Anticipated Movies That Were Sadly Shelved

Not all movies make it to the big or small screen, and instead, unfortunately, get shelved. Creating films is usually a long and tedious process with a lot of moving parts that need to work in harmony. Moreover, many films are a labor of love from the cast and crew alike, so it is a shock when they get shelved. It’s especially sad when these films have already gone past pre-production before being suddenly canceled. One of the most recent examples of this is Warner Bros.’s Batgirl, which was canceled out of the blue. Since the beginning of cinema, there have been circumstances where movies that have been written, cast, and sometimes even fully filmed and edited were completely scrapped. Here are seven of such movies that were anticipated but later given the boot.

The unreleased 1994 Fantastic Four movie is, ironically, one of the most popular adaptations of the characters. It was produced by Roger Corman and Bernd Eichinger of Constantin Film and had already begun promotion when it was all unceremoniously stopped. Stan Lee claimed that Eichinger never planned on releasing the movie and just wanted to retain the rights to the characters. However, Eichinger alleged that he was paid by Marvel to discard the movie. Why? Because allegedly, its low-budget look would hurt the company. 

One of the more recent movies to make waves for being shelved is Batgirl. Warner Bros’s decision to kill production on the highly anticipated movie came as a huge shock. The news of its cancellation came in August 2022. Unsurprisingly, a massive backlash followed from fans, especially since reports showed that the movie was already in post-production. Warner Bros. stated that the movie was canceled because the company wanted to focus on theatrical releases, and Batgirl was set to release on HBO Max. However, many people think that Warner Bros. was looking for a movie to write off for a tax break. Unfortunately, Batgirl got the short end of the stick. 

Around the same time that Warner Bros. announced the cancelation of Batgirl, other movies were shelved. One of the most popular was the anticipated Scoob! prequel. Scoob! was released amid the pandemic in 2020 and was a hit for viewers at home despite its box office failure. Holiday Haunt was announced as a Christmas-themed prequel movie and made a ton of buzz. Even though screenwriter Tony Cervone said the movie was already “practically finished,” Warner Bros. announced its cancelation, citing the same reasons as Batgirl. 

The Sony Spiderman Universe has been trying to find a way to introduce Black Cat for some time now. She was initially meant to be introduced in Spiderman 4, but Sam Raimi decided to part ways with the studio after the third movie. Their next attempt was with The Amazing Spider-Man series, but after the failure of the second movie, that idea was halted, too. Eventually, Sony brought on Gina Prince-Blythewood to direct a female-led movie in the Spiderman universe titled Silver & Black. It was to be centered around the characters Silver Sable and Black Cat. However, it became one of the most unexpected cancellations of the 2010s, joining the list of shelved movies.  

Netflix threw down the big bucks for Gore, which was meant to be a biopic about Gore Vidal. The film was meant to star Kevin Spacey as the prolific writer and public figure. However, just as filming for the movie wrapped, the sexual misconduct allegations against the lead actor were made public. Kevin Spacey was accused of and sued for sexual assault, and despite the $40 million budget of the movie, Netflix immediately dropped Gore. Vidal is a fascinating historical figure, and many people were interested in what the biopic had to say about his life. Nonetheless, as far as expected shelved movies go, Gore takes the cake. The allegations against Spacey would have almost certainly resulted in a massive flop.

Empires of the Deep is one of the most bizarre cases of shelved movies. It was conceptualized and funded by Chinese billionaire Jon Jiang. Jiang was inspired by the likes of James Cameron’s Avatar, and even hired Cameron’s long friend and collaborator Randall Frakes to work on the script. The script went through dozens of drafts and changed writers 10 times before casting began, which was just as tumultuous. The movie eventually became a running joke for its unstable production. Despite the movie being slotted for a 2011 release, Jiang was unable to find a company willing to distribute it. 

Justice League: Mortal was one of the most anticipated DC movies to be announced, but it was subsequently shelved. George Miller was hired as director, with Michele and Kieran Mulroney onboard as screenwriters. The movie was supposed to be a live-action adaptation of the popular Justice League Unlimited animated series. While there was a complete script and casting process, it never began filming. The first roadblock that production faced was due to the 2007 WGA strikes. However, even after the strikes, there was a three-month delay due to complications with the Australian Film Commission, as filming was meant to take place in Sydney. Warner Bros. decided to ultimately scrap the project, focusing on more solo hero movies after the success of the Dark Knight trilogy.

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