5 Movies That Were Originally Meant To Be Sequels

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Hollywood doesn't work in a linear fashion. Sometimes, ideas become recycled and repackaged, then reappear in the most unexpected ways. For instance, there are original movies that were once intended to be sequels to other films, but a quick change of names and blurring of specifics enabled them to become standalone productions. Well, at least the writing didn't go to waste here, and somebody got paid, right?

For fans, there's nothing more fun than discovering there are movies out there that could have been sequels to some of our favorite films — regardless of whether they're good or not. As a matter of fact, the stories of how these movies came to be are riveting and often deserving of their own films. Let's just say that there's no business like show business, baby!

Grab a helmet and put it on before proceeding any further, because you're about to get your mind blown. Here are five movies that were originally meant to be sequels.

The ending of "Seven" concludes the story. While it's a devastating gut punch, it delivers the intended message and stops where it should. Director David Fincher thought so, too, hence his passing on a sequel, which would have presumably been called "Ei8ht" because Hollywood isn't great with original titles. That didn't stop New Line Cinema from scouring for ideas, as it secured a script called "Solace" from writer Ted Griffin.

However, Griffin didn't write "Solace" with the intention of it becoming a "Seven" sequel. Instead, it's about a psychic doctor who teams up with FBI agents to stop a dangerous serial killer. New Line execs read the script and thought there was an opportunity to swap out the psychic doctor for William Somerset (played by Morgan Freeman) in "Seven." And boom! There's a sequel.

As is the case in showbiz, everything either moves at the speed of light or as slow as a snail in a race against a sloth. "Solace" hung around in the ether, evolving and transforming into a full circle moment over a decade. The sequel plan was abandoned by New Line, as Lionsgate Premiere embraced the original concept. In Afonso Poyart's "Solace," Anthony Hopkins' psychic Dr. John Clancy assists FBI agents Joe Merriwether (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Katherine Cowles (Abbie Cornish) to find killer Charles Ambrose (Colin Farrell). With 24% critical approval and a 45% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, it's probably a good thing that this didn't turn out to be a "Seven" sequel.

No disrespect intended, but Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Conan" movies have never been high art, though the original is still one of the most rewatchable fantasy movies of all time. No one should go into this series expecting the storytelling depth and worldbuilding of "The Lord of the Rings." Even so, Schwarzenegger didn't want to accept any old story to complete the trilogy.

There were several sequel ideas thrown around for a third movie, including one titled "Conan the Conqueror." After the 1985 "Conan" spin-off "Red Sonja" flopped both critically and financially, as well as Schwarzenegger's reluctance to commit to a film, Charles Edward Pogue's script was retooled into "Kull the Conqueror," starring Kevin Sorbo, who was known for his stint as Hercules in the TV show "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" at the time. "[Producer Raffaella De Laurentiis] and I immediately went to work on another script ... a Conan script, because I felt Conan had never been done right, even though she had done the two movies. That should have been a sign," Pogue told Bruce Kimmel. "The Conan script eventually evolved into another Robert E. Howard character Kull."

In 1997's "Kull the Conqueror," Kull becomes a mighty king and needs to protect his kingdom from the witch Akivasha (Tia Carrere). The film flopped at the box office and received a critical beatdown. For Pogue, he blamed the people behind the production for toning down his mature story in favor of what he described as "a cartoon."

Olivier Megaton's "Colombiana" follows the story of young Colombian girl Cataleya (Amandla Stenberg) whose drug-dealing family is brutally murdered. Fast-forward years later, the adult Cataleya (Zoe Saldaña) has vengeance on her mind and the skills to quench her bloodlust.

Remove the Colombian setting, change Cataleya's name to Mathilda Lando, adjust a few other minor plot elements, and "Colombiana" could have easily been a follow-up to Luc Besson's 1994 action classic "The Professional," which stars Jean Reno as Léon and Natalie Portman as Mathilda. Well, that actually was the plan once upon a time. Co-written and produced by Besson, "Colombiana" was meant to be the sequel to "The Professional," which would have followed the older Mathilda's revenge quest — minus Léon, of course, since he dies in the original movie.

In 2011, Megaton spoke to IndieWire about the history of "Colombiana" and how it started out as a sequel, explaining how there were various factors that prevented it from ever moving forward. "Luc tried to do this movie again and again — he proposed it to me 12 years ago," Megaton said. "But when we decided to change the script and to make another movie with a revenge story like 'Mathilda,' he had to give up everything about Mathilda." While "Colombiana" didn't receive a lot of love from critics, the fans enjoyed it, judging by its 67% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The story of Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report" from concept to screen is strange. The film is based on the story by Philip K. Dick, who's also responsible for "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," which was adapted into "Total Recall." In "Minority Report," the police are able to capture criminals before they commit homicides, thanks to clairvoyants. Of course, this raises bigger issues, such as what is free will and what is fate; however, this is a topic for another day.

Now, while "Minority Report" and "Total Recall" share futuristic premises, they aren't natural sequels per se. That didn't stop Paul Verhoeven, the director of the latter, from suggesting it, though. As writer Gary Goldman revealed in David Hughes' "Tales From Development Hell: The Greatest Movies Never Made?" (via Gizmodo), he secured the rights for "The Minority Report" and asked Verhoeven about becoming an executive producer. "Then [Verhoeven] asked me if I had thought about how well the story worked as a 'Total Recall' sequel," Goldman said. "Although it had nothing to do with the themes of the movie, there was something about the tone and driving narrative that made it seem perfect for a sequel."

Goldman pressed forward with the suggestion, making tweaks that would align it with "Total Recall." In the end, the film studio went bankrupt, and the rights lapsed, with "Minority Report" eventually landing at 20th Century Fox, where it underwent another long journey of metamorphosis before it was released in 2002.

There has been no shortage of Sylvester Stallone's "Rambo" movies. Yet Stallone could have added yet another film to the franchise with 2013's "Homefront." Based on the novel of the same name by Chuck Logan, Stallone had secured the rights to adapt the story in which former DEA agent Phil Broker lives a quiet life with his daughter until a scuffle at a school turns into a bigger mess. At a point, Stallone pondered whether this could be turned into a "Rambo" sequel — presumably Phil would have become John Rambo, and he would have had to fight back against the family that tries to force Rambo and his daughter to leave town.

For whatever reason, Stallone decided against turning "Homefront" into a sequel. He also decided not to star in the project; instead, he wrote the script and served as a producer, while Jason Statham stepped up as Phil Broker in the film.

Statham confirmed to Yahoo that "Homefront" was originally envisioned as a "Rambo" sequel, but he wouldn't have accepted the part if Stallone had offered it to him as that. "I could never be Rambo," Statham said. "If he was offering me that, I would turn it down, because you can't fill those boots. He's too good at what he does. Although there is a great element of Sly in this, he adapted it for me. He gave a lot of thought to that."