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You'll never see these movies, sadly.
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00:00The most basic expectation of any film, no matter how bad it is, is that audiences will get to see it eventually.
00:08Right? After all, why spend countless millions on a film if it's never going to be viewable by the overwhelming majority of people?
00:17And while 99.99999% of shot movies do of course end up releasing, sometimes films just get shelved,
00:26and typically there's one hell of a story. Why? Because why else would a studio willingly leave that much money on the table?
00:35Let's find out. I'm Ewan, this is WhatCulture, and here are a few movies you'll never see for insane reasons.
00:44First up, reshoots took so long, the actors aged out. The mothership.
00:50In summer 2021, Halle Berry shot a new sci-fi family drama for Netflix called The Mothership,
00:58which was mounted as the directorial debut of Oscar-nominated writer Matt Charman, who wrote Bridge of Spies.
01:07A great movie.
01:08A snippet of the film even showed up in the streamer's 2022 content preview,
01:14but in early 2024, they announced that the film had been permanently shelved,
01:19offering little concrete explanation beyond mentioning a challenging post-production process.
01:25Reporter Jeff Snyder did some digging and learned that the main reason for the film's cancellation,
01:31despite being in an advanced state of production,
01:34was that the young central cast had aged noticeably since principal photography had wrapped,
01:40making reshoots basically impossible.
01:43You'd get like a whole radioactive man situation in The Simpsons,
01:48you know, with a whole Jiminy Gillikers thing.
01:50It would not look good.
01:51One can infer that the reshoots were substantial enough that it wouldn't be practical to digitally de-age the actors.
01:59But even so, tossing out an entire movie because reshoots couldn't happen in a timely fashion is hog wild.
02:07Then again, it's possible the movie simply wasn't coming together satisfactorily,
02:13given that Netflix's chief content officer, Bella Bajaria, said,
02:16quote,
02:17"...everybody just felt like it was the right thing to not do it."
02:21Considering some of the low-rent content Netflix has freely released over the years,
02:27just piling on that slop,
02:29well, that's pretty damning.
02:31Next up, the audio was lost in September 11th.
02:35Bang the Machine.
02:36Reasons for a movie never being released don't really get much sadder than this.
02:42Bang the Machine was a documentary that chronicled the best Street Fighter 2 players in the world
02:48and was in post-production in the middle of 2001.
02:52However, the 9-11 attacks of all things ended up halting the movie's completion
02:57because the film's master soundtapes were stored in a building directly opposite the World Trade Center's second tower.
03:07Yeah, when the production team could finally access the building, the tapes had been incinerated,
03:13meaning that there was no way for the team to finish post-production.
03:17The only small solace was that director Tamara Kaepu had a rough cut of the film on VHS,
03:24which was actually screened at the South by Southwest Festival in 2002,
03:29but because this rough cut contained unlicensed music, it could never be commercially released.
03:35And so, without the original sound files to work from, Bang the Machine will sadly remain unreleasable forevermore.
03:43And while many fans hope that a copy of the film might leak online eventually,
03:48almost 25 years later, it's still nowhere to be seen.
03:52Next up, just in case you'd forgiven Warner Brothers.
03:55It was shelved for a tax write-off.
03:59Batgirl.
04:00In March 2022, Warner Brothers' live-action Batgirl movie,
04:04starring Leslie Grace and directed by Adil Mbalal, who directed Bad Boys for Life,
04:09wrapped Principal Photography.
04:11And though originally intended for a streaming release on HBO Max,
04:15the $90 million budgeted superhero movie was being incited for a theatrical upgrade by WB's Brass.
04:22But then, and you know what's coming, later that summer,
04:26the studio suddenly announced that Batgirl had been cancelled,
04:30with executives at the newly merged WB Discovery deciding to write off the film for a tax break
04:37instead of just releasing it.
04:39Like everyone else in the movie industry does, you know?
04:42It's called filmmaking, and you produce a movie and you distribute it, you know?
04:50But who am I to argue with David Zaslav?
04:53He has so many great ideas.
04:56I sure do hope that David Zaslav shares his ideas with the world for years to come.
05:05While there were mixed reports about test screening reactions and the film
05:10apparently still needed VFX work as well as some reshoots,
05:14it was basically unheard of for a studio to scrap such a huge project,
05:19especially for a tax write-off.
05:22The decision was widely condemned by filmmakers throughout Hollywood,
05:26and though some fans do cling to the hope that Batgirl could one day be released,
05:31like Coyote vs. Acme,
05:33that seems highly unlikely given the circumstances.
05:37Next up, Tommy Wiseau sued the filmmakers.
05:41Roomful of Spoons.
05:42Roomful of Spoons is a 2016 documentary from filmmaker Rick Harper
05:48about the creation of Tommy Wiseau's infamous cult film, The Room.
