30 Movies That Stopped Filming and Started Over

With the troubled production of Solo: A Star Wars Story at the forefront of everyone’s mind as we near the film’s May 25 release date, we started thinking about other films that had a similar troubled history. Hence, ComingSoon.net is presenting our list of 30 Movies That Stopped Filming and Started Over, which you can check out in the gallery below!

Now keep in mind, these films do not include movies like Justice League or Rogue One that may have simply had extensive reshoots. We’re talking about movies that either fired the director and reshot nearly all the previous footage, or retained the director and simply started over from scratch due to creative, casting or production issues. It’s common knowledge that some of the most successful films often have troubled productions, and at least half of our list contain big hits you might not have known were touch-and-go at one point. There are also, of course, movies that turned into huge losers both critically and at the box office.

As for Solo, we did not include that film in the list itself because facts are still a little nebulous as to how much of original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s footage remains in the final cut. Word has it that Ron Howard may have reshot as much as 80% of their footage, despite the fact that the original team was nearly 90% done with principal photography at the time of their termination by Lucasfilm. Only time (and NDAs) will tell if the studio ever allows us to know the true story behind the film, or see any of those excised sequences.

Which of these 30 Movies That Stopped Filming and Started Over were you most surprised to learn about? Do you know of any other good stories of such stop-and-start productions? Let us know in the comments below!

30 Movies That Stopped Filming and Started Over

Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)

Director Wes Ball confirmed to us in an interview that this threequel only shot for three days in Vancouver in March of 2016 before shutting down after star Dylan O'Brien was seriously injured on set during a stunt gone wrong. Filming resumed in South Africa a full year later in March 2017 so O'Brien could recover, and nearly all of the train sequence was reshot on the new location, save for a few shots of the stunt O'Brien injured himself performing, which were integrated into the new landscape using special effects.
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)

Terry Gilliam began filming on this fractured take on Cervantes' classic tome in September of 2000 with Jean Rochefort as Quixote and Johnny Depp as a jaded ad executive whisked into the past. A series of disasters including NATO bombing drills near the set, a flash flood and Rochefort's physical health all forced the filmmakers to abandon shooting, as chronicled in the 2002 doc Lost in La Mancha. Over the years, Gilliam struggled to regain rights to the script, then had trouble casting both Quixote (Robert Duvall, Michael Palin, John Hurt) and the young male lead (Colin Farrell, Ewan McGregor, Jack O'Connell). Filming was finally complete in 2017 in a version starring Jonathan Pryce and Adam Driver, which is scheduled to debut this month at the Cannes film festival.
Borat (2006)

Todd Phillips of The Hangover fame directed 11 days on this now-classic comedy before calling it quits after clashing with star Sacha Baron Cohen. The script Phillips wanted to make (which featured uncredited contributions from Seth Rogen and Patton Oswalt) was very different from the final film and did not feature the scene-stealing character of Azamat (Ken Davitian). It reportedly wasn't just creative differences either, as Phillips may or may not have been terrified for his career and life after the rodeo incident in Salem, Virginia where Cohen nearly incited a riot. The scene remained in the final film, which was ultimately directed by Larry Charles and went on to gross over $261 million worldwide.
Cursed (2005)

This now-forgotten Wes Craven werewolf movie had something of a cursed production, as the film was 90% complete before the infamous Weinstein brothers ordered a nearly total overhaul of the concept. Mandy Moore, Omar Epps, Illeana Douglas, Heather Langenkamp, Scott Foley, Robert Forster, Corey Feldman and lead actor Skeet Ulrich all wound up cut out of this almost entirely new version, with stars Christina Ricci and Jessie Eisenberg. Academy Award winning make-up artist Rick Baker's werewolves were also deleted and replaced with bad CGI, and the film went from a hard R to PG-13, ultimately failing at the box office. "The 'Cursed' experience was so screwed up," Craven later admitted.
Rumor Has It... (2005)

