Some things are just not meant to be. Here’s a look at horror’s very own The Man Who Killed Don Quixotes, the films that should, but sadly never will exist. But, in fear of sounding like Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, “A man can dream. A man can dream”.
1. George A. Romero’s Resident Evil
Before franchise ruining specialist Paul WS Anderson came onboard, the father of the living dead himself, George A. Romero was set to direct. Which is only fitting, seeing as the original games were heavily influenced by his work. At least he got to make more Living Dead movies.
2. King Kong vs. Godzilla Remake
Toho, the studio behind the Japanese giant monster movies, had originally planned to remake their 1962 crossover classic back in 1992 to commemorate their 60th anniversary. However, getting the rights to King Kong from Universal proved difficult so they opted to remake Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah instead.
It’s somewhat ironic that given Hollywood’s current obsession with remaking anything that moves, that the one film truly deserving of a remake is unlikely to receive one anytime soon, but both monsters are still getting their due, with Kong: Skull Island entering production soon and both Japanese and American Godzilla films in production.
An awesome team up that never was. Toho had planned in the late 1970s to team up with British studio Hammer, known for their creepy gothic take on the genre, to make a film about the Loch Ness monster. Japanese giant monster craziness meets Hammer’s dark and sinister approach!? Hell yes! Sadly it wasn’t to be. Hammer’s latest outing, 1976’s To the Devil a Daughter, was both a critical and commercial failure causing the studio to go under.
Bioshock
After the huge commercial success of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Gore Verbinski was set to follow up with an adaptation of 2K’s acclaimed first person shooter series about a man made underwater paradise turned dystopian battleground. The project ground to a halt, with only a few pieces of concept art emerging. The disappointing box office of R rated $185 million superhero movie Watchmen is often seen as a major contributing factor. Hopefully studios will realise one day that there is a market for mega budget R rated films.
Robopocaylse
This list ends on a high note with a film that actually does have a small possibility of being made. Spielberg’s long in development adaptation of Daniel H. Wilson’s killer robot epic has been on the back burner for some time now, and is starting to look less and less like a possibility. But with Spielberg being, well, Spielberg, it shouldn’t be too hard for this project to get off the ground, right? Especially if this year’s Terminator: Genysis sparks interest in post apocalyptic robot movies…
