Nonexistent Films (That I Would Like To Have Seen)
by Slaterson420 | created - 16 Jun 2014 | updated - 01 Sep 2014 | PublicThe documentary Jodorowsky's Dune has gotten me thinking about movies that could have been but never were. Whether it be a film that just never got made, lost films, films with lost footage, a film that was meant to be by another director, a sequel that never came around or whatever. Each entry in the list is accompanied by a film that makes sense in association. Some of these are movies I really wish existed. Some of these are probably better left the way they are, but would make for an interesting what if?
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1. Jodorowsky's Dune (2013)
PG-13 | 90 min | Documentary
The story of cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky's ambitious but ultimately doomed film adaptation of the seminal science fiction novel.
Director: Frank Pavich | Stars: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Michel Seydoux, H.R. Giger, Chris Foss
Votes: 27,330 | Gross: $0.65M
Alejandro Jodorowsky's adaptation of Dune.
2. El Topo (1970)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama, Western
A mysterious black-clad gunfighter wanders a mystical Western landscape encountering multiple bizarre characters.
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky | Stars: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Brontis Jodorowsky, José Legarreta, Alfonso Arau
Votes: 31,292 | Gross: $0.04M
Sons of El Topo
3. Gone with the Wind (1939)
Passed | 238 min | Drama, Romance, War
A sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.
Directors: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood | Stars: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil
Votes: 333,187 | Gross: $198.68M
Seorgie Leone's aspired remake of Gone With The Wind.
4. The Godfather (1972)
R | 175 min | Crime, Drama
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton
Votes: 2,003,284 | Gross: $134.97M
Now this movie is undeniably fantastic, but the director first offered the helm wasn't Francis Ford Coppola. It was Sergio Leone. While it would have been interesting to see Sergio Leone's the Godfather, I'm glad we live in a world with Coppola's Godather and Leone's Once Upon a Time in America.
5. The Tiger
Adventure, Drama, Thriller | Pre-production
A Siberian tiger attacks encroaching humans in its habitat. A conservationist game warden confronts the supernaturally powerful tiger in a fight only one can survive.
Director: Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi | Stars: Alexander Skarsgård, Dane DeHaan
Le Tigre, the Jodorowsky's Dune of action movies. It was to be directed by Andrzej Zulawski and starring Dolph Lundgren, it would have been half 80's action classic half arthouse flick.
6. RoboCop (2014)
PG-13 | 117 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
In 2028 Detroit, when Alex Murphy, a loving husband, father and good cop, is critically injured in the line of duty, the multinational conglomerate OmniCorp sees their chance for a part-man, part-robot police officer.
Director: José Padilha | Stars: Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Abbie Cornish
Votes: 239,237 | Gross: $58.61M
RoboCop directed by Darren Arronofsky
7. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
R | 109 min | Action, Sci-Fi
A machine from a post-apocalyptic future travels back in time to protect a man and a woman from an advanced robotic assassin to ensure they both survive a nuclear attack.
Director: Jonathan Mostow | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Kristanna Loken, Claire Danes
Votes: 417,738 | Gross: $150.37M
James Cameron's Terminator 3
8. Total Recall (1990)
R | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
When a man goes in to have virtual vacation memories of the planet Mars implanted in his mind, an unexpected and harrowing series of events forces him to go to the planet for real - or is he?
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Rachel Ticotin
Votes: 353,151 | Gross: $119.39M
I love Paul Verhoven and I absolutely adore this movie. David Cronenberg's interpretation could have been really good.
9. Escape from L.A. (1996)
R | 101 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Snake Plissken is once again called in by the United States government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Steve Buscemi, Stacy Keach, A.J. Langer
Votes: 80,291 | Gross: $25.48M
A real sequel to Escape From New York that isn't a self-satire retread of the first film, as well as the third film in John Carpenter's original planned trilogy.
