| 1 | %% |
| 2 | %% Production schedules can and do change frequently throughout the development process. Please avoid writing date-based terms such as "recent", "just announced", "coming soon", etc. |
| 3 | %% |
| 4 | %% Make sure to put all examples of SavedFromDevelopmentHell on that page, not this one. |
| 5 | %% |
| 6 | |
| 7 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 8 | |
| 9 | [[folder:Anime and Manga Adaptations]] |
| 10 | * The ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' live-action film has been this for a long time, with Creator/WarnerBros acquiring the rights back in ''2002'', and more and more prospective producers passing on the project (Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio was once attached). Every other hot young actor in Hollywood has been considered for roles in the movie (notably, Creator/JosephGordonLevitt, Creator/ChrisEvans, Creator/GarrettHedlund, and Creator/KristenStewart). Jaume Collett-Serra (''Film/{{House of Wax|2005}}'', ''Film/JungleCruise'') was once attached to direct before the project was halted over budget concerns. Creator/GeorgeMiller has confirmed that he turned down an offer to direct. Currently, Creator/WarnerBros has Marco Ramirez (Creator/{{Netflix}}'s ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'') attached to write with Creator/ChristopherNolan possibly involved in some way, and Creator/JustinLin, David Sandberg (''Film/{{Lights Out|2016}}''), Creator/JordanPeele, and Creator/TaikaWaititi all in talks to direct, with the latter expressing the most interest. The film suffered yet another setback in July 2019 when negotiations with Waititi broke down over casting disputes (Waititi wanted lesser-known Asian actors playing the characters, while Warner Bros. pushed for [[StuntCasting big-name actors]]), resulting in Waititi signing on for ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'' and the film losing its planned 2021 release date. In an [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/daily-briefs/2019-10-19/taika-waititi-comments-briefly-on-status-of-live-action-akira-film/.152411 October 2019 interview]], Waititi said the film was still going to be made, but it would need to wait until production on ''Love and Thunder'' wraps. |
| 11 | * Sony Pictures registered many domains relating to a Hollywood ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' film back in 2014, but nothing ever came of it. There's now word that Warner Bros. is in talks for the film rights. |
| 12 | * In June 2006, producers Neil Mortiz and Roy Lee announced that they had the green light to go ahead with making an American remake of ''Film/BattleRoyale'', which would, indeed, retain the "high schoolers killing each other" theme, and that Creator/NewLineCinema had given a tentative release date of 2008. Aside from the then-recent Virginia Tech Massacre making New Line [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents nervous about the themes]], it later turned out they still haven't acquired the rights to make the film in the first place and apparently don't wish to try. A television adaptation was planned for Creator/TheCW but was later scrapped. Plus, the popularity of ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' franchise (which had some similar themes but went about them differently) probably rendered it unnecessary anyway. |
| 13 | * A live-action adaptation of ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis'' was announced at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 for a 2012 release. The rights were purchased by Cubix International in Singapore, and the project was set up to be a co-production with various companies in the UK, China, Canada and Australia, with the film itself being shot in Sydney under a $30 million budget, and options for three sequels. The writers and designers from the original anime were also in contact with the production team about maintaining consistency, and the film was confirmed to have a multi-ethnicity cast. There was even a Malaysian filmmaking reality show where part of the grand prize package was being hired to work on this movie. The first promo images were released in 2009, and then... nothing. |
| 14 | * A Hollywood live action adaptation of ''Manga/Cyborg009'' began development in 2005 with Michael Uslan producing and F.J. [=DeSanto=] on board to write the screenplay. Other properties from Shotato Ishinomori were said to be included in the deal. Pre-production for the film was scheduled for 2006 for a 2008 release, but nothing ever came of it. Uslan attempted to revive the project as an animated film, but that too fell into development hell. In 2009, [=IshimoriPro=] (who owns the rights) made a deal with another unspecified producer without Uslan's involvement, and in 2012, [=DeSanto=] confirmed that he was still attached to write the screenplay. Nothing about the project has seen the light of day since, but [=DeSanto=] did adapt the franchise into a western graphic novel. Supposedly the film project struggled to get off the ground due to the franchise's poor performance in the US. |
| 15 | * A sequel to ''Film/DragonballEvolution''. It was being whispered about during promotion for the first, and it appears to end on a SequelHook, but poor critical and commercial reception have apparently shelved it. Fox still holds the film rights, despite not moving forward with the sequel. Their contract gives them a distribution stake in any future ''Dragon Ball'' films, live action or animated, and Creator/FUNimation had to go through them to license ''Battle of Gods'' and ''Resurrection 'F'''. |
| 16 | * Not counting ''Film/GSaviour'' ([[DisownedAdaptation which is just as well for Sunrise]]) there have been two attempts to adapt the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise into a live action film. |
| 17 | ** The first attempt occurred way back in 1983, prior to the release of ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam''. The film was to be the directorial debut of Chip Proser, use designs from Syd Mead (who would later go on to be the mechanical designer for ''Anime/TurnAGundam'') and use computer animation from Digital Productions (then known for ''Film/TheLastStarfighter''). It was to be a very loose adaptation of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', with everything after the original Side 7 attack so different as to be InNameOnly (for starters, Amuro and Char would have been brothers). Production was halted when Bandai realized they didn't have permission from all the rights holders, and the company elected to finance ''Zeta Gundam'' instead. [[http://www.zimmerit.moe/when-gundam-came-to-hollywood/ This article contains all the available records of production, including mechanical designs, storyboards, and Proser's script]]. |
| 18 | ** The second attempt was announced in March of 2019 with Creator/LegendaryPictures and Creator/BrianKVaughan attached as a screenwriter. At San Diego Comic Con that year, Bandai teased the design of the film Gundam (a model kept under a box with a 'Coming Soon' sign) and promised more news in the following months. News finally came in April 2021, two years later, with the announcement of Creator/{{Netflix}} as a distributor and Jordan Vogt-Roberts as a director, with no further information such as a cast or a date production will begin. It's not even known if the film will be an adaptation of the original series, one of the many Gundam AU series, a wholly original story, or even if a direction for the film has been confirmed. |
| 19 | * ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}''. Back in April 2008, a proof of concept trailer made the rounds online, to pitch the idea to studios to get them interested in the project. The girl playing Seras in the trailer was a hired model. However, the company developing the film pulled the trailer from their site and Website/YouTube, indicating things may not have gone in favor of the project. No news concerning a ''Helsing'' film was present until March 2021, when Creator/AmazonStudios [[https://deadline.com/2021/03/john-wick-derek-kolstad-amazon-studios-japanese-manga-hellsing-1234706766/ announced they had greenlit the film]], with the screenplay to be written by Derek Kolstad (''Film/JohnWick'', ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier''). This attempt appears to be completely divorced from the 2008 attempt. |
| 20 | * The rights for a live-action Hollywood ''Franchise/LupinIII'' film were purchased back in 2003, and ads for the manga mentioned: "soon to be a major motion picture!" Nothing ever came of it. |
| 21 | * Creator/LegendaryPictures, [[https://io9.gizmodo.com/legendary-will-attempt-to-make-my-hero-academia-into-a-1829982202 on October 24, 2018, announced they had the rights]] to a film based on ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', fresh off the success of ''Anime/MyHeroAcademiaTwoHeroes'' in a limited theatrical run. [[https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1426280140561166337?s=20 No updates occurred until August 13, 2021]], when Legendary announced it had secured a director, Shinsuke Sato, in what would be his first international production. There has been no other news including casts, a writer, or set production dates. |
| 22 | * In 2015, Creator/{{Lionsgate}} announced they had secured the rights to a live action adaptation of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', with Michael Gracey, director of ''Film/TheGreatestShowman'' signed on as director. There was no news on the production front until May of 2020, when a casting call became available. Gracey went on record during [[https://collider.com/naruto-movie-details-michael-gracey/ a 2018 interview]] that he wouldn't commit to a script unless ''Naruto'' creator Creator/MasashiKishimoto gave it his blessing. As of February 2024, Gracey is no longer involved, with Creator/DestinDanielCretton being hired to direct the movie and cowrite its script. |
| 23 | * The live-action adaptation of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' was originally announced in 2003 by Creator/ADVFilms but nothing has come of it since then, apparently due to the insane costs of pulling the series off correctly in live action compared to actual interest in such an endeavor. The collapse of ADV and the general decay of the American anime market didn't help it, either. Who's actually still involved remains up in the air, but the last time they said anything about it, Creator/JohnWoo was a producer and they were looking for more. That was in 2008. |
| 24 | ** Apparently, the producers got so far as that they needed Creator/StudioGainax to hand over the rights so they could finally get moving... and that's when things fell apart. When ADV went to buy the rights they had optioned, Gainax backed out, citing certain unfulfilled conditions. The producers lost their window with the studio (at least for the moment), and ADV is now suing Gainax over the rights. This happened in 2011, and no word has been heard since. Hideki Anno's Studio Khara later gained all rights to the franchise, and released the four ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' movies. The release of ''Film/PacificRim'', which many considered to be sort of a SpiritualAdaptation of the series, probably didn't help either. |
| 25 | * ''Anime/{{Paprika}}'' was apparently going to have a live-action Hollywood remake around 2010, as articles from the time like [[https://web.archive.org/web/20090814211155/http://www.moviehole.net/200920229-exclusive-petersons-paprika this one]] or [[https://thefilmstage.com/uprising-next-for-wolfgang-petersen-ahead-of-paprika/ this one]] reported. It was going to be directed by Creator/WolfgangPetersen, who compared the upcoming film to ''Film/TheMatrix'', however nothing more was heard about it and Petersen passed away in 2022. The articles also mention alien invasion movie ''Uprising'', that was going to be Petersen's next project, but ended up not being made either. |
| 26 | * A Hollywood live-action/CGI film based on the manga series ''Manga/{{Parasyte}}'' was announced in 1999 by Jim Henson Studios and Don Murphy's production company to be distributed by Creator/NewLineCinema. They confirmed it again in 2005, but nothing has been heard since. As with ''Star Blazers'', the Japanese live-action franchise may have mooted the need for this film. |
| 27 | * A Hollywood live-action film based on ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' was optioned in the late 90s, but nothing ever came of it. |
| 28 | * The ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' live-action film has been stuck here for a very long time: |
| 29 | ** It was originally announced in 2008 by Harmony Gold and Creator/WarnerBros. Creator/TobeyMaguire was said to be producing. Also heavily hyped was the announcement that Creator/LawrenceKasdan (yes, the same one who wrote ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' and ''Film/TheBodyguard'') had written a script. Things were looking up until the fans were informed that Kasdan's script was handed over to Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (''Series/{{Smallville}}'', ''Film/HerbieFullyLoaded'') for rewrites. The script was then handed to another writer named Tom Rob Smith for yet another rewrite. Given the questionable sanity involved in not just going with a script by a lauded screenwriter (let alone entrusting it to a two mediocre writers and then one nobody to "rewrite"), fans were no longer optimistic that the film would be worth seeing if it was ever made. |
| 30 | ** The rights were sold to Sony in 2015, completely abandoning the original project, with Sony hoping to develop a franchise out of the property. Creator/JamesWan was attached to direct for a while, but as his plate was full with ''{{Film/Aquaman|2018}}'' and ''Film/TheConjuring2'', the hell continued. |
| 31 | ** In September 2017, Andy Muschietti (''[[Film/It2017 It]]'') was attached to direct with Jason Fuchs (''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'') attached to write. Decades of legal back and forth between Harmony Gold and Big West over who exactly owned the trademarks to ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' (and the most iconic part of ''Robotech'') convinced onlookers the film would never be made until [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY1LjvYS4PY an April 2021]] deal between Harmony Gold and Big West where the former gave up their claim to the entire ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' franchise internationally, while Big West recognized that Harmony Gold was the international licensor for ''Macross'' and would no longer contest the use of ''Macross'' trademarks in ''Robotech'' related items. A key part of the brokered deal was that Big West would no longer oppose the creation of a ''Robotech'' movie using ''Macross'' elements, and both sides would split the licensing fees Sony would pay. Whether the film gets made even with the major legal obstacle gone, however, is still unknown. |
| 32 | ** [[https://deadline.com/2022/04/hawkeye-rhys-thomas-sonys-robotech-1235009525/ In April 2022,]] ''Series/{{Hawkeye|2021}}'' director Rhys Thomas was set to direct with Mark Canton and Gianni Nunnari producing, and Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka revising a script by duo Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (''Film/IronMan'', ''Film/TransformersTheLastKnight''). |
