Hollywood runs on hype, from a project's earliest conception to its world premiere and beyond,
the entire movie industry depends on getting audiences as pumped as possible for their
blockbuster product.
In fact, there's an entire industry within the industry, filled with people whose jobs
depend on getting the word out.
Unfortunately, the folks whose job it is to market and hype up a film aren't always on
the same page as the people tasked with actually making a movie.
Announcements are made, interviews are given, and all of a sudden, the film just up and
disappears from the studio's release schedule.
It can happen for all sorts of surprising reasons, but regardless, all we're left with
is the disappointment of knowing we'll never get to see the movie we were promised.
Here's a look at some overhyped films that quietly disappeared from the release schedule.
Dark Universe
The Dark Universe will probably go down in Hollywood history as a prime example of the
high risk a studio runs of being embarrassed by overhyped films.
In an attempt to mirror the Marvel Cinematic Universe's interwoven narratives and massive
box office success, Universal Studios looked to their own crossover-worthy characters,
classic monsters like Dracula, the Wolfman, and more.
While it wouldn't be the first time Universal had made crossover movies, the ideas behind
this new franchise seemed to borrow more from superhero and action movies than the gothic
influences of their early 1900s forebears.
Universal even invested in a special "Dark Universe" logo to introduce films that would
take place in this universe.
So...
"What happened?"
Unfortunately, despite all-star casting like Tom Cruise in The Mummy and Johnny Depp as
the the Invisible Man, the Dark Universe was quickly derailed when The Mummy bombed at
the box office.
Bride of Frankenstein, which was rumored to star Angelina Jolie in the title role, was
quickly taken off of Universal's schedule, and, despite a massive launch announcement
with a Photoshopped lineup of the stars, the creatives behind the would-be franchise moved
on to other projects.
It looks like the real dark universe was ours, all along.
Divergent: Ascendant
The Divergent adaptations seemed like a sure thing.
Based on the hit Young Adult novels by Veronica Roth, the dystopian action series seemed like
the natural heir to the Hunger Games hysteria that dominated the box office.
Unfortunately, while the first two films managed to earn a respectable return on investment,
they weren't quite as bankable as the studio might've hoped.
Even so, Lionsgate went forward with splitting the final film into two, like Harry Potter,
Twilight, and The Hunger Games before it, and that decision turned out to be a huge
mistake.
Allegiant was only loosely based on the book version of the same name, and not only were
the reviews for the film scathing, but fans failed to turn up at the ticket booth as well.
As a result, the would-be final film, Ascendant, fell apart at the seams by losing its director
and cast, and then being shunted off to the television circuit, where it's remained in
production limbo.
World War Z 2
Based on the gripping bestseller by Max Brooks, World War Z came loaded with a passionate
fan-base, including some of Hollywood's most prestigious actors.
After a bidding war against Leonardo DiCaprio's production group Appian Way, Brad Pitt's company
Plan B optioned and produced the film adaptation of the apocalyptic zombie thriller.
Unfortunately, things start going downhill from there as the film became an entirely
different kind of disaster movie.
After the initial filming process was complete, the flick went through a massive reshoot process
that basically replaced the film's entire third act and made it unrecognizable to readers
of Brooks' version.
Although it still went on to score a solid half-billion dollars at the box office, the
film's ballooned production costs ate into those profits.
A sequel was still announced by Paramount Pictures, due to the bounty of book material
left to bring to the big screen.
"We have so many ideas and so much information that we think we've got a lot of stuff to
mine from."
However, the film's release date has continued to be bumped back again and again to the point
that it seems like director David Fincher might never get a chance to resurrect this
franchise.
Terminator Genisys 2
The first Terminator: Genisys left a lot to be desired.
For instance, the movie was straight up incomplete and basically relied on the eventual sequel
to complete the narrative.
Unfortunately, planning for a sequel can backfire if the released movie underperforms, and that's
exactly what happened with Genisys.
The film did have some serious star power with Emilia Clarke and the return of Arnold
Schwarzenegger, who made good on that promise …
"I'll be back."
(Please Arnold, don't.)
