This Rs 83000 crore film was expected to beat Avatar, Avengers, but never released, actors backed out, three directors quit, crew left because…

The world’s most expensive film was expected to be released at Cannes Film Festival but didn’t make it.

In 2007, Chinese billionaire Jon Jiang had a grand vision to used his vast wealth and create a film that could beat the biggest films produced by Hollywood’s top studios. However, as the time went on, the world’s most expensive film never released. It cost Jiang $130 million and was never seen by anyone.

The film was titled Empires of the Deep. Originally named Mermaid Island, it was expected to rival highest-grossing Hollywood films like Avatar, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Avatar but failed due to its execution. The film was about fighting tribes of mermen and was supposed to filmed completely underwater. However, it took four years to finalise the project with ten writers working on it.

The makers casted Monica Bellucci to play the lead role but she backed out. Later, Sharon Stone was in talks for the lead but it never happened. Eventually Bond girl Olga Kurylenko signed the film, earning her $1 million paycheck.

The film was made on a whooping budget of $130 million (INR-.Rs 83000). Irvin Kershner was expected to direct, however agreements with Jiang made him quit the project. French Filmmaker Pitof was signed but he dropped out soon. Later, Jonathan Lawrence eventually agreed to sign this project and the filming began.

Cast and crew of Empires of the Deep

By 2009, Lawrence was fed up with Jiang’s instructions so he decided to quit the film in the middle. Later, Michael French was signed on as a replacement. He shot the scenes twice by Jiang’s vision. This lead to delays in the shoot. In 2010, the film was finally released with a half-made trailer.

Also, backlash started happening between the producers and crew due to payment delay. Many crew members left in the middle. Even actors like Maxx Maulion, who played the protagonists’ sidekick, left without filming scenes.

Jiang planned to release the film in 2013 after filming it with placement actors. He wanted the film to premiere at Cannes Film Festival but it couldn’t happen. Also, Michael Kahn was hired for a proper editing of the film. This led to a better-looking trailer in 2016. However, the producer felt that more money was required to shoot some uncomplete portions. The money never came back and the project was put on hold. Since then, Empires of the Deep never released and Jon Jiang’s dream remained unfulfilled.