Move Over, Darling with Doris Day.
20th Century Fox
8. Like Batgirl, Scoob! Holiday Haunt was different casualty of Warner Bros. Discovery’s 2022 “maybe movies are amended arsenic accounting losses” era. It was a prequel-ish vacation follow-up to Scoob!, acceptable astir the gang’s aboriginal days, and was expected to premiere connected HBO Max successful Dec. 2022. The plot, according to manager Michael Kurinsky, was fundamentally Scooby-Doo’s archetypal Christmas where, naturally, a enigma presents itself. The movie outgo astir $40 cardinal and was already astir finished erstwhile Warner Bros. Discovery shelved it connected August 2, 2022. Making things weirder? The originative squad kept moving connected the movie contempt its merchandise being canceled. Kurinsky said finishing it was a “bittersweet conclusion” and compared it to the aged question of whether a histrion makes a dependable if it falls successful the wood and nary 1 hears it. His reply aft making this movie: yes. “This movie made a beauteous dependable that 1 time I anticipation everybody tin hear.” They finished the movie connected Nov. 22, 2022.
© Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
But due to the fact that Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly took a taxation write-off connected the film, the institution can’t simply crook astir and monetize it without losing that taxation benefit. Kurinsky explained that determination was fundamentally “no scenario” wherever they could merchantability it, watercourse it, oregon merchandise it, due to the fact that immoderate of those moves would marque wealth from the happening they had written off.
9. The 1994 Fantastic Four is 1 of the funniest pieces of superhero past due to the fact that it was some a existent movie and, possibly, ne'er meant to beryllium a existent movie astatine all. In the aboriginal ’90s, shaper Bernd Eichinger was astir to suffer the rights to Marvel’s archetypal household unless a movie went into production. So helium teamed up with B-movie fable Roger Corman and made a full-length Fantastic Four movie for astir $1 million. The happening is, the formed and unit didn’t deliberation they were making a fake movie. They promoted it. Trailers ran. A premiere was planned astatine the Mall of America and fans were excited. And then, suddenly, the premiere was canceled, the actors were told to halt promoting it, and the movie vanished. The wide circulated communicative is that Marvel disquieted a cheap-looking Fantastic Four would harm the brand, truthful they paid to person the movie shelved. Eichinger kept the rights, and yet helped nutrient the 2005 big-budget mentation with Chris Evans and Jessica Alba.
Neue Constantin Film
The movie has since go a cult entity done bootlegs, clips, and the documentary Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four.
10. Empires of the Deep is considered the astir costly movie ever made that was ne'er released to the public. It was a passionateness task of billionaire Jon Jiang, whose ambition was to make a monolithic blockbuster franchise helium described arsenic "Transformers meets Shakespeare." The program reportedly included a trilogy, an animated series, a video game, and adjacent a taxable park. But that's not what happened. Instead, helium spent $140 cardinal connected a movie made successful China that ne'er deed movie screens. The screenplay went done 40 drafts and 10 screenwriters, actors (like Sharon Stone and Monica Bellucci) signed connected and past ran for the hills, directors came and went, and the movie spent years successful post-production hell. It's present 2026 and — different than an uninspiring trailer released successful 2010 — we've yet to spot the existent movie.
11. Golden, a Pharrell Williams-inspired coming-of-age musical, seemed to person each the ingredients of a movie radical would privation to see: Pharrell, manager Michel Gondry (the dude who made Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and a formed that included Kelvin Harrison Jr., Halle Bailey, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Brian Tyree Henry, Quinta Brunson, Janelle Monáe, Missy Elliott, André 3000, and Anderson .Paak. Pharrell described the movie arsenic "a philharmonic expedition acceptable successful the summertime of 1977 successful Virginia Beach," adding, "It’s a coming-of-age communicative astir self-discovery and pursuing your dreams, but it’s truthful overmuch much magical than that. It’s a solemnisation of Black life, Black culture, and astir importantly, Black joy.” That sounds good, but successful February 2025, conscionable a fewer months earlier it was expected to travel out, the full happening was unopen down successful post-production.
Jim Spellman / WireImage
According to Variety, astir $20 cardinal had already been spent, but the radical progressive yet decided the movie was not working. Pharrell and Gondry said successful a statement, “When each of america got into the editing country we collectively decided determination wasn’t a way guardant to archer the mentation of this communicative that we primitively envisioned.” (Translation: “We looked astatine the footage and decided cipher should ever spot this.”)
Universal reportedly absorbed the cost, and the movie was not expected to beryllium finished oregon shopped to different studio. So determination retired there, determination is footage of a Michel Gondry-directed Pharrell musical...and astir apt we'll ne'er spot a framework of it.
12. Midnight Rider is easy the darkest introduction here, due to the fact that the movie didn’t conscionable autumn isolated — a unit subordinate died connected the precise archetypal time of filming. The movie was expected to beryllium a Gregg Allman biopic starring William Hurt, and the archetypal day’s sprout progressive a imagination series connected a unrecorded railroad trestle successful Georgia, with Hurt lying successful a infirmary furniture placed connected the tracks. The filmmakers tried to restart production, but the movie accumulation assemblage — aft holding a vigil for Jones — opposed this and advocated for on-set safety. Later, William Hurt and Gregg Allman besides took measures to halt the production. Director Randall Miller and enforcement shaper Jay Sedrish pleaded guilty to felony involuntary manslaughter and transgression trespassing.
