MOVIES THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN OFFICIALLY RELEASED (OR LOST)
These are films that have either completed production.... only to be shelved.... or have started production and have been put on hiatus. Some of the films listed have made the rounds at various festivals.... while others were shown back in the silent film era.... but haven't been seen since.
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- DirectorOley SassoneStarsAlex Hyde-WhiteJay UnderwoodRebecca StaabWhen dosed with cosmic rays, four intrepid explorers are given incredible powers.German production company Neue Constantin bought the rights for The Fantastic Four for about $250,000 in 1983 and then sat on them until 1992. Faced with the expiration of the agreement and needing to actually make a film in order to retain their rights.... they slapped together a hasty.... low-budget product in under a month. It's debatable whether or not they actually intended to release the movie at all.... or simply shot the film in order to retain the rights.
- DirectorSteve BinderDavid AcombaStarsMickey MortonPatty MaloneyPaul GaleChewbacca and Han Solo try to get to the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk to celebrate Life Day, but are impeded by an Imperial blockade. Chewie's family passes the time with various forms of entertainment.This is a 1978 American CBS special that originally aired on November 17, 1978. It has never been re-broadcast.... or released on any format for rent or sale. However.... the animated Boba Fett cartoon from the special can be viewed separately on Disney's streaming service.
- DirectorRD RobbStarsScott BloomKevin ConnollyTobey MaguireA group of Los Angeles teenagers meet every week at their local diner to discuss their latest misadventures in their miserable lives.As a result of a lawsuit brought by stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire (settled in 1999).... this film cannot be shown commercially in the USA or Canada.
- DirectorGeorge SluizerStarsRiver PhoenixJudy DavisJonathan PryceDealing with nuclear testing and its deadly effects, the story portrays Boy, a young widower living in the desert on a nuclear testing site. Living as a hermit, he waits for the end of the world.The film is unfinished due to the death of actor River Phoenix on October 31, 1993.... 11 days before the scheduled completion date. Only a few scenes from Dark Blood were left un-filmed at the time of River Phoenix's death, and although director George Sluizer managed to cobble together a final cut after years of effort.... it's never seen release outside of a few film festivals.
- DirectorRobert TownsendStarsBill CosbyThis short film documents all that happened at comedian Bill Cosby's 77th birthday.Standup comedy special that was shelved by Netflix due to Bill Cosby's ongoing scandal.
- DirectorJerry LewisStarsJerry LewisPeter AhlmLars AmbleA circus clown is imprisoned by the Nazis and goes with Jewish children to their deaths.This is an unfinished and unreleased 1972 Swedish-French drama film directed by and starring Jerry Lewis. It is based on an original screenplay by Joan O'Brien and Charles Denton....from a story idea by O'Brien....with additional material from Lewis. The film was met with controversy regarding its premise and content....which features a circus clown who is imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp.
Lewis repeatedly insisted that the film would never be released....but later donated an incomplete copy of the film to the Library of Congress in 2015 under the stipulation that it was not to be screened before June 2024. According to Lewis' son....there is no complete negative of the film....and outstanding copyright issues have prevented its release. - DirectorMark TarlovStarsZoe SaldanaAdam PascalMichael CerverisBe careful what you wish for...you may just get it.The film was shown at the New York Musical Festival in 2004....but never received a theatrical or video release.
- DirectorTom GreenStarsRob PowellFederico DordeiTom GreenTwo student filmmakers decide to follow Tom Green on a trip across the USA to Canada but get more than they bargained for.In 2006.... Elixir Films was producing PRANKSTAR and had additional information of the film on their website. The film was shot in Ottawa.... Ontario.... Regina.... Saskatchewan.... and Los Angeles [California].
Little is known about the release of this film but on a February 2010 interview.... the star and director of the movie Tom Green stated that Prankstar has just been finished.... that the release has been "in the can" and that he is going to figure out what to do with the film soon as he is currently on his world stand-up comedy tour. On February 17, 2010....on Green's website TomGreen.com....in reply to a fan question asking when PRANKSTAR would be released.... Green wrote ---- "Stay tuned! It's the craziest movie I have ever made!!"
