10 Movies That Were Scrapped After Being Shot
9. Empires of the Deep
Empires of the Deep is a 3D fantasy adventure film which began shooting in 2009, with Olga Kurylenko playing the Mermaid Queen protagonist.
The $130 million production was partially funded by Chinese real estate tycoon Jon Jiang, amid the desire to create his own blockbuster IP on the level of Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, or Avatar. However, production was an abject disaster from start to finish. The script had contributions from 10 screenwriters and took 40 drafts to complete, shooting cycled through three different directors, and numerous cast members quit mid-production due to non-payment.
Principal photography was nevertheless completed by late 2010 with a release intended for 2011, but the picture it ultimately failed to find distribution. Reshoots were conducted in 2014, and in 2016 a crowdfunding campaign was launched to finish post-production, which failed.
Almost a decade later, Empires of the Deep remains submerged in limbo, and there's no indication it's ever going to be completed and released.