David Mcnew / Getty Images
Miller served jailhouse clip and probation; successful 2025, his condemnation was erased nether Georgia’s First Offender Act aft helium completed probation, and helium is legally allowed to nonstop again. That ineligible development, however, evidently did not alteration what happened connected that bridge.
13. Dark Blood was astir 80% finished erstwhile River Phoenix died extracurricular the Viper Room connected Halloween nighttime successful 1993, leaving down not conscionable a shocking Hollywood tragedy, but an unfinished last performance. The thriller starred Phoenix arsenic a unusual godforsaken hermit named Boy, alongside Judy Davis and Jonathan Pryce arsenic a mates helium encounters. Because Phoenix died earlier the remaining scenes could beryllium shot, the financiers abandoned the film and recouped their costs from the security company. As a result, the movie became the spot of the security company, and yet the institution decided to stop paying to store the film's negative.
Lions Gate
That's erstwhile the film's manager George Sluizer walked into the retention installation and, uh, liberated the negative. Years later, helium chopped unneurotic a mentation of the film, utilizing his ain narration to explicate the missing scenes. There was speculation that Joaquin Phoenix mightiness dub oregon narrate parts of River’s role, but the Phoenix household made it wide they wanted thing to bash with the release. A typical said the household would “absolutely” not participate.
The sort-of finished movie played astatine immoderate festivals, but since the security institution inactive owned the film, it made showing the movie elsewhere legally difficult. In the end, 20 years aft filming, this mentation received a constricted VOD release.
14. In the aboriginal '70s, comedian Jerry Lewis made the precise astonishing determination to marque a melodramatic movie astir the Holocaust. It was called The Day the Clown Cried and followed an imprisoned clown who entertains Jewish children successful a Nazi attraction camp. For decades radical made amusive of the thought (at slightest until Life is Beautiful won Best Picture with a akin concept), and by each accounts, Lewis’s movie missed the people by rather a bit. So Lewis, who had paid for overmuch of the accumulation himself, shelved the project. He aboriginal told Entertainment Weekly, "You volition ne'er spot it. No 1 volition ever spot it, due to the fact that I americium embarrassed astatine the mediocre work." Fifty years aboriginal lone a fistful of radical person seen this notorious mislaid film.
Wachsberger/Lewis
Before dying astatine 91 successful 2017, Lewis donated an incomplete transcript to the Library of Congress successful 2015 with the information that it not beryllium screened earlier 2024. Once it became disposable to the public, a New Republic writer viewed hours of Library of Congress worldly and concluded that a finished mentation doesn’t truly beryllium determination — it's much similar fragments, repeated takes, behind-the-scenes footage, and incomplete material.
Also successful 2024, the documentary From Darkness to Light premiered astatine Venice and included footage from the film, on with interviews astir the disastrous production. Critics noted that the documentary yet allowed viewers to spot extended segments of the movie alternatively than conscionable perceive decades of jokes astir it.
15. Let's extremity connected Coyote vs. Acme, the uncommon shelved movie communicative with an existent blessed ending. The live-action/animated movie stars Will Forte arsenic Kevin Avery, a down-on-his-luck lawyer who represents Wile E. Coyote successful a suit against the Acme Corporation aft decades of faulty rockets, catapults, anvils, and different profoundly unsafe mail-order execution products. John Cena is successful it excessively arsenic Acme’s intimidating lawyer. The movie was primitively planned for a 2023 merchandise earlier Warner Bros. Discovery shelved it, reportedly arsenic portion of the aforesaid taxation write-off strategy that took down Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt. Coyote vs. Acme had reportedly tested well, though, and producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who got an aboriginal look astatine the movie, described it arsenic “funny, charming” and afloat of heart.
© Ketchup Entertainment /Courtesy Everett Collection
Will Forte besides went nationalist aft seeing it, writing, "When I archetypal heard that our movie was getting ‘deleted,’ I hadn’t seen it yet. So I was reasoning what everyone other indispensable person been thinking: this happening indispensable beryllium a hunk of junk. But past I saw it. And it’s incredible. Super comic throughout, visually stunning, sweet, sincere, and emotionally resonant successful a precise earned way. As the credits rolled, I conscionable sat determination reasoning however fortunate I was to beryllium a portion of thing truthful special. That rapidly turned to disorder and frustration. This was the movie they’re not going to release?"
For a while, though, it truly looked similar the Wile E. Coyote movie had an anvil dropped connected its caput for good. But Warner Bros. reportedly shopped the movie around, and successful 2025, the anvil yet missed. Ketchup Entertainment acquired worldwide organisation rights to the movie, with reports putting the woody astir $50 cardinal and a theatrical merchandise planned for 2026. Ketchup’s CEO said the movie was “a cleanable blend of nostalgia and modern storytelling."
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