The fact these iconic movies were rejected by one or more studios is mindblowing. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at famous films that were unsuccessfully pitched before getting the greenlight elsewhere.
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00:00Snakes? Why did it have to be snakes?
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at famous films that were unsuccessfully pitched before getting the green light elsewhere.
00:10What do you mean you've seen this? It's brand new.
00:14Yeah, well, I saw it on a... green light.
00:17Number 10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
00:20I mean, come on. How do you guys expect to beat me?
00:27Good answer. Good answer.
00:291990 was the ideal time for a live-action Ninja Turtles movie.
00:33The cartoon had been going strong for three years, Tim Burton's Batman came out a year earlier, and toys were selling like turtle pies.
00:39We've been waiting for you, Miss O'Neil.
00:42What? Am I behind on my Sony payments again?
00:46Yet virtually every major studio from Disney to Warner Bros. to Universal rejected the film, which was independently financed for $13.5 million.
00:54It wasn't until halfway into production that a small distributor called New Line Cinema saw its potential.
00:59Becoming the most profitable indie film for nearly a decade, Ninja Turtles helped put New Line on the map as a Hollywood powerhouse.
01:07A Jose Canseco bat? Tell me you didn't pay money for this.
01:13It also demonstrated TMNT's staying power with the franchise eventually being picked up by Viacom.
01:18Ironically, Viacom now owns Paramount, another studio that rejected the 1990 film.
01:23What I want is deeper.
01:28I want your eye, man.
01:32Get Out proved to be an eye-opening cinematic experience with its mix of horror, satire, and real-world commentary.
01:38Before QC Entertainment introduced the project to Blumhouse and Universal, writer-director Jordan Peele faced a fair deal of rejection from studios that just didn't get Get Out.
01:46Hearing the word no is part of the business, but some of the feedback ranged from brutally honest to straight-up rude, as Peele put it.
01:51Get out.
01:54Sorry, man.
01:56Get out!
01:57Yo!
01:58Yo!
01:59Chill, man.
02:00Chill!
02:01Chill, man!
02:02He didn't reveal who, but Peele received a letter from somebody who called the idea stupid.
02:06Considering that the film made back its budget more than a thousand times over and won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, it's safe to say that somebody was acting stupid, and it wasn't Peele.
02:14Attaboy. Better get used to saying that.
02:18Please, I'm so sorry.
02:20Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. She's right. I'm wrong.
02:23See?
02:24Number 8. The Usual Suspects
02:26This most unusual thriller owes much of its success to Christopher McQuarrie's screenplay, which had twists on top of twists with the biggest bombshell saved for last.
02:33How do you shoot the devil in the back?
02:40What if you miss?
02:41Yet McQuarrie's Oscar-winning script also made the film a tough sell, as many potential backers found the non-linear story confusing.
02:47The project wasn't attracting big stars, either, with the eventual cast being comprised of then-lesser-known character actors.
02:52He'll what?
02:53Flip you. Flip you for real.
02:55Yeah, I'm shaking. Come on.
02:57Okay.
02:58Answer my question.
02:59And you hit me in the back.
03:01Hello?
03:03According to director Bryan Singer, he sent the script to over 50 studios and potential funders, all of whom rejected it.
03:08McQuarrie claims every studio, major and minor, rejected it.
03:11Looking beyond Hollywood, the project found financing from Europe.
03:14Though that deal didn't pan out, it kept the usual suspects alive long enough for Polygram Films Entertainment to step in.
03:20The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
03:27And like that, he's gone.
03:33During the production of his directorial debut, THX 1138, George Lucas began scripting a coming-of-age story at the request of his buddy Francis Ford Coppola.
03:41Hey, you're supposed to be the best thing in the valley, man, but that can't be your car. It must be your mama's car.
03:46The result would be arguably Lucas' most personal film, American Graffiti.
03:50While United Artists was attached early on, the studio found the script too different and too costly due to the music Lucas wanted to license.
03:56Producer Gary Kurtz recalls,
03:58Almost every studio in town turned down the first draft's screenplay.
04:01I'm telling you, this was the most perfect, dazzling creature I've ever seen.
04:05She's gone. Forget it.
04:07She spoke to me. She spoke to me right through the window.
04:10I think she said, I love you.
04:12Universal finally agreed to finance the film without interference as long as it didn't blow its budget, which increased after Coppola became a producer.
04:19American Graffiti was a lucrative investment, although even then, Universal was among the many studios that turned down Lucas' next film.
04:25I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you.
04:28I don't know what you're talking about.
04:32Before becoming an international superstar, Sylvester Stallone couldn't even get cast as an extra in The Godfather's wedding scene.
04:38After being told he wasn't Italian enough, Stallone wrote a role for himself, the Italian Stallion.
04:42This is what I'm looking for. The Italian Stallion.
04:47Rocky Balboa? Never heard of him.
04:49Although the script showed great promise receiving offers as high as $265,000, studios refused to get on board with the condition that Stallone play Rocky Balboa.
04:57Your nose is broken. How's it look?
04:59Yeah, that's an improvement.
05:01Despite being deemed unmarketable, Stallone was ready to abandon the project if he couldn't be the lead.
05:05Even after production company Winkler-Chartoff agreed to these terms, distributor United Artists wanted a big name like Robert Redford or Ryan O'Neal.
