10 Movies That Weren't Meant To Be Sequels

Bruce Almighty sees Jim Carrey playing a down-on-his-luck news reporter called Bruce Nolan, who finds himself suddenly endowed with God's power. The religious comedy earned almost $500 million, making it Carrey's most successful film to date. As such, a follow-up was inevitable.

Unfortunately, the Brucifer sequel didn't pan out, which would've seen the titular character being bestowed with the powers of Satan. When Carrey moved onto other projects, the sequel was reworked into a spin-off called Evan Almighty. The story centred around Bruce’s co-worker from the first movie, Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) who's chosen by God (Morgan Freeman) to build an Ark in the same vein as Noah to prepare for an imminent flood. 

Evan acted like an egotistical braggart in Bruce Almighty, so it was odd to see him depicted as a caring family man this time around, to the point where he felt like a different character.

Which is why it's no surprise to learn Evan Almighty began as a different property called The Passion of the Ark. Though the script was completely re-written to match the tone of its predecessor, the concept was the same, since it retold the Biblical flood parable in a modern setting.

Even though Bruce Almighty was a box-office triumph, Evan Almighty couldn't have turned out worse, receiving scathing reviews across the board and losing over a $100 million. It just goes to show that sequels aren't always necessary, even if there's a potential script lying around.