Getting a film through production, post and released is no small feat. Multiple high-profile films remain stuck in limbo. We even broke news about one of them this year. That got us thinking about buzzy projects down the years that were made but still haven’t seen the light of day.
Check out our piece below on 18 such projects, all starry features that were largely shot, but sadly haven’t had a release for one reason or another.
A Woman of the Sea
A Woman of the Sea, also known by its working title Sea Gulls, is the unreleased silent film produced in 1926 by Charlie Chaplin. The love story set against the sea was a starring vehicle for his former leading lady Edna Purviance. But it is one of only two lost Chaplin films, having been destroyed by Chaplin himself as a tax write-off, despite six months of filming and an estimated $90,000 spent on production. Filmmaker John Grierson, who reportedly saw some of the film before the negatives were burned, called it “extraordinarily beautiful — but empty.”
The Deep
Orson Welles worked on this film from 1966-1969 and still harbored hopes it might be completed in the years after that. The drama was to follow a couple’s honeymoon trip aboard a yacht. The production was plagued by financial and technical problems and as work on the film became more sporadic and difficult, Welles is said to have become increasingly withdrawn. The original negative was lost and the film only exists in two work prints. Despite its challenges, lead Jeanne Moreau was among those to look back on the production as “a fantastic experience,” adding that “the only disastrous thing was that later on, the film disappeared.” Another lead actor in the film, Laurence Harvey, died in 1973, effectively ending hopes the project could film its last remaining scenes.
The Day The Clown Cried
Jerry Lewis in ‘The Day the Clown Cried’
Everett Collection
This 1972 Swedish-French drama, directed by and starring Jerry Lewis, was about a circus clown imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. The film has gained notoriety and mystique over the decades both for its controversial premise and because it never saw the light of day. Lewis repeatedly insisted the film would never be released, but later donated an incomplete copy to the Library of Congress in 2015 under orders that it wasn’t to be made available until 2024. A journalist screened the five-hour footage that year but said that the film wasn’t complete. It later emerged that a complete copy had existed but was stolen by an actor in the film.
Big Bug Man
This unreleased American animated TV film starred Brendan Fraser and Marlon Brando, marking the latter’s last film role. It followed a candy company worker who gains special abilities after being bitten by insects. The hand-drawn film is reported to have cost as much as $20 million. Pic was written by Bob Bendetson, who also wrote episodes of The Simpsons, and was directed Bendetson and Peter Shin. Brando was originally asked to voice a male character, but Brando thought it would be fun to voice the old lady Mrs. Sour instead. Brando reportedly wore a blonde wig, a dress, white gloves, and full makeup while recording the voice. An unwell Brando died shortly after recording his part in the film. It was originally scheduled for release between 2006 and 2008, but never got a release.
Hippie Hippie Shake
Hippie Hippie Shake is an unreleased UK drama from Working Title chronicling the release of an Australian satirical magazine in 1960s London and the staff’s trial for distributing an obscene issue. Cillian Murphy and Sienna Miller starred in the film, which was repeatedly delayed. In 2007 the film finally began shooting, but by 2009 creative differences led to director Beeban Kidron quitting during post. By 2011, Working Title admitted the film wouldn’t be released.
Black Water Transit
Black Water Transit is an unreleased 2009 American crime-drama directed by Tony Kaye of American History X fame. Laurence Fishburne and Karl Urban are among cast of the film set in post-Katrina New Orleans, where a shipping exec finds himself getting more than he bargained for after agreeing to help feds expose a smuggler. The film got bogged down in various complex lawsuits over many years. Along the way, exec producer David Bergstein went to prison for a separate fraud charge.
The Magic 7
The Magic 7 is an animated TV film written and directed by Roger Holzberg. The film centers on the adventures of two children and a dragon as they fight the arch-enemies of Earth. The stellar voice cast included John Candy, Michael J Fox, Ted Danson, Ice-T, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore and James Earl Jones. It was slated to air on Earth Day, April 22, 1997, but was postponed. After later plans for a 2005 release, the film was again suspended.
Gore
Based on Jay Parini’s biography of Gore Vidal, the 2017-shot film was in post-production when Netflix decided to cancel it following the sexual assault allegations against Kevin Spacey. It would have been an early prestige Netflix original and came on the heels of the streamer’s hit collaboration with Oscar winner Spacey on House of Cards. But the film was killed in post. There’s speculation online that the largely finished film privately screened for one or two top-ranking Netflix executives at the time.
Leslie Grace as Batgirl
Warner Bros Discovery
The DC Comics adaptation is possibly the highest-profile instance of an unreleased movie. Directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the film starred Leslie Grace as Batgirl alongside JK Simmons, Jacob Scipio, Brendan Fraser, Michael Keaton and Ivory Aquino. Joss Whedon was originally attached to write and direct but left a year into work on the movie. El Arbi and Fallah were hired to direct in 2021 when the film was confirmed as an HBO Max original. In summer 2022, DC Films and WBD announced that, while the film had entered post-production, the studio no longer planned to release it as scheduled due to the company’s cost-cutting measures and a refocus on theatrical releases. The shelving of a nearly complete, $90 million film for tax write-off purposes drew widespread condemnation, but it wasn’t the last time a studio pulled such a move.
