(NEXSTAR) – After being shelved by Warner Bros. Discovery in 2023, the fully completed “Coyote vs. Acme” film was rescued from near-certain obscurity by another distribution company last month.
The movie, a live-action/animated comedy starring Will Forte, John Cena, and a bunch of Looney Tunes characters, was one of three films that Warner Bros. Discovery had elected to essentially bury in their vault in exchange for tax write-offs. The other two were Batgirl, starring Leslie Grace and Michael Keaton, and Scoob! Holiday Haunt, a prequel to 2020’s Scoob! (All three films were greenlit before a change in leadership at Warner Bros. amid a merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc. in 2022.)
Speaking on the decision to scrap the films’ releases, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said at the 2023 New York Times DealBook Summit that his team had scrapped certain projects or releases that didn’t fit into their idea for the future of the company. Therefore, it didn’t make financial sense to “spend another $30 or $40 million to promote them,” he said.
“When I look at the health of our company today, we needed to make those decisions,” Zaslav claimed. “And it took real courage.”
Fortunately for Looney Tunes fans, Ketchup Entertainment announced in late March that it had struck a deal to purchase the rights to “Coyote vs. Acme,” and was making plans for a theatrical release in 2026.
“We’re thrilled to have made a deal with Warner Bros. Pictures to bring this film to audiences worldwide,” Gareth West, chief executive of Ketchup Entertainment, said in a statement. “‘Coyote vs Acme’ is a perfect blend of nostalgia and modern storytelling, capturing the essence of the beloved Looney Tunes characters while introducing them to a new generation.”
Other shelved films, however, haven’t been so lucky. Here’s a look at five near-finished films you’ll likely never get to see.
‘Batgirl’
As briefly mentioned above, a film based on the DC Comics character “Batgirl” was in post-production when executives at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) decided to scrap it in 2022. The cast included Leslie Grace (“In the Heights”) in the title role, with Michael Keaton reprising his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman, J.K. Simmons as James Gordon and Brendan Fraser as the villain Firefly.
The movie, directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (“Bad Boys for Life,” “Bad Boys: Ride or Die”), was originally intended for release on HBO Max, but the new leadership at WBD reportedly considered throwing extra money at the filmmakers for additional special effects and reshoots to make it more of a theatrical event, according to sources who spoke with Rolling Stone. But they reportedly didn’t think it was a worthwhile investment.
Peter Safran, who took over as co-CEO of DC Studios (a division of WBD) in October 2022, later said David Zaslav’s team made the right decision in shelving the film, which he called “not releasable.”
“It would not have been able to compete in the theatrical marketplace; it was built for the small screen,” Safran said during a press event, per Variety.
‘Golden’
The most recent unreleased film on the list, “Golden,” was a movie musical loosely based on the childhood of musician Pharrell Williams and directed by Michel Gondry (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”). The cast included Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers), Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid), Janelle Monet (Hidden Figures), and Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary). Kelvin Harrison Jr. (The Trial of the Chicago 7, Elvis) was the “Pharrellian” stand-in, in his words.
Also lending their talents to the film were composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (“Dear Evan Hansen,” “The Greatest Showman”), who worked alongside Pharrell to write songs for the movie.
During post-production, however, Gondry and Pharrell said the project was not living up to their expectations.
“When all of us got into the editing room, we collectively decided there wasn’t a path forward to tell the version of this story that we originally envisioned,” the two said in a joint statement to Variety in 2025.
By that time, Pharrell had already also produced and starred in the 2024 film Piece by Piece, a biopic/documentary of the musician’s life “told through the lens of LEGO animation.”
‘A Woman of the Sea’
It’s not uncommon for a silent film to be lost to history, but “A Woman of the Sea,” filmed in 1926, had the makings of an early classic. Produced by Charlie Chaplin and directed by Joseph Von Steinberg (who would go on to direct “The Blue Angel” and “Shanghai Express”), the movie was meant to mark the return of Edna Purviance, who had previously starred in dozens of Chaplin’s films, but had fallen out of the spotlight years prior.
After filming, Chaplin reportedly didn’t love the early cut of the movie — which was the only one of his productions that he allowed another director to helm — and shelved it.
“It is learned the picture cost around $90,000 to make but that Chaplin felt it was not up to the standard he would like to have associated with his name. Therefore, the film will remain as it is until Chaplin gets a chance to remake it himself,” Variety wrote in 1926.
But Chaplin didn’t remake it. Purviance retired from acting the following year, and in June 1933, Chaplin arranged to have the film negatives burned — in front of multiple witnesses — for tax purposes.
‘The Day the Clown Cried’
Partially completed footage of “The Day the Clown Cried” has found its way online in more recent years, but the entire movie — produced in 1972 — was never given a release. And that’s likely how Jerry Lewis wanted it.
Directed by and starring Lewis, “The Day the Clown Cried” centered on down-and-out German clown Helmut Doork (Lewis), who is imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust. During Doork’s time in the camp, he attempts to entertain the Jewish child prisoners before ultimately dying alongside them.
Skeptics of the film’s production were initially wary of Lewis’ involvement, as he was primarily known for comedic performances, according to Deadline. Rough cuts of the film were later criticized for what some viewers saw as a mishandling of the subject matter. Harry Shearer (“This Is Spinal Tap,” “The Simpsons”) who was shown an unfinished version in the early ‘70s, told Spy magazine in 1992 that it was “so drastically wrong” and likened it to a velvet painting of Auschwitz in that it was “trying so hard in the wrong way.”
Joan O’Brien, who wrote the original screenplay (which was reworked by Lewis), owned the rights to the story and resisted releasing the movie, she told Spy magazine. Lewis was also reportedly disputing with the film’s producer about financing, after having used his own money to finish filming.
Lewis would later admit the production was misguided, claiming he had a hand in hiding it from viewers.
“In terms of that film, I was embarrassed. I was ashamed of the work. And I’m grateful that I had the power to contain it all, and never let anybody see it,” he said during a Q&A session in 2013. “It was bad, bad, bad. It could have been wonderful. But I slipped up. I didn’t quite get it. And I didn’t quite have enough sense to find out why I’m doing and maybe there would be an answer. It will never be seen.”
Lewis did, however, donate reels from the film, as well as behind-the-scenes footage and audio, to the Library of Congress, which made them available for research purposes in 2024. But even the Library of Congress says it “does not hold the complete film.”
‘Gore‘
A biopic about American writer Gore Vidal was filmed in 2017 with Kevin Spacey in the lead role and Douglas Booth (“Noah,” “Jupiter Ascending”) as a protegee of Vidal’s. But before its scheduled release on Netflix, Spacey was accused of sexual misconduct, as well as inappropriate behavior on the set of his Netflix show “House of Cards.” (Spacey’s role in another film, “All the Money in the World,” was also reshot with Christopher Plummer as a result of the allegations.)
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, a representative for Netflix said Spacey was being dropped from “House of Cards,” and that the streaming company “will not be moving forward with the release of the film ‘Gore,’ which was in postproduction, starring and produced by Kevin Spacey.”
Booth, speaking with MovieWeb in 2024, said it was “heartbreaking” that the film hadn’t been released.
“I hope maybe one day that — you know, hundreds and hundreds of people worked on that movie — and one day that their work can be appreciated, especially for [director Michael Hoffman],” Booth said.
Spacey was ultimately found not liable or not guilty of the charges made against him, while other charges were dismissed for various reasons.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.