Movie Sequels That Never Happened

[JamesG]

Talk of a sequel to Kung Fu Hustle (2004) started after its unexpected success.

Director/Actor Stephen Chow said in 2013 that plans went on hold while he was working on CJ7 (2008), which remains as the last movie he has acted in. He then went on to direct Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013), The Mermaid (2016) and The New King of Comedy (2019).



While out promoting The New King of Comedy in 2019, Chow said the sequel to Kung Fu Hustle is still "in the works". He said that he was going to work on a sequel to Mermaid before working on "Kung Fu Hustle 2" and that it was going to be a spiritual successor set in modern day.

Chow said he may also cameo in it.

[JamesG]

Originally Posted by JamesG

It was announced in 2014 that Sony Pictures was doing a sequel to the 2010 remake of The Karate Kid.

Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan and Taraji P. Henson were set to come back with Breck Eisner on board to direct.

An update to this is that they are now doing a combined sequel w/ Karate Kid: Legends coming out in May 2025.

Ralph Macchio is reprising Daniel and Jackie Chan is reprising Mr. Han from the 2010 Karate Kid.

[JamesG]

A sequel to 1993's Dennis the Menace never happened.

Walter Matthau (Mr. Wilson) mentioned in an interview before the film was released that he was already signed on for a sequel.



A Variety article from 1996 revealed that Matthau was still attached and that production could possibly start after Grumpiest Old Men, the unmade sequel to Grumpier Old Men.

Don Rickles was then announced as Matthau's replacement in 1997, but "Dennis the Menace 2" ultimately never happened.



A standalone direct-to-video sequel, Dennis the Menace Strikes Again, was released in 1998 w/ Rickles as Mr. Wilson.

Another standalone direct-to-video sequel, A Dennis the Menace Christmas, came out in 2007.

[Race's Girl]

Sadly, there was no Thunderbirds 2 where Transom and Mullion would be members of International Rescue and the Hood would have new head honchos called Havoc and Fuse aka the Chaos Crew

[JamesG]

Originally Posted by Torgo

Another long running sequel rumor is to The Goonies, I think they even talked about it focusing on the kids of the now adult goonies.

The Goonies 2 is Officially in the Works with Chris Columbus and Steven Spielberg

https://ew.com/the-goonies-2-in-the-...ucing-11680229

[JamesG]

Lizzy Caplan has recently reflected on the scrapped Gambit movie that was to star her alongside Channing Tatum.

It was scrapped after Disney and Fox merged in 2019.



"We got down the road, we were gonna shoot it I think there was a start date. I had had meetings with Channing, and we had a director, then we didn't, but I had multiple meetings with Channing and the other producers."

Caplan described it as being, "a ’30s kind of screwball romantic comedy set in that world, which would have been really fun."



"It's kind of odd that it got scrapped. Those movies don't seem to ever get scrapped, but it did."

"I had a lot of stress about doing that kind of movie even then. So now I'm pretty okay not doing one of those movies. I can hear my manager screaming in the other room."



Tatum would go on to appear as Gambit in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine. He told Variety in 2022 that he was really disappointed that the film was scrapped.

Gambit was previously played by "Friday Night Lights" actor Taylor Kitsch in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

https://ew.com/lizzy-caplan-says-scr...omedy-11688169

[JamesG]

Eli Craig recently spoke about the sequel to Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010) and the TV series that have never happened.

“Honestly, ‘Tucker & Dale 2’ has died more deaths than the college kids in ‘Tucker & Dale,’” Craig told SlashFilm. “We’ve had so many versions that have almost got off its feet or, for one reason or another, have gotten killed. It really does set us back that people can’t look at the box office, the actual box office, of the movie.”

“It’s always been a struggle, and then when we do set it up, and we get all the pieces together, it gets killed somehow.”




“We almost did a TV show with it that was on TNT/TBS, and you’ll be happy to know that David Zaslav, the slayer of all cinema [laughs], came in and put the final nail in the coffin for ‘Tucker & Dale’ as we were about to go to series, and just canceled all production.”

Craig said that the show would’ve followed Tucker and Dale but as “detectives.” “Detective Tucker and Dale, like, stupidly trying to figure out what’s happening in a world where they’re always getting it wrong and people are dying around them.”

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/t...ff-1236393548/

[JamesG]

Rian Johnson recently spoke to Rolling Stone about the new Star Wars trilogy that never happened.


What happened with the other Star Wars trilogy there were talks of you doing?

Nothing really happened with it. We had a great time working together, and they said, “Let’s keep doing it.” I said, “Great!” I would kick ideas around with Kathy [Kennedy, Lucasfilm president].

The short version is Knives Out happened. I went off and made Knives Out, and was off to the races, busy making murder mysteries. It’s the sort of thing if, down the line, there’s an opportunity to do it, or do something else in Star Wars, I would be thrilled. But right now I’m just doing my own stuff, and pretty happy.




How far did you get in terms of an idea? Was there a whole thing mapped out, at least for what the first of those would be?

