14 movies and shows that were cancelled just before release

It seems that sometimes not even a big budget, well-known cast, and talented production team are enough to save a project from the cutting room floor.

Take, for example, the Batgirl blockbuster that was shockingly canceled despite a budget estimated to be between $70 million and $100 million.

Batgirl isn’t the only movie that’ll likely never see the light of day. From an axed Game of Thrones prequel to a budding blockbuster that was tipped to be the next Avatar, read on to discover why these expensive Hollywood projects flopped before they even hit our screens. All dollar amounts in US dollars.

With over $25 billion in box office takings, the juggernaut Marvel Cinematic Universe is the highest-grossing film franchise of all time. However, as hard as it is to imagine, Marvel superhero sagas haven’t always been guaranteed success stories.

Case in point: the unreleased Fantastic Four movie, which was slated for a 1994 release. German film producer and comic book fan Bernd Eichinger bought the rights to the Fantastic Four from Marvel Comics in 1986 but struggled to find a studio willing to finance a big budget adaption.

Eichinger’s rights were set to expire unless he put a movie into production by the end of 1992. He teamed up with famed B-movie maker Roger Corman, and the pair set out to make a low-cost Fantastic Four in order to retain the rights and later make a blockbuster.

Fantastic Four was filmed on a budget of $1 million, or just over $2 million in today’s money. While a relatively modest sum compared to other entries in our round-up, it’s still a lot of money for a film that never saw the light of day.

Once the movie was finished, Avi Arad, who was the then-chief at Marvel Entertainment, was so worried that it would “ruin” the brand that he paid off Eichinger and Corman to ensure it was never released. Although every trace of the film is said to have been destroyed, bootleg copies have since leaked online, gaining cult-classic status.

Eichinger eventually fulfilled his dream of creating a Marvel movie by serving as a producer on 2005’s Fantastic Four, which starred Jessica Alba and Chris Evans. This version boasted 100 times the budget of his own ill-fated adaptation, and made over $333 million at the global box office.

Screen legends Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd teamed up for the smash-hit blockbuster Ghostbusters in 1984. While you’ve undoubtedly heard of the spook-tacular comedy classic, you may be surprised to learn that the Ghostbusters franchise wasn’t the only time the stars shared the screen in a wacky fantasy flick.

The very same year that they donned their proton packs for the first time, Murray and Aykroyd also appeared in Nothing Lasts Forever. The goofball comedy was helmed by Saturday Night Live alum Tom Schiller and starred Zach Galligan, who’d recently hit the big time in comedy-horror Gremlins. 

Despite the credentials of its cast and director, as well as a reasonable budget of $3 million – equivalent to $8.5 million today – distributor MGM shelved the film upon completion, believing it lacked commercial potential. While it aired in a few museums, Nothing Lasts Forever never had a theatrical or home video release.

Almost three decades after the movie was canned, a larger audience finally got to see Nothing Lasts Forever when it was leaked on YouTube in 2011. It wasn’t up for long though. Copyright holder Turner Entertainment had the film removed from the video platform shortly afterwards, and later aired it on its TV network Turner Classic Movies.

When superhero blockbuster Aquaman hit the silver screen in 2018, it became DC’s most successful movie to date, grossing over $1.1 billion at the box office. While it might be hard to imagine anyone other than Jason Momoa playing the oceanic superhero, things almost went in a very different direction.

Back in 2006, Aquaman was set for an ambitious small screen adaptation for the WB Television Network. Justin Hartley, now best known for starring in critically acclaimed TV series This Is Us, signed up to play the title role, while Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar were brought on board to write the pilot.

With showrunners that had ample experience in crafting a successful superhero show, the Aquaman pilot was handed a $7 million budget, which is $10.2 million in today’s money.

All signs pointed to Aquaman being the next big hit, but following a merger between WB and the network UPN, the newly formed The CW Network decided to halt production on the series.

Following the shock rejection, the pilot was released on iTunes in the hopes that another network might pick it up. However, despite favorable reviews and the fact that it became the most downloaded show on iTunes, it wasn’t meant to be.

Who could forget 2005’s action-packed blockbuster Mr. & Mrs. Smith? The movie became a pop culture legend when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who played the eponymous couple, began dating in real life shortly after filming wrapped.

Hoping to capitalize on the buzz surrounding the movie, ABC commissioned a TV adaptation of Mr. & Mrs. Smith just two years later.

While megastars Jolie and Pitt were too busy to reprise their roles for the small screen, the same creative team behind the movie, including the writer and director, were brought back. Jordana Brewster and Martin Henderson (pictured), who were best known at the time for their roles in Fast & Furious and Smokin’ Aces respectively, were cast in the roles of Jane and John Smith.

The pilot’s plot picked up just six months after the events of the original movie (pictured), and the episode reportedly cost a hefty $7.4 million to produce, or $10.5 million in today’s money.

However, despite Mr. & Mrs. Smith boasting both the budget and the creative minds to make it a hit, the chemistry between Brewster and Henderson was panned. All in all, the once-promising pilot was supposedly so poor that the network axed plans to turn it into a series.

