It would seem nowadays that a day doesn’t go by without there being news of a popular movie getting itself a sequel, prequel, reboot, or ‘reimagining.’ It’s become par for the course – sequels mean business, and it seems Hollywood will do whatever it takes to keep a franchise running.
At least, that’s how it generally goes. Sometimes, getting those sequels/prequels/whatever off the ground takes longer than usual; other times, they don’t happen at all. For various reasons, some of Hollywood’s great sequel ideas never even make it to the big screen, and it’s been the case throughout cinema history that some of the very best sequels never even got to shooting.
Oftentimes, it’s down to financial reasons – the last film didn’t make enough money, or the proposed new one costs too much and needs to be scaled down, or worse, scrapped altogether. Occasionally, sequels just don’t go ahead almost because the idea is too awesome, because the people responsible can’t even begin to comprehend how to put what’s on the page onto the screen.
On that note, here are eight proposed and subsequently cancelled sequels that were never meant for this world.