Most often, movies are made with the intent to show to an audience. But what happens when a movie is fully completed and is never released for a viewing? Where does the completed project go? Maybe it’s highly protected, locked away in some big metal vault, or maybe it was destroyed in a fit of rage. With so many reasons a creator might choose to scrap their work, it’s easy to become infatuated with a movie that’s never seen the light of day.

Some unreleased films even fall under the umbrella term lost media. But whether lost or simply forgotten, unreleased films are intriguing for their sense of mystery. Here, we look back at some of the unreleased films that will most likely never be shown to the public.

8 Uncle Tom’s Fairytales (1969)

     Richard Pryor

Uncle Tom’s Fairytales was directed by a film student named Penelope Spheeris that starred a then-unknown, Richard Pryor. At the time, Richard was a rising star in the world of comedy and was said to have been extremely dedicated to the success of the film. His dedication to the film is rumored to have impacted his marriage, with many believing that his wife had destroyed the negative of the film during a heated argument. However, clips of the film have circled around, though the full cut has still never seen the light of day.

7 Bill Cosby: 77 (2014)

     Netflix

Bill Cosby: 77 was a comedy special that centered around the now-infamous Bill Cosby, set to air on Netflix in 2014. However, that same year, accusations of abuse and misconduct began piling up against the actor/ comedian. By the time the film was set to roll out, it was decided that releasing the film was highly inappropriate. As of today, Netflix has not announced any plans to release the documentary to its streaming service.

6 The Day the Clown Cried (1972)

     Nat Wachsberger

This is an entry that’s better left unreleased. 1972’s The Day the Clown Cried took an extremely strange and tone-deaf approach to the world’s greatest tragedy: the Holocaust. The story follows a clown as he is imprisoned in a concentration camp during the height of World War II. After production wrapped, Director Jerry Lewis was rightfully embarrassed by the movie and kept it locked away for decades in the hopes that no one would ever see it.

5 Glitterati (2004)

     Roger Avary

Glitterati is another controversial edition to this list. The film is said to follow a man on his travels as he woos and seduces many European women. The movie was supposedly unreleased because it was “ethically questionable” in the eyes of creator Roger Avary. However, 90 minutes of the film were fully shot and edited into what can be considered a completed cut of the film; it’s only known to have been seen by a few people during surprise screenings, but other than that, has never been made available to the public.

4 Don’s Plum (1996)

     Polo Pictures Entertainment

This next film is banned in the US and Canada, starring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. Don’s Plum focuses on a group of friends as they gather at a restaurant with different women in each week; it’s said to have been free-flowing and mostly ad libbed, with very little concrete plot. However, Leo and Tobey felt their performances were so raw and real that it would negatively impact their reputations. It’s likely that this movie will never be available again in either of the aforementioned countries.

3 Big Bug Man (2006)

     Studio-Free Studio

Big Bug Man is another unreleased film that features a star-studded cast. The movie stars big names like Brendan Fraser, however, one of the biggest additions to the voice cast was Marlon Brando. In fact, this production would have Brando’s last movie ever, voicing an old Lady named Mrs. Sour. It seems like this film was completely abandoned and there have been no plans announced to release the film anytime soon.

2 Batgirl (2022)

     Warner Bros.

2022’s Batgirl may be one of the most surprising unreleased films on this list. It came as an absolute shock to fans and superhero lovers alike when it was announced that the film had been permanently scrapped, despite being backed by a budget of an estimated 90 million dollars. The movie was almost entirely complete, with months of filming under the crew’s belt. As of today, there is no plan to release the canned film to theaters or streaming platforms.

1 The Fantastic Four (1994)

     Constantin Film

The story behind 1994’s The Fantastic Four is pretty jarring. Producer Bernd Eichinger only had so much time to create a film surrounding The Fantastic Four before he lost the rights to the story. As a result, he decided to create a film as quickly as possible on a low budget, resulting in a movie that he never intended to be aired for the public. This allowed for a loophole in the contract, where he could eventually use the story for much bigger, more intricate production of the superhero story. However, the original unreleased version has still gone largely unseen to this day.