THE DEFINITIVE LIST OF CANCELLED MOVIE PROJECTS

ABOMINABLE: Announced back in 1995 with Renny Harlin mentioned as a possible director. The story centered around a UN task force sent to look for missing Red Cross workers in the Himalayas.... who have been dispatched by the title creature.

HOLY BLOOD: Jean-Claude Van Damme was set to reunite with frequent collaborator Shelden Lettich in 2007 for HOLY BLOOD. Lettich co-wrote the script with John Dombrow.... which was described as THE EXORCIST meets THE X-FILES.

THE BREED: Jean Claude Van Damme announced at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival that he was making a horror movie called THE BREED. He stated that the project contained ---- "a great story.... great script with true emotion." He also stated that it was to take place in a village.... where strange things started happening.

COVER PLAY: Jean Claude Van Damme was set to star in this project around 2004 / 2005 for Bauer Martinez Studios.... as Eddie Reed.... a reformed thief who is accidentally trapped inside of the Seven Wonders casino-hotel when it's taken over by Russian terrorists.

THE MONK: Van Damme promoted this project at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.... where he was set to play at the forementioned monk. It was decided that the project was too close in tone to RUSH HOUR 2.... and was subsequently cancelled.

KARATE: Announced around 2007 for Rodin Entertainment.... Jean Claude Van Damme was set to play a master of Karate.... that had to do battle with cage fighters in Las Vegas.

THE TOWER (A.K.A. THE PITBULL): This project.... announced in 2014.... originally started out as KARATE.... before it evolved into something a bit more metaphysical. THE TOWER is ---- “the story of a man who loses the feeling of fear.... a man who will go from a new family as an adopted war machine and will have to face the ground door of Las Vegas (“Stage of the Warriors”).... which will be a tournament to decide who will be the strongest fighter on earth!" Also onboard was Van Damme's son Kris.... who would portray a character that he would have to square off against in the finale.

KUMITE: Jean Claude Van Damme was working on this project from Hannibal Pictures in 2004.... who was also onboard as writer / director. Van Damme was to play Vic Latour.... the only westerner to ever win two successive Kumite tournaments.... who returns to defend his title after years of alcoholism and despair.... overcoming great odds to achieve greater glory.

SANDBLAST: In May of 1996....Warner Bros. offered Jean Claude Van Damme the role of the main villain in their upcoming movie.... an action thriller titled SANDBLAST. Described as both DIE HARD and CLIFFHANGER in a sandstorm.... the original spec script was written by Steven Maeda in 1993.... who sold it to Warner Bros. and producer Joel Silver for $750,000. When the project first started in 1995.... Eddie Murphy was originally going to play the lead role due to him wanting to do more serious action movie roles.... but eventually he left to star in METRO and in 1996..... Wesley Snipes signed up to star in SANDBLAST for a $10 million paycheck.

The plot of the film would have been about an ex-landmine expert and army specialist who joins up with a team of commandos who are sent into the Iraq desert sometime after the Gulf War to find lost nuclear warheads.... and they have to do this while dealing with deadly terrain..... a huge sandstorm..... and a team of traitorous Green Berets who are also looking for warheads..... led by Van Damme. However..... Van Damme refused to play the villain and he also didn't like that his character would get killed in the end by Snipes. Despite the studio already securing the budget and cast and crew for the film.... it was ultimately cancelled. Warner Bros. still honored it's $10 million commitment with Snipes however.... and offered him the lead in MURDER AT 1600 instead.

STEEL DONKEYS: Sometime in early 90's before he got involved in HARD TARGET.... Jean Claude Van Damme was going to be involved in another movie project with Sam Raimi.... who was going to produce and maybe even direct the horror thriller titled STEEL DONKEYS based on the spec script by cult South African director and screenwriter Richard Stanley.

The story of the script.... which was said to be very violent and gory.... followed gang of thieves (Van Damme was going to play the leader of the gang) who break into some old bank in Amsterdam during Queen's Day festival.... and while they are stealing the diamonds from the bank the gang members accidentally release an alien shape-shifting demon (this would explain the STEEL DONKEYS title which is a term Jamaican yardies use for this kind of soul sucking demon) who was trapped inside the building since second World War.... and after police shows up and put the building under siege.... gang members have to find a way to survive and escape while at the same time fighting against the demon who starts possessing and killing them one by one.

THE GREAT ESCAPE: In the late 90's.... a remake of the classic film was rumored to be in development.... with Jean-Claude Van Damme attached in a supporting role.

