Netflix cancels Halle Berry’s sci-fi film The Mothership

Netflix has decided to cancel the release of The Mothership, a sci-fi film starring Halle Berry and written and directed by Oscar nominee Matthew Charman.

The film, which completed filming in 2021, was facing multiple delays and challenges in post-production, and the streamer ultimately chose to scrap it entirely.

The Mothership was set to be a sci-fi thriller about a single mother who discovers an extraterrestrial object on her farm and embarks on a quest to find her missing husband. The film also featured Omari Hardwick, John Ortiz, Molly Parker, and child actors Ariana Greenblatt and Ethan Herisse. A brief clip of the film was teased by Netflix in a trailer for its 2022 releases, but the film was never given a release date.

According to sources, the film required significant reshoots, which would have been costly and difficult to arrange, especially with the involvement of child actors who had aged since the initial filming. The film was also the victim of the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted the production and post-production schedules. The decision to cancel the film was not taken lightly, and Netflix allowed the filmmakers to shop the film elsewhere, but no other buyers have emerged so far.

The Mothership was the second collaboration between Berry and Netflix, following her directorial debut Bruised, a mixed martial arts drama that premiered on the platform in 2021. Berry will next be seen in The Union, an action thriller co-starring Mark Wahlberg, which is also a Netflix original. Charman, who co-wrote the script for Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, has not announced any other projects since The Mothership.

The news of The Mothership’s cancellation comes as Netflix reported a strong Q4 performance, with over 13 million new subscribers and 18 Oscar nominations. The streamer has a robust slate of original films for 2024, including The Gray Man, Don’t Look Up, The Harder They Fall, and The Power of the Dog.