19 Abandoned Films That Got The Plug Pulled On Them Before A Theatrical Release

You can never have too many superhero movies, right? DC Studios launched a new project called Batgirl and tabbed Leslie Grace (In the Heights) for the starring role of the crime-fighting, vigilante woman.

Despite filming most of the scenes, the studio pulled the plug on the project when production was almost finished. DC Studios co-chair told Variety that the film was "unreleasable."

Warner Brothers brought in Tim Burton to create a new version of Superman. Burton cast Nicolas Cage for the Man of Steel and had all kinds of wacky ideas for the film.

"It was more of a 1980s Superman with, like, the samurai black long hair," Cage told Variety. "I thought it was gonna be a really different, sort of emo Superman, but we never got there."

The movie got scrapped before filming started, so we never got any live-action footage of Super-Cage.

This sequel/spinoff cast Evan Rachel Wood and Thomas McDonnell in its leading roles, hoping to recapture the magic of 10 Things I Hate About You.

Producers sued Wood for leaving the project and even tried to replace her with Hayley Atwell. It was never meant to be as the CEO of the film company stepped down, and everything for the film's production unraveled.

This Barbie doll-like contemporary film was bizarre and loved by the few who saw it. It was a narrative shaped as a biopic criticizing the objectification of female celebrities.

While the movie made the rounds through film festivals, it never got a theatrical release. It was pulled after the creator lost a copyright infringement lawsuit from the musical collaborator.

The screwball film starred Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, and Cyd Charisse. A good portion of the movie was filmed, but Monroe was fired from the project. She had a high fever and refused to show on set, which led to the producer cutting ties with her.

They tried to recast Monroe, but co-star Martin said he "signed to do the picture with Marilyn Monroe, and I will do it with no one else." That was one of the reasons the movie was never finished, and it's hard to imagine her death shortly after contributed to the decision.

In 1994, the infamous Marvel Comics foursome was set to make its big screen debut. It was an origin story film that had them face off against the team's biggest nemesis, Doctor Doom.

An entire documentary was made about the demise of the project. There are accusations of underhand dealings within the production and other rumors. Still, the general feeling around the project was that it did not live up to expectations and thus never granted theatrical release.

The prank movie was filmed and finished, according to star and producer Tom Green, but "was canned" before it could be released. In 2012, he responded to a fan in a tweet that Prankstar is "the most insane movie ever."

In 2023, 11 years later, there is no update on the film's status.

The Jerry Lewis-led film was a story that dealt with the horrors of Jewish people imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp through a character that was a literal clown.

Needless to say, Lewis vowed that the film would never see the light of day and told audiences at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival that he was "embarrassed" by it.

This animated sequel to Scoob! was set to be Michael Kurinsky's directorial debut. The movie was slated to be released on HBO Max at the time, but Warner Bros. Discovery pulled the film abruptly.

The movie was already paid for and finished by Kurinsky despite cancellation, but it will not get released. Hopefully, for the Mystery Machine gang fans, it will one day find a home on Max.

This thriller featured beloved actor River Phoenix in his first and only role as a villain. In the film, he's a widower holding a couple captive on their honeymoon.

The death of Phoenix resulted in the incomplete film's cancellation. Nineteen years later, a finished product was shown to a private audience, but it never got a theatrical release. (The family was not happy about the movie being shown.)

The Chinese-produced film was an action-adventure fantasy setting out to be a major blockbuster. It initially managed to bring in big names like Monica Bellucci, but the cast and crew went through a turnstile of replacements in and out.

With a $130M budget produced by Chinese real estate tycoon Jon Jiang, the movie drowned in all sorts of problems from scheduling conflicts, CGI troubles, and failed crowdfunding.

The attempted comedy had an all-star (no pun intended) cast with Jamie Foxx at the helm.

Foxx wanted to "push the boundaries" of comedy, and one example of his vision was having Robert Downey Jr. play a Mexican character. The film's production was pushed back in 2019 and eventually shelved.

In 1999, filmmaker Terry Gilliam had a vision for a time-jumping fantasy involving a man meeting Sancho Panza. The film cast Johnny Depp in the leading role and began filming. The entire movie was canceled after the actor who played Sancho Panza was injured during filming, and a flood damaged the set.

Two decades later, Gilliam tackled the project again, but with Adam Driver in the leading role. You can watch the trailer here.

As the O.G. of abandoned projects, this film was produced by Charlie Chaplin. Little is known about it, but it was seemingly a love story involving the daughters of a fisherman and a writer who comes to town.

It is believed Chaplin himself destroyed the silent film as a tax write-off.