10. China O'Brien (1990)
R | 86 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A police woman, expert and instructor in martial arts, leaves the city to stay with her dad, sheriff in a town with peace and quiet - or so she thinks. She gets plenty opportunities to show her martial arts skills.
Director: Robert Clouse | Stars: Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton, Keith Cooke, Doug Wright
Votes: 1,408
The Executioner. A cop movie that was to star Sylvester Stallone Cynthia Rothrock as his partner, to be directed by William Friedkin, produced by Joel Silver and written by Edward Neumeir and Michael Miner.
Hollywood needs more female action heroes.
11. A Better Tomorrow II (1987)
Not Rated | 105 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A restauranteur teams up with a police officer and his ex-con brother to avenge the death of a friend's daughter.
Director: John Woo | Stars: Leslie Cheung, Chow Yun-Fat, Lung Ti, Dean Shek
Votes: 11,267
The version of a Better Tomorrow II John Woo originally intended.
12. Furious 7 (2015)
PG-13 | 137 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Deckard Shaw seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto and his family for his comatose brother.
Director: James Wan | Stars: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham
Votes: 413,722 | Gross: $353.01M
I do like the F&F franchise. They can be quite a bit of fun, and especially how they revitalized the Fast and Furious name with Five and Six. I was really looking forward to the insane action nonsense of Seven, until the tragic news of Paul Walker's death. The film is destined to be just an awkward little mess.
RIP
13. True Romance (1993)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
In Detroit, a pop culture nerd steals cocaine from his new wife's pimp and tries to sell it in Hollywood, prompting the mobsters who own the drugs to pursue the couple.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer
Votes: 241,735 | Gross: $12.28M
Tony Scott was interested in directing Reservoir Dogs, but Tarantino needed that because he could work in that budget, so he gave Scott True Romance. I would like to have seen True Romance as directed by Tarantino, and Reservoir Dogs directed by Scott would have been interesting too.
14. Freaks (1932)
Not Rated | 64 min | Drama, Horror
A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
Director: Tod Browning | Stars: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates
Votes: 50,417 | Gross: $0.63M
The uncut version of Tod Browning's Freaks.
15. London After Midnight (1927)
Passed | 69 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
The abandoned home of a wealthy man who supposedly committed suicide five years earlier is taken over by ghoulish figures - could they be vampires?
Director: Tod Browning | Stars: Lon Chaney, Marceline Day, Henry B. Walthall, Percy Williams
Votes: 1,461 | Gross: $0.52M
Tod Browning's lost London After Midnight.
16. 4 Devils (1928)
Passed | 100 min | Drama
Four orphans, raised by an aging clown, becomes a high wire act in a circus.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Janet Gaynor, Mary Duncan, Charles Morton, Barry Norton
F. W. Murnau's lost 4 Devils
17.
The Walking Dead (2010–2022)
Episode:
Days Gone Bye
(2010)
TV-14 | 67 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Deputy Sheriff Rick Grimes awakens from a coma, and searches for his family in a world ravaged by the undead.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden
Votes: 29,665
While all in all I'm kinda glad he ended up turning the gig, because the show itself is at best a mediocre zombie soap opera and I'd rather he'd make another Dead movie, George Romero was offered to direct the pilot of the Walking Dead. That could have been interesting. Maybe even awesome.
In fact, kinda wish this show lived up to it's potential. It has great source material, great talent backing it up and it's on a great network.
18. Resident Evil (2002)
R | 100 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
A special military unit fights a powerful, out-of-control supercomputer and hundreds of scientists who have mutated into flesh-eating creatures after a laboratory accident.
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson | Stars: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Ryan McCluskey, Oscar Pearce
Votes: 287,390 | Gross: $40.12M
Again, rather he'd do another Dead movie, but Resident Evil written and directed by George Romero would also have been an interesting viewing.
19. Martin (1977)
R | 95 min | Drama, Horror
A young man, who believes himself to be a vampire, goes to live with his elderly and hostile cousin in a Pennsylvania small town where he tries to redeem his blood-craving urges.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: John Amplas, Lincoln Maazel, Christine Forrest, Elyane Nadeau
Votes: 12,542 | Gross: $0.10M
The lost 2 hour and 45 minute cut of George Romero's Martin.