| 33 | * A live-action ''Anime/{{Voltron}}'', due to rights issues between the American rights holders (they own the names) and the Japanese rights holders (they own the likenesses). This seems to have been settled and there were rumors that Paramount and Relativity would team up on an adaptation back in Spring 2011, but it was eventually abandoned in favor of ''WesternAnimation/VoltronForce''. Said series ended up getting canceled after one season, leaving the franchise in limbo for years. |
| 34 | ** [[http://deadline.com/2016/11/voltron-david-hayter-live-action-film-universal-dreamworks-animation-1201848630/ Things seemed to be looking up as of 2016.]] With Creator/{{Universal}} buying Creator/DreamWorksAnimation (the current owners of the ''Voltron'' franchise) and production of ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'', Universal appeared to be dead set on starting a ''Voltron'' multimedia franchise, going full-steam ahead with the movie and Creator/DavidHayter rumored to be attached as scriptwriter. However, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZSc4_PMd4c&t=2514s in an October 2020 interview at the VoltCon convention]], World Events Productions president Bob Koplar confirmed that Universal passed on the script, and the film option (as well as the rights to make new animated productions) expired as well. As per Koplar, World Events Productions is currently exploring options with other studios for a film or live-action television series. In April 2022, [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/daily-briefs/2022-04-20/deadline-amazon-in-talks-to-acquire-rights-for-live-action-voltron-project/.184812 Amazon entered talks]] for the film rights. |
| 35 | * In the late '90s, Disney was in talks to make a live-action ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', featuring Creator/GeenaDavis as Queen Beryl (and, depending on the source, Creator/AliciaSilverstone or Creator/KirstenDunst rumored for the title role). At the time, Disney owned [=DiC=], the then-US licencors of the ''Sailor Moon'' franchise. Save Our Sailors later reported that the project had been canceled to due to Kodansha, the Japanese publishers of the original manga, refusing to sell the rights. Not helping was the failure of two superhero films at then-rival Creator/WarnerBros, ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' and ''Film/{{Steel}}'', at the box office, the underperformance of the series itself in syndication, and the fact that both Davis and Silverstone (if the latter is credited as the one Disney was seeking for the title role) had recently starred in damaging box office bombs, including one of the two aforementioned superhero film {{Genre Killer}}s. [[http://variety.com/1997/voices/columns/magoo-goes-stunt-crazy-1117863071/ This article]] from ''Variety'' from 1997 mentions that director Stanley Tong (the live-action 1997 ''Mr. Magoo'' film) was attached to the project. |
| 36 | * A film adaptation of ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' was announced [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-05-18/saint-seiya-manga-gets-live-action-hollywood-film/.116261 May 18, 2017]] as a co-production between Toei Animation and the Chinese company AGRF (A Really Good Film Company) with Tomasz Baginski lined up to direct. Numerous delays plagued the film, however, and while rumors continue to circulate of casting choices and even active filming locations, none have been confirmed by Toei, AGRF, or Baginski. The only actress to actively confirm her involvement has been Creator/FamkeJanssen, while at the same time not actively confirming what role she is playing. |
| 37 | * A movie based on ''Literature/SentouYouseiYukikaze'' was optioned to star Creator/TomCruise. The last news on it was Dan Mazeau, the screenwriter for ''[[Film/ClashOfTheTitans2010 Wrath of the Titans]]'' joining the project in 2013... and nothing after that. |
| 38 | * A live-action film based on ''Manga/SpaceAdventureCobra'' was once in development at Lionsgate as a passion project for Creator/AlexandreAja. It was greenlit in 2011 by French production companies Onyx and Studio 37, and a teaser poster was unveiled. Aja confirmed in 2015 that a script had been completed by him and producer Gregory Levasseur. However, in 2018, Aja confirmed that the project died following casting difficulties, budget concerns (it was once supposed to carry a $130 million price tag), and perceived similarities to ''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy|2014}}'' and ''Film/StarWarsTheForceAwakens''. |
| 39 | * ''Star Blazers'' was originally licensed by Disney. Somehow the script was leaked over the internet and the feedback was universally negative. Their treatment would have included almost none of the characters from the series and would have turned the Star Force into a RagtagBandOfMisfits. The Yamato/Argo would have been renamed Arizona (allegedly after the WWII American ship sunk at Pearl Harbor) and constructed under Mt. Rushmore. Given the location, this was not, unlike the anime, a spaceship built from the wreck of a sunken WWII ship. Thus, naming the ship after a sunken WWII ship was for no discernable reason in this case. Disney allowed the film license to expire. Christopher [=McQuarrie=] announced in 2011 that he was currently working on a script for Skydance Productions. It remains to be seen whether an American ''Star Blazers'' film even remains viable given the 2010 Japanese production of a live-action theatrical ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'' (the source material for ''Star Blazers)''. In a December 2012 interview, [=McQuarrie=] said that a script has been completed but no one can agree on what direction the film should go. 2017 saw a new producer, David Ellison, say he was trying to get the film moving again, but there has been no news since. |
| 40 | * Probably following the huge success superhero movies still enjoy, in 2015 there were talks for [[http://variety.com/2015/film/asia/imagine-ent-japans-anew-tiger-bunny-adaptation-1201614519/ a live-action film]] based on ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'', with none other than Creator/RonHoward as one of the producers. IMDB lists it as "in development" for 2019, and writer Ellen Shanman was attached to it as a screenwriter, but nothing else is known about it. As of March 2021, there has been no further news on the project. |
| 41 | * An American adaptation of ''Anime/WickedCity'' was rumored to be in the works, it is either deep in development hell or cancelled outright. |
| 42 | [[/folder]] |
| 43 | |
| 44 | [[folder:Comic Book Adaptations]] |
| 45 | ''Has its own [[DevelopmentHell/ComicBookAdaptations page]]'' |
| 46 | [[/folder]] |
| 47 | |
| 48 | [[folder:Comic Strip Adaptations]] |
| 49 | * Creator/WarrenBeatty still insists that there's going to be a sequel to ''Film/DickTracy''. Not a reboot, not even a DistantSequel, but a normal sequel. |
| 50 | * A film adaptation of ''{{ComicStrip/Dilbert}}'' has been attempted by creator Scott Adams for years. His most recent efforts date back to at least 2014, where he has kept updates on his writing efforts on his personal blog. Sadly, such efforts may never get past the screenplay level. Controversial remarks made by Adams in early 2023, causing the strip's syndication to come to an abrupt end (and Adams rebooting it as a paywalled 'adult series'), likely killed its chances for good. |
| 51 | * ''ComicStrip/TheFamilyCircus'' was announced by Fox in 2010, but nothing about it has surfaced since its announcement, likely due to the lackluster performance of another comic strip adaptation from them that year, ''Film/{{Marmaduke}}''. |
| 52 | * A second ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'' film was announced in 2010 at Fox, nearly 30 years after [[Film/FlashGordon1980 the 1980 film]] was released. The film went through several directors and script rewrites, but nothing came out of it for nearly a decade. In June 2019, Disney took over production of the film after acquiring Fox, retooling it into an animated film with Creator/TaikaWaititi (who, ironically, cited ''Flash Gordon'' as an inspiration for ''Film/ThorRagnarok'') in talks to write and direct. |
| 53 | * A ''ComicStrip/GetFuzzy'' film has been long rumored. |
| 54 | * ''ComicStrip/MandrakeTheMagician'', a film about the master illusionist [[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/08/mandrake-the-magician-sacha-baron-cohen was announced back in 2016]] with Creator/SachaBaronCohen set to play Mandrake, a notable departure from his usual comedic roles. Nothing further has been announced since that time but as of July 2021, Warner Media has not formally canceled the production. |
| 55 | * ''[[ComicStrip/BloomCounty Opus: The Last Christmas]]'', which is dead, according to Berkeley Breathed. |
| 56 | [[/folder]] |
| 57 | |
| 58 | [[folder:Literature Adaptations]] |
| 59 | * Back in 2011, an adaptation of ''Literature/ThirteenReasonsWhy'' was announced with Music/SelenaGomez in the lead role. Three years elapsed and nothing happened. Eventually, Creator/{{Netflix}} picked up the adaptation rights and developed it into [[Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy a full series]], with Gomez serving as an executive producer. |
| 60 | * In the early 2000s, Creator/TomHanks expressed interest in making and starring in film adaptations of Creator/ArthurCClarke's ''[[Literature/TheSpaceOdysseySeries 2061]]'' and ''3001'', although nothing has been heard of this since. |
| 61 | * ''Atuk'', based on a book by Canadian author Mordecai Richler, was never filmed and is linked to a curse in which the actors who signed onto to star in it all met with untimely ends. |
| 62 | * An adaptation of ''Literature/TheBellJar'' by Creator/SylviaPlath has been in the works since at least 2010, if not earlier. It's been pushed back repeatedly and IMDB has very little information that hasn't changed much in all this time. The only screen adaptation of the novel that's been released was back in the 1970s and the few people who've actually seen it will usually tell you that it's terrible, so maybe it's a good thing this will probably never be released. |
| 63 | * An adaptation of ''Literature/TheBerenstainBears'' was discussed at Creator/WaldenMedia for several years, but quickly stalled due to director Creator/ShawnLevy[='=]s other projects in the pipeline. After the film rights reverted back to the Berenstain estate in 2014, rumors began circulating in 2017 that Fox had picked up the rights. Unfortunately, they got picked up the moment Disney acquired the studio, leaving ''that'' iteration of the film in limbo as well. |
| 64 | * ''Literature/BloodMeridian'' has gained a reputation as a HardToAdaptWork, as while [[Literature/NoCountryForOldMen other]] [[Literature/TheRoad works]] of Creator/CormacMcCarthy have been successfully adapted to film, the overwhelming violence and complex structure of ''Blood Meridian'' have left film studios and directors alike struggling to adapt it. Since the 1990s, attempts have been made by Creator/ToddField, Creator/RidleyScott and Creator/JamesFranco among others with Franco's attempt getting as far as shooting twenty minutes of test footage before it was quietly canned for unclear reasons. In 2023, it was announced that a film adaptation was moving forward with John Hillcoat directing and [=McCarthy=] both writing the script and in an executive producer role, but [=McCarthy's=] passing in June of 2023 has again put it into question. |
| 65 | * In 2013, Creator/WarnerBros [[https://deadline.com/2013/10/warner-bros-buying-jo-nesbo-novel-blood-on-the-snow-as-leo-dicaprio-vehicle-616556/ acquired the rights]] to adapt the Jo Nesbø novel, ''Blood on Snow''. Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio was in talks to produce and possibly star in the film. In 2014, Creator/DanielEspinosa [[https://deadline.com/2014/05/blood-on-snow-movie-chris-sparling-screenwriter-leonardo-dicaprio-warner-bros-729691/ was to direct the film]] while Chris Sparling was writing the script. There was nothing else mentioned about ''Blood on Snow'' until 2017, where Creator/TobeyMaguire [[https://deadline.com/2017/04/tobey-maguire-blood-on-snow-directing-debut-jo-nesbo-novel-1202060947/ was announced to direct and produce the film]], while Jo Nesbø was going to write the script himself. But no other details about the film has been mentioned ever since. |
| 66 | * ''Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye'' is probably the most legendary literary example. After his short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" got changed drastically when it was turned into ''Film/MyFoolishHeart'' in 1949, Creator/JDSalinger vowed to never have another film adaptation made of one of his works. That didn't stop lots of big names from trying in vain to talk Salinger into changing his mind, starting with Samuel Goldwyn shortly after the novel's release. Creator/BillyWilder tried for a while, but Salinger personally asked him stop. Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/TheWeinsteinCompany also made attempts. For a while in TheFifties, Creator/JerryLewis sought to make Holden Caulfield his first dramatic starring role. Creator/MarlonBrando, Music/BobDylan, Creator/JackNicholson, Creator/JohnCusack, Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio and Creator/TobeyMaguire have all been floated as possible portrayers of Holden over the years. One big issue may well have been that Holden was such an AuthorAvatar for Salinger that he didn't want to see anyone else in the role. Indeed, the one adaptation attempt Salinger was briefly on-board with was a stage version with himself as Holden in the aftermath of the novel's release (alongside Creator/MargaretOBrien). |
| 67 | * It's possible the fourth ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' film entered this, [[http://www.aslanscountry.com/2011/10/gresham-confirms-waldens-contract-expired/ as the contract of production company Walden Media with the]] Creator/CSLewis' estate expired. The Mark Gordon Company [[http://www.deadline.com/2013/10/chronicles-of-narnia-silver-chair-movie-mark-gordon/ acquired them]], but their adaptation of ''Literature/TheSilverChair'' still couldn't come out. Netflix later acquired the rights and announced a whole new slew of adaptations, but nothing has been heard of their projects since, [[https://screenrant.com/chronicles-narnia-producer-no-netflix-update-episodic-reboot/ with even people who were announced to be working on them being unsure of their status]]. |
| 68 | * A live-action adaptation of Lloyd Alexander's ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'' series was once hinted at by Disney around a decade ago, but with nothing to back it up. |
| 69 | * The adaptation of Sister Souljah's urban fiction novel ''The Coldest Winter Ever''. The adaptation was rumored as far back as 01 or 02. But nothing ever came of it. Then in 2005, Creator/JadaPinkettSmith tried to get it off the ground as a producer but it fell through. |
| 70 | * ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'': |
