15 Movies You Thought Were Doomed (But Weren't)

15. Ant-Man

The only reason an Ant-Man movie even exists today is because of Edgar Wright's tireless efforts to keep presenting it to Marvel from the mid-2000s onwards.

Wright was officially confirmed to direct the movie in late 2012, but shortly before shooting was to start in mid-2014, Wright quit the project amid the ever-popular "creative differences" excuse (taking his cinematographer, composer and several actors with him).

As word emerged that Wright left due to his inability to work freely within Marvel's remit, fans became increasingly anxious about the state of the movie, reaching an apex when Wright was replaced with journeyman filmmaker Peyton Reed (The Break-Up, Yes Man).

Expectations were middling leading up to release - and a pretty mediocre set of trailers didn't help - but as it turned out, Ant-Man opened to strong reviews and cleared more than $500 million at the box office.

While we'll never know quite how brilliant Wright's version could've been, and some fans will remain salty about that forever more, it was not at all the disaster that so many were anticipating.