The pilot was never shown on TV but has since been leaked online. Unlike many other entries in our round-up, curious viewers can actually watch this one and decide for themselves whether it was really that bad…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you’ve probably heard of HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones.

The fantasy epic, based on George R. R. Martin’s best-selling novels, is widely considered to be one of the most popular TV shows of all time – making it all the more unfathomable that it was almost canceled before it had even begun.

Directed by the Oscar-winning Tom McCarthy, the original Game of Thrones pilot cost a staggering $10 million to shoot in 2009, or around $13.3 million in today’s money. The final cut was plagued with problems, with everything from the casting to the costume design raising serious concerns.

In fact, almost nothing was salvageable from the disastrous pilot, and the subsequent reshoot required new sets, rewritten scripts, and even the recasting of a major character.

The role of Daenerys Targaryen was originally played by The Tudors star Tamzin Merchant (pictured). However, the showrunners felt she lacked chemistry with Jason Momoa, who played her on-screen husband Khal Drogo. Acting newcomer Emilia Clarke was recast as the self-styled “Mother of Dragons” and instantly became a fan favorite.

Speaking about the original Game of Thrones pilot, showrunner Dan Weiss told Vanity Fair in 2018: “To be given the opportunity to do something like this once is a pretty rare gift. To be given the opportunity to do more or less the exact same thing twice is an extremely rare gift”.

With comparisons to smash-hit musical Rent, Temptation was set to bring a taste of Broadway to the big screen in 2004. The rock musical’s stellar cast included Broadway star Adam Pascal and Zoe Saldana, who is perhaps best known for her role as Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Behind the camera was Hollywood director and producer Mark Tarlov, who had previously directed the rom-com Simply Irresistible and exec-produced the horror hit Christine, based on the Stephen King book.

Temptation was given a generous $12 million budget, which is about $18.3 million in today’s money.

Temptation premiered at the New York Musical Festival in 2004 but disappeared shortly afterwards, never receiving its intended cinematic release. In 2017, producer Kerry Barden claimed that it was never released because it felt “unfinished”. He went on to say that they hoped to show the project soon.

Fans shouldn’t hold their breath though. Tarlov (pictured) passed away in 2021, and it’s looking increasingly unlikely that this ill-fated musical will ever have its moment in the spotlight.

Based on the beloved backyard waterslide from Wham-O, reality competition Ultimate Slip ‘N’ Slide was set to be a fun new show on NBC over summer 2021.

Hosted by comedians Bobby Moynihan (pictured) and Ron Funches, the show saw contestants quite literally slip and slide across an assault course for their chance to win a cash prize.

In a grim turn of events, production on Ultimate Slip ‘N’ Slide was halted last June following a giardia outbreak on set, which reportedly caused cases of “explosive diarrhea.”

Experts were called in, with tests revealing that giardia was present in the dirt on the filming location and had contaminated the water. This turned the project into a major health and safety hazard, and it was therefore impossible to resume filming.

Even though all but the final episode had been shot, the show was axed, but not before a whopping $18 million had been spent on the production. You could say that it was money flushed down the toilet…

In 2007, Mars Callahan and Scott Spiegel, best known for directing Poolhall Junkies and From Dusk Til Dawn 2 respectively, combined forces to create comedy flick Spring Break ‘83. The plot follows four best friends who set out to get revenge on their high school bullies.

With an $18 million budget behind it ($25m in today’s money), the film was slated for a big screen release.

Yet despite the fact that Spring Break ‘83 was completed, with footage reportedly shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009, it’s still not received a cinematic or DVD release over a decade later.

It’s speculated that the film disappeared as the production company behind it, Big Sky Motion Pictures, failed to pay vendors and workers involved in the project.

Big Sky Motion Pictures was actually founded by Callahan and reports suggest that he was ordered to refrain from selling the movie amid the ensuing legal trouble.

When TV writer Bob Bendetson set out to create animated superhero flick Big Bug Man, he didn’t hold back on star power. He teamed up with Family Guy animator Peter Shin for the project and hired Brendan Fraser of The Mummy fame to voice the title role.

Most surprisingly, Bendetson even got Hollywood legend Marlon Brando on board. In what’s probably The Godfather star’s most eyebrow-raising role, he voiced an old lady named Mrs. Sour, and even wore a dress, make-up, and blonde wig in the studio to help him get into character.

Brando’s vocal performance was recorded just a few weeks before his death in 2004, making the film his final acting credit.

Yet despite the big-name talent, Big Bug Man has never seen the light of day. It was originally scheduled for a 2006 release, but the date was repeatedly postponed before being permanently canceled for unknown reasons.

Given that the star-studded project had a $20 million budget, which equates to about $31 million in today’s money, it’s undeniably odd that the movie disappeared without a trace.

Crime drama Black Water Transit seemed to have all the makings of a box office hit. The project was helmed by American History X director Tony Kaye and its star-studded cast included Laurence Fishburne, Brittany Snow, and Karl Urban, who were best known for their roles in The Matrix, Pitch Perfect, and The Lord of the Rings respectively.