| 71 | ** An indie film production of the original Creator/RobertEHoward short story ''Literature/IronShadowsInTheMoon'' (which had fallen into PublicDomain) was shot and scheduled for release in 2014, with Finnish hockey player Pasi Schalin as Conan. However, the film entered Development Hell when it turned out that producer George Tan (a mail-order distributor of Creator/BruceLee films) made false statements about settling the ''Conan'' film rights, and Tan subsequently vanished from the production. The film has never been released. |
| 72 | ** A third Schwarzenegger ''Conan'' has been in the works on and off since [[Film/ConanTheDestroyer the second film]] was released in 1984. |
| 73 | *** Author Karl Edward Wagner was hired to write the [[http://www.karledwardwagner.org/LastInterview.html script]], and ended up writing three distinct versions with increasingly smaller budgets before the film was scrapped completely due to the financial woes De Laurentiis was facing in the wake of ''Film/{{Dune|1984}}''. |
| 74 | *** De Laurentiis tried again in the early 90s, with a script titled ''Conan the Conqueror'', by Charles Edward Pogue. This was rewritten into ''Film/KullTheConqueror'' when Schwarzenegger proved unavailable. |
| 75 | *** In 2001, the original film's director John Milius was hired to write and direct a sequel, with the Wachowskis producing and Schwarzenegger set to return. The script, titled ''King Conan, Crown of Iron'', was completed, but a number of factors culminating in Schwarzenegger's election as Governor of California kept the film from happening. Arnie, for his part, has expressed that he really wants one last shot at playing Conan before he retires from acting. Time will tell if he gets the chance. |
| 76 | *** In 2012, it was announced that Universal had optioned the rights to the character and brought on ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' producer Chris Morgan to develop a sequel title ''The Legend of Conan''. Drafts of the script were completed and some location scouting was said to take place, but Universal passed on greenlighting the production, letting the rights lapse in 2016. |
| 77 | * The ongoing tale of the film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces''. First of all, the book was only published years after its author's suicide when his mother found a handwritten manuscript. Attempts were made to make a movie starring Creator/JohnBelushi in 1982, [[DiedDuringProduction but then Belushi died]]. Then there was going to be one with Creator/JohnCandy in 1994, [[DiedDuringProduction but then Candy also died]]. And then one with Creator/ChrisFarley in 1997, but [[RuleOfThree then... well...]] [[DiedDuringProduction yeah]]. Yet another attempt with Creator/WillFerrell seemed to be going well and had even accrued other big names like Creator/LilyTomlin and Mos Def. Then Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the film's setting. Between the author's tragic death, the string of attached stars that likewise died early, and its connection to Hurricane Katrina, the adaptation's developed a low-key reputation as [[TheProductionCurse a cursed production]]. |
| 78 | ** At one point, Creator/JohnWaters was being considered to direct an adaptation. Waters himself wrote that it was the one and only time he seriously considered making a film not based on one of his own scripts. Oh, what might have been... |
| 79 | ** Speaking about Waters, he had planned to direct a family-oriented Christmas comedy called ''Fruitcake'' about a gay teenager finding acceptance during the holidays for a 2007 release. The film never got made due to financial troubles at production company Capitol Films (unlike Waters' newer projects, this did not have studio backing) and seems to have been locked up due to that company's bankruptcy. Waters hasn't directed since then (but has done many acting roles, books and live appearances). |
| 80 | * On November 14th, 2016, a live action/CG hybrid film adaptation of the 1968 children's book ''Literature/{{Corduroy}}'' was announced with Creator/TimStory as the director and originally produced by Creator/CBSFilms. News on the Corduroy movie wouldn't resurface until December 11th, 2020, when Jon Dorsey (of ''Series/ThisIsUs'' fame) was announced as the film's screenwriter, and moving from CBS Films to Creator/{{Paramount}}. As of 2022, news on the movie adaptation has been very sparse. |
| 81 | * In April 2011, Creator/WarnerBros acquired the rights for a film adaptation of Mark Haddon's mystery novel Literature/TheCuriousIncidentOfTheDogInTheNightTime with Steve Kloves as director, but as of 2023, no details have been mentioned since. |
| 82 | * The last film in ''The Literature/{{Divergent}} Series'', ''Ascendant'', officially entered this due to ''Allegiant'' flopping at the box office. Plans shifted to making the final entry a television production of some sort rather than a theatrical release, but Creator/ShaileneWoodley's (among other actors) stated disinterest in doing another installment made even that questionable. It ended up being cancelled in 2018. |
| 83 | * In 2006, producer Boris Acosta began an ambitious task of adapting Creator/DanteAlighieri's ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' into various mediums, including a live-action film trilogy, which was first announced back in August 2008. An all-star team was assembled, with Dante scholar Dino Di Durante writing the scripts, Armand Mastroianni as director, Chuck Shuman as the cinematographer and Aldo De Tata as composer. Creator/AndyGarcia, Creator/AdrienBrody and Creator/JimCaviezel were all considered to portray Dante, with Creator/AlPacino in the running for Virgil. The trilogy was set to be released between 2009 and 2012. However, during pre-production of the first film, ''Inferno'', Acosta realized that its proposed $55 million budget was too expensive and decided to produce lower-budgeted films to help fund the live-action films, as well as an animated film trilogy. He has since produced and/or directed documentaries about ''The Divine Comedy'', a short film based on ''Inferno'', as well as a 9-season television series. The live-action films are still in development as of 2022. |
| 84 | * The ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'' has been in development hell since probably the '80s. At one time there was a TV series that was in production, but it was basically InNameOnly so it never went forward (most people see this as a good thing). A movie was supposed to be released in 2009, but the date got pushed back to 2011. |
| 85 | ** Warner Brothers optioned ''all 22 volumes'' of the series for a film adaptation in summer of 2014. |
| 86 | * In 2006, it was announced that a new film based on Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins character (previously adapted in ''Film/DevilInABlueDress'' starring Creator/DenzelWashington) was in the works, with Creator/JeffreyWright attached to star as Easy and Mos Def on board to play his PsychoSidekick Mouse. Creator/{{HBO}} acquired the rights to the film and were said to be seeking a theatrical release, but the project stalled out after a while. |
| 87 | * A film adaptation of ''Literature/EleanorAndPark'' was announced in 2014 to be produced by Creator/DreamWorksSKG and the screenplay to be written by the author Creator/RainbowRowell. But in 2016, Rowell revealed that the film was no longer in development and she still had the rights. Then in 2019, she announced that the film was back, this time to be produced by Picturestart and Creator/BradPitt’s production company, Plan B and she would still write the screenplay. In July of 2020, Rowell revealed that it was to be directed by the Japanese filmmaker Hikar and casting would be soon. As of October 2023, no cast news or anything related to the film has been announced. |
| 88 | * The ''Literature/ElfstonesOfShannara'' and ''Literature/MagicKingdomForSaleSold'' movies. Yes, there are plans. One version of the proposed script for the latter would have given Ben a son and daughter, but Terry Brooks nixed that because their characters weren't developed enough. Shannara eventually went to television. |
| 89 | * In 2008, Creator/HandmadeFilms announced plans for ''Literature/{{Eloise}} in Paris'' -- a live-action adaptation of the Eloise book of the same name has been in development since late 2007-2008 and was to star Australian child actress Jordana Beatty for the title role alongside Creator/UmaThurman. A few years later and yet little, if any, development was announced. Now, Beatty's clearly too old to play the title character. |
| 90 | ** Development of the film was restarted in 2020 however, with ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' screenwriter Linda Woolverton to pen the screenplay. |
| 91 | * In 2019, an adaptation of the novel ''Finding Jack'' was announced, infamously starring a CGI Creator/JamesDean and announced for a November 2020 release date. The announcement attracted controversy and then... nothing. [[https://fortune.com/2021/09/30/james-dean-cgi-new-movie-nft/ Some]] sources have claimed it was canceled. |
| 92 | * Every few years, there's a rumored adaptation of Creator/GeorgeMacdonaldFraser's ''{{Literature/Flashman}}'' books. In 1970, actor/producer Creator/StanleyBaker optioned rights to the first book, for a project that never materialized. In 2007 Celtic Films announced a made-for-TV adaptation of ''Flashman at the Charge'' with Creator/ColinFirth. This was apparently [[DiedDuringProduction derailed by Fraser's death]]. Most recently, in 2011 rumors surfaced of a film featuring Creator/MichaelFassbender - rumors Fraser's estate denied. Besides the difficulties of adapting the novels, from the period setting to their politically incorrect tone, that the one extant Flashman film, 1975's ''Royal Flash'', flopped at the box office likely weighs heavily in studios' minds. |
| 93 | ** Then in March 2015, [[http://variety.com/2015/film/news/flashman-movie-george-macdonald-fraser-ridley-scott-peter-chernin-1201446608/ it looks like it's happening again]]. |
| 94 | * Creator/{{Michael Cimino|Director}} spent much of the '70s and '80s trying to make ''Literature/TheFountainhead'' into a film, with Creator/ClintEastwood playing Howard Roark. Then ''Film/HeavensGate'' happened. |
| 95 | * What the hell is up with Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheGirlWhoLovedTomGordon'' movie? |
| 96 | * In 2011, Sony and Creator/{{MGM}} had plans to (re)make the sequels to ''Film/TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo2011'' and were going to shoot them back-to-back. But despite hiring Steven Zaillian to write the screenplays, the disappointing box office (Sony had expected the first film to be their successor to ''Film/TheDaVinciCode'' and spent millions marketing it) combined with Creator/DavidFincher's refusal to direct and the decline of the book series' popularity have shelved these sequels for the time being. |
| 97 | * Creator/TriStarPictures has held the film rights to ''Literature/TheNightingaleKristinHannah'' since 2015. Creator/MichelleMacLaren was initially signed to direct, but left the project in 2016. Creator/MelanieLaurent signed on as director in 2019, with real life siblings [[Creator/DakotaFanning Dakota]] and Creator/ElleFanning cast as the two sisters. filming was initially delayed by the pandemic; the movie's release date was subsequently pushed back, first from December 2020 to December 2021, then again in 2021 to December 2022, before ultimately being removed entirely from [=TriStar's=] release calendar. |
| 98 | * The unfinished 1938 production of ''Literature/IClaudius'' was waylaid by an accident involving its lead actress and by the difficulty that Creator/CharlesLaughton had in getting into Claudius's role. Only a few scenes from the film were ever publicly released in the 1960s. (The DVD release of the TV version of ''Series/IClaudius'' includes a documentary which features this footage.) |
| 99 | * ''Invisible Monsters'', based off of a book penned by Creator/ChuckPalahniuk (of ''Literature/FightClub'' fame), has been in development for forever and a half. |
| 100 | * An adaptation of the young adult horror novel ''Killer Pizza'' was announced by Creator/{{MGM}} in 2011 with Adam Green set to write and direct. Very little has been heard about the project since. |
| 101 | * Marie Lu's ''Literature/LegendSeries'' was optioned for a possible film adaptation as early as 2011. No concrete news about the film have emerged since then. |
| 102 | * In 2002, [=DreamWorks=] bought the rights to Donald Hamilton's ''Matt Helm'' novels. In 2008 Paramount acquired the rights and in 2009 it was announced that Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci would write a screenplay with Creator/StevenSpielberg as a possible director. It seems that the project has since died. |
| 103 | * An adaptation of the ''Literature/MaximumRide'' books was announced by Creator/SummitEntertainment in 2010 with Catherine Hardwicke (director of the first ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' movie) set to direct. Cut to 2012 and it looks like that the project has been quietly canceled due to Creator/{{Lionsgate}} buying Summit, ''Literature/AlexCross'' (from the same author) flopping at the box office and Lionsgate/Summit choosing to adapt the ''Literature/{{Divergent}}'' series instead. The screenwriter for the movie also died in March 2013. Eventually, it was released as a digital film in 2016. |
| 104 | * A film adaptation of ''Literature/ReadyPlayerTwo'' was announced after the book was released. Creator/StevenSpielberg is unsure if he'll return as he stated that ''Film/ReadyPlayerOne2018'' was the third hardest film he's ever made. Creator/OliviaCooke is also unsure about returning, stating she might be too old for her role by the time filming begins. |
| 105 | * A film adaptation of ''Literature/RedQueen'' was announced in 2015, with Creator/ElizabethBanks being involved. ''Six years'' later, it was reannounced as a television series for Creator/{{Peacock}}, with Banks still attached. |
| 106 | * Creator/MorganFreeman has since the early 2000s showed interest in making a ''Literature/RendezvousWithRama'' adaptation, and Creator/DavidFincher has even been attached to direct. Problems have emerged with both funding and finding a good enough script. |
| 107 | * In 2010, Creator/StevenSpielberg signed on to direct a film adaptation of ''Literature/{{Robopocalypse}}'', with Drew Goddard writing the screenplay. Speilberg's studio, Creator/DreamWorksSKG, was set to finish the film for a 2013 release by Creator/TouchstonePictures (owned by Creator/{{Disney}}) domestically, then it was bumped to 2014 after financial issues at [=DreamWorks=] plagued the project and led to Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox jumping on board. Then, [=DreamWorks=] announced the film had been shelved indefinitely thanks to script disagreements and continuing financial strives. Now, with [=DreamWorks=]' deal with Disney expiring and moving to Creator/{{Universal}} in 2016, and major restructuring at [=DreamWorks=], the project may finally be coming off the ground. Ironically enough, Disney is now back on board thanks to buying Fox. |