05:53Harper, a longtime associate of Wiseau,
05:56chronicled the film's disastrous production
05:58and took a deep dive into the mysterious past of the filmmaker himself,
06:03who has been famously cagey about giving much away.
06:07Though Roomful of Spoons did have a limited theatrical release in April 2016,
06:12it was promptly pulled from circulation when many of the cinemas showing it received copyright
06:17infringement notices from Wiseau himself.
06:21Wiseau followed up by filing injunctions to prevent releases both theatrically and on home video,
06:28and though the courts ultimately sided with the filmmakers in 2020,
06:32five years later, Wiseau continues to issue legal challenges in North America in an attempt to block its release.
06:40Basically, as long as Wiseau has money to his name,
06:44it seems like he's hell-bent on ensuring that nobody gets to watch the documentary,
06:49so don't count on it ever being freely available.
06:53Next up, the director screamed it to the press without permission.
06:57The New Jersey Turnpikes.
06:59The New Jersey Turnpikes is a 1999 sports mockumentary in the vein of This Is Spinal Tap,
07:06revolving around a titular failed basketball team and starring Kelsey Grammer, Orlando Jones, and Jason Siegel.
07:14Shooting was completed without incident, but test screenings were, whoa, if they were not good,
07:20prompting Universal to order a round of reshoots, which director Brian Buckley just refused to do.
07:28The reshoots vastly improved the film's test screening score,
07:33and an irate Buckley responded by screening his original cut at the Tribeca Film Center without notifying the studio.
07:42It's really awkward, but also really funny.
07:46This led to a few outlets actually reviewing the film, most notably NSNBC and Ain't It Cool News,
07:53and though this coverage was mostly positive, it obviously wasn't the film Universal was planning to release.
08:00The studio was ultimately so upset with Buckley's condo that they cut ties with him altogether,
08:06refused to spend marketing money on the film,
08:09and eventually decided to just take it round the back and go,
08:13BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
08:20Maybe just some gasoline on there as well, and a little match.
08:26They killed it, basically, is what I'm saying.
08:28So yeah, more than 25 years later, the New Jersey Turnpike still hasn't seen the light of day,
08:34and seemingly never will.
08:37As for Buckley, well, he's doing just fine,
08:39having received two Oscar noms for directing short films Asad and Saria in recent years.
08:46Next up, OJ Simpson's Arrest, Frogmen.
08:51Frogmen was a made-for-TV movie that NBC intended to air in late 1994
08:57to serve as the pilot for a potential TV show focused on a squad of U.S. Navy SEALs.
09:04There was a major, wildly unexpected snag, though.
09:10When the film was awaiting release, star OJ Simpson was arrested for the murder of his ex-wife,
09:15Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
09:20Yeah, calling that a snag feels like a bit of an understatement.
09:25But anyway, following all this,
09:27all footage and materials related to the film
09:29were handed over to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office for examination,
09:35while NBC executives swept through their offices
09:38and collected up every last screener copy of the movie to avoid leaks.
09:44Also, given that the film reportedly featured a sequence
09:47where Simpson's character held a knife to a woman's throat,
09:51it's hardly surprising that NBC would want to keep it out of the hands of the press,
09:56and pretty much anyone.
09:58Though Simpson was ultimately acquitted of the murders in 1995,
10:03public opinion remained fiercely contentious
10:06and shifted towards a guilty consensus in the years that followed,
10:10ensuring that there was never any possibility of frogmen
10:13ever being released to the world.
10:16Next up, it's been locked in legal limbo for over 15 years.
10:21Blackwater Transit
10:22Blackwater Transit is a crime drama directed by Tony Kay,
10:27who also directed American History X,
10:29that stars Laurence Fishburne as a shipping executive
10:32who crosses paths with a dangerous smuggler,
10:35played by Carl Urban,
10:36in post-hurricane Katrina, New Orleans.
10:40Though shooting concluded in August 2007,
10:43in the years that followed,
10:44the film became tangled in a legal challenge
10:47from financier Aramid Entertainment,
10:50as the production company had failed to complete and release the movie
10:54in a time frame agreed with Aramid.
10:57A settlement was eventually reached in 2014,
11:01though to this day,
11:02the film's status remains up in the air,
11:05likely complicated by the fact that rights holder David Bergstein
11:08was found guilty of fraud in 2018
11:10and sentenced to eight years in prison.
11:14Considering that the better part of two decades
11:17have now passed since filming wrapped,
11:19it seems overwhelmingly unlikely
11:21that Blackwater Transit will ever get released,
11:25even though it's become something of a curio
11:27in the lost media subculture.
