Whether it’s reshoots or industry pressure, it is not uncommon for some films to be delayed by a few months. Some even get pushed back a year.

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One movie, however, won’t hit screens for a full century.

Back in 2015, director Robert Rodriguez quietly shot a project starring Emmy award-winning actor John Malkovich. The film is titled 100 Years — and unless you’re planning on living well into the 22nd century, you’ll never see it.

Fittingly dubbed “The Movie You Will Never See”, the experimental science fiction project has an official release date of November 18, 2115.

Yes, that’s not a typo — 2115.

While that might sound like a marketing gimmick or an elaborate joke, the film very much exists. It was written and directed by Rodriguez, best known for From Dusk Till Dawn and Spy Kids, and features Malkovich in the lead role.

So why the wait?

Is it a cinematic time capsule designed to show future generations what we imagined their world might look like? Is it packed with messages too profound for modern audiences?

Not quite.

The real reason is far more unusual.

100 Years was created as a promotional project for Louis XIII Cognac — a luxury spirit that takes 100 years to age before it is deemed ready to be sold. In other words, the movie mirrors the product’s maturation process.

Speaking to The Guardian Life, Global Executive Director for Louis XIII Cognac Ludovic du Plessis explained the thinking behind the bold concept, revealing: “Louis XIII is a true testament to the mastery of time, and we sought to create a proactive piece of art that explores the dynamic relationship of the past, the present, and the future.

“Four generations of cellar masters put a lifetime of passion into a bottle of Louis XIII, yet they will never taste the resulting masterpiece. We are thrilled that this talented actor and creative filmmaker were inspired to join us on this artistic endeavor.”

For audiences today, the only glimpse available comes in the form of three teaser trailers — each offering a different imagined version of Earth in 2115.

But even those come with a twist.

Each teaser carries the same blunt disclaimer: “Director Robert Rodriguez and writer/actor John Malkovich have collaborated with the help of Louis XIII Cognac to make a movie that no one will see for 100 years. Literally.

“Here’s one of three teasers that have nothing to do with the movie itself.”

No spoilers. No plot hints. No clues.

All three teaser trailers can be seen below:

Malkovich later revealed that multiple visions of the future were discussed during development.

“There were several options when the project was first presented of what [the future] would be,” Malkovich said. “An incredibly high tech, beyond computerised version of the world, a post-Chernoybl, back to nature, semi-collapsed civilisation and then there was a retro future which was how the future was imagined in science fiction of the 1940s or 50s.”

Rodriguez himself admitted he was surprised by which version ended up sealed away.

Speaking to INTHEPANDA, he said: “I was making several short films for them, and I finished that one first, we shot that one first, I thought that was gonna be a commercial or something.

“And then I showed them the movie and they said ‘Yeah, that’s great, that’s great. That’s the one we lock away.’ And I said, ‘What? That’s the one you lock away? What about the other one with the future–‘ ‘No, that’s the commercial.’

“The one that I was most attached to was the one they locked away.”

The completed film is currently secured inside a custom-made, state-of-the-art safe built by French storage company Fichet-Bauche. It will remain unopened until November 18, 2115.

By then, everyone involved in making it — and likely everyone reading about it today — will be long gone.

Until that distant premiere date arrives, 100 Years remains cinema’s ultimate waiting game: a film finished in 2015, locked away for a century, and designed to outlive its own audience. If it lives up to the hype, we’ll just have to take the word of our great-great-grandchildren.

Featured image credit: Louis XIII/io9/YouTube (screenshots)