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The Sandworms of Dune as envisioned by artist H.R. Giger for Alejandro Jodorowsky’s unproduced adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune.
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Coneptual art often times decides how a film is going to look or feel. It decides how the sets will be built, what kind of clothes wardrobe department will make and even how visual effects will be handled. I thought it might be interesting to post a couple of examples of conceptual artwork for films that never got made, because I find those most interesting for some reason. Dreams that never got to be. Some of these unmade projects didnt get made for obvious reasons (usually its a stinker of an idea!) but other times you just wonder why the hell they never happened. Some films never get passed that conceptual art work stage, as a result there is a lot of interesting conceptual art out there for films that never got made! I hope you find the interesting. Enjoy!
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Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Dune – This film never got made, but the conceptual artwork makes me wish it had gotten made! It would have been such an interesting looking film! Some of my favorite artists worked on the conceptual artwork for this film, Jodorowsky employed some of the best there is for this project, which was probably one of the problems. He spent a bundle on pre-production alone. We have some very interesting designs for the planet Geidi Prime from non other then H.R. Giger himself! Had these designs made it to the silver screen…man…there’s a lot more conceptual artwork out there for this film, I only posted a couple of them here, but trust me a search on the net will be worth your while if you are a Dune nut like I am. Part of the artwork was also done by conceptual artist extraordinaire Jean Giraud, one of my personal heroes. Too bad this one never got made. I hear there’s a documentary being made on the work that went into the pre-production of this doomed project, be on the look out for it.
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Thundercat’s – This one hasnt gotten made (yet!) but conceptual artwork has leaked. The pics you see below shows us what Lion-O and Mum-Ra would have looked like had the film ever gotten made. Im a die hard Thundercats fan, and deep down inside, arent we all?? Of course I’d love to see this one get made!
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Voltron- Defender of the Universe – With the success of the Transformer’s films, Im surprised this film hasnt gotten made yet, it would make for a kick ass sci-fi film! I used to watch this cartoon almost as much as I watched the Thundercats. Here we have some concept art for Voltron in its giant robot form.
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Superman Lives! – This was too be Tim Burton’s version of Superman and to be honest I’m kind of glad it never got off the ground. On the other hand, you kind of have to wonder what the film would have been like! Putting aside the fact that Nick Cage was going to be the one playing supes (a bad idea from the get go) the film was going to be “weird” any way you look at it. Even Supes wardrobe was going to look strange! I like the desing for Doomsday though! And you have to admit, it was going to be cool seeing Doomsday fight Supes!
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The Gate Remake – Director and ex Bill and Ted star Alex Winters has been talking about getting this remake made for years. Yet I’ve never seen it go past the pre-production stage, or development hell, however you want to call it. Still, he has said that the film would include 3-D effects and that they have already made some pre-visualization images…so thats something. But come on! I’d love to see this one make it to the big screen with modern effects! If it never got made, it would be…whats the word? BOGUS!
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James Cameron’s Spiderman – Once upon a time, when Sam Raimi hadnt made his Spiderman trilogy James Cameron was interested in the franchise. There was even a script! It was going to be a much darker version of Spiderman, spidey wouldnt be as squeaky clean as he is on these new films. He was a troubled man with lots of anger inside of him. Hell, he was even going to end up having sex with Mary Jane! Of course the studio scrapped it because it wasnt the spidey they wanted to show the masses, but still, I’m guessing it would have been an interesting film from an fx/action point of view. I mean on this one we were going to see Spidey go up against Electro!
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Rob Zombies Tyranosaurous Rex – Rob Zombie is at best when left to his own devices instead of working on pre-existing material. And I still think he has potential as a filmmaker inspite of the abortion that was Halloween 2. So when he announced that he was working on something called Tyranosaurous Rex, I was excited, especially after seeing the concept art which makes the whole idea look like a mix between Mad Max, Jurassic Park and a Mexican Wrestling movie, with a mix like that…something interesting is sure to turn up. I hope we get to see this one at some point.
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Darren Aronofsky’s Batman Year One – Before Nolan got a go at the franchise, studio’s were looking for a serious director to take the franchise in a darker more adult direction and Aronofsky was one of the directors chosen for this ‘Year One’ film. Unfortunately, Aronofsky wasnt as big a name as he is now, and the whole thing went down the tubes. Hey, but we got some interesting concept art to ponder on the idea of what could have been a Batman film directed by this great director. Hey, who knows, Aronofsky has been snooping around to direct a comic book film for a while now, he was inches away from directing ‘The Wolverine’! Now that would have been something!
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Darren Aronofsky’s Robocop Reboot – Man, I salivating at this idea because I’m the biggest Robonerd out there. I mean, I use to do a little robocop comic book when I was in school that was a parody of Robocop and everyone loved it. I love the Robo movies. And when I heard that Aronofsky was going to be involved! Wow! The possibilities! Unfortunately Aronofsky stepped out of this project and went with Black Swan, which was an awesome film no doubt, but damn, I hope he hasnt given up entirely on making this. I got my fingers crossed! I mean with the Iron Man movies making so much bank at the box office, I’m still wondering why this project hasnt lifted off yet.
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Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash – Now here’s a match made in heaven. I mean, people would have gone in droves to see this movie! But apparently this never got made because Sam Raimi was interested in getting another Evil Dead movie rolling. That never came to be either! But hey, at least we got a 12 part mini-series that joined all three characters in one awesome series! Highly recommend you get it. On that one, Freddy is after the Necronomicon and Ash is there to stop him! Wanna see Freddy use the Necronomicon to resurrect all of Jason’s victims as deadites? Look no further!
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Hamer Films Zepellin’s vs. Pterodactyl’s – This unproduced Hammer Film had one of the craziest concepts ever! A German Zepellin headed for war deviates and ends up in a mysterious world filled with all sorts of strange creatures, including Pterodactyl’s! I guess this mysterious unchartered land falls somewhere around the same vicinity where Godzilla and King Kongs Islands are at! Either way it was going to be an interesting sci-fi film. I dont know exactly why this one never came to be, but maybe the idea was too epic for the kind of budgets that Hammer was used to working with. All we got left from this crazy idea is the pic you see below, enjoy!
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Orson Welles Batman – This ones a joke, it was a hoax that roamed around the net for a while. But still, makes you wonder huh? Hope you liked this article you knuckleheads!
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