Some may not realize how difficult it can be to get a film made and how even more challenging
it can be to get a film released.
From the earliest stages of putting together a script, to pre-production, shooting, and
post-production, there are many steps a filmmaker must accomplish but no matter how much work
goes into a film, not every film has the opportunity to be shown to audiences.
There have been dozens of films with A-list stars that never saw the light of day, and
even more featuring actors that are not exactly household names.
Some films may sound appealing while others should probably be lost forever.
Here are 10 Completed Movies that were Never Released.
Fantastic Four Long before Michael B. Jordan and Chris Evans
stepped into the incendiary role of Johnny Storm, there was Jay Underwood.
The name may not ring any bells, which is no surprise since Underwood’s Human Torch
along with other unknown actors portraying the familiar foursome in the 1994 unreleased
film, Fantastic Four.
In the 1980s, German film producer, Bernd Eichinger optioned Stan Lee’s comic book
characters.
After little interest from major studios in providing a large sum of money to make a big
budget superhero movie, the deadline to make a Fantastic Four movie was looming as his
option was about to expire.
With the help of B-movie legend Roger Corman, he was able to complete a low budget superhero
film.
Although film trailers for Fantastic Four were shown in theaters and even at the 1993
Comic-Con, the film was never released.
The film has only been seen on the internet or from the hard-to-find bootleg copies.
Producer Eichinger did go on to produce the big budget 2005 Fantastic Four and many speculate,
including Stan Lee himself, the 1994 original was never meant to be released and was used
only to maintain rights to the characters.
However, Eichinger denied this was the case.
Whatever his motive, the Fantastic Four with the tiny budget has never been released.
Bill Cosby 77 Stand-up comedy films are not for everyone
but when it stars a fallen legend, it may not be for anyone.
Such is the case with Bill Cosby 77.
The film was directed by Director and Actor Robert Townsend, and edited by Cosby’s wife
Camille during his appearance at the San Francisco Jazz Center in 2014 on Cosby’s 77th birthday.
The show featured Cosby’s traditional brand of clean comedy concerning his marriage and
children.
Netflix acquired the rights to the 60-minute comedy show which was slated to be released
Thanksgiving weekend 2014.
Just hours after former model and reality star, Janice Dickinson reported sexual assault
from Cosby, Netflix postponed the release of the film.
After additional reports were made from others victims, Netflix announced the released of
film would be delayed indefinitely.
In 2015, Netflix announced it would not be appropriate to release Bill Cosby 77 at any
time.
Don’s Plum Never has there been a film that has been
so tirelessly prevented from release by its actors as Don’s Plum.
The name may sound familiar simply because of a lawsuit filed by producer David Stutman
who claimed the film’s stars including, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire were obstructing
the success of the film by interfering with its release.
Don’s Plum was filmed in 1995 so while the two actors were not exactly new to the film
industry, they had not become the household names they are today.
Two years later, Leonardo DiCaprio’s career took an entirely different trajectory with
the release of Titanic.
The low budget Don’t Plum was funded by DiCaprio and Maguire for their filmmaking
friend R.D.
Robb and was largely improvisational.
The actors claimed the film was intended to be a short film and only agreed to do the
film if it was not released in the United States or Canada.
Once the director began seeking a distributor, Maguire grew concerned about statements he
improvised in the film and believed it may tarnish his image.
With the help of friend Leonardo DiCaprio, they worked together to block the film’s
release.
The film, which also features actor Kevin Connolly and the music of Rilo Kiley has been
successfully prevented for two decades and even after it was released online by the filmmakers,
it was quickly removed due to Leonardo DiCaprio and friend’s dedication for the film to
never be seen.
The Day the Clown Cried Some films become a thing of legend without
ever being seen by audiences.
The Day the Clown Cried, is the film comedian Jerry Lewis never wants you to see as it is
far too embarrassing.
The film’s bizarre premise involves a circus clown who has been imprisoned in a concentration
camp.
Not exactly the best set-up for a Jerry Lewis comedy.
However, Lewis’s intention was to make a drama, which he also wrote and directed, that
would hopefully catch the attention of the Academy while audiences would accept him as
a serious actor and filmmaker.
Once the film was completed, Lewis made little effort to release The Day the Clown Cried
but did plan showing the film at the Cannes Film Festival.
It was was never shown.
While Lewis was not particularly proud of the film, another hold-up was Joan O’ Brien,
one of the story writers, refusal to sign over the rights to Lewis.
Actor and writer Harry Shearer is one of the few people to have seen the completed film.
Not surprisingly, he thought it to be spectacular in its failure and found it fascinating that
the film was so unfixable.
Since audiences will most likely never get to see The Day the Clown Cried, Jerry Lewis
will maintain a reputation for being the lovable goofball and not a terrible filmmaker.
Temptation The 2004 musical Temptation may be the most
mysterious film on our list as there is no evidence to why the film was never released.
The film stars well-known Broadway actors Adam Pascal and Alice Ripley and is based
on the tale of Faust in which a man, who is bored with his life, makes a deal with the
devil.
Temptation sets the story as a rock opera and there is little dialogue.
The film also stars Zoe Saldana who was just hitting her stride as a film star at the time.
Temptation was rumored to have been a well-made musical and even featured live singing, something
Academy Award winner Les Miserable did years later.
Finding information on the film is nearly impossible and there is no speak of legal
issues or disputes making the film even more of a head-scratcher.
The only opportunity audiences were given to view Temptation was the New York Musical
Festival in 2004.
