10 Completed Movies That Were Never Released

A common refrain amongst entertainment industry types is that it’s a miracle any movie gets made. There are so many moving parts to any production, from ensuring the script has a story audiences will want to see to managing a crew of hundreds to get that story onto film. Even if the final product isn’t great artistically, one has to admire the hard work from all of those professionals to get any movie made in the first place. And while a movie can go off the rails at any point, it’s astonishing how many are pretty much finished and then just … never come out.

Just look at the case of the “Toxic Avenger” reboot starring Peter Dinklage and Elijah Wood. It earned widespread acclaim at festivals in 2023, with /Film’s review calling it an “avalanche of blood-drenched chaos” (in the best way possible, naturally). Despite high praise from us and other outlets, the film still doesn’t have a release date, with some reports claiming the movie’s “unreleasable” in its current form. It may be too early to write off “The Toxic Avenger” entirely at this point, but it doesn’t look good for the film getting any kind of wide release. 

If it remains hidden away, it’ll join some reputable company. Numerous films have been finished over the decades, but for one reason or another, higher powers decide it’s better no one tries to see them. Some explanations make sense, while others are frustratingly bureaucratic, but here are 10 completed movies the world will never see. 

It’s hard not to feel pessimistic about the current state of the entertainment industry when Warner Bros. was more than happy to shelve a finished Looney Tunes movie. “Coyote vs. Acme” would’ve been a live-action and animated hybrid that would’ve seen Wile E. Coyote finally sue Acme for selling him products that never worked in his pursuit to catch the Roadrunner. It sounds amazing, and there were reports it tested extremely well with audiences. This should’ve been a slam dunk for Warner Bros., but since we’re apparently not allowed to have nice things, it’s forever gone. 

After the initial announcement of the movie getting canned, Warner Bros. announced it would then shop the film around to other distributors. But in a vile reversal of course, Warner Bros. changed its mind and decided no one should ever see the majesty of “Coyote vs. Acme.” Everyone who has seen it sings its praises, including filmmaker Brian Duffield, who said via The Hollywood Reporter, “I think ‘Coyote’ is really similar to ‘Barbie’ in a lot of ways. They are playing with iconography in a really fun, popcorn kind of way.” “Barbie” only made $1.4 billion at the global box office, so it makes sense Warner Bros. would scrap it since they clearly hate money. 

Shelving “Coyote vs. Acme” is anti-art to the highest degree. And if you want even more evidence the movie would’ve been amazing, check out this video Steven Price posted on X (formerly Twitter) scoring a choir singing “Meep Meep” repeatedly. 

Had a lot of fun scoring Coyote Vs Acme. As no-one will be able to hear it now, due to bizarre anti-art studio financial shenanigans I will never understand, here is a bit of behind the scenes footage of our “Meep Meep” Roadrunner choir, with apologies to Tchaikovsky… pic.twitter.com/HL7h00rXpp

— Steven Price (@SteveBPrice) November 10, 2023

In an idyllic world, studio executives would at least somewhat care about art. With so many people working hard on each and every movie, the least a finished product deserves is some kind of release rather than getting written off for a corporate tax break. Sadly, Warner Bros. has been run by some real-life supervillains the past few years, as evidenced by “Batgirl,” starring Leslie Grace in the titular role, also getting the boot. 

So why was “Batgirl” cancelled? It largely comes down to the aforementioned tax break, with the studio clearly believing they would make more money writing the movie off instead of releasing it. “Batgirl,” which was made for a $90 million budget, was initially intended to go straight to streaming, but the company decided to move away from those sort of big-budget streaming exclusives. And there was a lot of talk about how the movie wasn’t of high enough quality to go to theaters. 

Yes, during a time when Warner Bros. saw the likes of “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” and “The Flash” as fit for public consumption, “Batgirl” was apparently not in a place to even try to recoup the budget at the box office. Regardless if the movie was actually bad or not, it deserved a release. If nothing else, we all deserved to see Brendan Fraser as the villainous Firefly.

Let’s step away from movies shelved for tax breaks and into political correctness. Jamie Foxx can pretty much do it all, from superhero fare in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” to prestige dramas like “Ray.” At one point, he directed and wrote a completely silly farce called “All-Star Weekend,” a road trip comedy that would’ve seen Foxx traveling across the country to see LeBron James play in the NBA’s All-Star festivities. Along the way, they would’ve met all sorts of colorful characters, with a cast that would’ve included the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Eva Longoria, Jeremy Piven, and Gerard Butler. 

