10. DINO
Martin Scorsese almost made this star-studded biopic of rat packer Dean Martin, but when filming of GANGS OF NEW YORK went into overtime, scheduling conflicts forced the studio to shut it down. It would have starred Tom Hanks, John Travolta, Hugh Grant, Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey.
9. GRAND THEFT AUTO
A few years ago, a deal was almost in place to film an adaptation of this controversial best-selling videogame. Set to star Eminem, the film fell apart when Rockstar Games, the company that made the title, wasn’t impressed with the pitch.
8. DIETER
In 2000, the character of Dieter from SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE was set to make the transition to the big screen. It was supposed to be the next franchise after AUSTIN POWERS for Mike Myers, but Myers decided not to continue with the project after he was unhappy with the script he co-wrote. Jack Black and Will Ferrell would have co-starred.
7. ZOOLANDER 2
While failing to smash box office records, ZOOLANDER exploded on DVD and has since gained a cult following. Both Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson have stated numerous times that they wanted to do a follow-up, but nothing has yet to materialize.
*THIS JUST IN: ZOOLANDER 2 is currently in production! We’ll keep you posted with more deets in the near future, but it won’t be created until 2012
6. UNBREAKABLE 2
The first film was an original story, which left theatregoers wanting more. Originally envisioned as a trilogy, M. Night Shyamalan wanted to have Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson finally face off, but poor box office receipts forced him to shelve the idea.
5. SPIKE MOVIE
Fans were practically begging Joss Whedon for a follow up after ANGEL’s ambiguous series finale. James Marsters expressed an interest in reprising his role as Spike in what would have been a TV movie, but gave Whedon an ultimatum: he had 5 years from ANGEL’s end to put it together. A lacklustre budget forced Whedon to pull the plug though.
4. ARCHIE
A movie based on this classic comic strip has been rumoured for years. Aside from a terrible made-for-TV movie back in 1990, nothing ever came of it all. A few years ago, Miramax films optioned the rights to make a BETTY & VERONICA movie, but it seems that trouble casting the iconic characters has stalled the production.
3. BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN
Before BATMAN BEGINS and SUPERMAN RETURNS, Warner Bros. was going to reboot the franchises by pitting the superheroes against each other. Wolfgang Peterson (TROY, POSEIDON) was set to direct before each character’s individual movies took off. Once their respective sequels come out though, this project may still happen.
2. ROGER RABBIT II: TOON PLATOON
A few scripts have been floating around since the original, but with estimated budgets soaring past the $100 million mark, the project was shelved. Since then, the price of animation has gone down enough to make it work, but getting all the studios to allow their characters to appear will still be an issue.
1. GHOSTBUSTERS III
Dan Aykroyd wrote a script that would have had the ghost-nabbing group pass the torch to a new group of younger ghostbusters. Unfortunately, co-star Bill Murray, who owns a stake in the films, refused to reprise his role, essentially shutting it down. Elements of the script have since been reworked into a new videogame that will be released sometime this year.
*THIS JUST IN: Apparently, there is a GHOSTBUSTERS III currently in the works, set for a 2012 release. We’ll keep you posted on details…