- 5/31/2025
From rushed releases to incomplete effects, these films hit theaters before they were ready for the spotlight. Join us as we explore notorious productions that suffered from unfinished elements, botched visual effects, and cobbled-together edits that left audiences scratching their heads.
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00:00What's wrong with all of you? That doesn't mean there's nothing to learn!
00:02Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're going to be counting down our picks for the films that were released with incomplete production elements, unfinished visual effects, or cobbled-together prints.
00:12You've learnt enough to take the view. The cats are very much like you.
00:20Number 10, The Mummy Returns. Back in 2001, the jury was out as to whether Dwayne The Rock Johnson could cross over into mainstream Hollywood success.
00:31The notorious CGI work on The Mummy Returns didn't exactly do the pro-wrestling legend any favors, since the film's climax featured a barely recognizable version of Johnson as the Scorpion King.
00:50There were, thankfully, a number of other features released close enough to The Mummy Returns to build up some steam for Johnson's acting career, but his big-screen debut was very nearly a one-and-done.
01:03The rest of the film wasn't nearly as disappointing as the CGI Scorpion King, thanks to Brendan Fraser, and the rest of the cast picking up the slack.
01:11Okay, now I'm a believer.
01:13Number 9, Nailed, aka Accidental Love.
01:17Ask any major Hollywood director out there, and you'll probably find at least one cinematic skeleton in their closet.
01:23Oh, that's really good, right?
01:24Yeah, that could be good.
01:25Frankly, that's kind of a pain in the ass.
01:28David O. Russell utilized a pseudonym on the final print of Nailed, also known as Accidental Love, in 2015.
01:35This was thanks to the American Hustle director effectively abandoning the footage he shot for Nailed back in 2008.
01:41It's not broken talking of broken, it's a good idea.
01:44Or an idea, it's the only one we've got.
01:46The years in between saw a print being cobbled together, a new title added, and the final product being released, all without Russell's involvement.
01:53The unfinished nature of the film is clear from viewing its final version, as audiences are left without a proper resolution to this romantic comedy.
02:00I don't, uh, I don't think you need to think about that right now.
02:03Number 8, Amazing Adventures of Zhu, aka The Power of Zhu.
02:07Do you remember Zhu Zhu Pets?
02:08They will dance so gracefully at the Zhu Zhu Jubilee!
02:12Princess Snowcup and Chris Dashington can dance all night at the Zhu Zhu Ball!
02:15An enchanted kingdom for one and all!
02:17Do you remember the Zhu Zhu Pets movie?
02:19Well, bet she didn't know that a second Zhu Zhu movie was released back in 2012.
02:23Sort of, anyway.
02:24A televised version of the second unreleased film, The Power of Zhu, was discreetly distributed in France and Brazil, under the title, The Amazing Adventures of Zhu.
02:33This is correct.
02:35This was done covertly by Universal, and the company was then sued for its handling of this second entry in a four-picture deal with Sepia LLC.
02:42It's unclear as to why The Power of Zhu wasn't released straight to DVD like the first film, but critics and lost media enthusiasts surmised that either came down to quality or tax issues.
02:52What do you mean?
02:56Whoa!
02:57Number 7, Mortal Kombat Annihilation.
03:00Fans of the franchise had to wait over two decades after the failure of this film in order to receive their R-rated reward.
03:06The Earth was created in six days, so too shall it be destroyed.
03:14And on the seventh day, mankind will rest in peace.
03:20Lawrence Kasanoff, who produced Annihilation, admitted in Luke Owen's 2017 book, Lights, Camera, Game Over, How Video Game Movies Get Made, that the film's effects were unfinished.
03:30You must help us with your powers, if you want to stop crying.
03:39Let's hope you succeed.
03:41The final product received a rushed release in order to meet a planned date, rather than allowing for a completed creative vision.
04:01Granted, the film has achieved some latter-day appreciation from the so-bad-it's-good crowd, but this is a textbook example of an IP receiving little to no attention from its production company.
04:18Number 6, Wagons East.
04:20The world misses John Candy.
04:22We'll always remember this all-time great cinematic funny man, but we just wish Wagons East wasn't his final effort.
04:28You sure you're not hungry?
04:31I don't eat meat.
04:34When I'm drinking.
04:37Look, I know he looks a little unsteady.
04:40But I'm telling you, there's something about him.
04:42Something in his eyes.
04:43The star tragically died during the production of this critically-panned comedy western, and the final print utilized a number of creative patches to hold the entire thing together for release.
04:52We're, uh, going, uh, east.
04:57East.
04:58Do you have a problem with that?
05:00Well, I don't know.
05:01Don't hardly seem right.
05:04I've always gone west.
