History WhatCouldHaveBeen / AnimatedFilms

* ''WhatCouldHaveBeen/MarvelComicsFilmAndTV''

* ''[[WhatCouldHaveBeen/TheLegoMovie The Lego Movie Franchise]]''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012'' was originally going to feature a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpgUQYARIsw gritty rock opera ballad]] that would have went along with the company growing bigger as the forest gets destroyed. The creators then determined that the song was most likely too dark for this otherwise colorful family film and instead replaced it with "How Bad Could I Be?" The original song, however, is featured as a bonus track on the soundtrack.

** Creator/VinDiesel wasn't the first choice to be the voice of the Iron Giant. The first choice was none other than '''[[{{Franchise/Transformers}} Peter "Optimus Prime" Cullen]]'''. Had they stuck with this decision, it would have been awesome (and hilarious, given the live-action ''Transformers'' movie).
** There use to be a sequence where the Giant's dreams would be beamed into Dean's TV. Dean would see a vague surreal world where a bunch of identical giants destroyed planet after planet, and it implied that the Giant was meant to do this before he got his head bump.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIceAgeAdventuresOfBuckWild'' was originally going to be a TV series, with Creator/SeannWilliamScott and Creator/JoshPeck slated to reprise their roles as Crash and Eddie. This had lead to some comparing the movie to [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsMovie another pilot movie.]]

** In an effort to save costs, the film's directors, and producer Preston Stutzman all voiced characters: Cory Edwards voiced Twitchy (with his voice sped up by 50% in Pro Tools), his brother Todd voicing the Sandwich Man (the guy in a fur suit that Red passes by in "Great Big World" and is seen being interviewed by the Wolf), Tony Leech voiced Det. Bill Stork, with Leech and Stutzman voicing two of the Three Little Pigs officers (Glen and Timmy). Cory and Todd Edwards' cousin Tye was brought in to voice Dolph, the husky skier and only one on the ski team who has speaking lines, and their close friend Joshua Greene voiced Jimmy (the lizard directing the commercial Kirk tries out for). Another friend of theirs, Benjy Gaither, provided a voice for Japeth (the mountain goat that Red shares a minecart with). Voice actor Tom Kenny voiced the third pig, Tommy, as well as the Wolf's informant Woolworth, while Joel [=McCrary=] voiced Chief Ted Grizzly.

*** Creator/AnneHathaway voices Red Puckett
*** Creator/GlennClose voices Granny Puckett
*** Creator/JimBelushi voices Kirk

*** Creator/AnthonyAnderson voices Bill Stork
*** Music/{{Xzibit}} voices Chief Grizzly
*** Creator/ChazzPalminteri voices Woolworth

** Early in production, the production team considered [[spoiler: Tybalt's death]] being investigated by a CSI-esque group of gnomes [[note]] no, [[Series/{{CSI}} not]] [[Series/CSIMiami those]] [[Series/{{CSINY}} CSIs]], unfortunately[[/note]], led by Detective Prince (based on the Prince from the original story). The investigation would have proven Gnomeo guilty of "gnomicide", and sentenced to the wheelie bin, where he'd be thrown away in the morning. He'd have managed to escape the rubbish truck and end up in a gardening centre.

* ''WesternAnimation/HappyFeet'': Mumble was meant to have fully molted by the end of the film however they decided not to and re-rendered the parts. The change happened so late in production that scenes with him molted were present in various books.

* Speaking of, we could absolutely fill this page with Creator/DonBluth "coulda-beens". A few are listed [[http://www.cataroo.com/DBbeyond.html on this webpage.]] ''Literature/{{Satyrday}}'' in particular sounds ''[[DerangedAnimation unspeakably]]'' [[WidgetSeries fascinating]].

