Top 10 Amazing Movies That Were Never Made

After “Batman Returns,” director Tim Burton signed on to reboot DC’s other most popular hero. “Superman Lives,” written by self-proclaimed comic nerd Kevin Smith, would have focused on Supe in conflict with Brainiac. The villain would have sent Doomsday after the hero while simultaneously blocking out the Sun to make him weaker. Nicolas Cage was on as Superman, Chris Rock as Jimmy Olsen, and Christopher Walken was Burton’s ideal Brainiac. However, as we’ve now grown used to with superhero movies, creative differences would be its downfall. Smith’s script had many elements rewritten and Burton clashed with producer Jon Peters before leaving to direct “Sleepy Hollow.” The project would then fizzle out, but not before Warner Bros. reportedly spent $30 million on it.

We’ve seen plenty of adaptations of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” over the years, though some are better than others. Sadly, this sounds like it would have been one of the better. David Cronenberg of “The Fly” and “Scanners” wanted to adapt the iconic tale in the 80s at the height of his work in body horror. That match-up is enough to make us sigh in disappointment that it never got off the ground. But Cronenberg also would’ve stuck close to the source material, having the creature be more intelligent than the monster most audiences know him as. The film never made it far into production and it’s still unclear why it fell apart. But it could’ve been one of the director’s best.

It isn’t often that Disney reveals an upcoming animated feature and then cancels it. But that’s unfortunately what happened to “Gigantic.” Revealed at the D23 Expo in 2015, the film would’ve been a retelling of “Jack and the Beanstalk.” In this version, Jack would’ve discovered the land of giants and befriended the 60-foot-tall Inma, aiding her against the antagonistic Storm Giants. There was a lot of creative talent attached including Nathan Greno, director of “Tangled,” and Meg LeFauve, writer of “Inside Out,” as co-directors. With the same songwriters behind “Frozen,” it should’ve been another slam dunk for Disney. But it was canceled in 2017 with only ‘creative differences’ given as an explanation.

With the way the team’s first big-screen adventure turned out, we can’t help but yearn for this canceled project. George Miller, the mind behind the “Mad Max” series, signed on to direct a “Justice League” movie in 2007. At the time, Warner Bros. and DC planned to have it begin their shared universe. The cast was complete with Adam Brody as The Flash, Armie Hammer as Batman, and Common as Green Lantern, among many others. But a number of events led to its cancellation, including the 2007 writers strike. After multiple delays caused by production issues in Australia, Warner Bros. decided to shelve the project. Instead, it would focus on solo films beginning with 2011’s “Green Lantern.” We all know how that turned out.

A live-action “Halo” TV series is coming in 2022, but there’s a lot about its canceled film adaptation that sounded promising. The project was in development at Columbia Pictures in the mid-2000s. Alex Garland, one of the best sci-fi film writers working today, wrote the script with Peter Jackson set to produce. Newcomer Neill Blomkamp had signed on to direct. However, funding issues would be the death of this one. Universal and Fox, which were co-handling the financing, backed out of the project. At least this one has a happy ending, as Blomkamp and Jackson repurposed sets and props to use in “District 9.” And Blomkamp would still get to direct something “Halo” related with the “Landfall” short in 2007.

Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” films didn’t exactly end on the strongest note. But for all we know, they could have. Raimi initially signed on for a fourth entry before the franchise was rebooted with Andrew Garfield. And he had plenty of plans for the villains. Dr. Curt Connors, played by Dylan Baker in previous movies, would’ve made his transformation into the Lizard. John Malkovich was set to play the Vulture while Anne Hathaway was attached as the Black Cat. Additionally, Bruce Campbell would’ve cameoed as Mysterio. All that remains of this vision is concept art. Creative differences between Raimi and Sony would cause the director to leave. And the studio decided to start fresh.

An adaptation of John Kennedy Toole’s beloved novel has been attempted many times. In 1982, Harold Ramis was set to direct John Belushi in the lead role before Belushi passed. John Candy and Chris Farley were later considered before their untimely passings. Later, John Waters wanted to direct Divine before that star passed. That’s enough to declare the project cursed, but it doesn’t stop there. Steven Soderbergh co-wrote an adaptation for director David Gordon Green in 2005, which had a stellar cast, including Will Ferrell, Jesse Eisenberg, Lily Tomlin, Paul Rudd, and Rosie Perez. Multiple elements killed this version, including the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans where the story is set. It seems fate that this one was never meant to be.

We’ve loved pretty much every Quentin Tarantino feature. But one project that would’ve blended two of his best sadly never came to life. Tarantino has often spoken about how he wished to create a prequel for Vincent and Vic Vega, John Travolta in “Pulp Fiction” and Michael Madsen in “Reservoir Dogs” respectively. It would’ve followed Vincent’s time in Amsterdam with his brother visiting him. But Tarantino never got around to making it. With the fates of both brothers ensuring that it would have to be a prequel, and with both actors aging too much, the writer/director would’ve had to follow through a long time ago. But at least we’ve still got two groundbreaking films to enjoy.

Video game movies are usually a bad idea, though this one could’ve broken the mold. In 2008, Take-Two Interactive partnered with Universal to produce a “BioShock” adaptation from director Gore Verbinski. While Verbinski would later scale back his involvement, instead becoming a producer, he fought hard to do the game justice. He pushed for a hard R-rating and a hefty budget of $200 million given the extravagant Rapture. However, with “Watchmen’s” release as a big budget R-rated movie that didn’t make enough money, this was an extremely hard sell. Verbinski refused to budge so Universal removed him from the project. The entire project would fall apart soon after, with game director Ken Levine believing a respectful adaptation impossible at the time.


Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

“Alexander the Great”
A Leonardo Dicaprio/Baz Luhrmann Project That Died With the Release of Oliver Stone’s Biopic

“True Lies 2”
Real-World Tragedy Caused James Cameron to Rethink a Movie Making Light of the Subject

“Tron 3”
We’ll Believe It’s Coming When We See It

“20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”
David Fincher’s Adaptation With Disney Was a Casualty of Corporate Culture

We weep at the fact that one of Stanley Kubrick’s unmade projects could’ve been another masterpiece. Following the release of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Kubrick fully threw himself into Napoleon Bonaparte’s life. He did excessive research, keeping cataloged notecards and reading any books he could get his hands on. He knew exactly where he wanted to film and had a screenplay ready to go. However, the costs of doing Napoleon’s life and battles justice were just too high, though the financial failure of “Waterloo” also hurt it. His unmade movie has been the subject of books, a stage play, and even has a miniseries in development that will hopefully be a decent consolation prize.