| 108 | * A short AlternateHistory story about a modern U.S. marine unit that ends up in AncientRome and must take on Augustus's forces in battle, called ''Rome, Sweet Rome'' and posted by James Erwin on Reddit in 2011, attracted enough attention that Creator/WarnerBros bought it with the intention of making it into a film. Though Erwin wrote a screenplay, it went through several different producers over the years and was entirely rewritten in 2013 by Brian Miller, who changed the marines to be a special forces unit instead. As of 2022 (over a decade later), it's still languishing in limbo with no news of production, and Erwin has gone on to write other books. |
| 109 | * In 2016, it was announced that Creator/DreamWorksSKG had purchased the rights to make Gay Talese’s novel The Voyeur’s Motel as a film with Creator/SamMendes set to direct and Krysty Wilson-Cairns to write the screenplay. However, due to controversy surrounding the source material and a 2016 documentary also detailing the subject, the project was cancelled. |
| 110 | * Adaptations for Creator/TerryPratchett's works have hit this roadblock. |
| 111 | ** Sir Terry himself had joked that the road to film for ''Literature/GoodOmens'' had become so long and complicated that even he stopped paying attention. He relied on fans at conventions and signings to keep him posted on the latest news/rumors. One such rumor was that Creator/RobinWilliams would play the Aziraphael and Creator/TerryGilliam was at one point attached to direct, with a script was completed in 2002, but the project never got off the ground. Ultimately, the book was adapted into [[Series/GoodOmens2019 a live action series]] by Creator/PrimeVideo. |
| 112 | ** Creator/DreamWorksSKG was going to make a ''[[Literature/NomesTrilogy Bromeliad]]'' film. Where'd that go? |
| 113 | ** And somewhere around 2011, news came that Creator/SamRaimi was directing ''Literature/TheWeeFreeMen'' from a script by Pamela Pettler (Creator/TimBurton's ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride''). Since the initial announcement, nothing. Pratchett apparently [[ExecutiveVeto vetoed]] a script that "had all the hallmarks of something that had been good, and then [[ExecutiveMeddling the studio had got involved]]", and then told everyone "it probably won't happen." (As of 2013, the latest news on that one is that the rights reverted at around the same time Sir Terry set up his own production company, and Creator/RhiannaPratchett is now writing a script. In 2016, the Creator/JimHenson Company were announced as the producers.) |
| 114 | ** Pratchett was fond of citing an early aborted interaction with a major American producer - [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial who he publicly denied was Disney]] - who assured him that they were absolutely in love with ''Literature/{{Mort}}'' and really wanted to do the movie of the novel - but considered Americans would have a problem relating to [[TheGrimReaper Death]] as the star of a feelgood movie, so we're gonna have to write the character out. Pratchett said this was when he started to get ''cynical'' about proposed big-screen versions of his novels. He would also point out, as evidence nobody in Hollywood knows what's going on, that ''Film/BillAndTedsBogusJourney'' must have been ''already in production'' at the time. |
| 115 | * In 2010, some very early conceptual work was leaked for a live-action/CGI ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' movie, with ''WesternAnimation/{{Nine}}'' director Shane Acker at the helm. After three years, it dropped off the radar and what little information about it that's since come teeters between this or cancellation. |
| 116 | * ''Literature/TheThreeBodyProblem'' was filmed, but after two years, nobody knows when it will be released, if at all. |
| 117 | * According to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Vice its Wikipedia article]], the film adaptation of journalist Jake Adelstein's memoir book ''Tokyo Vice'' was supposed to be filmed in Tokyo around 2015, with Creator/DanielRadcliffe taking the role of Adelstein. In 2019 the film was scrapped in favor of [[Series/TokyoVice a HBO Max 10-episode series]] directed by Creator/MichaelMann and starring Creator/AnselElgort, which premiered in 2022. |
| 118 | * Apparently, there were plans for a ''Literature/WarriorCats'' movie, but they were dropped when it was considered a gamble in light of the economic recession, due to [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids the appropriateness of the content of what is ostensibly a children's series]]. The film's status was downgraded from "definitely going to happen", to "not even under consideration". As of late 2016, however, the rights to a movie were obtained and a producer (David Heyman) named, so it's more likely, but not 100% certain. |
| 119 | * There's been talk going around about filming the first installment of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', ''The Eye Of The World'' since the turn of the century, but absolutely nothing has come of it. Probably because nobody likes the implications of filming the first in a series of 14. [[Series/TheWheelOfTime2021 A live-action series]] did took off on Creator/PrimeVideo, however. |
| 120 | * An adaptation of ''Literature/WheresWally'' (a.k.a. ''Where's Waldo?'' in the US) has been in the works for quite some time, but it's never gotten any traction. Creator/{{Paramount}} and Creator/{{Universal}} all had interest in a ''Where's Wally?'' film, but eventually declined. Creator/{{MGM}} eventually got the film rights to do a live-action movie in 2011, but its 2015 release came and went with.....nothing. Creator/DreamWorksAnimation bought the company who owned the ''Where's Wally?'' property in 2012, but let MGM keep the film rights for the time being, and things seemed to be headed back on track with Creator/SethRogen and Evan Goldberg signing on as producers.....then [=DreamWorks=] was purchased by Universal, sending the film back to Hell once again as the rights disputes are sorted out. |
| 121 | * From Classic Hollywood, there was Creator/JohnFord's production of Sir Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's ''Literature/TheWhiteCompany''. Ford was a lifelong fan of Conan Doyle's novel and spent decades trying to adapt it for the screen. He came closest in 1960 when he contracted with Samuel Bronston for a production which was to film in Spain with Creator/JohnWayne, Creator/LaurenceOlivier, and Creator/AlecGuinness. But pre-production became mired in budget wrangles, with Conan Doyle's estate demanding an exorbitant fee for the film rights. After several years in limbo, the project fell through, but Ford never gave up on ''White Company''. As late as 1973 he announced it as a future project, but Ford's deteriorating health prevented it from getting past the idea stage. |
| 122 | * For about a decade now, various Hollywood studios have been wanting to produce a faithful adaptation of ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' that would take advantage of modern special effects, and possibly start a new franchise or cinematic universe of ''Literature/LandOfOz''-related films. This ''shouldn't'' be too hard, since the original novel is in the public domain, yet no project has officially entered production as of 2020, likely due to the fact that the [[Film/TheWizardOfOz 1939 musical film]] is still one of the most beloved films of all time, if not ''the'' most beloved, ensuring any new adaptation of the source would have [[AudienceColoringAdaptation some pretty big shoes to fill]] in the eyes of the audience, and studios may not be willing to take that risk. Instead, various films have been made that tie into that film, the most notable being ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful''. |
| 123 | * A relatively obscure 1973 novel called ''The Yellow Jersey'' went through [[https://www.podiumcafe.com/book-corner/2015/10/4/9448769/the-curse-of-the-yellow-jersey-the-cycling-film-hollywood-loved-but a crazy three decade rollercoaster ride in Hollywood]]. A story about an aging cyclist who unexpectedly finds himself contending for a victory in the UsefulNotes/TourDeFrance, while also coaching a younger cyclist and getting involved in a LoveDodecahedron, an adaptation was put into development by Creator/ColumbiaPictures shortly after the novel was published. By 1975, Creator/{{Michael Cimino|Director}} was attached to direct, and visited the Tour to start the research phase, but he got tied up with ''Film/TheDeerHunter''. In the meantime, Columbia dropped out, and it passed through several other studios, including Creator/UniversalPictures and Creator/ITCEntertainment. A number of big names had been offered the lead role, including Creator/SteveMcQueenActor and Creator/SylvesterStallone, but said no. Oddly, it ended up back at Columbia in 1983, with a fairly solid package of talent penciled in to participate. Creator/DustinHoffman--fresh off ''Film/{{Tootsie}}''--was going to play the lead role, veteran producer Carl Foreman would be in charge, ''Film/ChariotsOfFire'' screenwriter Colin Welland would do the script, and Cimino (who, as mentioned above, had DevelopmentHell experience with ''Literature/TheFountainhead''), wanting to redeem his career after the ''Film/HeavensGate'' fiasco, was still interested in directing. But they ran up against the tricky logistics of actually filming at the tour. Cimino's initial idea was to have Hoffman participate in the RealLife race, which was soundly rejected. By 1986 it all fell apart. Foreman had died, then Cimino quit, followed by Hoffman, and Columbia pulled out for a second time. The producers then signed with Creator/TheCannonGroup, who touted Creator/RobertDeNiro and Creator/HarrisonFord as possible stars, and began filming second-unit footage even without a director. Creator/MickeyRourke signed on to star, then quit two days later. Cannon dropped out, but the producers kept it on life support for the next decade, now as a possible vehicle for Creator/TomCruise or Creator/KevinCostner, before finally giving up. An odd postscript is that Hoffman ended up appearing in a film about the Tour de France anyway--''Film/TheProgram2015''. |
| 124 | * Diane Duane wrote a screenplay for the first book of the ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series and reported that it was in very early development stages on the Young Wizards website back in 2007. As of 2010, there has been no progress whatsoever towards a finished movie. |
| 125 | * Lauren Beukes' UrbanFantasy novel ''Literature/ZooCity'' seemed to be quite a hot property for a time, before any news about the movie adaptation disappeared. |
| 126 | * On August 2018, Creator/{{Netflix}} announced a live-action adaptation of Creator/GeorgeOrwell's ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' directed by Creator/AndySerkis . However, production behind the movie has been moving at a snail's pace. Updates on the film wouldn't get known until June 2020, when Creator/ChristianBale was planned to play a leading role. After the release of ''Film/VenomLetThereBeCarnage'', Andy Serkis revealed that production on the movie will continue sometime in 2022 or 2023. |
| 127 | [[/folder]] |
| 128 | |
| 129 | [[folder:Theatre Adaptations]] |
| 130 | * There has been talk of a film version of ''Theatre/{{Aida|JohnRice}}'' for years, but things have clearly stalled. |
| 131 | * This trope tends to hit Creator/AndrewLloydWebber a lot. ''Theatre/{{Evita}}'' was first discussed in the 1970s, right after the release of the concept album. [[Film/{{Evita}} The film]] was released in 1996. ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'' was almost an animated film in the 90s, but only got [[Film/{{Cats}} a film adaptation in 2019]]. [[TheFilmOfThePlay The film of the musical adaptation]] of ''Film/SunsetBoulevard'' has languished since it was new, with brief flickers of life every few years. |
| 132 | * Following the success of ''Film/{{Chicago}}'', Creator/{{Miramax}} acquired the film rights to ''Theatre/{{Pippin}}'' in 2003. Over a decade later, the rights moved to Creator/TheWeinsteinCompany with James Ponsoldt (''Film/TheSpectacularNow'') writing, and Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced as co-producers following year. In 2018, as a result of Harvey Weinstein's sexual harassment allegations and the company's subsequent bankruptcy a year prior, the film rights have reverted to Creator/StephenSchwartz, with director Creator/RobMarshall possibly being eyed to direct while the rights were to be shopped to other studios. There have been no further developments since. |
| 133 | * In 2012, Creator/SearchlightPictures acquired the film rights to the musical "I Dreamed a Dream", based on the life of Scottish singer Susan Boyle, planning to develop a movie adaptation. Nothing has been heard since. |
| 134 | * There has been rumors of ''Theatre/MissSaigon'' getting a live action adaptation since at least 2009. In 2016, Creator/DannyBoyle was being discussed as a director for the film set to release... In 2018. 2018 has come and gone with no news of the production going anywhere. |
| 135 | * In January 2012, it was announced that David Farland's series ''Literature/TheRunelords'' would be adapted into a film. A website and a Twitter page were even made to promote it. Due to the book series not being very well-known to begin with, as well as the fact that the last book in the series has entered its own development hell, it is plain to assume that this project went nowhere. |
| 136 | * There has been a lot of talk about the very popular musical version of ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' being made into a movie. It appears to be just that: talk. Oh sure, it's said to be officially confirmed and the studio says the project isn't dead (which came out back in March 2014), but they still have yet to get anyone on board (director, writers, cast, etc). The fact the musical made its debut on stage in ''2003'' and there has yet to be a movie of it is especially odd considering that the musical itself was actually produced by Universal, which logically should streamline the movie-making process. |
| 137 | ** At least two animators at ''Creator/{{Disney}}'' want to see an AnimatedAdaptation. There was an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKSlQinKTD8 unofficial storyboard]] of "Defying Gravity" created by an animator has been floating around for a while. There was also another animator who hoped Disney (or at least some animation studio) would pick up the film. A possible third person who does character designing for Disney also made his own concept arts for what he thought ''Wicked'' might look like coming out of Disney as a part of their art portfolio. Sadly, considering the musical ''is'' property of Universal Studios, the chances of Disney getting hold of such a project is dubious. The blockbuster reception of ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'' has also likely killed the chances of Disney animating ''Wicked''; the stories are incredibly similar, even down to the original Elphaba actress Creator/IdinaMenzel being the voice of Queen Elsa. It's a joke in both fandoms that ''Frozen'' is the [[SpiritualAdaptation closest thing]] to a ''Wicked'' adaptation we'll see. |