Screenwriter Ted Griffin (Ocean's Eleven) conceived of this romantic comedy about a woman (Jennifer Aniston) who finds out her mother and grandmother were the inspiration for The Graduate as his directorial debut. However, 12 days into shooting, Warner Bros. and executive producer Steven Soderbergh fired Griffin for his slow directing pace that saw the film already days behind schedule, compounded when Griffin fired his own cinematographer. Rob Reiner was brought in to replace Griffin (doing a favor for studio head Alan Horn), and he quickly overhauled the script and let go of cast members Charlie Hunnam, Lesley Ann Warren, Tony Bill, and Greta Scacchi. He also brought in Kathy Bates, who he had directed to an Oscar in Misery, along with Mike Vogel and Chris McDonald. Ultimately not a frame of what Griffin shot was in the film, and the final product was a forgettable box office dud.
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)

In one of the most famous cases, director Paul Schrader delivered a complete Exorcist prequel to studio Morgan Creek, with Stellan Skarsgård playing the Max Von Sydow role of Father Merrin, but the studio was dissatisfied with the lack of visceral gore. They brought in Renny Harlin, who wound up shooting an entirely new, more commercial film from scratch also starring Skarsgård. When Harlin's $50 million version tanked at the box office, Morgan Creek agreed to release Schrader's $30 million version as Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, albeit with only limited time and funds for Schrader to finish post production. Schrader's version, while considered an improvement on Harlin's, was still poorly received. Still, it is a rare case where two complete, distinct versions of the same film exist.
The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)

Animation is so meticulously planned every step of the way that it's rare for a concept to be completely overhauled deep into production, but that's exactly what happened with the ill-fated Disney film Kingdom of the Sun. Director Roger Allers (The Lion King) conceived of the movie as a dramatic epic musical inspired by "Prince and the Pauper," centering on an Incan emperor who swaps places with the peasant, and an evil witch who wants to destroy the sun so she can live forever. Reeling from the disappointing box office of similarly serious Pocahontas and Hunchback of Notre Dame, and worried about Allers being behind schedule, Disney decided to scrap this take with 25% of the film already finished and Sting having composed eight songs. Cast members like Owen Wilson and Harvey Fierstein were dropped from the voice cast, and a new, cheaper buddy road comedy titled The Emperor's New Groove was born from the project, which proved to be a box office dud.
The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)

Originally planned as an original film titled "The Curse," the producers eventually realized the story was too close to Carrie and decided to revamp it into a sequel. Robert Mandel (The Substitute) was hired to direct, but after two weeks of filming he quit over creative differences. Katt Shea (Poison Ivy) was brought in with only a week to prep and two weeks of footage to reshoot. The film died on the vine at the box office, and is now something of a forgotten sequel.
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)

Richard Stanley's ill-fated vision for his adaptation of H. G. Wells' sci-fi classic is recounted in the 2014 documentary Lost Soul, which details the nightmarish early shooting on the film. Star Marlon Brando never flew to the set, Val Kilmer proved impossible to work with (footage of him was unusable), and then co-star Rob Morrow became fed up after tropical storms pelted the set and asked to be let go. Finally studio execs at New Line sacked Stanley, bringing in veteran director John Frankenheimer, who began shooting with a revised script and David Thewlis replacing Morrow. The production didn't get any better from there, with Brando and Kilmer clashing, constant bizarre improvisation, and shooting stretched from six weeks to six months. The final film was a box office disaster, and is considered the worst of Brando's career.
Bad Girls (1994)

Tamra Davis (Billy Madison, Crossroads) was the original director on this female-led western starring Madeleine Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson, Andie MacDowell and Drew Barrymore until the studio grew disenchanted with the dailies after a few weeks of shooting and fired her. Jonathan Kaplan (The Accused) replaced her, the leads were sent to "cowboy camp" to learn to shoot and ride, and the monchromatic sets were altered. The script written by Yolande Turner and Becky Johnston was also thrown out and a new one hastily written by Ken Friedman and Yolande Turner, which was less talky and more action oriented. The final film was a critical and box office failure, and Barrymore described her experience on it as "The pits."
Tombstone (1993)