SHADOW OF DEATH: After the domestic and international box office success of HARD TARGET.... Universal Pictures.... production company Alphaville (producers Jim Jacks and Sean Daniel).... star Jean-Claude Van Damme and director John Woo briefly considered re-teaming for another action/thriller to be titled SHADOW OF DEATH. However.... due to the difficult relationship between Van Damme and Woo.... the project never materialized.

DOUBLE X2 ACTION: Another project from Rodin Entertainment that was announced in 2018.... Van Damme was attached to play three characters.... two of which were the same age.... and one that was much older.

FALCONMAN: Also announced by Rodin Entertainment back in 2018.... Van Damme was attached to play a superhero of sorts.... who had to fight villains who created an Artificial Intelligence Drone Predator.

THREE COYOTES: Yet another project announced by Rodin Entertainment in 2018.... the film was a western that would feature Van Damme's children (Kris and Bianca) as co-stars.

BLOOD ON THE MOON: Warner Bros. project that focused on Seagal hunting down a modern pirate gang that killed his family. It was written by Scott Phillips and Steven Wang. One of the many projects set by Julius R. Nasso.... who was trying to extort Seagal at the time.

WHITE STAR: Another Warner Bros. project that was based on the novel of the same name. Seagal would've played a former sniper.... whose family is stalked by another sniper that he encountered in the Vietnam War. This project would've also reunited Seagal with director Dwight H. Little.

SECRET SMILE: Warner Bros. project that would've focused on a special agent played by Seagal.... who is tracking down a criminal genius and has to take smart drugs to help him.

BLACK TOP: Warner Bros. project where Seagal was to play a high-end car thief. There was also another rumored project with a similar premise called SMASH AND GRAB.... so not I'm not sure if both projects are really one and the same.

YAKUZA: Warner Bros. project that had Seagal playing a former FBI agent.... who has to save his friend's daughter who was kidnapped by Yakuza traffickers.

HOUSE OF THUNDER: Rumored project that had Seagal hunting down a lost nuclear weapon.

CYPHER: Steven Seagal was to headline a $25,000,000 budgeted action thriller called CYPHER. The script.... penned by Seagal.... was about a special forces operative who.... frustrated with the bureaucracy of war.... goes rogue and tries to exterminate terrorists being protected by the government. Seagal was also set to produce with Sergei Bespalev.

GENGHIS KHAN: Seagal had plans to follow in the footsteps of John Wayne and star in a biopic of Genghis Khan.

SNOW BLIND: In the early 90's.... Steven Seagal wanted to branch out into different genres.... namely horror. He tasked Ethan Dettenmaier at Warner Bros. to pitch him several ideas.... one of which was SNOW BLIND. Sounding very similar to Universal's ABOMINABLE with Jean-Claude Van Damme.... the story was going to center on a special op soldier who searches for the survivors of a crashed helicopter in the Himalayas.

THE BOUNTY: Seagal was set to reteam with Michael Jai White in 2020 for this Michael Merino project.... which focused on a bounty hunter and his private network of elite vigilantes.... who must prevent a dangerous international crime syndicate from establishing absolute power.

THE FEW: WWII epic that was rumored to involve Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer.

WHAT MAKES SAMMY RUN?: Cruise was one of several actors mentioned to star in a movie version of the 1941 novel about a vicious hustler who climbs to the top of the movie industry.

CRIMINAL CONVERSATION: Cruise/Wagner Productions purchased the film rights to the gangster thriller by Ethan Hunter in 1994.... with Cruise possibly starring in the project as well.

AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS: Guillermo Del Toro’s passion project was to be an expensive adaptation of the supposedly unfilmable H.P. Lovecraft novel.... co-written by Matthew Robbins. Warner Bros. put the project into turnaround in 2006.... but in 2010 James Cameron committed to producing a 3-D version starring Tom Cruise. In March 2011.... Universal refused to greenlight the project due to Del Toro’s insistence that it be released with an R rating. In May 2012.... Del Toro announced that Ridley Scott’s soon-to-be-released Lovecraftian science fiction film PROMETHEUS.... covering similar territory to his envisaged production.... had convinced him that his project would be redundant.

BROADWAY BRAWLER: Willis was to have played a down-on-his-luck hockey player in this 1997 comedy.... but three weeks into filming.... he exercised his right as co-producer and fired everyone.... including director Lee Grant. Production never resumed.

KANE & LYNCH: Bruce Willis was set to appear in a live-action adaptation of the video game Kane & Lynch. Willis was set to play Kane.... with Jamie Foxx onboard to play Lynch.

THE NIGHT JOB: In 2001.... Dennis Hopper and Val Kilmer were attached to play a corrupt cop and an ex-con on parole. The film was never made.

DODSWORTH: Ford had been expected to play a retired business tycoon with a disintegrating marriage in a proposed remake of the 1936 film.