20. The Wax Mask (1997)
Unrated | 98 min | Horror
In 1900 Paris, a couple are horribly murdered by a masked man whose metal claw rips out their hearts. The sole survivor and witness to the massacre is a young girl. 12 years later in Rome, ... See full summary »
Director: Sergio Stivaletti | Stars: Robert Hossein, Romina Mondello, Riccardo Serventi Longhi, Gabriella Giorgelli
Votes: 2,456
The Wax Mask by it's original intended director, Lucio Fulci.
21. Evil Dead (2013)
R | 91 min | Horror
Five friends head to a remote cabin, where the discovery of a Book of the Dead leads them to unwittingly summon up demons living in the nearby woods.
Director: Fede Alvarez | Stars: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Jessica Lucas, Lou Taylor Pucci
Votes: 196,630 | Gross: $54.24M
The Evil Dead remake directed by Chan-Wook Park
22. Psycho (1960)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Votes: 715,934 | Gross: $32.00M
Whatever film Hitchcock wanted to shoot a scene at Disneyworld in. Walt Disney refused to let him do that because Hitchcock "made that disgusting film Psycho".
23. Poltergeist (1982)
PG | 114 min | Horror, Thriller
A family's home is haunted by a host of demonic ghosts.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke, Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight
Votes: 178,945 | Gross: $76.61M
Did you know Poltergeist and E.T. were supposed to be the same movie originally? Isn't that crazy!?
24. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
PG-13 | 146 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor, Sam Robards
Votes: 322,292 | Gross: $78.62M
Stanley Kubrick's A.I. Artificial Intelligence
25. Schindler's List (1993)
R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall
Votes: 1,444,610 | Gross: $96.90M
The Aryan Papers, Stanley Kubrick's Holocaust movie he decided not to make after the release of Schindler's List.
26. Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (1980)
PG | 115 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
Superman agrees to sacrifice his powers to start a relationship with Lois Lane, unaware that three Kryptonian criminals he inadvertently released are conquering Earth.
Directors: Richard Donner, Richard Lester | Stars: Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Ned Beatty
Votes: 18,993
Superman II completely directed by Richard Donner.
27. Superman Returns (2006)
PG-13 | 154 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Superman returns to Earth after spending five years in space examining his homeworld Krypton. But he finds things have changed while he was gone, and he must once again prove himself important to the world.
Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, James Marsden
Votes: 290,994 | Gross: $200.08M
Superman Lives written by Kevin Smith.
28. Man of Steel (2013)
PG-13 | 143 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
An alien child is evacuated from his dying world and sent to Earth to live among humans. His peace is threatened when other survivors of his home planet invade Earth.
Director: Zack Snyder | Stars: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane
Votes: 810,030 | Gross: $291.05M
Superman Lives written by Kevin Smith (and maybe with all the crazy crap Jon Peters wanted).
29. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
PG-13 | 164 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
Eight years after the Joker's reign of chaos, Batman is coerced out of exile with the assistance of the mysterious Selina Kyle in order to defend Gotham City from the vicious guerrilla terrorist Bane.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman
Votes: 1,820,254 | Gross: $448.14M
This movie sucks! I wish Nolan was able to do his original idea for the third Batman movie with Heath Ledger returning as the Joker.
30. Justice League (2017)
PG-13 | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman's selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his new-found ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy.
Director: Zack Snyder | Stars: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller
Votes: 477,582 | Gross: $229.02M
Justice League that was going to be directed by George Miller until the writer's strike happened.
31. Ant-Man (2015)
PG-13 | 117 min | Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Armed with a super-suit with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, cat burglar Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, pull off a plan that will save the world.
Director: Peyton Reed | Stars: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, Evangeline Lilly
Votes: 719,668 | Gross: $180.20M
I'm really disappointed Edgar Wright won't be doing this one.
