The power of fandoms has never been as important to the film industry as it is today. Nostalgic reboots, sequels, and fan service have become the formula for the era, and while film studios often miss the mark on these points, the most profitable movies in cinema today owe their thanks to the massive fan followings maintained by their characters and stories. Fans eagerly await these movies hoping to see a gratifying cinematic play of their favorite characters, in scenarios that hold the signatures of beloved filmmakers.
But there are always times when filmmakers have to cut scenes or abandon projects due to reasons outside their control. There have been plenty of such moments that have been lost to unavoidable circumstances, whether because of budget limitations, studio decisions, or simply bad writing. Ultimately, these lost opportunities leave fans with a sense of longing, forever wondering what could have been.
13Channing Tatum as Gambit
In all appearances, it was a dream casting. From early on inFox’sX-Menuniverse, Channing Tatum was the first choice to take on the role of the Marvel character, Gambit. He not only looked like a real-life version of the X-Man, but also felt a deep emotional connection to the character. However, different circumstances stopped Tatum from portraying his favorite superhero.
He was first offered to appear in the role inX-Men Origins: Wolverine. Due to scheduling conflicts with another movie, he couldn’t take the role, and it went to Taylor Kitsch. Later in 2014, he was signed on to star in and produce a standaloneGambitmovie. Its story looked to be a groundbreaking take on superheroes, taking a cross-genre approach with elements of heist, romance, and thriller. However, the ambitious project was scrapped soon after Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Tatum is yet to get over the scrapped project, commenting recently, perIndieWire, that he hasn’t been able to watch any Marvel movies since that time.
12Tarantino’s Vega Brothers Sharing a Screen
Director Quentin Tarantino is well-known for weaving an elaborate web of interrelated characters and Easter eggs across his entire filmography. Characters who appear in one movie are regularly referenced in others, and some of them are even canonically related — just like the Vega Brothers. The criminal brothers by the name of Vic and Vincent Vega appeared in the two earliest movies directed by Tarantino —Reservoir DogsandPulp Fiction, respectively. Actors Michael Madsen and John Travolta played out the two characters marvelously in separate movies, gaining interest over their suave and easygoing personalities that were imbued with a penchant for violence. It was revealed later that the two characters were actually twin brothers, with Tarantino teasing a prequel movie that would tell their origin story. However, he never got around tomaking that movie.
11Dune with a Pink Floyd Soundtrack
It’s a legendary story from cinema history — a project so insanely massive in its scope that it was seemingly doomed from the start. Had it somehow been made, it would have been the most brilliant film in history, a 14-hour high-fantasy extravaganza of unprecedented scale with a soundtrack featuring the most coveted musical talents of the 70s, including Pink Floyd. Before Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel was adapted by David Lynch or Denis Villeneuve, it was the surrealist genius Alejandro Jodorowsky who envisioned a live-action take onDune. And in preparing for this adaptation, he left no stone unturned, aiming for the absolute best in every single aspect of its creation.
There are enough stories about the work that went into this doomed movie that an entire documentary,Jodorowsky’s Dune, was made about it. Most importantly, he wanted the leading musical groups of the time to compose theme songs for the movie. In fact, Pink Floyd had already agreed to work on the movie, with Jodorowsky envisioning a theme song for Leto composed by the legendary band. Unfortunately, the increasing budgetary demands of the project led the studios to shelve the project. Even after being canceled, the thousands of storyboards and plans made for the movie ended up influencing some of the biggest sci-fi movies of later years such asStar Wars.
10The Quidditch World Cup
The Quidditch World Cup is one of the biggest events to take place in the fourthHarry Potterbook,Goblet of Fire. Naturally, fans were quite excited to see the rush of that intense scene in the movie adaptation. While fans did get some glorious CGI moments such as the dragons from the first challenge, they were sorely let down when the filmmakers decided to completely cut out the World Cup finals from the movie. To make matters worse, the movie perfectly built up the hype in the scenes leading up to the Quidditch match, cutting right away to the after party and summarily disappointing fans who were eagerly awaiting an opportunity to see an exciting Quidditch game in live action.