It was all very conceptual. I made Knives Out fairly quickly after. There was never any outline or treatment or anything.

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movi...ut-1235379849/

[Dude111]

When ya think about it,its amazing they made as many sequals as they did buddy

[JamesG]

Adam Driver said he pitched a Ben Solo (Kylo Ren) spin-off to Lucasfilm and Disney that was tentatively titled The Hunt for Ben Solo.

Driver said he “can finally talk about it” since it has been scrapped.




“I always was interested in doing another Star Wars,” Driver said in an interview with AP. “I had been talking about doing another one since 2021.

Kathleen (Kennedy) had reached out. I always said: With a great director and a great story, I’d be there in a second. I loved that character and loved playing him.”




Steven Soderbergh wrote the script for which Driver said was “one of the coolest (expletive) scripts I had ever been a part of.”

“We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea. They totally understood our angle and why we were doing it,” Driver said. “We took it to Bob Iger and Alan Bergman and they said no. They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that.”

Soderbergh said, “I really enjoyed making the movie in my head. I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.”

https://deadline.com/2025/10/adam-dr...ff-1236592654/

[JamesG]

Daisy Ridley is weighing in on the scrapped Star Wars spinoff film, in which Adam Driver was attached to star and reprise his role of Kylo Ren.

The film had been in development under the title of The Hunt for Ben Solo with Steven Soderbergh attached to direct. However, development of the movie was halted when Disney boss Bob Iger ultimately shot it down, despite Lucasfilm’s support for the project.




“I knew a piece of it. I heard rumblings,” Ridley told IGN.

“I have lots of friends who are crew, so things always travel like that. But, whoa! When the story came out, I was like, ‘Oh, my God!’ And it was him that said it, right? It was funny because, like, ‘Oh, wow, Adam is saying it,’ and that’s the big surprise of the year.”




On the fan campaign to get the film started, Ridley said:

“I do love when there is a collective of positivity. The way the internet seems to have rallied to try and get it to happen. I think it’s fantastic for us all. It’s good for us to all be united about something in a really positive way. Obviously, everyone knows he was a very popular character, but it was also lovely to think, ‘Wow, people really, really care and want this.’ I just … I like it. I like when people join forces — excuse the pun — from all around the world, all different sorts of people.”

https://deadline.com/2025/12/daisy-r...ie-1236644036/

[JamesG]

Steven Soderbergh Calls Disney “Insane” for Scrapping Ben Solo Movie
by James Hibberd
February 18, 2026


Ever since Adam Driver let slip in October that Disney axed a planned Star Wars movie centering on his character Ben Solo, fans of the franchise have been rather upset that the studio didn’t greenlight the project.

But nobody can possibly be as frustrated as director Steven Soderbergh, who says he wasted nearly three years working on the script for The Hunt for Ben Solo (which Driver called “one of the coolest scripts I had ever been a part of”).

In a new interview, Soderbergh was asked about outgoing Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy calling the script “great” last month. Driver had previously said that while Lucasfilm “loved” their take, Disney CEO Bob Iger and co-chairman Alan Bergman rejected the project.



“It was no surprise that [Kennedy] was frustrated,” Soderbergh said in an interview with BK Mag.

“We were all frustrated. You know, that was two and a half years of free work for me and Adam and [writer] Rebecca Blunt. When Adam and I discussed him talking about it publicly, I said, ‘Look, do not editorialize or speculate about the why. Just say what happened, because all we know is what happened.’ The stated reason was, ‘We don’t think Ben Solo could be alive.’ And that was all we were told. And so there’s nothing to do about it, you know, except move on.”



Soderbergh continued: “I’d kind of made the movie in my head, and just felt bad that nobody else was going to get to see it. I thought the conversation was strictly going to be a practical one — where they go, what is this going to cost? And I had a really good answer for that. But it never even got to that point. It’s insane. We’re all very disappointed.”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/mo...ie-1236508983/

[Torgo]

Deadgirl (2008) sequel


There's a Q&A in the novelization of Deadgirl with the film's screenwriter Trent Haaga-


Q: I've read the draft for the sequel, and it has a very different energy than the first. Tell us a little about your idea for the sequel, and is there any possibility it will be made?

A: I’m not really interested in sequels as a rule and purposefully make my stories have definitive endings (usually involving everyone dying just to make sure). The distributor of DEADGIRL was interested in a sequel, so I wrote one. I wasn’t interested in re-examining the scenarios that I did in the first one, so I went in a totally different direction. A lot of people seemed to think that the first film was misogynistic, which I find odd. it’s more misandrist than anything, in my opinion, so I wanted to try a different tact by making the Deadgirl herself the only returning character. What if Deadgirl was just a vessel through which characters could use her to fulfill their twisted fantasies? And what would that fantasy be if a woman were to find her instead of horny teenage boys? What I came up with is something that I liked to pitch as “Precious with an attack zombie.”

I’m almost 100% certain that it will never be made, but I like the screenplay, regardless. Hollywood is a crazy place, and you never know what’s gonna happen in the future.