HAWAII 5-0: DAY OF INFAMY: There was a script floating around the late 90's for a movie version of the classic television series. Not much is known about the project.... other than the script was focused on events that were tied to the bombing of Pearl Harbor.... and that Harrison Ford was being sought for the lead.

CRUSADE: In the mid-nineties.... Arnold Schwarzenegger and director Paul Verhoeven were attached to CRUSADE for Carolco Pictures. The big-budget epic about the Crusades was far into pre-production and the cast also included Jennifer Connelly.... Gary Sinise.... and John Turturro. Carolco was having financial troubles at the time however.... and had to choose between filming the $100,000,000+ CRUSADE or the (initial) $75,000,000 CUTTHROAT ISLAND. They chose the latter.... which ultimately bankrupted the studio.

WITH WINGS AS EAGLES: The film is a WWII drama based on a true story about a German officer who helped American POWs escape.

SGT. ROCK: In the late 80's and early 90's.... Arnold Schwarzenegger was attached to play SGT. ROCK in a film produced by Joel Silver.... with screenplays written by David Webb Peoples.... Steven E. de Souza.... John Milius.... and Brian Helgeland depicting Rock as a German-American father before John Cox wrote a new screenplay unrelated to the previous drafts. Eventually.... Cox stated that Schwarzenegger was no longer attached to star in the project.

REDWORLD: Cage was expected to play a man living in a world where China is the dominant superpower.... and no one is allowed to speak any other language except Chinese. When he speaks English to his wife on her death bed.... he is hunted by the Chinese government.

SPY HUNTER: In the summer of 2003.... Universal Pictures acquired the rights to the 1983 arcade game Spy Hunter from Midway Games. The following September.... Universal signed Dwayne Johnson to star in the film adaptation based on the game. When the project was halted in 2005.... Johnson left the project.

RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA: Freeman has been attached to an adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's novel since the 90's.

BURNT SIENNA: This late 90's project at MGM would've had Brosnan play a villainous arms dealer named Bellasar.... who tries to convince an artist named Chase to paint a portrait of his wife Sienna. Conflict arises when the CIA use Chase to try and bring down Bellasar.

LUCIFER: Wesley Snipes was attached to this late 90's project.... that dealt with a law firm run by Satan. Most likely cancelled because the similar themed THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE.

TOTALLY LONDON: A New Line Cinema project from 1992 that would've had Pauly Shore star as a nanny to a group of British kids in London. Shore had a deal with Disney at the time and so Jeffrey Katzenberg bought the script outright and buried it so that Shore (who desperately wanted to do it) could focus on IN THE ARMY NOW instead.

WILLIAM TELL: THE LEGEND 3D: Fraser became attached to this project in 2011.... which would've reunited him with director Eric Brevig. Anna Paquin and Til Schweiger were also onboard. Brevig was fired in 2012 by a producer.... prompting Fraser to file a lawsuit against him that year.... claiming that he never secured the proper financing for the film.

NOSEBLEED: Chan was to play a window washer that had to thwart the second terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The project was cancelled after the attacks on 9/11.

THE TERRACOTTA WARRIOR: Chan was to play an ancient stone warrior that magically came to life.

THE BAD MOON RISING: Skeet Ulrich and Drew Barrymore were going to have a SCREAM reunion of sorts.... in this project that dealt with Vietnam veterans who were also werewolves.... that wreak havoc on a small town.

STRAY DAWGZ: Ice Cube was set to star in this project.... which was described as BLADE with werewolves.

UNTITLED FATTY ARBUCKLE BIOPIC: Farley was set to star in the project before his untimely death.

THE GELFIN: Farley was set to star as a genie-like character. At the time of Farley's death.... the project was put on hold due to the star being unable to get insured because of his substance abuse issues. Cuba Gooding Jr. was attached to the project later on.... before the project ultimately fell apart.

WEDDING BANNED: After OLD DOGS underperformed at the box-office.... Disney cancelled a planned comedy called WEDDING BANNED that was set to star Robin Williams and Anna Faris.

JOSIAH'S CANON: Sean Connery was expected to receive a salary of $15 million for his work on the project. The story involved a Holocaust survivor that leads the world's foremost team of bank robbers. The criminal mastermind sets his sights on a supposedly impenetrable bank in Switzerland.... which holds special appeal: It purportedly houses gelt deposited by Jews prior to the Holocaust.

THE WHITE COMPANY: Back in 1994.... Sean Connery was attached to director Nicholas Meyer's THE WHITE COMPANY.... based on the story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

MR. PRESIDENT: Chris Tucker was set to direct in star in a project centered around the first black President of the United States. The project was in direct competition with the similarly themed HEAD OF STATE.

