With countless movies filmed and released every year, it's strange to think that one
of cinemas greatest achievements could be taking shape at any given moment. But for
every movie that makes it to theaters, there are hundreds of others that never get that
far. Sometimes, those failed films have so much talent behind and in front of the camera,
movie fans have to wonder just what masterpieces could have been created if things had gone
differently. After you watch the video make sure you let us know if we missed some in
the comments below! Here are Screenrant's 10 Best Movies NEVER Made.
Darren Aronofsky’s “Batman: Year One”
When the Batman movie series became a laughing stock back in the late 90s, Warner Bros. knew
they needed a reboot. But before Christopher Nolan was ever interviewed, the studio turned
to an even more unlikely name: Darren Aronofsky, the mind behind the dark drug drama Requiem
For a Dream. The director's plan was to adapt the origin story "Batman: Year One" with the
comic's original writer Frank Miller handling the script. His vision of Bruce Wayne made
Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy seem like fantasy, with an orphaned Bruce Wayne relying on acid
and chemical bombs instead of high tech gadgets, and a Batmobile built out of a Lincoln Continental.
In the end, Aronofsky's R-Rated, ultra violent story went too far, and he went on to make
The Wrestler and Black Swan. But it convinced Warner Bros. that a darker, grounded Batman
was the way to go - and the director's top choice for the role - Christian Bale - was
wearing the cape in no time.
Paul Verhoeven’s “Crusade”
In the early 90s, no action star was more reliable than Arnold Schwarzenegger. So when
the actor mentioned to director Paul Verhoeven that he was a history buff on the set of Total
Recall, the director realized his dream of a brutal film set in the First Crusade could
become a reality. With Arnold hot off of Terminator 2, and Verhoeven off of Robocop, the production
of Crusade moved ahead quickly. The film cast Arnold as a slave recruited into the war,
uncovering the uglier political side to the crusades, making it a smarter film than most
audiences would expect, given its extreme violence. The studio doubted the 100 million
dollar movie would be a hit, and pulled the plug. Arnold got paid anyway, but his fans
were robbed of what might have been one of his most iconic roles.
Jodorowsky’s “Dune”
Frank Herbert's epic space adventure was a bestselling novel, but the movie version remains
one of Hollywood's most profound duds. But things could have been different. Years before,
director Alejandro Jodorowsky had tried to adapt the book to film, crafting one of the
most ambitious movie productions of all time. Getting the likes of Orson Welles, Mick Jagger,
and Salvador Dali on board was hard enough, but the director also had his own son spend
two years training in martial arts to play the highly trained young hero. In the end,
the studios got cold feet on his outlandish vision - but the assembled talent didn't disappear.
Artist H. R. Giger stuck around to reshape Hollywood horror with Alien, a movie written
by Dune's screenwriter. The recent documentary "Jodorowsky's Dune" revealed just how many
fantasy and sci-fi films took inspiration, or entire scenes, right from the director's
vision.
Tim Burton’s “Superman Lives”
He may be known for some stranger movies these days, but director Tim Burton beat the odds
when he made Batman as famous on film as he was in the comics. So it seemed like a no-brainer
to let him tackle a Superman reboot too. Superman Lives was scrapped, but as the years passed,
more and more unbelievable details trickled out. It was only when photos of Nicolas Cage
wearing a Super suit appeared that fans realized the movie would have been one for the ages
- no matter how it turned out. But with a fragmented script that would have seen Lex
Luthor and Brainiac merge into a single being - Lexiac - it might've been for the best.
Sergio Leone’s “Leningrad”
What would happen if the director who redefined Westerns decided to tackle a World War 2 drama?
