5. Fletch Won
After Chevy Chase cracked us up in 1985's
Fletch, and then underwhelmed us in 1989's sequel
Fletch Lives, Kevin Smith, fresh off making
Mallrats, suggested to Universal the possibility of him directing a third Fletch film with Chase. Nothing came of it, but when the rights to the source material relapsed in 2000, Smith was picked by Miramax Films to craft what could be the studio's first ever film franchise. However, Chevy Chase and Smith couldn't agree on a direction for the third film, and so Smith decided to proceed without him, crafting a prequel which would hew much closer to the original tone and story of the Gregory Mcdonald novels. By 2003, filming was pretty much ready to begin, yet Harvey Weinstein balked at the idea of casting Jason Lee - who was not a proven box-office win at that point - and seemed much more comfortable with placing
Scrubs star Zach Braff in the role instead. Smith considered this, but walked away from the project in 2005. Ironically, it was Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence who would then take the helm on
Fletch Won and a proposed sequel, but in 2007, Braff dropped out to pursue other projects. Later that year, Steve Pink (
Accepted, Hot Tub Time Machine) became attached to direct, and we haven't heard a peep since.