10 Weirdest Reasons Movie Sequels Were Cancelled

Making a movie sequel is precarious business. Sure, the first film has to do well - rake in a solid profit, receive good reviews, and do right by audiences, but a sequel needs more than that to be greenlit. Even when a film receives numerous accolades and becomes a great critical and commercial success, if the script, the crew and the studios aren't clicking behind the scenes, then chances are the sequel is doomed to fail.

The following movie sequels found themselves on the chopping block for much more bizarre reasons than these, though. Cancelled due to weird stories, character assassinations, or - in one exceptional case - the death of an unlikely co-star, these movie successors were just not meant to be.

In fact, some of the stories behind the following cancellations sound like they could be movies in their own right.

So, whether the director or actor was uncomfortable with the film's plot, whether the script was too ridiculous to bring to life, or whether cost got in the way despite the fact the film would most likely have been a rousing success story, here are 10 movie sequels cancelled for the weirdest reasons.

Superman Lives was the brain-child of Tim Burton, meant as a follow-up to his previous Batman films and an early attempt to make a DC movie series. Penned by Kevin Smith and based on the brilliant "The Death of Superman" comic arc, the film had Nic Cage playing the Man of Steel and was reportedly only three weeks from shooting when the project was scrapped.

So what happened?

The movie's cancellation was so obscure and complex at the time that filmmaker Jon Schnepp made an entire documentary - The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? - to get to the bottom of the mystery.

During interviews with various crew members and producers working on the film (including both Burton and Smith), Schnepp found that the movie was a shambolic mess behind the scenes.

From demands for Superman to fight a giant mechanical spider to giving Lex Luthor a space dog, ridiculous script re-writes (and a lack of faith from producers and Superman fans) all led to the project behind canned before it could get off the ground, with the film's final re-write from Dan Gilroy showcasing a boring and ineffective story.

In the end, Warner Bros gave up on it ever seeing the light of day, citing Batman & Robin's financial losses and their lack of commitment to the film's budget as reasons for the cancellation.