12 Sci-Fi Movies Plagued By Reshoots
Reshoots? They always end well!
"Reshoots" has become word that fills every movie fan with fear and dread.
In truth, it's far from a new thing. In fact, additional filming that takes place after production has wrapped has been commonplace in the film industry for a long time.
More recently however, reshoots have taken on a whole new meaning. Because plenty of big budget productions undergo extensive reshoots because of studio interference and/or negative responses from test audiences, it's assumed that ALL reshoots are bad. And it doesn't help that some of the more notoriously reshot films ever released haven't exactly turned out very well.
Science-fiction films are no exception to the trend, largely because their complex scripts and expensive special effects often mean studios don't want to risk a critical and commercial failure.
Now it should be said that there are a number of cases where reshoots greatly improved the quality of a movie. For instance, much of Back To The Future had to be reshot after lead actor Eric Stoltz was replaced by Michael J. Fox, a decision that helped make the film one of the all-time sci-fi greats.
But more often than not, reshoots can have devastating effects on a film upon its release...
12. Solo: A Star Wars Story
The most recent example on this list, Solo is not a bad movie by any means but it is dreadfully forgettable and for a Star Wars movie, that's unforgivable.
Making a Han Solo prequel always seemed like a risky move but with a stellar cast onboard, as well as directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the minds behind hits such as The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street, everything looked like it was in good hands.
But five months after filming began Lord and Miller were fired on the grounds of creative differences, with Lucasfilm unhappy with the pair's directing style and worried that the film was becoming too much like a comedy. Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan was especially annoyed that the directors relied heavily on improvisation rather than focusing on his script and dialogue.
The studio turned to Ron Howard to steady the ship but the rescheduled filming had its complications, with Michael K. Williams forced to drop out of the part of Dryden Vos, with Paul Bettany taking his place. By the time filming wrapped, Howard had reshot around 70% of the film, skyrocketing the production budget to about $300 million.
The result is a harmless but ultimately dull film that tanked at the box office, becoming the first Star Wars movie to be considered a financial failure and putting the brakes on all future anthology movies.