10 Blatantly Unfinished Movies (That Were Released Anyway)

This one is unfortunate, if for no reason other than pretty much every other studio managed to get their Abyss rip off onto the big screen despite wildly varying levels of quality. Deepstar Six, Leviathan, Hell, even the MST3k-roasted Roger Corman production Lords of the Deep all captialized on James Cameron’s underwater sci fi thriller to different degrees of success.

Barry Levinson’s Sphere, on the other hand, didn’t see the light of day until almost ten years after the release of Cameron’s film, and the reactions were pretty roundly negative upon its release. Which is understandable, since it’s an unfinished draft of a film, not a completed movie.

Despite securing the talents of an ensemble cast and the director who put together Rain Man and Good Morning Vietnam, the Michael Crichton adaptation struggled with budgetary restraints and required revisions midway through the shooting process, resulting in a movie whose middle section is over-stuffed with philosophical noodling and character exposition, only to wrap up in an unconvincing hurry when the time comes for a climax.

It’s pretty clear that the film is unfinished, although unlike a lot of this list it does at least have a nominal ending, but the movie still struggled to connect with audiences and was a failure upon release.