The movie’s budget was nothing to be sniffed at either: a cool $23 million was invested into it, which is about $31.3 million in today’s money.

Beneath the surface, however, the production was plagued with problems…

Bruce Willis (pictured) was originally attached to the Die Hard-inspired thriller but left the project and was replaced by Fishburne.

That was just the beginning of the troubles. Producers David Bergstein and Chris Roberts became embroiled in a bitter lawsuit, with Roberts claiming that Bergstein fired him from the movie without paying him a pre-agreed fee.

Bergstein privately settled the $3.1 million lawsuit, but it wasn’t enough to change the fate of Black Water Transit. Even though it was shot and completed in 2007, with a screening reportedly taking place at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009, the movie has still never seen the light of day.

With Game of Thrones approaching its final season, 2017 saw HBO start work on a prequel to the money-spinner fantasy series.

The new show was to be set 1,000 years before the events of Game of Thrones and Naomi Watts (pictured), of Mulholland Drive and The Impossible fame, was cast in the starring role.

HBO didn’t hold back on budget, allocating a huge $30 million to the pilot episode. That’s around $35.2 million when adjusted for today.

Given that the original Game of Thrones pilot was so disastrous, you’d think HBO might have learnt from their mistakes. Alas, the prequel was another expensive mistake, with an executive who saw a cut of the episode admitting at the time that it “just doesn’t work”.

Rather than reshoot the pilot, HBO announced in 2019 that they had decided to pull the plug on it all together.

Fans needn’t have fretted though. That very same year, HBO announced they were moving forward with another Game of Thrones spin-off, House of the Dragon (pictured). The hotly anticipated show, starring Matt Smith of Doctor Who fame, premiered in August 2022.

Scoob!, a reboot of the beloved children’s franchise Scooby Doo, hit the silver screen in 2020.

Despite the fact that the animated flick was a box office flop, grossing only $27 million against $90 million in production costs, Scoob! performed well on HBO Max. This prompted Warner Bros. to gamble on a prequel that would be released exclusively on the streaming platform.

Christmas movie Scoob! 2: A Holiday Haunt, which was set to be released towards the end of the year, had an estimated $40 million budget.

In an unexpected move, just months before Scoob! 2 A Holiday Haunt was set for release, Warner Bros. axed the movie.

It’s unclear exactly why the project was scrapped, but Warner Bros. also controversially canceled the upcoming Batgirl movie.

Fans weren’t the only ones left confused by the decision, with Scoob! 2 A Holiday Haunt co-writer Paul saying: “Why cancel a 95% finished holiday movie this close to Fall, when you’re guaranteed kids watching it from right after Halloween until at least New Years? Makes no business sense especially as both kids and parents dug the screening.”

Just months before it was set to drop in cinemas and on streaming platform HBO Max, the hotly anticipated Batgirl movie was axed, sending shockwaves through the entertainment industry.

Shot exclusively in Glasgow, the ill-fated superhero flick boasted a blockbuster budget of $70 million. However, some reports claim that reshoots caused the cost to soar to between $90 million and $100 million.

The film would have seen Michael Keaton reprise his role as Batman for the first time in three decades – and he would have been joined by Brendan Fraser, JK Simmons, and In The Heights actress Leslie Grace (pictured). But even this star-studded cast wasn’t enough to save the doomed project.

While some sources claim that the film was quickly axed due to poor audience reactions at test screenings, others say that Warner Bros. shelved Batgirl for tax and accounting reasons rather than quality.

Either way, the news came as a huge blow to the cast and crew, as well as to comic book fans everywhere.

Batgirl directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah released a statement saying that they were “saddened and shocked” by the cancelation and “hope that one day people will get to see it.” They also thanked leading lady Leslie Grace, who they said “portrayed Batgirl with so much passion, dedication, and humanity.”

Taking the top spot by a long shot is big-budget bonanza Empires of the Deep, which was set to be the first ever underwater 3D blockbuster. A passion project of real estate tycoon Jon Jiang, who wrote and partially financed the movie, there were hopes that the fantasy flick might even topple Avatar off its spot as the highest-grossing film of all time.

However, it seems this would-be blockbuster was destined to bomb from the get-go. For starters, several directors quit the project, and the movie also struggled to find its star. Both Monica Belluci and Sharon Stone were approached about the lead role before it finally went to Olga Kurylenko, star of James Bond film Quantum of Solace.

Perhaps most shockingly of all, the original $50 million budget soared to an eye-watering $130 million, which is an incredible $164.9 million today. For context, that’s on par with a Marvel blockbuster, although Empires of the Deep has certainly proven far less lucrative.

When the first trailer for the movie dropped in 2012, everything from the costumes to the CGI was laughed at. A 2013 release seems to have been the original plan but, almost a decade later, there’s still no sign of the movie landing in cinemas any time soon.

Viewers have since compared the trailer to a bad version of DC’s Aquaman. Don’t hold your breath waiting for this one…

Now grab the popcorn and discover the movie franchises that have made the most money