Scoob 2
This HBO Max mystery-comedy, scheduled for release in 2022, was a prequel to the studio’s 2020 film Scoob!, both based on the Scooby-Doo franchise. Mark Hamill, McKenna Grace and Maya Hawke were among cast but WBD shelved the film citing cost-cutting measures and an intent to refocus on theatrical films over projects made for streaming.
Newborn/Solitary
This Nate Parker drama, shot back in 2020, follows a man who is released into a newly self-isolating society after years of solitary confinement. David Oyelowo is in the lead role and support comes from Barry Pepper, Olivia Washington and Jimmie Fails. Parker’s career hit major turbulence some years before this movie was shot and the film’s financier Bron has subsequently gone under, making a release even harder. We hear from sources that there may still be hope of a release for this one, however. Watch this space.
The Way of the Wind
‘The Way of the Wind’
Few films have been shrouded in more mystery over the years than Terrence Malick‘s The Way of the Wind, a perennial entrant on our list of movies that could appear at major festivals. Malick drew a typically stacked cast for his retelling of Jesus’ life including Mark Rylance, Matthias Schoenaerts, Aidan Turner, Ben Kingsley, Joseph Fiennes, Tawfeek Barhom, Matthieu Kassovitz and Douglas Booth. Rylance is said to play Satan and some in the cast play Saints. The film is understood to have shot in 2019. Kassovitz told French media that Malick filmed an average of five hours per day, leading to 3,000 hours of footage by the end of filming. As of 2025, Malick is reportedly still editing, so there’s hope we may still see this one.
As we revealed, the conspiracy thriller directed by Mark Pellington and starring Bryan Cranston, Lily Gladstone, Jennifer Ehle and others, shot early this year but came to an abrupt halt when the money ran out and cast and crew stopped being paid. Cranston told us he wouldn’t return to set until the crew got their money, but so far, the project remains in limbo.
Kung Fury 2
This martial arts comedy sequel, directed by David Sandberg, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Tyler Burton Smith, features a starry cast of Sandberg, Michael Fassbender, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Alexandra Shipp, Jorma Tacone and David Hasselhoff. Filming took place in 2019 but wok on post stopped in late 2020 due to a lawsuit with investors, and the film’s release was indefinitely delayed. As of December 2025, the film remains incomplete, with legal issues still ongoing.
All Starr Weekend
This all-star sports comedy-drama, written and directed by Jamie Foxx, marked his directorial debut. Foxx also acted in the film with Jeremy Piven, Eva Longoria, Robert Downey Jr, Ken Jeong, Gerard Butler, Benicio Del Toro, Jessica Szohr and others. The premise is said to be about two truck drivers who get tickets to see their favorite players in the NBA All-Star Game. After many twists and turns, the guys find themselves and their NBA heroes in a precarious life-or-death situation. Filming began in 2016. Foxx previously said he would portray a “white, racist cop” and “managed to convince Robert Downey Jr. to play a Mexican” in the film. The project was originally scheduled for release in 2018 but was delayed multiple times. By 2022, it was shelved.
The Long Home
James Franco directed and stars in this indie drama alongside Josh Hutcherson, Tim Blake Nelson, Courtney Love, Ashton Kutcher, Josh Hartnett and Giancarlo Esposito. Filming began in May 2015 and the film went through post, but after an actress on the film accused Franco of inappropriate sexual behavior it has never been released.
The Mothership
Halle Berry in ‘The Mothership’
YouTube screenshot
The Mothership, another unreleased Netflix project, is a sci-fi starring Halle Berry, Molly Parker and Omari Hardwick. The synopsis for Matt Charman’s directorial debut reads: “One year after her husband mysteriously vanishes from their rural farm, single mother Sara Morse and her children discover a strange, extraterrestrial object underneath their home, which leads them to embark on a race to find their husband and father.” Filming wrapped in 2021, but by 2024 Netflix announced it no longer planned to release the film due to the lengthy post-production and said it was never completed. Netflix content chief Bela Bajaria would later say of the film’s canceled release: “Everybody just felt like it was the right thing to not do it.”
Golden
Michel Gondry’s musical, shot in 2024, was said to be inspired by Pharrell Williams’ childhood in Virginia Beach, with Williams on board to write original songs for the film. Kelvin Harrison, Halley Bailey, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Janelle Monae and Brian Tyree Henry were among the starry cast of the ambitious project, which was initially slated to be released in the U.S. by Universal in May 2025. In February, it was reported that due to producer disagreements the $20M+ film would be permanently shelved and not offered to other studios for completion and/or distribution.
