11 MORE Movies That Led To Other Movies Being Cancelled (And Why)

11. The End Of The Historical Epic Boom Is Bad News For Michael Mann's Gates Of Fire

Back at the turn of the 21st Century, the critical and commercial success that greeted Ridley Scott's Gladiator led to big-budget historical epics becoming Hollywood's favorite genre for a hot minute. However, this rapid over-saturation quickly led to diminished box office returns and lukewarm reviews, and the boom quickly faded.

While the likes of Scott (multiple times), Wolfgang Petersen, Oliver Stone, Roland Emmerich and John Woo all got in on the action, another of the industry's biggest directors missed out on the opportunity to have a crack at bringing the ancient world to the big screen.

Gates of Fire would have seen Michael Mann tackling the legendary Battle of Thermopylae, in a gritty and immersive blockbuster that had George Clooney attached to produce and star, and would have been a major departure for a filmmaker best known for glossy, stylish thrillers.

Unfortunately, the money men got cold feet when similar titles like Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven and King Arthur under-performed, and the final nail was hammered into Gates of Fire's coffin when Zack Snyder's 300 depicted what would have been Mann's signature battle in speed-ramped and hyper-stylized fashion.