Not every movie that reaches production ends up on the big screen. Some get canceled after cameras start rolling, while others make it surprisingly far before running out of money, losing key cast members, or falling apart behind the scenes. In a few cases, entire films were completed only to be locked away in studio vaults, where audiences never had the chance to see them. Over the years, these unfinished and unreleased projects have become almost as fascinating as the movies that actually made it to theaters. Here are 15 films that, for one reason or another, never got the release they were supposed to.©IMDbThe Day the Clown Cried (1972)Jerry Lewis completed filming this Holocaust drama, but the movie never received an official release. Lewis himself remained unhappy with the finished film, turning it into one of Hollywood’s most famous lost projects.©IMDbBatgirl (2022)The superhero movie finished filming and entered post-production before Warner Bros. Discovery unexpectedly shelved it. Despite a reported budget of around $90 million, the film has never been released.©IMDbFantastic Four (1994)Roger Corman’s low-budget Fantastic Four adaptation was fully filmed but never intended for a wide release. Bootleg copies eventually gave fans a chance to see the movie years later.©IMDbSuperman Lives (1998)Tim Burton’s Superman reboot never reached principal photography, but years of development produced costume tests, concept art, and even Nicolas Cage’s now-famous Superman suit.©IMDbNapoleon (Stanley Kubrick)Stanley Kubrick spent years researching Napoleon’s life, scouting locations, and preparing thousands of historical reference cards before the project was canceled because of its enormous budget. The unfinished epic later inspired the book Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made.©IMDbDark Blood (1993)Production stopped after River Phoenix died before completing his scenes. The unfinished movie sat on the shelf for years before a reconstructed version was assembled using narration.©IMDbKaleidoscope (1967)Alfred Hitchcock wanted this thriller to be far more graphic and experimental than his previous work, but Universal rejected the idea before production could move forward.©IMDbThe Other Side of the Wind (2018)Orson Welles spent years shooting what would become his final film, but legal and financial complications kept it unfinished during his lifetime. It wasn’t completed until decades later.©IMDbBig Bug ManThe animated comedy featured voices from Brendan Fraser and even Marlon Brando, who recorded one of his final performances. Despite being completed, the movie has never received a proper release.©IMDbEmpires of the DeepYears of rewrites, multiple directors, and an enormous budget turned this fantasy epic into one of cinema’s strangest production stories. It quietly disappeared without ever reaching theaters.©IMDbHippie Hippie ShakeCillian Murphy and Sienna Miller finished filming this adaptation of the famous memoir, but repeated delays led Working Title to cancel its release altogether.©IMDb100 Years (2015)John Malkovich and director Robert Rodriguez completed this unusual project, but almost nobody alive today will get to see it. The film was deliberately locked away with instructions that it won’t be released until the year 2115, turning it into one of cinema’s most unusual publicity experiments.©RedditCrusade (1994)Director Paul Verhoeven was preparing an epic medieval adventure starring Arnold Schwarzenegger when the studio pulled the plug over its soaring budget. Sets had already been designed, costumes were in development, and pre-production was well underway before the project was abandoned.©IMDbFoodfight! (original version)Before the movie that eventually reached home video, the original production reportedly suffered the loss of much of its animation work after a mysterious server theft. Years of rebuilding completely changed the finished project.©IMDbRust (original production)Filming came to an immediate halt after the fatal on-set shooting involving cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. The production eventually resumed under very different circumstances, but the original version of the film was never completed as planned.The post 15 Times a Movie Never Even Got Released appeared first on Den of Geek.