| 138 | ** Other things that have been said about making a film are that "they're waiting for the musical ticket sales to taper off", and also that, based on the success of the ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' film, a ''Wicked'' movie "will be made sooner than later". |
| 139 | ** It's been taking so long that Menzel herself has expressed that by the time a film starts being made, she and Creator/KristinChenoweth (the original Glinda) will probably be too old to believably reprise their roles. And her concern isn't unfounded. Both are still gorgeous of course, but even if filming started right this minute, they'd be [[DawsonCasting playing characters that are supposed to be roughly]] ''[[DawsonCasting half]]'' [[DawsonCasting their current age]] (though there is a {{timeskip}} in the musical after Shiz). |
| 140 | ** The film eventually managed to get Stephen Daldry attached as director, with original book writer Winnie Holzman and composer Creator/StephenSchwartz working on a screenplay, and was given a tentative date of December 2019, but it was later pulled off the schedule and put on hold, with Universal instead focusing its attention on [[Film/{{Cats}} the adaptation of]] ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'', which took its old release date. |
| 141 | ** It was later given another release date of December 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused it to be pulled off the schedule once again as Universal changed their release dates, with ''WesternAnimation/Sing2'' taking its spot. |
| 142 | ** Later that same year, Daldry stepped down from the director’s chair, putting the project back at square one. |
| 143 | ** In 2021, the film found a new director, Creator/JonMChu, and cast Music/ArianaGrande and Creator/CynthiaErivo as Glinda and Elphaba respectively. The adaptation is now planned to be filmed in two parts, set to release in 2024 and 2025, but time will tell if production will get off the ground this time around. |
| 144 | [[/folder]] |
| 145 | |
| 146 | [[folder:TV adaptations]] |
| 147 | * A film based on ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'' was announced back in 2017 for a Halloween 2019 release, and to be produced by Matt Kaplan, but it was taken off of the schedule in Feburary 2019. A mini-series was created instead. |
| 148 | * TheMovie of ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' languished in this and Creator/{{Netflix}} [[UnCanceled reviving the series]] probably ended the chances anyway. |
| 149 | * There were plans for a ''Series/BabylonFive'' theatrical film. There was a project to produce one in 2004, but it was aborted in 2005. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen It would have been called ''The Memory of Shadows'' and involved Galen and an EarthForce intelligence officer tracking down an intergalactic conspiracy that used Shadow technology.]] |
| 150 | * This is the current and probably permanent location of the proposed film of the television series ''Series/BlakesSeven'' since Creator/PaulDarrow (the actor who played Avon) resigned from the project due to CreativeDifferences. |
| 151 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'' has been propositioned for a film several times since the last time he was on the big screen (starring Creator/PeterCushing in the 1960s). The 1996 TV movie doesn't count as it was never intended for cinematic release and was really a FailedPilotEpisode for a proposed TV revival. Most attempts were during the period when there was no TV series, and were stalled due to the uncertainty over the franchise, especially considering any theatrical movie would have been a total reimagining. One proposal had the Doctor and Master as half-brothers with Borusa as their grandfather. Another would have reimagined the Daleks as bipedal Terminator-style machines. And yet another proposal wanted to cast Creator/JohnnyDepp as the Doctor. In 2011, Creator/DavidYates proposed making a ''Doctor Who'' film despite the lack of official cast or crew on board or any interest from the BBC in giving permission. There is also a strong faction of Who fans who are opposed to the idea of a film not taking place in the TV continuity, or worried that a film would overshadow the show. Interestingly, the Doctor's status in the current series as being "Last of the Time Lords" is borrowed from the working sub-title for the late 80s movie proposal. |
| 152 | * ''Film/TheFugitive'' was released in 1993, but TPTB had been trying to get it off the ground since 1989. |
| 153 | * Starting in TheNineties, Creator/SherwoodSchwartz tried to get a ''Series/GilligansIsland'' movie made, with lots of rumored casting choices circulating among fans, but nothing ever happened. A DarkerAndEdgier ''Gilligan'' adaptation screenplay by Creator/CharlieKaufman made the rounds for a while, and Creator/JamesGunn tried to get it greenlighted around 2014, but Schwartz's estate said no. |
| 154 | * Of all things, a feature film adaptation of ''Series/LaverneAndShirley'' [[http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/blogs/popcornbiz/Jamie-Foxx-Writing-Laverne-And-Shirley-Movie--Wait-What-89007762.html was announced in 2010]], with, of all people, Creator/JamieFoxx writing the screenplay. According to series creator Garry Marshall, the movie was to have been something of a DarkerAndEdgier take on the series, updating the setting to the present day and featuring Milwaukee's finest (played by Creator/JenniferGarner and Creator/JessicaBiel, respectfully) having grown up in the streets, with such gems as Laverne's trademark "L", iconically embroidered in the upper right corner of her shirts and sweaters in the series, instead tattooed on her arm. Small wonder that exactly nothing else has been heard about the project since then. |
| 155 | * The doomed ''Series/RedDwarf'' film has a complicated history, mostly revolving around budget problems. It came very close to entering production in 2001, to the point where shooting schedules had been worked out and costume tests were being done, but a last-minute yanking of the budget brought the project to a standstill. Several restarts would be attempted over the course of 7 or 8 years, but ultimately nothing would come of it; when the television series (which had ended due to Doug Naylor's desire to focus on making the film) restarted various parts of the film's script was cannibalized for episodes (most notably "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonXTheBeginning The Beginning]]", which borrows much of the film's set-up, but a notorious set piece made its way into "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonXLemons Lemons]]"). |
| 156 | * ''Series/{{Skins}}''. It was supposed to be released in summer 2011, but as of the last report they were having difficulty even just figuring out which characters were going to be in it. While it was originally supposed to focus just on tying up Generation 2's loose ends, they also were trying to shoehorn in a few characters from Generation 1, and then with the additional third generation, things became even more complicated. Especially with some fan speculation that the show's sixth series in 2012 may be its last, and the film may be intended as a wrap-up to the ''whole franchise''. As it turned out, said fan speculation was true, and the film ended up shelved to instead make way for three extra-long episodes focusing on Cassie, Cook and Effy years later, concluding the whole show. |
| 157 | * A ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' movie has been discussed since 1999-2000. |
| 158 | * After the success of his ''Film/AustinPowers'' films in the late 90s, Creator/MikeMyers was in talks do a film based on his old ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' character, Dieter, the German talk show host of ''Sprockets''. However, after being given a year and a half to work on the script, Myers felt it wasn't strong enough and abandoned it. Universal forced him to do a different movie so he wouldn't breach his contract, resulting in ''Film/TheCatInTheHat''. |
| 159 | * The ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' film ''Extinction'' has been put on hold indefinitely. This is due to the cancellation of ''Series/StargateUniverse'' and MGM's waning interest in the franchise. |
| 160 | ** Same goes for the third ''Series/StargateSG1'', ''Revolution'', which would have featured the SGC going public. |
| 161 | * A film based on the short-lived Creator/ComedyCentral show ''Series/ThatsMyBush'' entitled ''Secret of the Glass Tiger'' was proposed sometime after its cancellation, although nothing more was heard afterward. |
| 162 | * ''Series/{{Tweenies}}'' [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3715313.stm was announced in 2004]] for a summer 2005 release, but nothing ever came of it. |
| 163 | * The rumors about ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' have been circling around since the series ended in 2001. It has been discussed many times by series creator Rob Tapert, who kept saying it was stuck because of legal issues at Universal. Looks like it will never get made, though. |
| 164 | * The second ''Series/TheXFiles'' film ''[[Film/TheXFilesIWantToBelieve I Want to Believe]]'' fell victim to this concept. The show ended in 2002, but the script ended up in Development Hell for six years. What was ''supposed'' to be a continuation of the MythArc ended up being a drawn-out MonsterOfTheWeek episode featuring a psychic. The fans were not pleased. It didn't do well. Now fans are hoping a third movie will wrap up loose threads of the plot. Creator/ChrisCarter stated that he would make a third ''X-Files'' featuring the 2012 invasion promised by the series finale and was to be released in the summer of 2012 if the second ''X-Files'' did well. 2012 has come and gone, and no mention has ever been made about a third film. A six-episode season of the TV series was released in early 2016 instead. |
| 165 | * ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2356460/ SensualitĂ a Corte]]'', an Italian sketch comedy parodying soap operas and costumed melodramas starring gay French baronet Jean-Claude and his overbearing unnamed mother, began in 2005 and quickly became a cult show. In 2008 Marcello Cesena, the actor who plays Jean-Claude, stated that a prequel film [[https://www.cineblog.it/post/sensualita-a-corte-diventa-un-film was going to be made]] and that it would finally star the MC's then-unseen father. It's late 2023 at the time of this writing, ''SensualitĂ a Corte'' still comes back every few years, but the film project is most likely dead and buried. |
| 166 | %%* ''Ripley's Believe it or Not!'' |
| 167 | [[/folder]] |
| 168 | |
| 169 | [[folder:Video Game Adaptations]] |
| 170 | * [[http://www.stories-llc.com/wp-content/uploads/Circle-of-Confusion-STORIES-Press-Release-12012016-.pdf This document]] details how there were projects to turn several Creator/{{Sega}} properties including ''VideoGame/AlteredBeast1988'', ''VideoGame/GoldenAxe'' and ''VideoGame/{{Shinobi}}'' into "feature films and television series for worldwide releases". None of them ever got off the ground. Come 2022, however, and bolstered by the huge success of the live action ''Film/{{Sonic The Hedgehog|2020}}'' film and [[Film/SonicTheHedgehog22022 its sequel]], a live action film based on ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage'' was announced, followed soon after by film adaptations of ''Comix Zone'' and ''Space Channel 5''. Time will tell if any of these come to light or if they succeed. |
| 171 | * In 2011, a film adaptation of the game ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' was announced with former New Line head Robert Shaye (who has a first-look deal with Creator/WarnerBros) set to produce. Nothing has been heard about it since. |
| 172 | * ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice''. There were even rumors of Creator/TimBurton directing, probably just because the game appears heavily inspired by his works. A [[Film/AliceInWonderland2010 Burton-directed Alice film]] was released in 2010, but it has nothing to do with the videogame. As of 2017, the film ''is'' in preproduction with Chinese actors in mind, but nothing is set stone. |
| 173 | * ''VideoGame/ArmyOfTwo'' was set to have an adaptation, announced in 2008 and to be released in 2011. As of 2021, it's safe to say the film is cancelled outright. |
| 174 | * The ''VideoGame/BioShock'' film has taken this road because of budgetary concerns also due to Creator/GoreVerbinski not wanting to compromise the atmosphere for a lighter rating. This also led to the higher-ups deciding to shoot overseas, forcing Verbinski to step down as director due to his attachment to other projects at home. While he may remain as a producer, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (''Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater'') will replace him as director. In an early 2011 interview, Verbinski implied that the project was dead, in part due to difficulty finding anyone willing to finance it as an R-rated picture (and Verbinski's lack of interest in watering down the material for a PG-13). Fresnadillo has since left the project, and the game's director Ken Levine [[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-12-ken-levine-personally-killed-off-the-bioshock-film-heres-why ultimately agreed to pull the plug on the project in 2013]] once he felt Universal's suggested replacement and lower budget would not adapt his game very well. Rumors of the film picking back up resurfaced in 2014 when it was revealed Sony had been attached to the project, evidenced by [[http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/25/bioshock-movie-domains-registered-by-sony their acquisition of several domain names related to the movie]]. However, as of 2021 there has been no further progress. |
| 175 | * Music/JenniferLopez was in talks with Walden Media to produce the film adaptation of ''Franchise/CarmenSandiego'' back in 2011. Though an animated series was announced to be in production for Netflix in 2017, no updates of the film project have been made. Even prior to that, rumors have been floating around since the 90s. |
| 176 | * ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' seemed to have been this one for some years, and still is, thanks to the [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes writers' strike]]. |
| 177 | ** ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' might actually be one of the rare cases in which DevelopmentHell is a good thing. Originally, the script was referred to as a sort of "Dracula Begins" and did away completely with the Vampire Killer. Instead, Simon had a {{BFS}} and everything that makes Castlevania what it is in favor of basically a retelling of Dracula. The current director signed onto the project ''because'' of the Vampire Killer and how the hero can be just as "dangerous and sexy" as the villain. The movie poster revealed in 2009 shows Simon holding a katana as well as the Vampire Killer looking upon Dracula's castle in a similar picture to what is usually used as box art for the games. |
| 178 | ** This may be underway now, with James Wan attached as director. But it looks like it won't be anytime soon as he has other projects in the forefront. |