The late screenwriter Kevin Jarre (Glory) was the original director on this story of Wyatt Earp, but he reportedly was in over his head on set, demanding a level of authenticity and length that proved unwieldy, falling behind on the shooting schedule. A month into filming, producer Andrew Vajna replaced Jarre with George P. Cosmatos, for whom he had ironically written the script for Rambo II. All of Jarre's footage was scrapped with the exception of all scenes with Charlton Heston, who was unavailable to return. The script was parred down to make the shoot more manageable, and Kurt Russell acted as a kind of ghost director on set. The film was a surprise box office success, bringing in $56 million and besting Kevin Costner's more expensive rival Wyatt Earp film.
Beethoven (1992)

While the reasons were never revealed, director Steve Rash (Son in Law) was canned after about a week or two into filming on this John Hughes-penned family comedy. Brian Levant, who would later find success with family movies like The Flintstones and Are We There Yet? was brought in to replace Rash, and the film was a big success, spawning one theatrical sequel and SIX direct-to-video follow-ups.
Radio Flyer (1992)

This drama-fantasy about escapism in the face of child abuse is nothing more than a footnote now, but in the early '90s the script by David Mickey Evans was considered a hot property. Columbia Pictures hired Evans to direct the film on an $18 million budget with Rosanna Arquette (Pulp Fiction) as the mother, Tomas Arana (The Bodyguard) as the abusive boyfriend and Luke Edwards (Little Big League) and James Badge Dale (Iron Man 3) as the children. After 10 days of shooting, producer Michael Douglas, disappointed with the footage, fired Evans as director and brought on Richard Donner (The Goonies, Superman) as replacement. Rather than dropping him entirely from the project, though, Donner worked with Evans to retool the script throughout production. He also recast the picture with Lorraine Bracco (Goodfellas) as the mom, Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings) and Joseph Mazzello (Jurassic Park) as the children and Adam Baldwin (Serenity) as the abusive boyfriend. The final product was a critical and box office misfire, although Donner would recover the next year with Lethal Weapon 3 and Evans would get to direct with the children's classic The Sandlot.
Another You (1991)

Despite earlier success teaming Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder on Silver Streak, Stir Crazy and See No Evil, Hear No Evil, this fourth pairing of the two was not as lucky. Famed director Peter Bogdanovich (Paper Moon) spent two months prepping and 6 weeks shooting the con man movie in New York before being fired and replaced by Maurice Phillips, an English TV director. Despite initially assuring Pryor reshoots would not be necessary, Phillips eventually decided all the New York footage was unusable, and reshot the entire film in Los Angeles. The film was a critical and box office flop (making just over $2 million at the box office), and became the final movie role for Wilder and the last starring role for Pryor.
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1989)

This is a sad case where Rusty Lemorande, the writer/producer/creative force behind Michael Jackson's Captain EO, wanted to do an effects-filled version of the Jules Verne classic. Unfortunately, he got involved with the notorious Cannon Films, who had begun their descent into bankruptcy as he was filming. Thus, all of the much-needed effects were scrapped and only about 8 minutes of his footage were used, and sloppily at that. The rest of the 80 minute film is a weird mix of footage from a sequel to Albert Pyun's Alien From L.A. with some of the Journey cast returning to finish up, along with some very long opening and closing credits.
Rambo III (1988)

Russell Mulcahy of Highlander fame was originally hired to helm this third installment of the Rambo franchise, with Sylvester Stallone at his physical (and egotistical) peak. Unfortunately, Mulcahy and Stallone clashed and after three weeks the director and much of his crew were sacked. One reason given was an incident where the director was supposed to hire vicious Russian troops but according to the actor hired "pretty boys." Another reason was three weeks into production they were already two weeks behind schedule. Stallone promoted veteran second unit director Peter MacDonald, who had worked on Rambo II as well, to capable first-time director. The sequel became the most expensive movie ever made up to that time, but was unfortunately released after the Russians had already left Afghanistan and suffered at the box office.
The Running Man (1987)

Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, Under Siege) was originally hired as the director of this dystopian sci-fi thriller based on a novel by Stephen King (writing as "Richard Bachman") and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, by eight days into the shoot Davis was already $8 million over budget and four days behind schedule, forcing executive producer Rob Cohen to let him go. He was replaced by actor-turned-TV director Paul Michael Glaser of Starsky & Hutch fame, whom Schwarzenegger was disappointed with, complaining that Glaser made the film look like a TV show. The film ultimately disappointed at the box office and is considered a minor '80s film. Schwarzenegger and Davis would later re-team for the 2002 action flick Collateral Damage.
September (1987)

