4

Productions usually get cancelled before or during preproduction, but I'm wondering whether there has ever been a film which had a cancelled release, after the trailer debuted.

Criteria:

  • Movie has to be a feature-length, Hollywood studio production
  • Trailer has to contain actual scene footage (a teaser like this one which only serves to pitch the idea and some of the actors involved and the title of the movie without showing actual footage doesn't count)
  • Cancellation means the production was halted and the movie did not make a release (wide release, domestic, select or even home-video release)
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7
  • 10 Things I Hate About Life
    – Ankit Sharma ♦
    Jun 29 '17 at 19:13
  • May want to clarify the criteria you are looking for, such as from a Hollywood Studio or Worldwide, or if you're considering a teaser trailer (usually very short) or the actual full length trailer (about two minutes). I'd be willing to guess that more movies that are "teased" have never made it to release.
    – sonnik
    Jun 29 '17 at 19:33
  • By cancelled release, do you mean the movie never made it to home video, either?
    – aryxus
    Jun 29 '17 at 19:38
  • @aryxus and sonnik good points. Editing now.
    – Ghoti and Chips
    Jun 29 '17 at 19:43
  • Not too long ago I watched Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman's the Fantastic Four, which is a documentary about the 1994 version of The Fantastic Four. Trailers were shown, the cast did promotion at comic conventions, the world premiere was supposed to take place at the Mall of America ... but as it turned out, the film was never intended to actually be released (unbeknownst to the cast and crew).
    – Oliver_C
    Jun 29 '17 at 19:44
6

This could be an evolving list, so it might get closed, but Empires Of The Deep never saw a release, despite having a trailer made.

Also, All American Massacre, a short film by Tobe Hooper's son, never ended up getting released despite having a trailer made.

And, of course, Roger Corman's disaster of a movie The Fantastic Four had a trailer released.

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3
  • Woah, that's insane! Empires of the Deep went well over 100 million - it's complete though, I don't understand why they wouldn't release it in order to get at least some money back. The other two movies didn't look so big budget, with Fantastic 4 being a million dollars and I didn't see how much All American Massacre cost, but it couldn't have been more than a million I'd assume.
    – Phlegon_of_Tralles
    Jun 29 '17 at 19:43
  • If the answer meets the criteria proposed in the question, the question becomes a "Yes" or "No" question, in which answers can say "Yes, there have, here is an/some example(s)", but it's true that it verges on list-making, which I'm aware isn't allowed, thanks for the heads up.
    – Ghoti and Chips
    Jun 29 '17 at 19:51
  • With the new criteria posted, The Fantastic Four movie would fit that bill. Empires Of The Deep was/is a US/China co-production so it may not be considered completely "Hollywood".
    – Johnny Bones
    Jun 29 '17 at 19:55

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