On a March 19, 2010 interview with 105.7: The Point St. Louis radio.... Green said that PRANKSTAR should be coming out later in 2010. On a November 2010 answer to a fan question in the Forum section of tomgreen.com.... Green stated that the film was going to be released sometime in 2011 as he has "just made a deal with a big time distributor so it's gonna be cool." - DirectorRoger AvaryStarsAngela GregovicWill HodgkinsonCorina MarinescuOver 70 hours of supplemental material was shot for the film THE RULES OF ATTRACTION that focused on Kip Pardue's character over in Europe. This material was then edited into an entirely new film.
- DirectorMars CallahanScott SpiegelStarsAlan RitchsonLee MajorsJoe PantolianoThe Z-Rows, four friends who are bullied by their graduating high school class find revenge against the now freshman college students while on Spring Break during 1983.The production was shut down due to the fact that the production company wasn't paying anyone. Even after the plug was pulled, additional filming went forward a few months later and director Mars Callahan told followers his cut had been completed. Big Sky Pictures' website hosted dozens of production photos and even a preview of the beginning of the film, but to date, the completed production is stuck in limbo.
- StarsCillian MurphySienna MillerTom Goodman-HillAn account of counterculturalist Richard Neville's misadventures in London at the end of the 1960s.Shelved for undisclosed reasons. According to the production company behind it....the movie will never see the light of day.
- DirectorTom SchillerStarsZach GalliganApollonia van RavensteinLauren TomAn artist fails a test and is required to direct traffic in New York City's Holland Tunnel. He winds up falling in love with a beautiful woman, after he takes a trip to the moon on a Lunar Cruiser.Because of unknown legal issues....the film never made it to either the big screen or home release, though it's appeared on German and Dutch TV....and a single unceremonious airing on Turner Classic Movies. It is said that you can watch the movie online however.
- DirectorMichael FrenchJonathan LawrenceScott MillerStarsOlga KurylenkoMi YangDavy WilliamsSet in a mythical world, the story of an unlikely love story between a young human and a mermaid.In December 2014 the movie was announced as complete and due for release in China in December 2015 after almost 5 years of post-production.... mostly coming from the visual effects.... which had increased the budget to well over $140 million. The film remains unreleased.... going through 4 directors.... 10 scriptwriters.... and with many of the actors and production and technical crews still unpaid.
- DirectorGil JungerStarsElodie YungBilly CampbellJanet MontgomeryTwo teens unexpectedly fall in love, just before they are about to kill themselves.After just a few weeks of filming.... the production company ran into financial issues. Many claimed that Evan Rachel Wood's pregnancy was the reason for the delay in filming. A lawsuit was eventually filed against Wood.... citing she had been paid but didn't show up to set or want to complete the film. Wood was having none of it.... and fought back claiming the "financially troubled producers" were trying to place the blame on her for them running out of money. Nothing ever came of the lawsuit.... and though filming was never completed.... about 90 minutes of the original film exists.
- DirectorMarc TurtletaubStarsChristopher WalkenEbon Moss-BachrachAlicia SilverstoneGreek gods living in modern-day New York intervene in the lives of a young couple.The film premiered at the 10th Rome International Film Festival in Nov. 2013 (out of competition) and was critically panned. Since then the film hasn't been released in any form. Only some film stills and reviews can be found on the internet.
- DirectorCharles BandStarsBarbara CramptonJeffrey CombsDavid WarnerIn this 'sequel' anthology, the film offers a TRANCERS sequel written by original creators Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo, a new Lovecraft adaptation THE EVIL CLERGYMAN, featuring Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton, and finally a sequel to THE DUNGEONMASTER.Originally shot during 1987/88, the film was unfortunately caught up in the financial wranglings that followed the collapse of Empire Pictures. The movie has been shelved since that time, although it was screened once on August 11, 2012.... at Chicago Flashback Weekend Horror Convention. The film features three 30-minute segments, two of which (The Evil Clergyman and Trancers: City of Lost Angels) can be purchased separately on DVD. The last segment.... a sequel to Dungeonmaster is currently unavailable.
- DirectorTony KayeStarsKarl UrbanLeslie EasterbrookAisha TylerStory follows the divergent agendas of criminals, cops and lawyers as they collide over a shipment of illegal firearms and a double homicide. Earl Pike, a criminal, tries to get his family's illegal gun collection to a safe haven.The movie was reported to have screened at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. However.... a seemingly never-ending stream of litigation has kept this film on hold.
