10 Weirdest Reasons Movie Sequels Were Cancelled
5. Mathilda: The Professional - Natalie Portman Needed To Be Older
Who said that cinema was a cut-throat industry?
After the success of the cult classic Leon: The Professional, a sequel was proposed which would take place years after the original, following Mathilda (Natalie Portman) as she becomes a hired killer.
There were a number of reasons why the film never came to be. First off, the Gaumont Film Company didn't want to make it until Portman was a little bit older, a decision which of course delayed the project. But the the biggest factor came from director Luc Besson, who had recently founded his own production company and wanted to make Mathilda: The Professional under his company, EuropaCorp.
Unfortunately, this didn't go over well at Gaumont, and Besson's decision to leave them led to him losing the rights to the sequel.
Years later, the spec script for the film was re-written to become the action-thriller Columbiana, starring Zoe Saldana as a vengeful assassin. There are still rumours about Portman eventually returning to the role, but nothing has come to fruition just yet.