10 Finished Movies That Disappeared Without A Trace

If Asura's fall from grace from "China's Lord Of The Rings" to complete obscurity is impressive, the vanishing of "China's answer to Avatar" is even wilder.

Originally conceived in 2006 as a vanity project for real estate magnate Jon Jiang, Empires Of The Deep was a mermaid fantasy adventure which mixed Aquaman-style undersea power struggles with an endorsement of China's disputed real-world sovereignty over the South China Seas; all with a juicy central role for Jiang's actress girlfriend Shi Yanfei.

Before shooting even begun, the movie passed through at least ten screenwriters and multiple directors from The Empire Strikes Back's Irvin Kershner to Catwoman's Pitof, while the role of the Mermaid Queen passed from Monica Bellucci to Sharon Stone before settling on Olga Kurylenko.

The film finally went into production in 2010. After a chaotic shoot in which the budget, funded by Chinese and American investors, spiralled from around $50 million to a reported $130 million, actors dropped out and crew went unpaid, a 3D trailer was released in 2012. It was roundly panned for looking cheap and tacky.

After that trailer, however, Empires Of The Deep sunk without trace and with it plans for tie-in video games, theme park attractions and other franchise paraphernalia. Back in 2014, Jonathan Lawrence, one of the movie's revolving door of directors, told the media that he had heard that he movie was complete and due for release in China shortly.

That never happened, leaving this mermaid story effectively dead in the water.