10 Movies That Weren't Meant To Be Sequels

10. Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights

Dirty Dancing was a juggernaut at the box office, earning $214 million on a $4 million budget. On top of becoming one of the most defining movies of the decade, the romantic drama catapulted Patrick Swayze into super-stardom. While a sequel getting made isn't too surprising, what is surprising is that it took almost two decades to arrive.

Said sequel, called Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, didn't materialise for a whopping 17 years. Stranger still, it had little in common with Dirty Dancing, since it revolved around star-crossed lovers who fell for each other during the Cuban Revolution.

For this reason, it's hardly surprising to learn Havana Nights started off as its own thing. Peter Sagal's screenplay, originally called Cuba Mine, was a political drama that focused on a real-life dancer who fell for a Cuban revolutionary. Lawrence Bender was meant to produce the film in 1992, but decided to work on Reservoir Dogs instead. (A smart choice, all in all.)

When Bender circled back a decade later, Cuba Mine was revamped into a Dirty Dancing movie. Despite maintaining the Cuban revolution backdrop, not a single line from the screenplay made it into the finished film. If not for Swayze's brief cameo, nobody would think Havana Nights had the slightest connection to Dirty Dancing.