DOUBLE O SOUL: Chris Tucker was set to star in a satire of the James Bond films.

VERTICAL RUN: Around 1996.... The Wachowskis wrote a script for a film adaptation of Joseph R. Garber's thriller VERTICAL RUN. Kurt Russell was being courted to star.

SHI: Back in the mid-90's.... Carrere was attached to star in the film SHI.... which was based on the comic of the same name.

THE LAST PHAROAH: Will Smith was attached to the Randall Wallace penned historical action / drama. Smith was to play the Pharoah Taharqa and was planning on producing through his production company.... Overbrook Entertainment.... along with his longtime business partner James Lassiter. Ken Stovitz was also onboard as a producer. Carl Franklin and Chris Hauty worked on earlier versions of the script.

PRIDE AND PREDATOR: Natalie Portman was set to star in the project for Rocket Pictures.... that focused on a hostile extraterrestrial that is dropped into Jane Austin's classic tale of love and social politics in early 18th century England. Will Clark was onboard to write and direct.... with Andrew Kemble and John Pape working on the script.... with Steve Hamilton Shaw producing.

THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUDINI: Depp was attached to star in the project based on the 2006 book. The plot revolved around master magician Harry Houdini....who lead a secret life as a spy for Britain. In 2009.... Nathan Nathanson was hired to write and direct. In 2012... Gary Ross was chosen as the new director.... but left the project soon after and was replaced by Dean Parisot in 2013. Dan Trachtenberg came onboard to direct in 2014 with Depp still attached to the titular character.... but the project has seemingly fallen by the wayside.

TICK TOCK: Back in 2001.... Lopez signed on as the lead for the thriller TICK TOCK for Colombia Pictures. The story focused on an amnesiac who wakes up in FBI custody as the prime suspect to bombings in the Los Angeles area. The suspect and a young FBI agent (Lopez) race through the streets of Los Angeles trying to find and disarm the bombs.... while the suspect desperately tries to remember who he is and whether he planted the explosives.

DROP DEAD FRED: Brand was set to star in a remake of the 1991 film at one time.

BAD FATHER: Co-written by Brand and Matt Morgan.... this Adam Sandler produced comedy was about a conman posing as a priest.

RENTAGHOST: This was to be a feature film based on the children's television program of the same name. The project was picked up by Fox Studios in 2011.... with Ben Stiller attached as well.

SPROCKETS: Myers was set to pick up a $15,000,000 paycheck to star in a film version of his SNL skit. Myers caused the project to stall when he felt that the script needed to be overhauled.... even though he was the one who wrote it.

STOMPANATO: In 2005.... Reeves was set to play the role of opportunistic lowlife Johnny Stompanato.... who was involved with film star Lana Turner.

SUSPENSION: Liam Neeson was attached to star in this Joss Whedon scripted action picture. The plot focused on terrorists attacking the George Washington Bridge.... who do battle with ex-con Harry Monk (Neeson). Whedon was paid $750,000 for the script which he wrote way back in 1993.... with an additional $250,000 coming his way once the film was actually made. Neeson didn't become attached to the project until 2014.

NEED: Diane Lane was attached to this thriller from director Marcus Nispel back in 2003. The film set up at Paramount Pictures.... centered on a therapist’s discovery that one of her female patients was having an affair with her husband.

BARTHOLOMEW V. NEFF: John Candy was attached to this comedy from John Hughes.... with Sylvester Stallone set to co-star.

THE GOLEM: Bronson was set to star in this remake of the classic tale in the late 80's. The story focused on a rabbi in New York City.... who activated a supernatural clay golem stored in his attic after his wife is slain by local hoodlums. Bronson was attached to the project as a police detective investigating the killings.

THE FOUR HORSEMEN: Bronson was attached to star in this action pic where he had to do battle with terrorists who took control of Alcatraz. It was unrelated to the Connery / Cage picture THE ROCK from 1996.

SAILOR MOON: Geena Davis was attached to star in a live-action adaptation of the anime SAILOR MOON in the 90's.... as the evil Queen Beryl.

THE DIVE: After Audrey Mestre's accident.... Francisco Ferreras wrote THE DIVE.... which became an international bestseller. In 2015.... James Cameron acquired the movie rights and was producing the film. Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence had been cast to play Audrey Mestre. Francis Lawrence.... director of THE HUNGER GAMES was attached to direct. The film was being compared to Cameron's earlier blockbuster movie.... TITANIC.... and was scheduled to be released in 2017. Since then.... there have been no further announcements.

SANFORD AND SON: In the 90's.... Samuel L. Jackson was said to be attached to the project.... based on the 70's series of the same name. Chris Rock was mentioned as his co-star.