10 Movies That Led To Other Movies Being Cancelled (And Why)

8. Watchmen's Poor Performance Cans R-Rated Bioshock

Watchmen Bioshock
Warner Bros.

Thanks to the likes of Deadpool, Logan and Joker, R-rated blockbusters are currently back in fashion, but that wasn't exactly the case a decade ago. Zack Snyder's Watchmen was the highest-profile big-budget R-rated movie in a long time, and when the comic book adaptation failed at the box office it created a knock-on effect that saw Universal pull the plug on Gore Verbinski's Bioshock.

Watchmen made a little over $185m globally against a $130m budget and resulted in a loss for Warner Bros., which instantly saw Universal having second thoughts about handing Verbinski $200m to make his R-rated Bioshock. The studio wanted the Pirates of the Caribbean director to aim for PG-13 and lower the budget, while Verbinski countered that his creative vision would be compromised if he agreed to do so.

The two sides bickered back and forth before Universal decided that the huge investment required wasn't really worth it and officially canceled Bioshock, with Verbinski revealing that they were only eight weeks away from the start of shooting. There was an attempt to mount a much cheaper version with a different director at the helm, but that too fell apart and the Bioshock movie still remains stuck in development hell.

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