05:12Stallone and his agents held firm with the outcome being the ultimate underdog story, both on screen and off.
05:17Rocky, you went the distance. You went the 15 rounds. How do you feel?
05:20Fine.
05:21What are you thinking about when that buzzer sounds?
05:23Me?
05:24Number 5. Pulp Fiction
05:26Pride only hurts. It never helps.
05:31Coming off Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino was a director to watch, although few anticipated how much his sophomore film would change cinema.
05:37This included Columbia TriStar chief Mike Medavoy, who deemed the script too demented.
05:41There were other points of contention, including Medavoy wanting Johnny Depp to play Pumpkin, a role Tarantino wrote for Tim Roth.
05:47We're all gonna be like three little Fonzies here. And what's Fonzie like?
05:51Come on, Yolanda, what's Fonzie like?
05:53Cool.
05:54What?
05:55Cool.
05:56Correctamundo!
05:57Pulp Fiction migrated to Miramax, which Disney had recently acquired.
06:00While Miramax distributed Reservoir Dogs, they gave Pulp Fiction the full financial treatment.
06:09I need to spa.
06:10This solidified Tarantino's longstanding professional relationship with Harvey Weinstein until the notorious producer's years of abuse came to light.
06:17This prompted Tarantino to bring Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to Sony, which just so happens to be TriStar's parent company.
06:23Number 4. Back to the Future
06:25Back to the Future is one of the most cherished films ever, making it all the more jarring that the project was met with roughly 40 rejections.
06:31Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Hey! Think with flies!
06:36Think!
06:37Time travel movies weren't igniting the box office, and Robert Zemeckis had yet to produce a financial success.
06:43The main sticking point seemed to be that the studios wanted a raunchy comedy in the spirit of Animal House.
06:47Disney had the opposite concern, fearing Marty's cringey dynamic with his mother wouldn't mesh with their family-friendly brand.
06:53Whoa, wait a minute. Doc, are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?
06:58Precisely!
06:59Whoa, this is heavy.
07:00Following Romancing the Stone, Zemeckis gained the goodwill to make Back to the Future.
07:04Rather than crawl back to the studios that turned him down, Zemeckis teamed with Steven Spielberg, who always had faith in the project and an in at Universal.
07:12I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet.
07:16But your kids are gonna love it.
07:18Number 3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
07:24Stay here.
07:26If you insist, senor.
07:28Before Back to the Future, Spielberg, Zemeckis, and Bob Gale dropped a dud with 1941.
07:33This gave studios pause when George Lucas insisted that Spielberg direct Raiders of the Lost Ark.
07:37Lucas was also adamant that the film be given a $20 million budget with the sequel and merchandising rights remaining under his control.
07:43You can't do this to me! I'm an American!
07:47Although the project generated plenty of interest, practically every studio in town shot down Lucas' demands.
07:52Lucas ultimately struck a deal with Michael Eisner of Paramount under the strict conditions that Spielberg couldn't go over budget.
07:57I'm going after that truck.
07:58How?
07:59I don't know. I'm making this up as I go.
08:02Thankfully, it was an enriching venture for all parties involved.
08:05Maybe if Columbia waited to see the box office totals for Raiders, they would have thought twice when they rejected E.T.
08:10Number 2. Psycho
08:13Whatever remained of the Hays Code seemed to get slashed away with Marion Crane.
08:16Where North by Northwest had been Alfred Hitchcock's most commercial film yet, Psycho would be the opposite.
08:21Do you go out with friends?
08:26Well, a boy's best friend is his mother.
08:28Paramount previously rejected the idea of adapting Robert Block's chilling novel.
08:32Despite having a contract with Hitchcock, the studio wasn't eager to finance such a graphic film.
08:36Hitchcock laid out ways to cut costs, including shooting in black and white with his team.
08:40But it was still a no.
08:41He was flirting with you.
08:43I guess he must have noticed my wedding ring.
08:45Paramount didn't give the go-ahead until Hitchcock proposed funding the film himself while retaining 60% of the negative ownership.
08:51Although Paramount distributed Psycho, much of the shooting took place at Universal,
08:55which later acquired the rights to Hitchcock's most iconic film.
08:58We all go a little mad sometimes.
09:03Haven't you?
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09:24For decades, J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels were deemed unfilmable.
09:28Of course, animated adaptations showed it could be done, especially with advancing technology.
09:32The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom.
09:36Only there can it be unmade.
09:40Even so, Peter Jackson struggled to find a studio that would commit to a trilogy.
09:43When Jackson was at Miramax, Harvey Weinstein was open to producing a two-part Lord of the Rings adaptation at most.
09:48This was reduced to a single two-hour movie when Miramax couldn't get the necessary funds from Disney.
09:57You shall not!
10:02Pass!
10:06In time, Jackson was permitted to shop the project to studios like Sony and Fox, all of which said no.
10:11New Line CEO Robert Shea was also hesitant at first, but after seeing Jackson's behind-the-scenes video,
10:16he was keen on making not one, not two, but three epic films.
10:19What about Breakfast?
10:21I've already had it.
10:22We've had one, yes. What about Second Breakfast?
10:25Can you think of any classic movies that surprisingly weren't super easy to pitch?
10:29Leave a comment. It's barely an inconvenience.
10:31I said I liked it better the first time it was called The Smurfs!
10:33It was Lord of the Ring! We passed on Lord of the Ring!