However, the movie underperformed in the US and fell short of its production budget by
about $60 million.
What was meant to be the birth of a new trilogy turned out to be a non-starter, and the second
installment was removed from Paramount's upcoming releases, paving the way for yet another adjustment
of franchise continuity with a sequel that would ignore everything after Judgement Day.
Fantastic Four 2
Years before anyone seriously believed Marvel Comics could spin off anything approaching
a cinematic universe, the venerable publisher fell on hard financial times and ended up
selling off the film rights to some of their most popular characters.
Spider-Man landed at Sony and the Fantastic Four and X-Men landed at Fox, and without
access to those heroes, the fledgling Marvel Studios turned to characters like Iron Man,
Captain America, and Thor, which were at the time properties that had never achieved quite
as much mainstream popularity.
Of course, this all ended up working out pretty well for Marvel, and for Fox and Sony, both
of whom found themselves sitting on adaptation options that had never been more valuable.
As a result, Spidey and the Fantastic Four have both spawned multiple franchises, but
while Sony has managed to hit box office paydirt with its Spider-Man movies on more than one
occasion, the Fantastic Four films have had a rougher go of it.
Fox's first pass at the franchise made money, but the reviews were less than kind, prompting
a reboot in 2015, and that attempt fared even worse than its predecessors, earning godawful
reviews and the worst grosses of any theatrical release in the series.
Still, there's no benefit to holding film rights you can't use, so Fox executives consistently
reiterated that a sequel was definitely happening, regardless of what happened with the first
film.
Considering that the latest release date promised a June 2017 arrival, we can pretty safely
assume that the sequel won't be happening.
The Disney-Fox merger deal might mean that Marvel's First Family will get another shot
at a movie release sometime, although it likely won't be anytime soon, and it won't be a follow-up
to any past Fantastic Four film...which is probably just as well.
Sinister Six
Sony didn't just own the rights to Spider-Man; the studio also laid claim to an assortment
of other characters related to everyone's favorite friendly neighborhood web-slinger.
In order to compete with Marvel's growing domination of the superhero genre, Sony announced
plans in 2014 to make a Sinister Six movie, to be directed by Drew Goddard.
The film's conceit was fairly ambitious, bringing together six of Spidey's most famous villains
together as the titular supervillain team.
Promotional materials were even created to build fan fervor following the release of
The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Sadly, while everyone involved seemed invested in making Sinister Six a reality, the Amazing
Spider-sequel underperformed, paving the way for a deal between Marvel and Sony that was
struck just in time to reboot the character again with Tom Holland in the role, and have
Spidey make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut alongside Captain America and Iron Man
in Captain America: Civil War.
It led to all sorts of Spider-Man goodness, but the collateral damage of the deal included
Goddard's Sinister Six.
Sony hasn't given up on Spider-spinoffs, and although subsequent plans to continue building
out the character's shared universe have hit some snags of their own, fans can still look
forward to a big-screen solo outing for at least one of Spider-Man's most popular foes.
Uncharted
When it comes to experiences that feel like watching an Indiana Jones movie, you're mostly
limited to getting a doctorate in archeology or going on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.
Still, the Uncharted video game series manages to scratch the particular itch of watching
a handsome and dashing adventurer run around giant monuments while flirting with pretty
girls and almost getting killed by amoral thieves.
The series follows Nathan Drake as an artifact hunter whose adventures in picturesque locations
and grand action set pieces seemed absolutely made for the big screen.
While movie adaptations of video games tend to be poorly received, adapting Uncharted
seemed like a perfect continuation of the pulpy adventure movies that Indiana Jones
had traded in.
Unfortunately, the movie ran through a series of difficult turnovers as director after director
left the project.
Joe Carnahan was tapped to write the script in 2016, but the Uncharted movie was removed
from Sony's upcoming release list only a few months later.
Still, fans don't need to lose hope completely; a since-deleted Instagram post by Tom Holland
seemed to imply that he would be starring in the long-awaited movie.
Much like any archaeologist, fans will just have to wait and see if what comes out of
the ground is treasure...or trash.
Thanks for watching!
Click the Looper icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!