The American film industry releases many movies each year, across a wide variety of genres. However, there are even more films that are conceptualized, sometimes even shot in their entirety, or go into production, when they are suddenly canceled or shelved for various reasons.
Whether due to beef with the director or a string of commercial flops suffered by the production house, many much-anticipated films, often with very big names attached to them, have been denied their moment in the sun through the decades. Let us look at a few such action movies that were canceled or shelved despite being in the pipeline for years.
Napolean
Fans of 2001: A Space Odyssey would be devastated to know that Stanley Kubrick had planned yet another movie of epic proportions that never came to fruition. A historical action drama on the life of Napoleon Bonaparte had presumably been in the works, but failed to materialize.
The drama turned out to be extraordinarily expensive, but more importantly, it was the release of two other epic dramas, War and Peace and Waterloo, by Soviet director Sergei Bondrachuk, that finally sealed Napoleon's fate. The film was deemed too much like Bondarchuk's historical dramas and hence shelved.
Halo
Microsoft's flagship video game Halo was said to be on its way to become a live-action movie, to be produced by none other than Peter Jackson.
However, unfortunately, like so many other movies that fall prey to the same issues, Microsoft could not reach a creative understanding with Fox and Universal, and after passing through various prospective directors, the project was canceled altogether, basically due to corporate misunderstandings and the need for one-upmanship.
Superman Lives
Fresh off the success of the Batman movies, director Tim Burton was ready to cast Nicholas Cage in an adaptation of DC's Superman.
But the much-anticipated film never happened, and production was canceled just before shooting was set to begin. Apparently, Warner Brothers was going through a rough patch at the time and one of the films to land on the chopping block was the action drama, Superman Lives.
The Fantastic Four
Another superhero action drama was the 1994 film The Fantastic Four, which was to be directed by Chris Columbus. Although the film got made later, with the Fantastic Four franchise, starring Chris Evans and Jessica Alba, originally the film was to be a single project made within the meager budget of one million dollars.
Unfortunately, before the film could go into production, a German production company called Neue Constantin Film bought the distribution rights, with a budget of over $60 million. This development forced the already planned low budget movie to be shelved.
Gladiator 2
The critically acclaimed historical action-drama that won actor Russell Crowe an Academy Award for his soulful performance as the Roman general Maximus was all set for a sequel. The first draft of the script written by Nick Cave saw Maximus being brought back from the dead to kill a God.
However, it was rumored that the actor rejected the script by simply stating he didn't like it, after having recommended the writer himself. Apparently, a script for Gladiator 2 is currently in the works, but it's a fresh one altogether.
Blood Meridian
Based on Cormac McCarthy's novel, this is a violent tale of a young man who ends up with a psychopathic gang of scalp hunters. The film was to be directed by celebrated filmmaker, Ridley Scott.
The film was ultimately canceled due to the unsettling storyline and severe degree of violence that it was bound to involve, although this might seem strange, given that violence can always be regulated and censored. Later still, the film was said to have been developed with Russell Crowe and James Franco in mind, but once again there were, curiously, copyright issues with the adaptation of the novel.
Indiana Jones And The Monkey King
The iconic Indiana Jones franchise, starring the dashing Harrison Ford, was to have another movie in the series that had already been scripted and named Indiana Jones And The Monkey King.
Written by Chris Columbus and George Lucas, the film was meant to have Indiana hunt for a fruit of eternal life by fighting an army of monkey soldiers. However, director Steven Speilberg wasn't impressed by the supernatural elements of the script and instead made Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.
Crusade
An epic action drama that would have seen Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger get together, Crusade told the tale of Christian atrocities in the Middle East.
The production was set for 100 million dollars, but concerns were raised about whether or not the film would exceed its given budget. This was probably a legitimate concern of producers, but it seems that Verhoeven, strangely enough, got rather aggressive with the producers, stating that he couldn't give any guarantees. The film was consequently canceled.
The Vega Brothers
Quentin Tarantino's films, whether made or unmade, often have very curious trivia attached to them. For those who remember, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, both cult classics directed by Tarantino, had lead protagonists with the surname Vega. In the former, Michael Madsen's Mr. Blonde was called Vic Vega, while John Travolta's character in the latter was named Vincent Vega.
It turns out that Tarantino had planned to do a spin-off movie, just for these two characters, named The Vega Brothers. The director even knew the premise in which he would have placed the brothers - apparently, they were to be weekending in Amsterdam. However, it is believed that after much delay, the project never materialized because both actors had become way too old to pull off the characters they had once immortalized. Had the movie been made though, it would probably have been epic.
Kill Bill 3
Quentin Tarantino has more than one film in the pipeline that is yet to see the light of day. The sequel to his cult classics Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 is yet another much-anticipated film from the filmmaker.
Tarantino aficionados might be disappointed to know that the film never happened, due to a rift between the director and actress Uma Thurman, who played the Bride in this violent visual masterpiece, and for some very bizarre reasons. Thurman accused Tarantino of having lied to her during a scene that led to a car crash on set, wounding her severely. The director apparently also spat on her and choked her with a chain to "explain a scene." If true, these were reasons enough for Thurman to move away from any future projects with the director. However, recently, there have been rumors that Tarantino might go with Kill Bill 3, after all, for the last of his 10 films.