26Disney-Paid Paramount Avengers Title Twist
In 2010, Disney paid Paramount at least $115 million to acquire the distribution rights of Marvel's "The Avengers." As part of the deal, Paramount was credited in the movie's opening title despite not being the one who owned, financed, marketed, and distributed the film. The movie later grossed over $1.5 billion.
27. George Lucas sold the rights to create radio dramas of the first three Star Wars movies to NPR for only $1.
28. George Lucas, unable to obtain the rights to Flash Gordon, created Star Wars as an alternative.
29. Fox Atomic, the owner of the movie title "Grand Theft Auto" due to the rights to the 1977 comedy of the same name, considered making another "Grand Theft Auto" movie in the late 2000s. However, they didn't even find a screenwriter for the new "Grand Theft Auto."
30. In 1994, Disney purchased the film rights for a movie centered on the Hasbro toy Stretch Armstrong. Danny DeVito accepted the titular role but insisted on making no jokes about his height. The film was later scrapped.
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31Reiner's Shawshank Redemption Bid
Rob Reiner attempted to buy the rights to "Shawshank Redemption" from Frank Darabont. If successful, Red and Andy would have been played by Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise, respectively.
32. Walt Disney intended to produce an animated movie adaptation of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," similar to his earlier film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." However, MGM Studios won the film rights to the popular book, crushing Disney's plans.
33. Michael Uslan, who taught the first college course on comics, grew up loving the dark grittiness of Batman but hated the campy 1960s TV show. He later bought the Batman film rights and produced all of the modern Batman movies, from Tim Burton to Nolan, including the Animated Series.
34. Stephen Spielberg obtained the rights to the book "Shrek!" in 1991 with plans to create a 2D animated movie featuring Dan Aykroyd as Shrek and Chris Rock as Donkey. However, DreamWorks later acquired the rights and produced the Shrek movie we know today.
35. In order to preserve its reputation, Nintendo purchased the 1993 porn parodies "Super Hornio Brothers" and "Super Hornio Brothers II." Nintendo ensured that both movies were never released.
