10 Actors Who Got Kicked Out Of Their Own Movie Franchises

RoboCop 3 is one of those sequels that just gets so, so much wrong, and much of it was due to the financial struggles of an utterly desperate Orion Pictures.

In addition to slashing the film's budget to a mere $22 million - compared to RoboCop 2's $35 million - Orion also insisted the film be made with a PG-13 rating in mind, ensuring all the graphic violence of the previous two films was nowhere to be seen.

But perhaps the most egregious decision of all was deciding not to bring Peter Weller back in the role of Alex Murphy aka RoboCop.

Desperate to get the film rushed through production, Orion decided they couldn't wait for Weller to finish shooting the David Cronenberg movie Naked Lunch, and so hired Robert John Burke as his replacement.

Hilariously, Burke only won the part because the struggling production was forced to re-use Weller's suit from RoboCop 2, and so only a limited range of actors could fit the extremely precise measurements for said suit.

RoboCop 3 was ultimately a shambles, with many critics decrying Weller's absence and Burke's sub-par performance, while the film also bombed at the box office.

Ironically, Orion Pictures' bankruptcy led to RoboCop 3 eventually sitting on the studio's shelf for over a year before being released, by which point Weller may well have been able to take part. Given the horrendous end result, though, it's probably for the best that he didn't.