10 Infamous Movies That Never Made It To Screen

To this day "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" 2011 still ranks as the most expensive film ever made, with a truly mind-boggling with a budget of $379 million . Average studio film is worth 65 million dollars, not counting the marketing. Even the average bare bones, no frills, indie film straight out of film school will cost between $10,000 to $25,000 . So filmmaking is not a cheap hobby or career. That's why something really has to go off the rails for a movie to be made and then never released.

What could possibly make a studio or director sacrifice all that money, not to mention time, and never see the light of day? Well, rarely is anything good. Let's take a look at ten of the most wonderful, yet unseen, films ever made.

10. Empires of the Deep

This potential blockbuster began filming in China back in 2010 and was advertised as China's answer to Avatar . The release was expected the following year. With a budget that exceeded $140 million, it was definitely going to be a big spectacle with special effects. But the word "spectacle" does not always mean something good.

Official trailer was released in 2012, a year late, and it was something else. For one thing, it promised a 2013 release. That never happened. Dozens of talent fled the film like a sinking ship. Early on, Sharon Stone and Monica Bellucci were attached to play some kind of mermaid queen. Several directors signed on and then dropped out as the production became increasingly mired in delays and bad decisions.

Director Pitof was supposed to make the film under under the leadership of Ivan Kershner from "The Empire Strikes Back " Both men quit. Second director Jonathan Lawrence wasted five or six months and then reportedly also quit because poor planning and unsafe conditions for the cast and crew. After that, two more directors took over.

The script went through several iterations 40 drafts 10 screenwriters. The end result was still considered laughable. It was all the work of the film's backer, John Jiang, who wrote the original script and story. He had no experience in filmmaking at all, and was instead a billionaire who made his money in real estate, although he claimed to have seen 4,000 films and wanted to make his own.

IN blog post The film's mermaid detailed dangerous conditions, including falling rocks in an abandoned quarry, suits that were literally glued to human skin with glue not intended for use on humans, and dangerous handling of animals on set.

By 2016, the film had grossed $140 million and as of 2022, it still hasn't seen the light of day, although there are rumors that one day he still may appear .

9. Big Bug Man

Few actors will ever have the same legacy as Marlon Brando. The man is considered one of Hollywood's greatest actors, and also one of its most enigmatic. Many of his later performances were overshadowed by his bizarre, destructive, or just plain confusing off-screen behavior, such as, he did his own makeup on the set of " The Islands of Doctor Moreau" or didn't wear pants, so it had to be taken off from the waist up.

Brando's final performance was as a voice actor in the animated film " "Big Beetle" starring Brendan Fraser. with a budget of 20 million dollars The 2004 film received talent from both The Simpsons , and from Family Guy , and it was supposed to be a big release, but it never saw the light of day.

Brando was cast as Nicholas Dunderbeck. But after reading the script, he wanted to play Mrs. Suhr, the elderly woman who founded the company. As part of his voice acting, Brando wore a dress, a wig and makeup, to get into character, despite doing the voiceover in his own home. The director noted that Brando, who was on oxygen at the time, seemed to be really enjoying himself, calling it the most fun he'd had since Julius Caesar.

The film was supposed to be released in 2006, then 2007, and even 2008. The exact reason for its delay and subsequent cancellation was never made clear, and there is no word on whether the film was ever fully completed.

8. All-American Massacre

If you want to watch franchise "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" from start to finish, you'll have to watch 9 different movies . But technically 10. The franchise, which began in 1974 and saw its latest release on Netflix in 2022, also includes one infamous no-show called All American Massacre from 2000. It was never released. Although it is still possible watch trailer .

It still exists web -film site , where the trailer debuted decades ago. It was directed by William Hooper, son of original director Tobe Hooper, and is based on a short film he made that he decided to turn into a feature film.

The quality is somewhat cable-like, which is oddly appropriate for the franchise. It features the character Chop Top from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" , played by the same actor Bill Moseley. But in "All-American Massacre" he wasn't called Chop Top because it was believed Hooper didn't have the rights to make a film using the Chop Top or Leatherface characters. It's possible , That's why it was never released.

Another problem was funding. Hooper ran a crowdfunding campaign to try to raise money to finish the project, but it was unsuccessful. As a result, the film never existed as more than a trailer.

7. Shiny

In 2002, Roger Avary released "Rules of attractiveness" based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis. Few knew that at the same time, Avary was filming second film , which became known as Glitterati. 

Glitterati was made from additional footage from the first film and included the character Victor Ward, traveling in Europe , except that none of the people he met knew he was an actor playing a character in a movie.