Even with an undeniable audience for movie musicals and talented cast, it seems, for
no reason at all, Temptation will never receive a theatrical or video release.
Prankstar At the turn of the 21st century, there was
a comedian who found fame by placing his bum on everything in his eye line.
That unexplainably popular comedian was Tom Green.
For a brief time, it seemed the wacky Canadian was everywhere.
Whether it was his own MTV show or appearances in films like Road Trip, Stealing Harvard,
or the much ridiculed Freddy Got Fingered for which he wrote/directed/ and starred,
he was everywhere.
He was even married to the hugely famous Drew Barrymore for a short-blink-before-you-miss-the-matrimony-minute.
But like with any over-the-top comedian, public interest started waning and he became less
exciting and even less relevant.
In 2006 Tom Green attempted to change that with his mockumentary, Prankstar.
The independent film is about two student filmmakers who decide to follow Tom Green
around to see what his life is like, only to discover that fame has not been kind to
the comedian.
After many instances of Green showing sadness due to the public heckling him, the three
get into trouble and the adventure begins.
The film was promised a release by Green multiple times in 2010.
Later he assured fans the film was completed and would be released in 2011.
However, the film has yet to be shown anywhere and has no release date set.
Perhaps, Green could not find a distributer but most likely this is all one big elaborate
prank of Green’s and the film never existed.
Glitterati Films adapted from novels are a common practice
but films based on a section of the book the film adaptation chose to forgo is a bit unnecessary.
One of the more polarizing modern authors is Bret Easton Ellis known for his novels
Less Than Zero, and American Psycho which were both adapted for the big screen.
The Rules of Attraction was another film based on his book by the same name.
In the film, we get to see a montage of Victor, played by Kip Pardue, traipsing through a
European journey of debauchery.
Apparently, the director Roger Avery filmed over 70 hours of footage and planned on using
the footage and the additional story of Victor’s travels for another film entitled Glitterati.
Avery planned on the film bridging the gap between the events of The Rules of Attraction
and another Easton novel set to be a film, Glamorama.
Since Easton’s characters in all of his novels live in the same universe and appear
or are mentioned in multiple books, the concept was not a bad one.
However, Glitterati never received a release and Bret Easton Ellis states that for legal
reasons and for the lack of a cohesive or interesting plot, he has no intention of releasing
Glitterati in any form and prefers to screen the film sporadically to small groups.
Spring Break '83 Not every film deserves to be released no
matter how many forgotten stars of the 1980s make a cameo.
Spring Break ‘83 was filmed in 2007 and along with the less than impressive likes
of Jamie Kennedy and Sophia Monk also includes Lee Majors, Morgan Fairchild, and Erik Estrada.
For some reason, John Goodman also agreed to also be in this mess of a comedy.
The premise of the film is simple and revolves around four friends who were bullied in high
school who seek revenge on their tormentors during college spring break a year later.
The film gets an interesting spin by setting it in the 1980s, harking back to a more frivolous
time of 80’s comedies like Revenge of the Nerds and Porky’s.
The film took two years to complete due to multiple shutdowns caused by the production
company’s inability to pay the crew.
Big Sky Motion Pictures announced it would be released in the spring of 2010 but it never
happened.
Even with its $18 million budget and notable stars, the company has made no efforts to
release the film in theaters or video.
For those who are interested, there is a trailer floating around the internet which may illustrate
why Big Sky Motion Pictures or any other company has not made Spring Break ‘83’s release
a priority.
Hippie Hippie Shake Back in 1998 Working Title films acquired
the rights to Hippie Hippie Shake, based on Hippie Hippie Shake: The Dreams, the Trips,
the Trials, the Love-ins, the Screw Ups: The Sixties, a memoir written by journalist Richard
Neville.
The film was expected to begin production in 1999 until Working Title parted ways with
Polygram Entertainment.
It was not until 2007 that the film was brought back to life.
Hippie Hippie Shake was back in action complete with Playwright and Billy Elliot scribe Lee
Hall’s screenplay and Cillian Murphy and Sienna Miller as the two leads.
Hippie Hippie Shake’s initial release date in the fall of 2008 was delayed amidst controversy
around Sienna Miller and her personal life which had become tabloid fodder.
The creative differences of the director and producers during post-production caused even
more issues, delaying the film’s release even further.
The few critics who were given a screening of Hippie Hippie Shake gave the film fairly
positive reviews citing the performances of Murphy and Miller to be the highlight of the
film.
Even with the potential for success, Working Title has still decided not to release Hippie
Hippie Shake in theaters.
Nothing Lasts Forever In 1984 Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd starred
in two comedies, one was Ghostbusters.
The second was the little seen independent film, Nothing Lasts Forever The film follows
Zach Galligan best known as the lead in Gremlins, as a pianist who reveals he is a fraud and
has been playing a player piano.
For some reason, this causes him to flee to Europe to become an artist only to return
to New York and work menial jobs.
He then meets a bus driver, played by Murray, who insists he should travel to the moon to
find love.
The premise is somewhat complicated but all in good fun.
Bill Murray has stood behind a release of the film for years but due to legal issues
with MGM was unable to show it.
The company shelved the film after negative reaction by test audiences and has never relinquished
the rights.
Although the film will never receive a theatrical release it is one of the few unreleased films
that can be seen.
Nothing Lasts Forever was released online and aired on Turner Classic Movies in 2015
as part of “TCM Underground”.
What do you think of our list?
Did we introduce you to films you never knew existed?
Are there any good ones we are forgetting?
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