32. Danger: Diabolik (1968)
Not Rated | 105 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A master thief and his sensual lover pull off heist after heist, all while an envious coalition of cops and gangsters is gunning for them.
Director: Mario Bava | Stars: John Phillip Law, Marisa Mell, Michel Piccoli, Adolfo Celi
Votes: 7,173
Mario Bava leaves the movie open ended for a sequel, and then decides not to make one. Why?
33. Rabid Dogs (1974)
Not Rated | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
Following a bungled robbery, three violent criminals take a young woman, a middle-aged man, and a child hostage and force them to drive them outside Rome to help them make a clean escape.
Director: Mario Bava | Stars: Lea Lander, George Eastman, Riccardo Cucciolla, Don Backy
Votes: 5,244
A version of Rabid Dogs completed by Mario Bava.
34. Akira (1988)
R | 124 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who can only be stopped by a teenager, his gang of biker friends and a group of psychics.
Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo | Stars: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshô Genda
Votes: 204,268 | Gross: $0.55M
Adaptations of the other volumes of the manga
35. Oldboy (2013)
R | 104 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
Obsessed with vengeance, a man sets out to find out why he was kidnapped and locked into solitary confinement for twenty years without reason.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson, Sharlto Copley
Votes: 80,556 | Gross: $2.19M
The original Oldboy was technically based off of a manga, although it's different enough from it to be its own work. While Spike Lee's remake of Oldboy ended up being a remake of the South Korean film, originally it was intended to be a more faithful adaptation of the manga directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Will Smith.
36. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
PG | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
After rescuing Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the Rebels attempt to destroy the second Death Star, while Luke struggles to help Darth Vader back from the dark side.
Director: Richard Marquand | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams
Votes: 1,117,691 | Gross: $309.13M
I love Ewoks. I have no problems with Return of the Jedi. But I would have been interested in seeing what it would have been like if Steven Spielberg, David Lynch or David Cronenberg had taken the offer to direct.
37. Pompeii (I) (2014)
PG-13 | 105 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A slave-turned-gladiator finds himself in a race against time to save his true love, who has been betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts, he must fight to save his beloved as Pompeii crumbles around him.
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson | Stars: Kit Harington, Emily Browning, Kiefer Sutherland, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Votes: 116,353 | Gross: $23.22M
A Pompeii film with special effects by Ray Harryhausen
38. Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
G | 104 min | Action, Adventure, Family
The legendary Greek hero leads a team of intrepid adventurers in a perilous quest for the legendary Golden Fleece.
Director: Don Chaffey | Stars: Todd Armstrong, Nancy Kovack, Gary Raymond, Laurence Naismith
Votes: 30,866 | Gross: $4.58M
Jason's voyage home
39. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
PG-13 | 169 min | Adventure, Fantasy
A reluctant Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, sets out to the Lonely Mountain with a spirited group of dwarves to reclaim their mountain home, and the gold within it from the dragon Smaug.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Andy Serkis
Votes: 870,463 | Gross: $303.00M
Just one Hobbit movie, directed by Guillermo del Toro
40. The Lord of the Rings (1978)
PG | 132 min | Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
The Fellowship of the Ring embark on a journey to destroy the One Ring and end Sauron's reign over Middle-earth.
Director: Ralph Bakshi | Stars: Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, John Hurt
Votes: 35,764 | Gross: $0.92M
Ralph Bakshi's Return of the King
41. Cool World (1992)
PG-13 | 102 min | Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
When Jack Deebs was behind bars he found escape by creating Cool World, a cartoon series featuring a vixen named Holli Would. The flesh proves weaker than ink, however, as Holli takes human form in Las Vegas.
Director: Ralph Bakshi | Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Kim Basinger, Janni Brenn, Brad Pitt
Votes: 24,876 | Gross: $14.11M
Ralph Bakshi's original vision of Cool World that Kim Bassinger squandered,
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