11:30Next up,
11:31Prince Refused to Release It,
11:33Kevin Smith's Prince Documentary.
11:36Kevin Smith has spoken extensively over the years
11:39about how he infamously shot a documentary
11:41about Prince.
11:43The director got in touch with the pop legend
11:45while seeking permission to use one of his songs
11:48in the movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
11:51and ended up being asked to shoot a documentary
11:54on the Prince A Celebration Fan Festival
11:57which took place in June 2001.
12:00Smith agreed
12:01and spent a week shooting the doc,
12:04which includes lengthy sit-down interviews
12:06with the artist himself
12:07as well as his fans without pay.
12:10However,
12:11when the shoot was completed,
12:13Prince's producer informed Smith
12:15that the doc may very well simply end up
12:17in the singer's vault
12:19and never actually see the light of day,
12:22a revelation which baffled Smith.
12:25And yet,
12:25it turned out to be true.
12:27Smith was sent on his way
12:28and never heard another word from Prince
12:31prior to his death in 2016.
12:34While Smith more recently said
12:35that some of the interviews he shot
12:37were examined by filmmakers
12:38producing a Prince documentary for Netflix
12:41and could be included in it,
12:43we're clearly never going to see
12:45the full finished result of Smith's own labor.
12:49And on the way,
12:50it isn't coming out until 2115.
12:55A hundred years.
12:56So,
12:58unlike many films on this list,
13:00there's actually no technical reason
13:02why you won't be able to watch
13:03this new John Malkovich starring sci-fi film
13:06directed by Robert Rodriguez.
13:09Rather,
13:10A Hundred Years was financed by cognac brand
13:12Rami Martin
13:13to promote Louis XIII,
13:15their cognac which takes 100 years to make.
13:19Though production wrapped in 2015,
13:21in line with the cognac's own development process,
13:25the film won't be released
13:27until 100 years after this date,
13:30making it due to drop in 2115.
13:35And so,
13:36not to be too indelicate or anything,
13:38but if you're capable of watching this video right now,
13:41you're almost certainly going to be
13:43dust in the wind by 2115
13:46and will never have a chance of watching 100 years.
13:49It's just not going to happen.
13:50Unless we create some kind of like hybrid
13:53cyborg monstrosity thing
13:56that you can plug into,
13:59which I wouldn't put it past
14:00to any of these companies to do right now,
14:02you know,
14:02it's just,
14:03generally speaking,
14:05for old Johnny Normal over here,
14:08you're not going to go see 100 years
14:10or have this mad cognac thing.
14:14It's really weird.
14:15Anyway,
14:16so if you thought that Rami Martin
14:18couldn't possibly be taking this seriously,
14:20think again.
14:22Everyone involved with the shoot
14:23signed non-disclosure agreements,
14:25preventing them from talking about the plot.
14:28And the film is being stored
14:30in a high-tech safe
14:31behind bulletproof glass.
14:34Only on November 18th, 2115,
14:38will said safe unlock,
14:39where 1,000 guests will be invited
14:41to attend the premiere,
14:42including the descendants
14:44of Malkovich and Rodriguez.
14:47And to wrap things up,
14:48the film negative was damaged.
14:51In God's Hands.
14:53And to end things,
14:53we've got a situation
14:54that, in the very least,
14:56can't actually happen
14:57to the vast majority of movies
14:59being made today.
15:00Lodge Carrigan's third film
15:02was meant to be
15:03In God's Hands,
15:05a child abduction drama
15:06starring Maggie Gyllenhaal
15:08and Peter Sarsgaard.
15:10Though the actual shoot itself
15:12went smoothly,
15:13things went south
15:14during post-production
15:15when the original camera negative
15:17was irretrievably damaged somehow,
15:20making it impossible
15:21for the film
15:22to actually be finished.
15:24An appreciably distraught
15:26Carrigan couldn't bring himself
15:28to reshoot the movie again,
15:30but aided by producer
15:31Steven Soderbergh
15:32and an insurance payout
15:34from the whole debacle,
15:35he instead set about
15:36making a new film
15:38about the same topic.
15:40This film turned out
15:41to be the Damien Lewis
15:42and Abigail Breslin
15:43starring drama Keane,
15:45which released two positive reviews
15:47in 2004.
15:48With the overwhelming majority
15:49of movies now being shot digitally
15:52and footage being carefully
15:53backed up by on-set technicians,
15:55at least there's virtually
15:57zero chance of this happening nowadays,
15:59short of a weird cyber
16:01or an electronic attack
16:03of some kind,
16:04which would really suck.
16:06The particulars
16:07of how the negative itself
16:08got damaged
16:08have never really been discussed,
16:11but either way,
16:12I think we can all agree
16:13that losing a movie like this
16:15has to really, really suck.
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