[[caption-width-right:350: Concept art for [[Creator/DonBluth Don Bluth's]] scrapped ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'' film]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'':
** The film was originally titled ''South Park: All Hell Breaks Loose!'' but the MPAA objected to the usage of "Hell" in an animated film title. Trey Parker and Matt Stone thus decided to slip by [[{{Surprisingly Lenient Censor}} a title that actually referred to an uncircumcised penis.]] The film itself went through several drafts before what we got in theaters, though to date only the eighth draft of the script has ever fully leaked online. Parker and Stone claim there are no existing deleted scenes for the film, as many of the "deleted" portions that were finished were simply alternate takes on scenes.
** The original theatrical trailers and promotional images [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g7AxjOqdrw featured]] some of the scenes that were cut or altered before the final release. One notable example: Ike was originally going to accompany the boys to the battlefield, but his role was cut down and he gets left in Kyle's attic in the finished product.
** The opening number was originally titled "Goin' to the Movies" and had much different lyrics. Also, originally there were going to be two songs called "Something Must Be Done," one sung by the adults and the other by the boys; they were replaced with "Blame Canada" and "What Would Brian Boitano Do?," respectively.
** Up through the eighth draft, Kenny was given a subplot in Hell where Satan challenged him to find Snacky S'mores proofs-of-purchase in order to get a wish granted. In the end, he opts to use them to wish everyone back to life. This was dropped, and instead Satan lets him make a wish due to having been freed of his loveless relationship.
** The Mole originally debuted at Gregory's "La Resistance" meeting, digging up through the floor to get in.
** The first draft of the film was said to start with Saddam Hussein being executed, setting up his appearance in Hell later on. Phillip's line "How's aboot: 'Get me the fuck out of this chair!' How's that for last words?" was originally going to be Saddam's line in this scene.
** Wendy outright broke up with Stan in the original drafts, over him liking Terrance and Phillip more than being serious. The advice Stan gets towards the end to win her back is simply to "Give her ice cream".
** Instead of Creator/ConanOBrien jumping and falling to his death, he would take out a gun and shoot himself in the head (to the horror of his guests). This was rejected by the MPAA due to the violent nature of the scene, necessitating the replacement.
** In the finished product, Stan suddenly winds up face-down in a puddle after being thrown by an explosion. Earlier drafts show that he ran after the explosion and got lost in a forest, before he'd trip and fall. This was likely cut for time purposes.
** [[http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/09/ps-this-is-my-favorite-memo-ever.html A memo from Matt Stone to the MPAA]] details a few edits that were made to reduce the rating from NC-17 to R. One scene in particular involved the boys discovering an X-rated video of Cartman's mother with a horse, which the creators tried to fight to keep in the film. In the end, it was replaced with the boys finding a scat film of her and a German man.
** Rumor has it that in the earlier drafts, Sheila [[IHaveNoSon disowns Kyle]].
** The Creator/WinonaRyder scene was originally going to have her shoot ping-pong balls from her vagina, but under the threat of getting an NC-17 rating, the scene was changed to a BaitAndSwitch joke where it appeared she was using her vag, but turned out to be using paddles. Before this, earlier drafts had Winona simply singing at the USO show.
** The "Uncle Fucker" was originally going to be called "'Mother' Fucker" instead. This would've landed the movie an NC-17 rating, so it became the "Uncle Fucker" we all know and love.
** Sheila originally went into full-on SanitySlippage, culminating with an insane rant of wanting "pretty things", revealing Kyle wasn't born in a hospital and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking mistaking Satan for Alan Dershowitz]].

[[caption-width-right:350:{{Creator/DonBluth|'s}} scrapped ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'' film]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5bf97518_d504_4993_8045_477fe26075f4.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Screenshots for the scrapped movie ''The Works'', which was meant to be the first CGI animated movie ever made, pre-dating ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'' by 10 to 15 years.[[note]] Interestingly, many of the people who worked on this also worked on ''Toy Story.'']]

*** [[https://mobile.twitter.com/JTuckerAnimator/status/1248050087822905346 James Tucker]] revealed a rejected stinger idea for ''WesternAnimation/BatmanVsRobin'' that would've set up an adaptation of ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'', complete with the Joker's face having been removed by the Dollmaker[[note]]albeit this Dollmaker is the Anton Schott version combined Barton Mathis's appearance, and a combined M.O.[[/note]] and pinned to a wall, but it was rejected and when the Joker showed up in ''Hush'', he still had his face.