| 179 | ** Creator/PaulWSAnderson is still attached to it somehow, as he was asked about the movie during the promotion of ''Film/ResidentEvilRetribution''. He claimed that there are issues over how to properly adapt it, and apparently some rights issues. |
| 180 | ** Ultimately, Creator/{{Netflix}} released a ''Castlevania'' [[WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017 animated series]] written by Creator/WarrenEllis, so ''something'' shook loose. |
| 181 | * A ''VideoGame/ClockTower'' movie has supposedly been in the works since 2007, even having multiple release dates set and the main characters cast. However, with the synopsis constantly being changed and nearly everyone involved dropping out of the project ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_R._Ellis#Death one director even being found dead in his hotel room]]), it's unlikely the movie will ever be finished or released. |
| 182 | * There was an attempt for a ''VideoGame/CrazyTaxi'' film in the early 2000s by Creator/RichardDonner. The only thing outside of the initial announcement was that it was supposed to be [[MerchandiseDriven tied in with T-shirts and toys]] and that the production company was changed due to the original company having an "absence of plot elements". |
| 183 | * At one point, there was talk of a ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' movie. |
| 184 | * The long-rumored ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' film seems to have faded away. The last mention of it was in 2011 when attached director D.J. Caruso announced it would be a prequel, and that he was looking over a script treatment. Since then, Visceral Games have indicated that they don't want to rush into a "cash grab adaptation", which is the likely reason for the holdup. Since then Creator/JohnCarpenter (yes, ''that'' John Carpenter) expressed great interest in directing the film. Then the original series of games ended with the third title, sending the franchise into temporary retirement, film and all. [[VideoGame/DeadSpaceRemake A remake of the original game]] was announced and released to much success in 2023, but time will tell if it's enough to revive the franchise, let alone lead to any more film attempts. |
| 185 | * Around in the late 2000s, Electronic Arts announced that a film adaptation of ''VideoGame/TheSims'' is in development at 20th Century Fox with producer John Davis and an animated series based on their title ''VideoGame/MySims'' is stated to be in the works at Creator/FilmRoman. However, several years later, neither project ever materialized for unknown reasons. |
| 186 | * Rumors of a ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' movie being in production/already ''existing'' have been floating around since the release of the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening third game]]. Fan movies exist, but that seems to be where the trail ends. The idea of a live-action movie was directly quashed when [[https://kotaku.com/devil-may-cry-netflix-series-coming-from-castlevania-pr-1830500693 Adi Shankar announced in 2018 he had purchased the rights to the franchise with the primary objective of making an animated series, and the secondary objective of ensuring Hollywood cannot make a live-action film]]. |
| 187 | * A film adaptation of ''VideoGame/{{Driver}}'' was in development throughout the 2000's. Initially announced by Impact Pictures to release alongside ''Driver 3'', the film was constantly pushed back and switched hands to Rogue Pictures among a revolving door of screenwriters, eventually landing with ''Film/PulpFiction'' writer Creator/RogerAvary. Avary intended to take liberties with the game's story, describing his script as "''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' set in Baghdad." with a plot about the son of the game's protagonist pursuing his father's killer in Iraq. The film ultimately died when executives would only give the film a $40 million dollar budget. |
| 188 | * The ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' film has hit many roadblocks. New Line slashed the film's budget and apparently trimmed back the epic plot elements, requiring a new script to be written. Also, Len Wiseman decided not to direct the film. As of 2011, no one had any idea if the film would come out at all. |
| 189 | ** New Line's rights eventually expired in 2016 and were promptly picked up by Creator/{{Universal}}. Production seems to be back on track, with Scott Steuber (who was hired back in May 2013) and Dylan Clark (''Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes'') attached as producers. |
| 190 | * Sony registered several domain names pertaining to a ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' movie in 2009. Nothing else was revealed after that. |
| 191 | * The ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'' movie adaptation was talked about a great deal in the late 2000s, but nothing ever came to fruition. Mostly due to creative control and budgetary constraints/disputes. The resulting collapse of the initial project turned into ''{{Film/District 9}}''. Eventually, Showtime acquired the rights for a TV series, and after a production delay, it ended up seeing release as ''Series/Halo2022'' on Creator/ParamountPlus. |
| 192 | ** [[http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/04/halo-movie-generation-xbox/ This Wired article]] provides an in-depth view of the drama, and points out that the film's failure to materialize is likely due to Microsoft's inexperience in dealing with Hollywood politics, plus the problems that would be involved with it - minimizing the amount of CGI issues would be prohibitively expensive, and Hollywood has never done well with more-or-less silent protagonists. |
| 193 | * A film based on ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' had the rights purchased for it before the game itself was released. The last word about it was in 2011, when ''Series/{{Deadwood}}'' writer David Milch was said to be writing the script for the film adaptation. |
| 194 | * ''TabletopGame/HunterTheReckoning''. Rumor has it the project entered development hell because Creator/UweBoll bought the film rights to the video game and when White Wolf found out just who was going to be adapting one of their properties for cinema, they [[ExecutiveVeto rapidly put the kibosh on the project]]. |
| 195 | * A film adaptation of ''VideoGame/KaneAndLynch'' has been in varying states of development over the years. Early information had Creator/BruceWillis and [[RaceLift Jamie]] [[Creator/JamieFoxx Foxx]] picked to play Kane and Lynch, respectively. A leaked 2007 draft of the script [[http://kotaku.com/5497820/first-impressions-of-the-kane--lynch-movie-script analyzed by Kotaku]] was not received well by fans due to a number of changes from the game to the point of being InNameOnly, such as Lynch being a [[TheDitz ditzy]] TVGenius instead of an AxCrazy psychopath. Since then, the only news of the film was in late 2013, stating that Creator/GerardButler and Creator/VinDiesel were in talks to play the lead roles and [[Film/{{Hitman}} Skip]] [[Film/HitmanAgent47 Woods]] was writing the script. |
| 196 | * In 2014, it was announced that there would be a film adaptation of the 2013 hit ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'', with the original game's creative director Neil Druckmann penning the screenplay. As of 2016, Druckmann mentioned that no work has been done for over a year and a half. The project was officially cancelled in early 2017. |
| 197 | * The film adaptation of ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has been stuck in limbo for a long time. After being announced as a project by Creator/LegendaryPictures in 2008, nothing moved forward for two years until it was announced that Mark Protosevich (''{{Film/Thor}}'') would be writing the screenplay. In 2011, Protosevich talked about the film, their plans for the script... and then nothing for another year. Protosevich left the project in early 2012, and Morgan Davis Foehl was brought on to revise the screenplay nine months later before falling silent. In 2021, [[https://www.businessinsider.com.au/mass-effect-director-on-rise-of-video-game-tv-shows-2021-6 it was confirmed]] by [=BioWare=]'s Mac Walters that the project had fallen apart due to disagreements if the adaptation should be a film or television series. |
| 198 | * A movie based off ''Franchise/MegaMan'' was announced in September 2015, after Fox had registered several domain names for it a year prior. Two years later, it was revealed that Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (''Film/{{Catfish}}'') would write and direct the movie. In August 2019, following the sale of [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century Fox]] to Creator/{{Disney}}, many of their films that were in development during that time were cancelled following the failure of ''Film/DarkPhoenix'', with the ''Mega Man'' film being one of them (the rights have since fallen into the hands of producer Peter Chernin, who jumped ship to Netflix after the Disney merger and took the ''Mega Man'' movie rights and several other projects with him). |
| 199 | * In 2006, Creator/HideoKojima announced a film adaptation of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' was in development by Sony Pictures. However, aside from the usual reasons for this trope (budget concerns, who to give the rights to), the fact that Kojima (understandably) was very picky about who should direct the movie caused more than a few hurdles. For a while it seemed like the movie was being scrapped, until Avi Arad (former CEO of Marvel Studios and producer of the movies in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse's early days) came on board in 2013, reviving the project. A director (Jordan Vogt-Roberts of ''Film/KongSkullIsland'' fame) has been brought on board and has been [[https://www.gamespot.com/articles/kojima-meets-with-metal-gear-movie-director-but-th/1100-6457912/ meeting with Kojima himself]] on writing the script. Creator/OscarIsaac [[https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2020/12/04/oscar-isaac-to-live-the-dream-as-solid-snake-in-hollywoods-metal-gear-solid-movie?utm_source=community_cr&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=news&referrer=community_cr_twitter_news was cast as Solid Snake on December 4, 2020, after previously expressing interest in the role, the first major announcement of any sort concerning the cast]]. However, there is no timetable set for the film due to the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic and Issac's schedule. Time will only tell if the movie ever will get off the ground. |
| 200 | * The rights to make a ''{{Franchise/Metroid}}'' movie were sold to two unnamed producers in 2003, who then sold them to Creator/JohnWoo in 2005, with a 2006 release date. Since then, not a word on so much as possible casting has been released, and no one's sure if John Woo even still has the rights or not. Nintendo has stated that they killed the project and the rights likely reverted to them. While Jordan Vogt-Roberts has expressed a desire to direct the film, and both Creator/RondaRousey and Creator/BrieLarson are interested in the lead role, whether ''Metroid'' will be SavedFromDevelopmentHell or not remains to be seen. |
| 201 | * A film based on ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' was announced in early 2014. That October, Vu Bui stated that it wouldn't be completed until 2018; It was scheduled for a 2019 release that never happened. The movie has had several directors drop out of the project and [[DiedDuringProduction had its producer, Jill Messick, commit suicide]] (thus being the final movie she worked on). On April 16, 2019, the ''Minecraft'' staff announced that the movie would be released on March 4, 2022, stating that it would take such a long time because "making a live-action, full-length feature film is really complicated." But then that release date was pulled from the schedule soon after, and there hasn’t been an update until over a month after the originally planned release date, when it was announced that Creator/JasonMomoa would star in the movie, and that Jared Hess of ''Film/NapoleonDynamite'' would direct the film. In April 2023, it was added back to the schedule for April 4th, 2025, but time will tell if this sticks or not. |
| 202 | * A ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' film was in production for some time and got canceled. At most there is a SpiritualAdaptation in ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', [[https://www.polygon.com/features/2021/2/21/22291761/curse-of-monkey-island-movie-lucasfilm-spielberg-canceled which the writers denied to have been a repurposed script]]. |
| 203 | * Production on ''Franchise/MortalKombat: Devastation'', the planned third movie for the ''[[Film/MortalKombatTheMovie Mortal Kombat]]'' [[Film/MortalKombatTheMovie film series]], was seriously fraught. First, the disappointing performance of ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'' made the studio hesitant to make another movie. And then, when they decided to go through with it, the production got derailed when Hurricane Katrina hit, as the studio had been set up in New Orleans. The project was ultimately scrapped and in 2016, it was announced that Creator/JamesWan would produce a rebooted film for Warner Bros., ''Film/MortalKombat2021''. |
| 204 | * The ''VideoGame/{{Onimusha}}'' movie adaptation fell into this due to the death of Creator/HeathLedger, who was supposed to have played Roberto Frois from ''VideoGame/OnimushaDawnOfDreams''. |
| 205 | * ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' was announced in 2001 (later changed to a TV series, but still no word). |
| 206 | * Back in 2013, director Creator/JJAbrams and Valve talked about the idea of developing a film adaptation based on ''{{VideoGame/Portal}}'' and/or ''VideoGame/HalfLife'', despite its confirmation by Abrams himself in this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVTSO17pvhU footage]] and by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf9YgeMVe-I Clevver News]]. Both projects are very early in development and no studio has been attached to them yet. |
| 207 | * An adaptation of ''VideoGame/RainbowSix'' with John Woo as director (based off the third installment, ''Lockdown'') was announced way back in 2004. Nothing had been heard until 2021, long after Woo left the project, when the release of ''Film/WithoutRemorse'' had star Creator/MichaelBJordan open about taking the role with the intention of starring in a ''Rainbow Six'' film as a sequel. Sure enough, TheStinger [[spoiler:shows Jordan's character proposing Team RAINBOW to senior military staff as a SequelHook]] but time will tell if the film finally gets made, and whether it will adapt the first novel/game, one of the sequels, or go in an original direction. |
| 208 | * A live-action/ stop motion hybrid film adaption of Ubisoft's ''VideoGame/RavingRabbids'' was announced back in 2013 along with adaptions of other Ubisoft properties. Although said to be distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment and scripted by the writers of ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'', nothing has been officially announced since then. |
