Bionicle (1995 reboot)

Bionicle was a cancelled reboot directed by Pasi Peure, which was planned to be released in summer of 1995. The film was a attempt to reboot the Bionicle franchise following the failure of Bionicle IX: The Legend Reborn. Unfortunately, the film was cancelled in winter 1994 alongside Journey to Caelum: The Nova Orbis Story due to the negative reception of Hero Factory VI: Invasion From Below.

Plot
Six people were sent and transformed into the Toa and their mission is to claim the golden masks of power and try to save El Kadsre City from Skull spiders and Skull warriors. The Toa were later teleported to the lost ancient city where they fought the skull grinder Kulta.

Cast

 * Hikaru Fujioka as Akira Ishikawa/Tahu
 * Jordon Hayes as Harold Colt/Kopaka
 * Jennifer Connelly as Brittney Grey/Gali
 * Ben Clayton as Dennis Kingsley/Lewa (refused to star)
 * JP Reeve as Dennis Kingsley/Lewa (possible replacement for Dennis)
 * Kouki Hashimoto as Akio Hayashi/Pohatu
 * Takeshi Fujita as Susumu Moto/Onua
 * Isamu Himura as Ekimu
 * Christopher Berger as Izotor
 * Vaughn Nathans as Kivoda
 * Maja Prebensen as Korgot
 * Mervyn Cropper as Narmoto
 * Akira Yamaguchi as Nilkuu
 * Noach Irwin as Vizuna
 * Either Christopher Walken or Shohei Fujita were to cast as Kulta.

Production
The script for Bionicle was written by Sung Gim in 1992 and production began in late-1993. Pasi Peure, director of almost every Technic Heroes movies starting from Nova Orbis was to direct the film.

Why It Was Cancelled

 * 1) Technic Heroes' film series underwent a film hiatus following the unfavorable reviews of Hero Factory IV: Invasion From Below.
 * 2) Pasi Peure was too busy directing Gradius.
 * 3) The film underwent massive rewrites before filming began, but was then cancelled and started all over again from scratch.
 * 4) Ben Clayton found the script too confusing and refused to star in the film as Dennis Kingsley/Lewa.
 * 5) Jennifer Connelly expressed no interest on the film.
 * 6) Shohei Fujita died in 1998.

Results

 * The film was then reworked to Bionicle: The Next Generation, which was released in 1996. Hikaru Fujoka, Jordon Hayes, Kouki Hashimoto, Takeshi Fujita, Isamu Himura, Christopher Berger, Vaughn Nathans, Maja Prebensen, Mervyn Cropper, Akira Yamaguchi and Noach Irwin were cast members from the cancelled Bionicle film. The film was an box office disaster.
 * Pasi Peure went on to direct Gradius, which was a box office bomb.
 * The comic adaptation of the cancelled Bionicle film was written and released in 1996.
 * Though Ben Clayton refused to star as Dennis Kingsley/Lewa, Pasi Peure handed the role to JP Reeve, but JP expressed no interest on Bionicle. So Pasi handed the role to Phillip Haldiman.