Arguably the most extreme case on the list, Woody Allen's chamber piece drama inspired by Anton Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya was shot and edited in its entirety TWICE. No calamity befell the project, it was simply Allen's artistic choice to rewrite, recast and reshoot the film again after the first go 'round. Elaine Stritch, Denholm Elliott and Sam Waterston replaced Maureen O'Sullivan, Charles Durning and Sam Shepard, and the movie was a box office misfire, now relegated to one of Allen's minor works. Allen also reshot significant portions of Hannah and Her Sisters to get the tone right, and started over on The Purple Rose of Cairo to replace Michael Keaton with Jeff Daniels after ten days of filming.
Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986)

Noted comedy director Howard Zieff (Private Benjamin) was fired from this Whoopi Goldberg vehicle after six weeks of filming, with tension between himself and Goldberg apparently at the center of his removal. Subsequently, TV star Penny Marshall (who had helmed a handful of episodes of Laverne & Shirley) was hired to make her feature directorial debut, hiring on new talent to the picture like Jon Lovitz, with the script in constant flux throughout filming. It became a minor hit for Goldberg, grossing $30 million, but more importantly launched the behind-the-camera career of Penny Marshall, who became on of the most successful female directors of all-time (Big, Awakenings, A League of Their Own).
Back to the Future (1985)

Without question, the most famous case of a movie stopping and starting over again (as well as the most successful) was when director Robert Zemeckis and producer Steven Spielberg made the unthinkable decision to fire Eric Stoltz as lead character Marty McFly well into the shoot at a cost of $3 million dollars. Apparently Stoltz's performance was deemed too dramatic and not light enough for the comedic film, as well as his being uncomfortable on a skateboard. Five weeks into the shoot, they let Stoltz go and hired Michael J. Fox, who was the original choice, and the rest was history. The film became a SMASH success and is now considered a classic, spawning two beloved sequels. Film stills and a small amount of footage has been released of Stoltz in the part, and while the actor went on to have a fine career afterwards, his version of those scenes is one of the most sought-after holy grails of geekdom.
Enemy Mine (1985)

This sci-fi film about honor and brotherhood between a human (Dennis Quaid) and an alien (Louis Gossett, Jr.) marooned together on a hostile planet started as a kind of futuristic play on Hell in the Pacific, but turned into a hell all its own. British director Richard Loncraine (Firewall) helmed the film for a number of weeks in Iceland and Budapest before producers became concerned with bad dailies, creative differences and budget overruns and decided to sack him. After considering cancelling the film altogether they decided to hire a new director in The NeverEnding Story's Wolfgang Peterson. The new filmmaker moved production to his native Munich, decided to scrap all of Loncraine's footage and redesign the entire film from the ground up, including massive planetary sets with a manmade lake and Gossett's complex make-up, which took 2 months to re-develop in and of itself. The final film, while visually stunning, proved off-putting to audiences with its hermaphroditic birth subplot and lack of marketable Star Wars-ian space battles, and wound up a box office disaster with a loss to the studio of between $20 and $40 million dollars.
WarGames (1983)

Director Martin Brest, later of Beverly Hills Cop and Scent of a Woman fame, directed the first two weeks of WarGames before the studio decided his vision for the film was too dark. They fired him and brought in John Badham (Saturday Night Fever) to take over and inject a sense of fun into the hacker hijinx, with screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz (Superman: The Movie) performing on-set rewrites. While a few of Brest's scenes made it into the cut, most of what he shot was replaced, even though he informed the look of the picture, including at the time the largest set ever built for the NORAD sequences. You can even see the look of the set reflected in the police center in Beverly Hills Cop, as well as the same hoodie that Matthew Broderick wears in this film on Eddie Murphy. WarGames went on to gross an impressive $80 million.
Hammett (1982)