9Jason Momoa as Lobo
Long before Jason Momoa landed the role of Aquaman in the DCEU,fans were petitioningfor him to play the DC anti-hero Lobo, an interstellar bounty hunter known for his abject bloodlust and irreverent nature. Their campaign began after Momoa appeared in the sci-fi seriesStargate Atlantisas Ronon Dex. The role transformed Momoa into a splitting replica of the comic-book character, leading fans to believe that he would be the perfect actor to take on Lobo in live-action. But while a movie featuring the character was in talks going back as far as 2009, Momoa was snapped up to play the DCEU Aquaman, and no concrete plans for a live-actionLoboever materialized.
This might soon change, though, as Momoa recentlyteased major newsabout his involvement in the DCU reboot. Fans have been guessing that it could be related to a possible Lobo casting.
Related:Best Movies That Never Got Made
8Guillermo Del Toro’s Take on H.P. Lovecraft
Guillermo Del Toro’s complex and almost spiritual fascination with monsters has given us some of the best fantasy movies of our time. It’s only natural that he would be interested in thework of H.P. Lovecraft. However, his interest in the cosmic horror pioneer goes deeper than general fascination. Del Toro has been trying to adapt the Lovecraft storyAt the Mountains of Madnessfor nearly two decades at this point, stopped every time by different reasons including budgetary concerns. Throughout this time, his vision for the adaptation had evolved greatly, and he is currently hoping to make thefilm in stop-motion. Last year, he left horror fans astounded by releasing old footage of a CGI test for the unmade movie, which revealed his wildly imaginative take on a Lovecraftian monster.
7DCEU Thomas Wayne
The live-actionFlashmovie, which is set to release this year, also faced numerous setbacks in its production. But one thing remained constant from the very beginning: the movie would be based on theFlashpointcomic book storyline, an iconic comic book arc featuring the Scarlet Speedster, which involved a dark alternate timeline. The alternate timeline in theFlashpointcomics also included one of the most unique twists on the Batman with Bruce Wayne’s father, Thomas Wayne, donning the cowl.
Fans were clamoring to see Thomas Wayne’s Batman portrayed in live-action ever since the source for theFlashmovie was revealed. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who portrayed the elder Wayne for the alley murder scene inBatman v Superman, even expressed interest in reprising his role for the movie. However, as we saw in theFlashtrailer, Michael Keaton’s Batman will be returning instead, seemingly taking the place of the iconic Thomas Wayne version. While fans are excited to see Keaton’s Batman back on the big screen, fans are also disappointed that they won’t get to see Morgan’s interpretation of the Thomas Wayne Batman in a full-fledged role.
6A Men in Black and Jump Street Crossover
It sounds like a bizarre tale told in unsolicited crossover fanfiction tales, but a crossover between the sci-fi action comedyMen in Blackand the buddy cop comedy21 Jump Streetwasa legitimate possibilityfor a time. As far as wild crossover possibilities go, it’s not the worst idea in the world — the comedic styles of the two franchises could have done well together. The idea went so far as to have a script ready, which Channing Tatum described as one of the funniest he ever read. Unfortunately, too many people involved in the process came to believe that it was a worthless project, and the crossover movie was ultimately dropped.
5Hugh Jackman Wears Wolverine’s Iconic Costume
The 2013 movieThe Wolverinehas been subject to a lot of undeserved hate over the years. While fans love to wax poetic about their distaste for this film, it also gave them one of the biggest fan service moments within Fox’sX-Menfranchise. In the final shots of the movie, Logan is handed a briefcase by Yukio as a gift, which he opens to reveal the iconic yellow Wolverine costume from the comics. Hugh Jackman would never be seen wearing the costume in any future iteration of the character.
Related:Why Deadpool 3 Is the Perfect Movie for Wolverine to Finally Don His Iconic Yellow Costume
4Miles Morales in MCU
The MCU movieSpider-Man: No Way Homeis up there on the list of most epic fan service moments in cinema history. Fans were rapt in anticipation of the moment months in advance, and when all three Spider-Man actors finally appeared on the same screen together, the moment was completely worth the wait. But in the shadow of this massive fan service moment, there is one Easter egg that seems to have been completely abandoned by the MCU. It goes back to a minor character inSpider-Man: Homecoming, played by Donald Glover, that garnered much interest and discussion. The character was named Aaron Davis, which in Marvel Comics is the name of Miles Morales’ uncle. Despite clearly teasing the existence of the Black Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the character has yet to be introduced to the big screen.