Avery finished the film, but notes that his will never see, except at private screenings that he hosts himself. This is partly because the film features actor Kip Pardue as Ward, who seduces European women without telling them that he is an actor by nature. As you can imagine, people have accused this of being ethically questionable.

6. Humor Risk

Groucho Marx

The Marx Brothers were pioneers of the comedy genre, and although they are credited with 13 movies , it was their very first film, which none of us ever saw, partly because of how much Groucho Marx himself hated it.

Humor Risk was filmed in 1921 , several years before most of their best-known films were made. It was also quiet, which no doubt took some of the edge off the humor the brothers could or would have liked to provide, and all four of them appear in it. Rumor has it that they even financed it on friends money .

There are two stories to explain why the film is lost and remains unseen. One is that someone accidentally sabotaged the film. The other is that Groucho simply hated it. After a single screening in the Bronx to a child audience who hated it, rumors circulated that Groucho burned the only copy.

5. Uncle Tom's Tales

Richard Pryor remains one of the biggest names in comedy years after his death. His work from the '70s and '80s is still revered, and he is considered a maverick and a genius. But his early career took a while to establish itself, and in 1968, just as he was making a name for himself, he starred in a film called Uncle Tom Tales: A Film for Gays ".

Plot " Uncle Tom's Tales" includes a rich white man kidnapped by Black Panther-type militants, to stand trial for racial crimes throughout U.S. history. Even today, that would push a lot of people's buttons. Who knows how people in 1969 would have taken that?

Pryor himself was believed to have destroyed movie after a disagreement with his wife. She didn't like the time he spent working on the film, so in a rage he tore it apart. The director pieced together about 40 minutes of it, but for years it was assumed that Pryor had taken it and ruined it until 2005, when footage provided by director Penelope Spheeris was shown at an awards ceremony. As a result Pryor's widow sues on Spheeris and Prior's own daughter, Rain.

4. 100 years

To turn the topic around, the film "100 years" was directed by Robert Rodriguez and starred John Malkovich, and no one has seen it because you're not supposed to see it. Not in our lifetime, anyway. The point of 100 years is that it has to wait 100 years before it's released. That means the 2015 movie will hit theaters, if theaters still exist in 2115. It'll probably be streaming.

The film was shown in Cannes in the sense that people could watch the film, but not the film itself. It is kept in a safe with a time lock that opens after a century. The full official title of the film is " 100 Years - A Film You'll Never See" .

The film should be vision of the world in 100 years, so when that safe actually opens, viewers will be able to compare how Malkovich and Rodriguez imagined things and how they actually are.

3. Dau

The stories about Dau read like fiction. In a film shot in Ukraine, the director, seemingly crazy, paid people with Soviet money and made them eat Soviet canned food, even though it was 2006. Unless everyone was working for free because they were all in a cult. Or they were all in prison and it was an experiment. This is from extras and production assistants who quit to avoid this.

Director Ilya Khrzhanovsky could not be called a director. Signs on the set (called the Institute) indicated that he should be called head of the institute or the boss. The institute is built to scale, a massive replica of a Soviet city, where people stay in character 24/7, even when no one is filming. People were fined for going out of character.

The film was to be about Russian physicist Lev Landau. The director demanded that the role be played by a real genius, not an actor. He also demanded real people, not extras, so the film crew processed 210,000 ordinary citizens and dressed and photographed 50 of them daily.

After filming, the director spent at least 6 years editing the film. It was released in 12 parts in Paris in 2019. Only two parts are available for streaming today, although there are plans to show them all at some point.

2. "Batman vs. Dracula" by Andy Warhol

Idea moviesAndy Warhol on Batman , of course, unexpected, but it exists. Unfortunately for fans of the Dark Knight or modern art, Warhol never asked anyone for permission to make his film, and you can't just make a Batman movie.

This mute black and white film , filmed in 1964 , lasted an hour. DC Comics never signed it, and although Warhol showed it in some art shows, it seems to have almost disappeared. Clips can still be found, but the entire film may have been lost.

1. The Day the Clown Cried

Jerry Lewis, known for his comedy films such as " "The Nutty Professor" in the 60s, directed and starred in one of the most infamous "lost" films in 1972. The Day the Clown Cried" is about a clown in a Nazi concentration camp who entertains children even as they enter the gas chambers. It was to be his first dramatic role.

Copies of the film exist, but are generally known to have been shown only in exclusive and rare screenings. Harry Shearer, who saw the film in 1979, called it " "completely wrong." Others reacted in the opposite way, arguing that the film was indeed brilliant and dealt with a terrible subject in a wonderful way.

Lewis himself had long wanted the film to be hidden, but before his death he gave a copy to the Library. Congress with a request not to show it until 2025. So maybe we'll see it one day. Just not yet.