The problem stems from Downey playing a Mexican character, which involved the “Iron Man” star donning brownface. Apparently, this made it too difficult to give the film a proper release, as Foxx stated in an interview with CinemaBlend: “It’s been tough with the lay of the land when it comes to comedy. We’re trying to break open the sensitive corners where people go back to laughing again.”

Downey infamously donned blackface for “Tropic Thunder” without it hurting his career. However, “Tropic Thunder” is a send-up of the entire entertainment industry, with Downey poking fun at self-serious actors who believe they can play any role. It’s unclear if Downey playing a Mexican character for “All-Star Weekend” would’ve had the same satirical bent or if it would’ve solely existed as a racist caricature. Our guess would be it’s the latter.

Marlon Brando’s final feature film role was 2001’s “The Score,” which is easily one of Brando’s best movies ever. However, if things worked out a little differently, it’s possible his final movie would’ve been an animated venture with “Big Bug Man.” 

The film would’ve followed Howard Kind, who gets bitten by a bug and develops bug-like powers. Before you ask, no, Brando wouldn’t have played this heroic protagonist (Brendan Fraser was tapped for the role of Howard). Brando insisted on playing Mrs. Sour, the elderly owner of the Mrs. Sour Candy Company. Mrs. Sour was only in a few scenes, so they recorded his lines in a single day at his home. The film’s director, Bob Bendetson, talked about how Brando was still committed to being a method actor by wearing a wig, dress, and full make-up while recording his lines. That recording took place on June 10, 2004; Brando sadly passed away on July 1 of the same year. 

As for the film, it’s unclear if it was ever put into a releasable state. We don’t know if Fraser even recorded his lines for the film’s hero, but it remains lost all the same. Part of this could be attributed to the film’s reportedly risque tone and a lack of funding to bring everything to fruition. But it forever remains a fascinating alternative closer for Brando’s illustrious career. 

With laser raptors and a David Hasselhoff song playing over the credits, 2015’s “Kung Fury” is the stuff of internet legend. It’s a ridiculous send-up of over-the-top 1980s action movies, complete with David Sandberg playing the titular badass detective. That’s why so many people were ecstatic when “Kung Fury 2” got announced. Unlike the original short film, this would be a feature-length effort, bringing in the likes of Michael Fassbender and Arnold Schwarzenegger. But despite wrapping filming in 2019 with an initial scheduled release date for 2022, it still isn’t out yet. 

Things don’t look promising for the epic action comedy. The real reason Sandberg’s movie isn’t out yet is due to an overly complicated legal matter. Producers for “Kung Fury 2” have sued Creasun Entertainment USA for fraud and breach of contract for allegedly failing to fully pay their committed share of the film’s budget. This has effectively placed “Kung Fury 2” in limbo where it’s unclear if it’ll ever come out. 

While it remains an unreleased finished movie at this point, everyone should still hold out hope. In May 2024, Jorma Taccone, who would’ve reprised his role of Adolf Hitler in the sequel, told ComicBook.com, “Fassbender’s hilarious in it. I get to fight Arnold Schwarzenegger. That it doesn’t exist, it is so heartbreaking to me. It’s really like a crime.” The internet has rallied around dumber things before; it’s high time we all try to get “Kung Fury 2” released so we can bask in whatever bonkers action they cooked up for us this time. 

The following slide includes a discussion of sexual assault.

Matters like lawsuits and tax breaks can become tricky to explain. However, it doesn’t take any specialized knowledge to understand why Netflix put “Gore,” its Gore Vidal biopic, away in a vault for no one ever to see. 

In October 2017, after “Gore” had finished filming, Anthony Rapp came forward to allege how Kevin Spacey made unwanted sexual advances toward him when he was only 14. Other men came forward with similar stories about Spacey, including one who alleged Spacey attempted to sexually assault him when he was also a minor. Netflix was supposed to be the distributor for “Gore,” but it cut all ties with Spacey after the allegations came to light. This also involved firing Spacey from the final season of “House of Cards,” and since that point, “Gore” has never seen the light of day. 

Shelving “Gore” is clearly for the best, especially considering that it reportedly had scenes of Vidal, whom Spacey played, that explored his sexual relationships with very young men. “Gore” was one of several films canned in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement, as Louis C.K.’s film “I Love You, Daddy” also got put away for good after premiering at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival once C.K.’s sexual misconduct toward various women came to light.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

“Empires of the Deep” was a true passion project for producer Jon Jiang. He worked alongside numerous Hollywood writers, developing dozens of screenplay drafts until it was finally in a place to begin production in 2010 for a planned 2011 release date. The ambitious action movie, about a collection of mermaid kingdoms whose long-running peace is under threat from a Demon Mage, was even going to be in 3D to take advantage of the technology that made the previous year’s “Avatar” such a massive success. However, despite a trailer coming out, “Empires of the Deep” remains an unreleased epic. 