| 209 | * Creator/BradPitt was rumored to be interested in developing and starring in a film adaptation of ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' back in 2010, but since then there's been radio silence. |
| 210 | * Like the ''Crazy Taxi'' example above, ''VideoGame/RentAHero'' was one of several Sega properties that were announced to get a film adaptation; specifically, it came out of nowhere [[https://www.polygon.com/2016/7/11/12155374/sega-s-obscure-rent-a-hero-being-adapted-into-movie in Summer 2016]]. Steve Pink, the director of ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine'', was supposed to direct it as the story of one guy who joins a hi-tech startup described as "Uber for heroes", so not very related to the original game that was very much a product of early 90s Japan. |
| 211 | * Music/FiftyCent wanted to make a ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' movie around 2009. Nothing has happened since. |
| 212 | * Sony Pictures' film adaptation of the 2005 Platform/PlayStation2 adventure game ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' has announced back in 2009. with Kevin Misher, producer of ''Film/TheScorpionKing'' and ''Film/TheInterpreter'', was at first negotiating to produce. On May 23, 2012, it was reported that ''Film/{{Chronicle}}'' director Creator/JoshTrank would be directing the film adaptation. On September 4, 2014, the film might finally move forward to become a reality as Variety reports that ''Film/{{Mama}}'' Creator/AndresMuschietti (who happens to be a fellow fan of the game) will be directing the film along with ''Hanna'' writer Seth Lochhead penning the script after Trank has dropped out in the wake ''Film/FantasticFour2015''. As of 2015, no cast or release date has been announced. |
| 213 | * A ''VideoGame/SpyHunter'' movie was advertised in the manual of the 2001 remake. The game ''Spy Hunter: Nowhere To Run'' was supposed to tie-in to this movie, but the film itself appears to be locked into this, if not cancelled outright. |
| 214 | * ''VideoGame/TheSuffering'' was slated for a 2012 release, but nothing has ever appeared hinting that the project even began. Given that the only available info on the project is from 2005-7, it doesn't seem likely. |
| 215 | * Plans for a trilogy based on ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' produced by Larry Kasanoff (the same man responsible for unleashing ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Foodfight}}'' onto the world) were announced in 2016, but nothing has come of the project. Instead Apple would end up producing [[Film/Tetris2023 their own Tetris film]], but rather than adapt the game directly, they decided to instead chronicle the wild true story of how the game got out of Russia. |
| 216 | * ''VideoGame/ZombiesAteMyNeighbors'' was going to get a movie adaptation in the early 2010s according to [[https://www.firstshowing.net/2011/excl-horror-comedy-zombies-ate-my-neighbors-in-development/ this article]]; however, since it was described as a "high school coming-of-age story", it's probably for the best that it ended up not being made. |
| 217 | * Two attempts were made to turn ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur'' into a movie. [[https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/article_30447 The first, in 2001]], was to be directed by Creator/SammoHung, who had eyed fellow Peking Opera School classmate Creator/JackieChan to play the lead role (what role was unknown, although some presumed it to be Hwang). Unfortunately, Chan's schedule didn't allow for the role, and Hung lost interest, letting the rights lapse. Several years later, in 2007, Anthem Films acquired the rights to the film, and the description the studio gave was an InNameOnly adaptation about two warriors tasked to destroy a sword that fell into the hands of an evil prince. Nothing followed the announcement, leading people to believe it too had been cancelled. |
| 218 | * Early 2018 saw Creator/MichaelBay's [[https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/23/16922784/duke-nukem-movie-john-cena-paramount-gearbox-software Platinum Dunes production studio]] set to produce a ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'' movie, with Wrestling/JohnCena being eyed as the titular Duke. Cena, in interviews around the time, was open about wanting the role, [[https://screenrant.com/duke-nukem-movie-john-cena-details/ but wanting to do the character justice]]. However, since that time, there has been no further news, and as of March 2021, no writers or directors are attached to any ''Duke'' related project. |
| 219 | * A sequel to ''Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu'' was announced four months ''before'' the film's release. Presumably thanks to the film not performing as strongly as the studio had hoped, nothing new has come out since. Co-star Creator/JusticeSmith has stated in interviews that he's not sure whether or not the sequel is moving forward, and conflicts between Creator/WarnerBros and franchise film rights holder Legendary Pictures have only further clouded prospects. [[https://www.polygon.com/pokemon/23623837/pokemon-detective-pikachu-2-director-writer-release However, it was reconfirmed in March 2023 that the project was still scheduled to be released.]] |
| 220 | * A ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' movie trailer was attached to ''VideoGame/SplinterCellChaosTheory''. It was to be produced by Paramount, then nothing. |
| 221 | * ''Film/TombRaider2018'' was already a successful rescue of a project that had been considered ever since a third ''Film/LaraCroftTombRaider'' was cancelled. But the sequel to that has been a victim, starting with the initially Usefulnotes/COVID19Pandemic as well as star Creator/AliciaVikander’s pregnancy delaying the start of production and pulling the film from schedule. During the following two years, directors and writers were brought in, but in 2022 MGM's production rights lapsed for taking too long to make the sequel, so now a bidding war started for the next ''Tomb Raider'', with Vikander no longer attached. |
| 222 | [[/folder]] |
| 223 | |
| 224 | [[folder:Miscellaneous Sequels, Remakes and Reboots]] |
| 225 | * Shortly after ''Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater'' was released, Creator/DannyBoyle indicated plans for a third installment, ''Twenty Eight Months Later'', was in the works. Unfortunately, copyright issues mean it's unlikely to happen anytime soon. |
| 226 | * ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'' has two of these: The sequel film ''Buckaroo Banzai vs. the World Crime League'', which stalled out despite enthusiastic responses from the original cast, and an animated spinoff TV series on Fox, ''Buckaroo Banzai: Ancient Secrets and New Mysteries''. At this point, they can both be considered dead. The DVD release of the original movie was this for about a decade, due to a complicated rights issue that was not resolved until the death of the license holder. Amazon later gained the right to possibly make a whole TV series out of it, and even got Creator/KevinSmith on as the director, but that didn't quite work out either. |
| 227 | * The ''Film/AlienNation'' remake. Announced in 2015 by Fox, Jeff Nichols was announced as director the following year, with no news since then. Original screenwriter Rockne S. O’Bannon is set to regain the rights to the ''Alien Nation'' property in 2022 thanks to termination clauses in copyright law, meaning that if Fox owner Disney doesn't care enough about the IP to get the remake off the ground, Fox's franchise is dead by 2022 as O'Bannon will be able to shop the remake elsewhere. |
| 228 | * The third ''Franchise/AlienVsPredator'' film. It helps both franchises went [[Film/{{Predators}} their own]] [[Film/{{Prometheus}} ways]] again. |
| 229 | * ''All American Massacre'' was to be a spinoff/prequel to ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre2''; it would focus on the character Chop Top but also reveal the origins of the cannibalistic Sawyer family via flashback. {{Music/Buckethead}} was to provide the score as well as portray Leatherface, Bill Mosely reprised his role as Chop Top, and William Hooper, son of the original film's director Tobe Hooper, directed and wrote the film. A trailer was released in 1998 with a scheduled release date of Halloween 1999. Filming wrapped in 2000, but there wasn't enough money to get the film through post-production. In 2011, Hooper set up a kickstarter to complete the film, but the campaign failed, and any rumors of the film still being worked on gradually died down since then. |
| 230 | * A fourth ''Film/AustinPowers'' film was announced in 2005 but so far, nothing has come of it yet. Two [[Film/TheCatInTheHat cinematic]] [[Film/TheLoveGuru failures]] [[StarDerailingRole starring]] Creator/MikeMyers haven't helped, and the April 2018 passing of cast member Verne Troyer (Mini-Me) makes this even less likely, yet as of late 2018, Myers still insists it's coming. Someday. |
| 231 | * ''Film/TheBadSeed2018'', not counting the 1985 MadeForTVMovie [[spoiler:(in which, unlike the first film - but like the novel and play - [[TheBadGuysWin the evil little girl's mother kills herself while the girl survives]]).]] |
| 232 | * The remake of ''Film/{{Barbarella}}'' has been stuck here for a while. Back in 2008, Universal was gearing it up with Creator/RobertRodriguez as the director. Creator/RoseMcGowan was to take the role of Barbarella, but Universal freaked out over the high budget and they didn't think [=McGowan=] was right for the role. Rodriguez was not willing to make any changes, so he shopped the remake to other studios. Further problems came when his backers wanted Barbarella to be aimed for the German audience. Rodriguez didn't like that plan, so he finally gave up in May of 2009. Later, it was announced that Robert Luketic was to take over the director's chair, but production didn't really get off the ground. Now that the film's proposed producer, Creator/DinoDeLaurentiis, has died, the remake now seems really unlikely despite rumors that Creator/AnneHathaway is attached to the remake. |
| 233 | * Apparently, someone [[http://www.tokyohive.com/article/2011/06/columbia-pictures-to-remake-downtowns-matsumoto-hitoshis-dai-nipponjin/ wanted to remake]] the odd sci-fi/comedy/satire ''Film/BigManJapan'', a very unusual choice since it's firmly rooted in Japanese culture (and also contains some kind of jab at the USA in the end). As expected, nothing more than the announcement has ever surfaced. |
| 234 | * A ''Film/BioDome'' sequel has been discussed since 2007, in spite of the film being a critical and commercial failure. In 2017, Creator/StephenBaldwin stated that him and Creator/PaulyShore are still interested in the project, with the latter having the funding for production, but they need MGM's approval first. |
| 235 | * ''Film/TheBlackHole'' was going to have a remake courtesy of Joseph Kosinski, but it has [[https://theplaylist.net/the-black-hole-disney-joseph-kosinski-20220626/ apparently been shelved]] because it had too many similarities to ''Film/{{Interstellar}}''. |
| 236 | * Another remake of ''Film/TheBlob1958'' has reportedly been in the works for years with Creator/SamuelLJackson in the lead role. it was rumored to come out in 2016 but 2016 came and went with no Blob movie. That one was abandoned and only [[https://comicbook.com/horror/news/the-blob-remake-rob-zombie-concept-art/ a few pieces of concept art]] are left of it, however at the beginning of 2024 news surfaced of [[https://comicbook.com/horror/news/the-blob-remake-reboot-david-bruckner-write-direct-sequel-future/ yet another remake]]. It is apparently being directed by David Bruckner, who already has a history with remakes, being the director of 2022's ''Hellraiser''. |
| 237 | * ''The Brazilian Job'', the sequel to the 2003 remake of ''Film/TheItalianJob2003'' has been in the works since 2004 but was never finished due to the inability for the studio to agree on a finalized script. There have been rumors that a script was being considered in 2009, but nothing final. The project is currently still listed as being in development, but there's not even a projected year of seemingly been shelved release, so don't expect it anytime soon. |
| 238 | ** There are also rumors that one of the scripts for this film ended up becoming ''Film/FastFive'', which is plausible, given that the plot for ''The Brazilian Job'' sounds almost identical to that film. |
| 239 | ** As of 2010, WordOfGod confirmed that the project is officially dead. |
| 240 | * The ''Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' remake. Warner Bros. purchased the rights to do the film in 2010, and earlier Vertigo Entertainment had expressed interest in doing a reboot film without series creator Creator/JossWhedon to much controversy. It was also announced that the film would likely be a remake of the 1992 film and have nothing to do with the [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer much better-received TV series]] with Heather Morris and Creator/CandiceAccola both in talks for the title character, and Creator/KristySwanson expressing interest in a cameo. Whit Anderson had written a script that was rejected in 2011. That's the last we've heard of the project since. |
| 241 | * There was a ''Film/ChoppingMall'' remake announced years ago. But so far nothing has come of it. IMDB says it's still "In Development". |
| 242 | * Not one but two remakes of ''Film/{{CHUD}}'' were supposed to happen, one was originally supposed to be directed by Rob Zombie but he declined. The other was announced in 2008 with no set release date. |
| 243 | * A remake of ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' was originally announced in development, but due to the death of Creator/HeathLedger (who had expressed great interest in playing Alex before the project was announced), it is unlikely that production will continue. |
| 244 | * The ''Film/{{Clue}}'' remake, first announced in 2006. At first, it was announced as a straight remake of the 1985 comedy, then it wasn't, then Gore Verbinski joined the project, then it was a straight remake again, [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment then it wasn't again]]. Hasbro soon parted ways on the project with Universal and went to 20th Century Fox with a new producing team, with Fox announcing the new film would be something of an international mystery that would span the globe, but to make a long story short[[note]]Too late![[/note]], the film seems to be stranded here for the foreseeable future. In January 2018, Ryan Reynolds was cast as the main star, with Reynolds collaborators Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick penning the script. In September 2019, Creator/JasonBateman was revealed as a possible candidate for directing the film. |
| 245 | * After the success of ''Film/CrazyRichAsians'', the sequel "China Rich Girlfriend" has been greenlit. However, one of the screenwriters, Adele Lim, left the production due to a pay dispute when it was revealed that her co-screenwriter, Peter Chiarelli, was offered more than her. Later on, Amy Wang is set to write for the sequel instead. But production hasn't started due to director Creator/JonMChu's commitment to his other film projects that were in pre-production. |