This period mystery film involving real-life writer Dashiell Hammett (Frederic Forrest) was to be the American debut film of German director Wim Wenders. However, producer Francis Ford Coppola reportedly stepped in and reshot nearly the entire film, although neither Coppola nor Wenders have totally set the record straight. Wenders claims he directed the release version, yet acknowledges there was another version that was scrapped and is now likely a lost film.
Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Werner Herzog's quest to film his story of a rubber baron trying to transport a steamship over a steep hill in the Peruvian jungle proved just as Sisyphean as his protagonist. After completing nearly 40% of the film with Jason Robards and Mick Jagger as the leads, Robards became ill with dysentery and was forbidden to return to the set. Delays in finding a replacement led Jagger to depart as well. While Jagger's character was ultimately dropped, the lead character was played by frequent Herzog collaborator Klaus Kinski, who made the already trying shoot much more difficult. The making of the film is chronicled in the documentary Burden of Dreams, which contains some of the only existing footage from the scrapped Robards/Jagger version.
Superman II (1981)

Although original Superman: The Movie director Richard Donner shot 3/4s of Superman II concurrently with the first film, he was ultimately let go by the producers after disputes over control and the use of Marlon Brando's footage. The producers opted to replace Donner with Richard Lester (The Three Musketeers), who had served as a go-between with them during Donner's tenure. Despite 75% of the film in the can, Lester opted to reshoot a good deal of Donner's footage (only 30% remained in the release version) and added new sequences that gave the film a more campy tone. Gene Hackman refused to return, so all of his scenes were filmed by Donner, who was ultimately given the chance to reinstate his footage and re-edit the picture in 2006 for what is known as "The Donner Cut," despite having to utilize some of Lester's footage to complete the intended story.
Stalker (1979)

Lauded Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky shot this art house science fiction opus twice when all the outdoor scenes shot for the first version were returned damaged from the lab. Tarkovsky fired his cinematographer and set about shooting the second version that exists today. Those that have seen both versions claim they were nearly identical.
Jaws 2 (1978)

Original director John D. Hancock (Let's Scare Jessica to Death) had a vision for the sequel to Steven Spielberg's blockbuster that proved far too bleak for the producers to stomach. In his version, the town of Amity is a virtual ghost town in financial ruin after the events of the first movie. With the town's leaders indebted to the mob, they force the opening of a new set of hotels despite Chief Brody's warnings of another shark attack. After a month of these bleak dailies came back, plus Hancock's difficulty wrangling the mechanical shark and navigating the politics of a big budget movie, he was fired (after 18 months of work) and the film put on hiatus while the script was retooled into more of a facsimile of the first one. TV vet Jeannot Szwarc (Night Gallery) was hired to replace Hancock, and while the film he turned in did decent enough business to warrant two more sequels, the final product is considered little more than a footnote in the shadow of Spielberg's original.
Move Over, Darling (1963)

Originally titled Something's Got to Give, this remake of the 1940 film My Favorite Wife originally starred Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin. After frequently not showing up for shooting, Monroe was fired midway through production, though eventually re-hired when Martin refused to work with anyone else. Unfortunately Monroe died before she could return to the movie, and with only 30 minutes of usable footage the studio decided to start over from scratch. Using the same sets, director George Cukor was replaced by Michael Gordon, and Monroe and Martin were replaced by Doris Day and James Garner. The romantic comedy proved to be one of the year's biggest grossers.
Spartacus (1960)

Noted western director Anthony Mann was originally hired to direct this Roman epic, despite the protests of star Kirk Douglas. After filming the opening quarry scene during the first week, Mann was fired by Douglas and replaced by a young Stanley Kubrick, with whom the actor had worked on Paths of Glory. While serving as Kubrick's first major film, it would be the only one in the filmmaker's career where he did not have complete control and served as something of a hired gun. The movie went on the become a smash hit and a classic in its own right, although very much out of tune with the rest of Kubrick's filmography.
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Originally shot in 1924 by director Rupert Julian as a gothic thriller, the Lon Chaney monster classic received a poor preview and Universal decided to revamp the picture. Comedy director Edward Sedgwick was hired to reshoot nearly the entire movie as more a romantic comedy with action elements. This version also tested poorly, so Universal scrambled to re-instate much of the Julian footage into the version that exists today, which is mainly known for its horrific reveal of Chaney's masterful makeup.