The Halle Berry Sci-Fi Movie That Netflix Won't Release

Occasionally in Hollywood, a studio will shoot the bulk of a movie and then decide not to release it. For example, thanks to the slash-and-burn ethic of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, the all-but-completed "Batgirl" was canned along with titles like "Scoob! Holiday Haunt." The former had wrapped filming and was already in post-production when Zaslav axed it from WBD's release schedule, reportedly because he deemed the movie more valuable to the company as a tax write-off. That was also the case with "Holiday Haunt," a prequel film to the 2020 animated "Scooby-Doo" feature "Scoob!"

These are, of course, just a pair of examples. There are also many, many other unrealized or unreleased projects from cinema history. I personally wish I could've seen the feature-length version of "Swirlee," a film noir about a cop with an ice cream cone for a head. (It's very real.)

It seems that Netflix has its share of shelved titles as well. That includes "The Mothership," a sci-fi movie that was written and directed by Matt Charman (the co-writer of "Bridge of Spies"). The project began shooting in 2021 and was initially expected to debut on Netflix sometime the following year. Halle Berry starred in the film as a rural farmer whose husband is abducted by aliens, after which she and her children find an alien artifact buried on their property, giving them a clue as to her husband's potential whereabouts. Molly Parker, Omari Hardwick, and John Ortiz were among those rounding out its cast.

In early 2024, however, "The Mothership" was officially cancelled by Netflix before it could complete post-production. Not long after, the streamer addressed the matter in public, chalking the film's cancellation up to production problems and creative differences.

Speaking at a 2024 press event covered by outlets like Entertainment Weekly, Netflix's chief content officer Bela Bajaria explained, in very broad terms, why Netflix decided to axe "The Mothership" from its schedule despite shooting having already been completed. It seems that it was all over "creative issues," which is usually a well-worn Hollywood catch-all for a studio butting heads with a forthright artist. As Bajaria put it:

"It doesn't happen very often, it's very rare. [...] If you think about how many things we make, it's a rare thing. But ['The Mothership'] was one where there were lots of production issues, creative issues, and everybody on both sides — the talent and us — just agreed that it was better to not watch it. [...] Everybody just felt like it was the right thing to not do it, and to do something else together eventually."

That's not very helpful. Fortunately, The Hollywood Reporter was able to shed a little more light on the various issued surrounding "The Mothership." It seems that it was a difficult shoot due to a combination of factors, including the COVID-19 safety meaures in place at the same and the script undergoing several rewrites. On top of that, "The Mothership" needed to undergo reshoots. But while those are common enough in Hollywood, the movie's child actors had also undergone dramatic growth spurts since the first round of shooting, which obviously complicated matters.

THR also noted that the cancellation of "The Mothership" might've been connected to a management reshuffling at Netflix. Evidently, the film's biggest backer was Lisa Nishimura, an executive who had been working at Netflix since as far back as 2007 before being booted from the company. Because "The Mothership" was seen as "her project," the new regime didn't feel any need to have it continue. Thus, the movie was never completed, which cost Netflix about $40 million.

It seems unlikely that the public will ever see it. So it goes. As for Berry? She's since reunited with Netflix on the action-comedy "The Union," so it seems she bears no grudges towards the streamer.