8 Planned Movie Sequels That Unfortunately Never Happened

Not every film needs a sequel. Sometimes we find this out the hard way, when successful movies are granted follow-ups that really don’t match up to the heights of the original (The Matrix, anyone?). Other movies, however, really did deserve sequels – either because it felt like they had a lot of story left to tell, or because the end of the film promised more to come – and never ended up getting one. One sequel that's being discussed right now is Beetlejuice 2, which would see Michael Keaton and Tim Burton return to their 1980s cult horror comedy. No one seems quite sure if the film will actually happen yet, but it's certain that fans of the movie are hoping the belated sequel will eventually materialize. But what about those films whose proposed sequels were outright ditched, even though they showed a lot of promise? Here, we take a look at 8 planned movie sequels that we're still sad never happened. They all sounded pretty great and we're definitely not alone in saying it's a shame that they never came to fruition. 8) Unbreakable 2 (And 3) Something of a flop upon release, M. Night Shyamalan’s unusual superhero film Unbreakable now has a fairly strong cult following. Its fans are still crushed, then, that the plan for the movie to form the first part in a trilogy never occurred. Though evidence is conflicting, some sources say that Shyamalan devised the trilogy as a stretched-out version of the usual superhero movie narrative; Unbreakable was the origin story, the second one would have followed the period where he's saving people and the third would have seen him go up against his nemesis. After the disappointing box office return of the movie, however, all sequel plans were nixed. In recent years, stars Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson have both expressed interest in returning, though Shyamalan apparently hasn’t. Considering how his career's been panning out lately, though, an Unbreakable 2 might actually be a good idea for the director... 7) Mrs. Doubtfire 2 A follow-up to the 1993 Robin Williams vehicle Mrs. Doubtfire was stuck in development hell for a long time – with Williams himself refusing to return, as he thought all three script treatments for the movie were terrible. Eventually, director Chris Columbus talked him into it and the sequel was properly announced in April 2014. Sadly, just when things were finally heating up on the project, all plans were permanently shelved due to Robin Williams’ tragic death later that year. Mrs. Doubtfire was never a film that was exactly crying out for a sequel, and the proposed plot about Williams’ character following his daughter to college doesn’t sound amazing, but the reason it was cancelled is just so heartbreaking. We would happily take a mediocre Mrs. Doubtfire sequel if it meant we had one more film to showcase Williams’ endless comic talent. 6) Batman Unchained The fact that a third Batman movie directed by Joel Schumacher never happened isn’t something that keeps many Bat-fans up at night, but hear us out, because there was actually a lot of promise in this discarded sequel. Batman Unchained (commonly known on the internet by the fanmade name Batman Triumphant) was the planned follow-up to Batman and Robin, which would have seen George Clooney reprise his role. For the film, Schumacher was going to rein in the campiness of his previous efforts and tell more of a psychological drama, with Scarecrow and Harley Quinn (here, the Joker’s daughter) teaming up to drive Batman insane. The awesome-sounding climax would have involved a drugged-up Bats hallucinating and meeting all his previous enemies – including Jack Nicholson’s Joker and Danny DeVito’s Penguin. We don't know about you, but that sounds pretty awesome to us. After all, who wouldn’t want to see a Batman movie with every villain ever in it? 5) Ghostbusters 3 The first Ghostbusters is a veritable classic, so it's surprising that it only spawned one sequel (until now). After the so-so Ghostbusters II, however, there were plans for a third film that would bring back the originals – well, except for Bill Murray. It would have seen Ray, Egon and Winston training up a new generation of Ghostbusters, only to be transported to an alternative Hellish version of Manhattan where the gang would have met the Devil. Ivan Reitman was set to direct and Ben Stiller was expected to be one of the new Ghostbusters. Eventually, though, these plans were scrapped and the project became the upcoming reboot instead. Not to kick a horse when it’s down, but – regardless of how good the new one ends up being – we definitely would have preferred a movie with most of the old team back together. And I think that's a sentiment that most people could agree with. 4) Dredd 2 2012’s Dredd was a gift for fans of 2000AD comics character Judge Dredd, as it got right everything that the Sylvester Stallone movie from the 90s got wrong. It might have lacked the satirical edge of the comics, but it was a great thrill ride, with Karl Urban perfectly cast as the Mega City One law enforcer. It's disappointing then that the poor box office return for the movie precluded any plans for a second one. Writer Alex Garland has stated that a follow-up would have concentrated on Dredd’s origins and might have introduced his nemesis, Judge Death. Though the project has never been officially cancelled, there's little hope remaining that the sequel will ever get off the ground. Instead, fans have called for a TV series with Karl Urban back under the helmet, to be funded by Amazon or Netflix. 3) Kill Bill Vol. 3 A third film in Quentin Tarantino’s masterful revenge saga is sitting at the top of every fan of the director’s wishlist. Though news on whether the movie is happening has flip-flopped endlessly since the second installment in 2004, right now it's dead – which is a crying shame . While filming Vol 2., Tarantino stated that his plan was to do a third movie in ten or fifteen years’ time – the aim being that the young actress who played Nikki (whose mother was murdered by the Bride) would be old enough to take on the main role. Later, he confirmed that it was to come out in 2014. When it got to that stage, however, he claimed the chances of a Kill Bill Vol. 3 happening were low. Give him another year, though, and Tarantino might well say it's back on. 2) Galaxy Quest 2 Galaxy Quest is a sci-fi spoof so good that it can entertain the most hardcore Star Trek fan, or even someone who doesn’t know their Vulcans from their Klingons in equal measure. Such was the film’s universal acclaim when it was released back in 1999 that talks of a sequel have been cropping up ever since. Recently, Sam Rockwell revealed that all the major cast members of the film were in the final stages of committing to a sequel, to be made by Amazon, when co-star Alan Rickman suddenly passed away in January 2016. This, plus Tim Allen’s television commitments, meant that plans were halted. Probably forever this time. The other idea that's touted is for it to be turned into a TV series. Maybe this will happen instead, then, but we all know it won’t be the same without Rickman. 1) Gladiator 2 Gladiator 2 would almost certainly not be the best movie of all those on this list, but none of these other sequels scream out to be seen like this one. A multiple Oscar-winning movie directed by Ridley Scott, it was no wonder a Gladiator sequel was initially planned. Seeing as Maximus dies at the film’s climax, Russell Crowe came up with the idea that it would follow the gladiator in the afterlife, something Scott apparently liked. Later, rock star Nick Cave of all people wrote a script that saw Maximus resurrected by the gods and whisked around time to protect the innocent – visiting World War II, the Vietnam War and the Pentagon in the 21st century. It’s off-the-wall crazy, and it's no wonder the studio eventually decided to pass on the project. But a film with a supernatural time-travelling roman gladiator? You can’t say you wouldn’t want to see that.