05:05There are reused shots of Candy, various script rewrites, as well as body double and CGI stand-ins for when Candy absolutely needed to be on screen.
05:14It's unclear as to whether or not Wagons East might have succeeded if Candy had lived to see the production through the end.
05:19As it stands now, we'll just watch Uncle Buck instead.
05:21That's a good idea.
05:22Number 5, Grizzly 2 Revenge.
05:261976's Grizzly was an example of the animal attack sub-genre of exploitation cinema.
05:30It's unclear today whether the footage shot by director Andre Zotz in 1983 could have ever stood up as a sequel to William Girdler's cult classic.
05:44All we have is a reworked version of the work print, which was leaked online.
05:48Interestingly, Charlie Sheen, Laura Dern, and George Clooney make early career appearances in the 1983 footage, albeit briefly.
05:55Lance, would you just be a darling and clean up for me?
05:59Fine, but you know, only for you.
06:04The film's co-producer, Suzanne C. Neji, was abandoned by her original investor, and the end results of Grizzly 2 Revenge, released almost 40 years later, feel like a desperate attempt to have something to show for all of this production hell.
06:16You shot the wrong grizzly.
06:18Murdering butcher!
06:20See!
06:21Sam!
06:21The man's colored blind, he can't even tell what a male looks like.
06:24Get back into the trophy!
06:26That's enough.
06:26A tranquilizer gun would've worked for Stan!
06:27You two go now.
06:28Fine!
06:29Number 4, Sphere.
06:31There have been numerous adaptations of author Michael Crichton's work, from the critically acclaimed Jurassic Park, to the less beloved The Andromeda Strain, and The 13th Warrior.
06:39What the hell are you saying?
06:41The 13th Warrior is you.
06:44The production budget of Sphere was eaten up by a lot of underwater photography.
06:48The movie was set to release on December 12, 1997, but amid poor testing, it was pushed to February the following year.
06:54What the hell is it?
06:55Whatever it is, it seems to be what this bird was designed to do.
06:58A month before release, director Barry Levinson did reshoots, but it wasn't enough to save the film, which feels rushed and unfinished.
07:06Call this one a case of what could've been.
07:08Pulling us out, wait a minute, what do you mean, pulling us out? What does that mean, pulling us out?
07:11Uh, what part of pull-out don't you understand, Ted? Extraction. We're leaving.
07:15Number 3, The Devil Inside.
07:18It's one of the most infamous insults to audiences in cinematic history, a horror movie with an ending that made viewers so mad that it routinely tops lists such as this one.
07:27I really need to understand what happened.
07:33We're talking, of course, about The Devil Inside.
07:35Specifically, it was the gall of its creators to end their tale of demonic possession with a car crash and direction to a website for audiences to seek more information.
07:44To be fair, the film's screenwriters stuck to their guns and defended their decision to cut the devil inside in this fashion.
08:02Unfortunately, that doesn't negate the fact that this flick, which barely runs 83 minutes, was essentially released without an ending.
08:09She's waking up.
08:10I don't have much time, Michael.
08:13Number 2, A Sound of Thunder.
08:15Ray Bradbury is another legend who's had plenty of adaptations of his work hit the silver screen.
08:20You are true pioneers on the very last frontier, time.
08:24Movie fans will likely want to forget 2005's A Sound of Thunder, however, as would most of those involved with this doomed production.
08:31The film's original budget of $55 million would probably not have been enough to bring Bradbury's time travel adventure to life, and the revised budget of $80 million wasn't much better.
08:40It's awfully expensive.
08:41What's the point of being rich if you don't buy things other people can't afford?
08:44The company behind A Sound of Thunder, Franchise Pictures, went under during post-production.
08:49As a result, the end product went out with unfinished effects, a sad end to what could have been a worthy addition to Bradbury's cinematic legacy.
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09:18Number 1. Cats
09:22It's one of the most notable box office disasters of this last decade, an embarrassment for nearly everybody involved.
09:28Are you blind when you're born?
09:30Can you see in the dark?
09:32Can you look at a king?
09:36There was a lot of attention paid to the WTF levels of bizarreness from the special effects of Cats.
09:42The visuals here are more than just an uncanny valley of feline creepiness.
09:46This is downright unsettling cinema.
09:48The rump-pump-todder is a curious cat.
09:52The re-release of Cats attempted to fix the unfinished CGI on the actors and backgrounds, but by that point, it was too late.
09:58The word of bomb was already firmly attached to Cats, and it was never going away.
10:02And we will always have the memories, like them or not, of watching this train wreck first-hand.
10:07A dog and say a cat is not a dog.
10:17What do you think could have saved these films? Let us know in the comments.
10:20So which way do we go, huh?
10:22That way.
10:24You sure?
10:25I know which way we're going.
10:41Ok, let's see.
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