- DirectorJohnny DeppStarsJohnny DeppMarlon BrandoMarshall BellA down-on-his-luck American Indian recently released from jail is offered the chance to "star" as the victim of a snuff film, the resulting pay of which could greatly help his poverty-stricken family.After negative reviews.... director Johnny Depp forbade the film to have any kind of release in the U.S.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsCraig HamannQuentin TarantinoCrystal Shaw MartellIt's Mickey's Birthday and his girlfriend just left him, so that's when his friend Clarence shows him a birthday he'll never forget.The original cut of the film was approximately 70 minutes.... however due to a fire in the processing lab.... roughly half of the footage was destroyed. The surviving film was re-cut into a 36-minute short film which has been screened at film festivals.... but has never been made available commercially.
- DirectorMatthew PatrickStarsCarmen J BonefontJuan B. ColonDaniel Earnshaw2 strangers, a man and a woman are trapped together underground when the building collapses around them, and are forced to create a new world.This American-made Spanish language film received awesome reviews upon its initial screenings on the film fest circuit in 1980. Then…. nothing. The movie was never able to lock a distribution deal.... and almost 40 years later, it has never been released in the states.
- DirectorPaulus MankerStarsGert VossAngela WinklerLeni TanzerA seemingly contented man's descent into hallucination, paranoia and, finally, total insanity.This movie was written by Michael Haneke who would go on to make FUNNY GAMES and CACHE. An Austrian scientist learns of a toxic gas leak at a nearby chemical plant and becomes convinced the toxic fumes are permeating the air. He sets up a completely self-sufficient ecosystem in his apartment....sealing himself off from the outside world. Eventually, his wife and kids return home from a trip, but then it becomes hard to tell what is real and what is just in the scientist’s degraded mind. The final moments of this movie are intense and will stick with you! Though it is available in Europe (even playing on some overseas HULUs)....it has never been released stateside.
- DirectorKye Soo JeonStarsKim KkobbiChun Ho-jinPark Joon-myeonA musical horror film that will make you like musicals! A young girl tries to solve the mystery of her grandmother's disappearance in a haunted theater.This horror musical falls right in line with the likes of ROCKY HORROR or REPO THE GENETIC OPERA, but yet it has never been released in the United States. The musical weaves a fairy tale style adventure of a teenage girl who takes a job at a local rundown movie palace after her grandmother disappears there one evening. She soon discovers the theater is haunted with many ghosts from film history.
- DirectorPedro OleaStarsJosé Luis López VázquezAmparo Soler LealAntonio CasasBenito Freire is a peddler who lives miserably in an environment dominated by ignorance and superstition. He is dedicated to peddling by the Galician towns and suffers severe attacks of epilepsy. Through the region begins to spread the rumor that he is a werewolf and that he is possessed by a demonic spirit. And it will be precisely the stories that people are telling about him what start to make him go crazy.This Spanish film is a refreshing and innovative take on the werewolf myth. It treats the werewolf-ism like a disease that is passed from person to person, but it is presented against a small Spanish town that can only see it as a supernatural curse. Think like MARTIN but with a werewolf.
- DirectorRobert EnricoStarsRoger JacquetAnne CornalyStéphane FeyThis Civil War anthology adapts three Ambrose Bierce stories "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", "Chickamauga" and "The Mockingbird".Released at the height of New Wave cinema in France, and this quiet, moody anthology war horror became rather disregarded. It was later cut up into segments, and one of those segments was released as a solo short and won an academy award and was also released as a TWILIGHT ZONE episode.
- DirectorPenelope SpheerisStarsRichard PryorFranklyn AjayeWhile it's unclear what the film was about, it is believed that it followed a group of Black Panthers who kidnap a wealthy white man and put him on trial for all the racial crimes in American history.Pryor shredded the only working print of the *almost* completed movie during the argument just to spite his wife. The film was considered lost for more than 30 years, until clips showed up in a Directors Guild of America tribute to Pryor in 2005. In seems that Uncle Tom's Fairy Tales director Penelope Spheeris (who later directed Wayne's World) had another print, but a lawsuit has kept it from becoming public.