Saturday, August 6, 2022

‘Batgirl’ joins list of notable unreleased movies


This week, Warner Bros. Discovery announced the controversial decision to not release its big-budget superhero movie “Batgirl” either in theaters or on its streaming service HBO Max. It will shelve the $90 million movie and take a loss instead of throwing good money after bad promoting it.
It’s the highest profile movie to date that won’t be released despite being practically finished.
Wikipedia lists a bunch of American movies that have been completed or were mostly finished but have never been released for various reasons.
What follows is a list of unreleased movies, including when they were filmed or their original planned release year, and a little description for each.
  • “Amy Makes Three” (2015), a psychological thriller movie starring Torrey DeVitto and Mike Doyle.
  • “Behind the Sightings” (2017), a horror film inspired by the 2016 evil clown sightings.
  • “Big Bug Man” (2006), an animated television movie featuring voice performances by Brendan Fraser and Marlon Brando.
  • “Bill Cosby 77” (2014), a stand-up comedy film starring Bill Cosby, which Netflix shelved after Cosby was accused of sexual assault by several women.
  • “Black Water Transit” (2009), a crime drama film directed by Tony Kaye and starring an ensemble cast including Laurence Fishburne and Karl Urban.
  • “Chief Zabu” (2016), a socio-political comedy about a New York real estate developer who tries to take over a Polynesian nation.
  • “CobraGator” (2014), a monster movie for the Syfy Channel, directed by schlockmeister Jim Wynorski.
  • “Cocksucker Blues” (1972), a documentary film directed by still photographer Robert Frank chronicling The Rolling Stones American Tour 1972 in support of their album “Exile on Main St.”
  • “The Debtors” (1999), a comedy film starring Michael Caine, Randy Quaid, Udo Kier, Catherine McCormack and Scott Wilson.
  • “The Fantastic Four” (1994), a low-budget superhero movie based on the Marvel Comics series. The movie was hastily produced by Roger Corman and Bernd Eichinger so Eichinger could retain the Fantastic Four film rights.
  • “Glitterati” (2001), a drama film directed by Roger Avary and starring Kip Pardue.
  • “The Good Life” (1997), a crime comedy film starring Frank Stallone.
  • “I Love You, Daddy” (2017), a comedy drama film written and directed by Louis C.K. and starring C.K., Chloë Grace Moretz, Pamela Adlon, John Malkovich, Rose Byrne, Charlie Day and Helen Hunt. The film was shelved after C.K. was accused of sexual misconduct.
  • “Killing Winston Jones” (2014), a dark comedy film starring Danny Glover, Richard Dreyfuss, Danny Masterson, and Jon Heder.
  • “The Long Home” (2015), an indie drama film directed by and starring James Franco. It also stars Josh Hutcherson, Tim Blake Nelson, Courtney Love, Timothy Hutton, Giancarlo Esposito, Ashton Kutcher and Josh Hartnett.
  • “The March of Time” (1930), a Pre-Code musical film by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
  • “The Marshal of Windy Hollow” (1972), a Western film that reunited several well-known B-movie actors from 1940s Westerns for one last outing.
  • “Morrissey: Live at the Hollywood Bowl” (2009), a film documenting a live performance of Morrissey at the historic Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on June 8, 2007.
  • “My Name Is Legend” (1975), a Western film starring Tommy Kirk.
  • “Nothing Lasts Forever” (1984), a science-fiction comedy drama film written and directed by Tom Schiller. It featured Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Zach Galligan, Sam Jaffe, Mort Sahl, Lauren Tom, Imogene Coca, Apollonia van Ravenstein and Eddie Fisher.
  • “Prankstar” (2006), a mockumentary independent film starring, written, and directed by Tom Green.
  • “The Price” (2016), a British-American thriller film directed and written by Siofra Campbell. The film stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Shannon and Matthias Schweighöfer.
  • “Queen of Media” (2011), a drama film starring Robin Givens. The film is loosely based on the autobiography of New York City radio host Wendy Williams.
  • “Sin-Jin Smyth” (2006), a horror movie starring Roddy Piper and Jonathan Davis, vocalist of the nu metal band Korn.
  • “Temptation” (2004), a rock music movie musical starring Adam Pascal, Alice Ripley, and Zoe Saldana.
  • “Those Who Wander” (2015), an independent comedy film written and directed by Abigail Ann Schwarz.
  • “Uncle Tom’s Fairy Tales” (1969), a drama film directed by then-film student Penelope Spheeris and starring comedian Richard Pryor.
Let me know if I missed any good ones.

Related articles:

Unreleased American films (Wikipedia)

HBO Max’s $90 million Batgirl movie is headed to the vault (The Verge; Aug. 2, 2022)

Photo: “Batgirl” starring Leslie Grace.

No comments:

Post a Comment