We'll never know the answer, but after Sergio Leone made Clint Eastwood a household name,
his shift into American cinema didn't go too well. After his American crime drama Once
Upon a Time in America was heavily edited by the studio, Leone was determined to work
with star Robert De Niro on an even bigger epic. Based on a real life account of the
900-day siege of Leningrad in World War 2, De Niro would play an American trapped in
the city, with the 100 million dollar film's opening shot one of the longest continuous
scenes in history. Sadly, Leone would die of a heart attack just two days before he
would have signed on to direct.
Steven Spielberg’s “Night Skies”
After Close Encounters of The Third Kind turned out to be a massive success, the studio was
begging for a sequel from director Steven Spielberg. But instead of friendly aliens,
it was a darker story he had in mind. Based on actual events, "Night Skies" would have
followed a family on a Kentucky farm terrorized by alien invaders. Realizing the story might
be too dark for his tastes, Spielberg lined up The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Tobe Hooper,
with the aliens designed by effects legend Rick Baker. It seemed a perfect recipe for
success, but script problems stalled the film, and Spielberg would eventually work elements
of the treatment into E.T. and Poltergeist.
Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis”
It's hard to believe that the director of films like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now
could have tried to reach even higher heights, but after those acclaimed dramas, Francis
Ford Coppola had his mind set on sci-fi. Set in a future New York City, "Megalopolis" would
follow an architect setting out to create a small-scale Utopia - not unlike the ideas
behind the similarly claimed BioShock series of video games. The director was so committed
to his pet project, he helmed Dracula, Jack and The Rainmaker just so the studio would
fund his big budget production. Megalopolis would have been a New York story at its core,
but when the 9/11 attacks changed what that would mean for the foreseeable future, Coppola
had no choice but to abandon the project.
The Beatles in: “The Lord of The Rings”
We know what you're thinking: this has to be an idea thought up on a whim that could
never have been made, right? Not quite. A decade after J. R. R. Tolkien's story was
published, it was impossible to tell just how famous the series would become, which
meant acquiring the rights to a feature film was entirely possible. It just so happened
that The Beatles were the hottest property in the world at the time, dominating the box
office with Help!, Hard Day's Night and Yellow Submarine. It was John Lennon who sought the
rights to the story, hoping to play Gollum with Paul McCartney starring as Frodo, Ringo
Starr as Sam, and George Harrison as Gandalf. The band had even approached Stanley Kubrick
to direct, so no matter how against the idea Tolkien turned out to be, it's impossible
to think about the epic film trilogy that might have been...
Hitchcock’s “Kaleidoscope”
No matter how good a director may be, their time at the top usually has an expiry date.
In the case of Alfred Hitchcock, the mind behind mystery, suspense, and horror films
that revolutionized filmmaking was determined to change with the times. With the rise of
edgier, realistic films in the 1960s, Hitchcock decided to use his imagination. His brilliant
idea: to tell a story from a serial killer's perspective, with a realistic look at sex,
nudity and violence, filmed in real New York locations with handheld cameras. The director
was so determined to redefine his style, he wrote the script himself, along with 450 perfectly
detailed camera shots, and even filmed test footage to prove his vision. But the studio
said it was all too risky, and talked him into sticking with his existing brand. And
the movie that could have been Hitchcock’s masterpiece, and years ahead of its time,
never came to be.
George Miller’s “Justice League Mortal”
DC comics fans are set to receive a shared Justice League movie universe before long,
but things would have been very, very different if WB's previous plans had worked out. Before
director George Miller shocked the world with Mad Max Fury Road, he was set to introduce
a brand new take on the Justice League back in 2007, with special effects and costumes
designed by the minds behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Casting Armie Hammer as Batman,
Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, Common as Green Lantern and Fury Road's own villain as the
Martian Manhunter, the stars got as far as costume fittings before the Hollywood writers
strike brought the movie to a standstill. It never regained momentum, so the plan of
seeing a young, sci-fi/fantasy Justice League hit theaters not long after Iron Man just
wasn't meant to be.
Those are some of our favorite films that never made it to the big screen, but do you
have any others you think would have been worthwhile? Be sure to share them in the comments,
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