Jiang clearly wanted the best out of the Chinese-United States co-production. Sharon Stone and Monica Bellucci were considered for a prominent part as the Mermaid Queen, which would eventually go to “Quantum of Solace” star Olga Kurylenko. But once cameras started rolling, myriad issues materialized. This included many in the cast and crew receiving late payments (if they were paid at all). At one point, the crew was even locked out of the building they were filming at due to a missed payment. 

“Empires of the Deep” never made its 2011 release date, and there were reportedly reshoots in 2014. Two years later, a crowdfunding campaign asking for donations appeared to help finish the film’s visual effects. It’s unlikely the movie will ever cross the finish line and earn a proper release, but it remains a fascinating case study of the intersection of ego and ambition. At least Kurylenko got paid $1 million for her efforts.

Sometimes, a movie gets 99% made and just can’t crack that final 1% to wind up in a releasable state. But 2013’s “Gods Behaving Badly” not only was finished but premiered at the Rome Film Festival. Based on the 2007 book of the same name by Marie Phillips, the film would’ve seen a couple (played by Alicia Silverstone and a pre-“The Bear” Ebon Moss-Bachrach) get in the middle of the petty arguments of modern-day Greek gods living in Manhattan. Some of the more noteworthy castings include Christopher Walken as Zeus and Sharon Stone as Aphrodite. We suppose Stone might’ve been better off working on “Empires of the Deep” after all since “Gods Behaving Badly” also went nowhere following its festival premiere. 

The issue here seems to come down to the movie being downright bad, which is odd since that hasn’t stopped plenty of other films getting releases following tepid responses from critics. Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter wrote the following scathing take: “This outdated, unfunny satire feels like an extended ‘SNL; sketch from the early ’90s, and one that probably would have been tossed into the waste basket.”

Aside from a few stills, “Gods Behaving Badly” descended into Hades, never to be heard from again. But Phillips stayed positive after the film failed to find a market, as she told The Independent, “I find it impossible to blame the passionate, hard-working team for the fact that the film didn’t ultimately work.” Sometimes, a production is simply cursed … as though by divine intervention. 

“Hippie Hippie Shake” had all the makings of a decent little biopic. The film was supposed to chronicle the life of Oz magazine editor Richard Neville, played by Cillian Murphy. Specifically, the plot would’ve honed in on how his magazine went to trial in the midst of a countercultural revolution in 1960s London for distributing obscene material. The movie also would’ve heavily focused on Neville’s girlfriend, Louise Ferrier, to be played by Sienna Miller.

“Hippie Hippie Shake” was originally set to come out in 2010, but in the summer of 2009, director Beeban Kidron walked off while it was in the middle of post-production. Someone must have come on to finish it, as the film had some test screenings. Ain’t It Cool News actually spoke with someone who had a chance to see it. It’s a mixed review, but they did claim, “There are some predictable scenes, some hammy acting, some bad jokes, but they couldn’t spoil my enjoyment. I’m sorry, but I really liked it.” 

One theory as to why Universal decided not to release “Hippie Hippie Shake” was to write it off on taxes. Another rumor is a real-life person depicted in the film was considering legal action, so perhaps that was also an incentive simply to cut losses. 

A list of completed movies that never got released just wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Roger Corman’s “Fantastic Four.” However, it’s perhaps a bit of a cheat to include the film here now, as it’s been made available on YouTube, but who knows how long that’ll stay up? The point is 1994’s “Fantastic Four” had a disastrous production by design and never received a proper release, and that’s certainly worth writing about.

The film had an incredibly rushed production of just three weeks with a budget of $1 million, which might be fine for certain Corman-run B-movies, but wasn’t enough for this kind of source material. Despite promotion insinuating “Fantastic Four” would come out, all of that came to a grinding halt. It soon became clear that executive producer Bernd Eichinger only made the film in the first place to retain the rights to the characters, with no intention of having it come out, much to the dismay of the actors and everyone else who tried to make the best movie possible under less-than-ideal conditions.

Eichinger also served as a producer for 2005’s “Fantastic Four” and 2007’s “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” and it’s honestly debatable if those have any greater artistic merit than the Corman version. Since the ’90s, the original “Fantastic Four” film has become the stuff of geeky legend, with bootleg copies reportedly getting distributed. It’s interesting to think if the movie just came out regularly, it probably would’ve been seen as cheesy and quickly forgotten, but now, due to keeping everyone in the dark for so long, it’s something every comic book fan wants to see.