7 Abandoned Movie Crossovers (And Why They Fell Apart)
3. Jay And Silent Bob/Hellraiser
The Crossover: Jay and Silent Bob have popped up in a good chunk of Kevin Smith's movies, and while the two characters were never mainstream favourites, they have a strong cult following to this day. Back in the early 2000s, this popularity almost led to their craziest adventure yet: a Hellraiser crossover.
Smith discussed this movie back in 2012, in a chat with CraveOnline. The actor-director told a story about how former Miramax chairman Bob Weinstein pitched him the idea of combining Jay and Silent Bob with a prominent horror icon, such as Michael Myers or Pinhead:
"Bob Weinstein said to me one day on the phone, this was after Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, he goes, 'Think about what Abbott and Costello did. They met the monsters.' This was back in the day at Miramax, not even The Weinstein Company. He’s like, 'We have Hellraiser, Pinhead. We have Michael Myers, Halloween... why not Jay and Bob meeting the modern day monsters so it’s kind of like Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein or The Wolfman but instead it’s Jay and Bob meeting Pinhead?'"
Even Ben Affleck - Smith's close friend - thought this idea was a good one:
"I remember I told Ben Affleck that idea. Next time I spoke to Ben, I was like, ‘Bob Weinstein told me, he suggested that I do Jay and Silent Bob vs. Hellraiser.’ And Affleck starts laughing, and then he stops and he goes, ‘You know what, man? That movie would make $100 million.’"
Why It Fell Apart: It's clear that this was simply a fun discussion between Smith and Weinstein rather than a serious possibility, but the outlandish nature of Jay and Silent Bob means you can plug them into pretty much any type of movie, and it will work.
But with Smith currently in the process of rebooting the two characters, it's unclear what the future holds for them - just don't expect them to meet Pinhead any time soon.