| 246 | * A reboot of ''Film/{{Cube}}'' entitled ''Cubed'' was announced in 2016 but as of now is seemingly stuck here. |
| 247 | * ''Film/TheDamBusters'', a remake of the 1955 classic. Creator/MelGibson bought the rights in the late 1990s but never made much progress past rumors of filming in west England. Creator/PeterJackson obtained the rights a few years ago and rumor has it that filming had begun in 2009. Then Jackson decided to scrap the film and restart in 3-D. |
| 248 | * The sixth ''Franchise/DieHard'' film. Initially titled ''Die Hardest'' and intended to be the GrandFinale to the series, the critical drubbing and underperforming box office of ''Film/AGoodDayToDieHard'' was a likely cause of the film being placed on the backburner. It resurfaced a few years later with the title ''[=McClane=]'', with a new plot that would cut between the present day and protagonist John [=McClane=]'s first year as a police officer. Pre-production hit a major snag with Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, and the failure of ''Film/DarkPhoenix'' in 2019 caused Disney to cancel many of Fox's upcoming and in-development films, with ''[=McClane=]'' [[https://entertainment.ie/cinema/movie-news/die-hard-prequel-cancelled-fox-413559/ reportedly among the casualties]]. In 2022 Bruce Willis officially retired from acting following a diagnosis of aphasia and dementia; so any future Die Hard films would almost certainly have to be reboots. |
| 249 | * The sequel to ''Film/DogSoldiers'', which was possibly derailed because of GenderFlip. |
| 250 | ** Announced for release on December 20, 2014, with further films coming, in March 2014. It hasn't happened. |
| 251 | * ''Double V Vega'', a Creator/QuentinTarantino film that would starred Creator/MichaelMadsen and Creator/JohnTravolta as brothers Vic and Vincent Vega (from ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' and ''Film/PulpFiction'' respectively), was proposed after the latter film was released, but went unmade due to Tarantino's involvement in other projects (such as ''Film/KillBill'' and ''Film/InglouriousBasterds''), which ultimately left the project unfilmable due to how old the actors have gotten since they originally played the characters. |
| 252 | * A sequel to ''Film/DudeWheresMyCar'' was rumored sometime after the release of the first film, but nothing more was heard afterward. |
| 253 | * The fourth ''Film/DungeonsAndDragons2000'' movie -- Creator/{{Hasbro}} sued Creator/WarnerBros and Creator/NewLineCinema to get the series film rights back, upset that Warner did not let the rights lapse after the original film was so loose and out of touch with its source material that it flopped both critically and commercially. The fourth film was thought to have been canceled after the lawsuit was filed, but the three parties eventually settled. The fourth movie is now back in production, with Hasbro serving as a co-producer through Allspark Films and expecting to receive the rights back once Warner is finished with their fourth movie. |
| 254 | * A sequel for ''Film/EasternPromises'' was supposed to happen, with Creator/ViggoMortensen and Creator/VincentCassel reprising their roles, but in the spring of 2012, director Creator/DavidCronenberg announced that the project had fallen apart. |
| 255 | * ''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'' had its sequel greenlit, but aligning the schedules of director Doug Liman and stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt was an issue. Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Blunt downright said the studio would probably think the movie was too expensive. And when the studio (Warner) was sued by one of the production companies (Village Roadshow), [[https://twitter.com/eriqgardner/status/1490742646851125254/photo/1 the lawsuit revealed they were actually developing a TV spin-off instead]]. |
| 256 | * The remake of ''Film/TheEntity''. |
| 257 | * As of October 2013, it's the [[http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/176981-fede-alvarez-rodo-sayagues-have-walked-away-from-evil-dead-2 sequel]] to ''Film/EvilDead2013''. Fede Alvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues have walked away from the project alleging that it was dead. Which is weird because a few months prior, they claimed work was already started on the sequel, only to completely do a 180. [[FlipFlopOfGod Are they lying or what?]] |
| 258 | ** A sequel to ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'' and a third crossover film that would bring the original film series to the same world as the remake series has also apparently been scrapped. The ''Army'' sequel alone may have been scrapped completely in favor of the Starz TV series ''Series/AshVsEvilDead'' instead that premiered in 2015. And now that the TV series has ended in 2018 and Bruce Campbell announced that the character of Ash has been retired, the probability to see him together with Mia from the remake is next to zero. |
| 259 | *** And then Campbell turns around and voices Ash in not one, but TWO separate video game projects, suggesting that perhaps he's merely done playing Ash ON FILM. But that still limits the possibility of future projects, and certainly chances of the crossover ever happening. |
| 260 | * A third ''Film/{{Fletch}}'' movie has been in the works since 1997, with Creator/KevinSmith once attached to direct and Creator/BenAffleck and even Creator/ZachBraff for the title role. [[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20342679,00.html This]] ''Entertainment Weekly'' article has all the sordid details. |
| 261 | ** In 2022, Confess, Fletch was released with Jon Hamm starring in the titular role. |
| 262 | * The re-reboot of ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' appears to be dead. The film already had a turbulent time trying to get off the ground, which is detailed at length [[http://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3410743/troubled-history-next-friday-13th/ in this article]], but the biggest blow came in February 2017 when Paramount not only stripped its [[MeaningfulReleaseDate October 13th]] release date, but [[http://variety.com/2017/film/news/friday-the-13th-reboot-canceled-paramount-1201979691/ halted production]] ''indefinitely'' as well. Legal and rights issues surrounding the franchise are not helping matters. The film died for good when the franchise rights reverted back to New Line Cinema in 2018. Whether a new movie will come out is still to be confirmed, but a prequel series called ''Crystal Lake'' has been announced. |
| 263 | * ''Film/GetSmart 2'' was announced in 2008 after the release of the first ''Get Smart'' film set for a release in the summer of 2010. Creator/SteveCarell, Creator/AnneHathaway, and Creator/AlanArkin all claimed they would return, but Carell stated several times later that he wasn't pleased with a script, and rewrites were in place. |
| 264 | * ''The Godfather, Part IV''. Paramount has long wanted to make another sequel to ''Film/TheGodfather'', despite the [[Film/TheGodfatherPartIII third film]]'s mixed reception and Creator/FrancisFordCoppola's opposition. In the late '90s, Mario Puzo worked on a script patterned on the second film's parallel storylines: a modern-day segment focusing on Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia) inheriting the Corleone family, and a flashback to the '30s showing Vito consolidating power in the Prohibition era with help from a young Sonny (with Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio mooted for the role). Puzo's death in 1999 scuttled the project, though his script was later adapted into Ed Falco's novel ''The Family Corleone''. Paramount won rights to the ''Godfather'' franchise from Puzo's estate in a 2012 lawsuit, but there's no indication that a fourth installment's actually going forward. The most the franchise has gotten since then was a DirectorsCut of ''Part III'' in 2020. |
| 265 | * ''Film/TheGreatKhan'', Sergei Bodrov's follow-up to the 2007 ''Film/{{Mongol}}''. |
| 266 | * ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' |
| 267 | ** ''Halloween 9'' seemed to have stalled. Once producer Moustapha Akkad died, the 9th film appeared to have died with him. Ironically, [[Film/Halloween2007 the remake of the first film]] got fast-tracked once he died. That means the fate of John Tate (Creator/JoshHartnett) and Molly Cartwell (Creator/MichelleWilliams), who were PutOnABus at the end of ''Film/HalloweenH20TwentyYearsLater'' ("Drive down to the Beckers") will probably never be resolved. There was even a contest sponsored by Dimension Films at one point that would award one lucky fan with a bit of screen time in this movie. Needless to say, a winner was apparently announced. Said winner was shown on the 30th-anniversary documentary, including showing the announcement of her winning. She was an extra in the 2007 remake. Speaking of which, it was supposed to have a third installment at one point. ''Halloween 3D'' was announced with a 2012 release date before being shelved and canceled. |
| 268 | ** In February 2015, it was announced that Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan will be writing a new entry to the series along with Malek Akkad (son of Moustapha) and Matt Stein producing. It even went into pre-production as ''Halloween Returns'', with its storyline supposedly connected to the original series, apparently as yet ''another'' direct sequel to ''Film/{{Halloween II|1981}}''. [[http://www.joblo.com/horror-movies/news/the-next-halloween-film-has-been-delayed-for-refiguring-148 It was delayed]] resulting from Melton and Dunstan's disagreements with the Weinsteins. [[http://www.halloweendailynews.com/2015/12/halloween-franchise-leaving-weinsteins.html Now the Halloween franchise has been dropped by Dimension and the Weinsteins]], along with Melton and Dunstan's involvement. The rights then reverted back to Miramax, who teamed up with Blumhouse, Universal, Creator/JohnCarpenter himself, Creator/JamieLeeCurtis, Creator/DannyMcBride, and David Gordon Green for ''Film/{{Halloween|2018}}'', a direct sequel to [[Film/Halloween1978 the 1978 film]], therefore completely abandoning all projects mentioned above. |
| 269 | * The ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'' remake with Creator/RyanReynolds. The director who was attached eventually left the project due to CreativeDifferences. |
| 270 | * ''Film/TheHost2006'' was the highest-grossing Korean film ever at the time, so naturally, there were soon talks of a sequel and a remake. [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/3d-release-eyed-host-sequel-32232 The sequel]] (or maybe a prequel) was supposed to be released in Summer 2012 as a 3D movie and apparently was about authorities denying the existence of the monster. The American remake was announced in 2008 with Gore Verbinski as producer and had a planned release date of 2011. Nothing more has been heard about either of them. On top of that, even the video game [[https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/14226/the-host-2-becomes-a-video-game/ based on the film]] became {{vaporware}} as well. |
| 271 | * A Remake of the 1971 cult horror film ''I Drink Your Blood'' was announced in 2009 with a set 2011 release date. It all fell apart when the original's director David E. Durston passed away. |
| 272 | * A remake of ''Film/IKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer'' was confirmed by Sony Pictures in 2014 with Mike Flanagan and Jeff Howard writing the script, with the film being "high priority" and being set for a 2017 release. Nothing else was said until 2016 when Flanagan mentioned in a podcast interview that the film will be more of a reboot, not borrowing the story from the 1997 film or it's [[Literature/IKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer 1974 source novel]] by Creator/LoisDuncan, and that it would carry a $15-$20 million budget. Nothing has been whispered since. |
| 273 | * ''Film/TheIncredibleShrinkingMan'' remake has been in preproduction for ''years'' with Creator/EddieMurphy among the many people considered as possible candidates for the role of Scott Carey. |
| 274 | * The fifth ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' movie was left in limbo since as early as 2008, the release of the previous entry, ''Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'', despite frequent rumors by Creator/StevenSpielberg, Creator/GeorgeLucas, Creator/HarrisonFord, and Creator/ShiaLaBeouf. Lucas and Spielberg reportedly had CreativeDifferences, and while Disney's acquisition of Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} in 2012 led to some announcements that the movie would indeed be made, it wasn't until 2016 that a ''2019'' release date was officially slated. The radio silence was mired with script issues (which led Creator/DavidKoepp, Jon Kasdan and Dan Fogelman to leave the project), and many assumed that the movie was stuck in permanent limbo, especially due to conversation that Disney was in conflicts with Paramount over distribution rights. After many missed deadlines, the film was ''finally'' confirmed and proper production went forward in 2021, and while Spielberg had to drop out as director (Creator/JamesMangold took over), ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny'' [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell was officially unveiled with a trailer and release date of June 2023]]. |
| 275 | * The American adaptation of ''Film/{{Infection}}''. |
| 276 | * A live-action reboot of ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'' was announced in May 2015, with the planned film said not to share any ties to [[Film/InspectorGadget1999 the 1999 film]] or [[Film/InspectorGadget2 its sequel]]. This is the only thing that's been heard about the project thus far. |
| 277 | * Multiple studios have tried to remake Creator/JohnWoo's ''Film/TheKiller1989''. The first attempt was by Tri-Star in 1992, with a screenplay by Creator/WalterHill with Creator/RichardGere and Creator/DenzelWashington in the lead roles. It fell through due to the producers getting skittish over the script's HoYay undertones. A second attempt was announced in 2007 with John H. Lee directing and Woo producing, but also fell through due to Lee's committments to other projects. In 2018, Universal announced it was moving forward with the film, with Woo returning to direct and Creator/LupitaNyongo in a leading role. |
| 278 | * ''Film/{{Jumanji}} 2'', which would have involved the Jumanji board, after being spotted in the ocean, uncovered by two girls from France, building on [[SequelHook a scene at the end of the film]]. It was scrapped when Chris Van Allsburg wrote ''Film/{{Zathura}}'' as a sequel to the book that inspired the movie, with the intent of making TheMovie based on the book (which ironically is more of a SpiritualSuccessor). A ''Jumanji'' sequel eventually was made, ''Film/JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle'', but going a whole different way (the board game updates itself into a video game). |
| 279 | * In 2000, Creator/MikeNichols announced he was remaking the British comedy ''Film/KindHeartsAndCoronets'', starring Creator/RobinWilliams (replacing Creator/AlecGuinness as the D'Ascoyne family) and Creator/WillSmith (in the Dennis Price role as the murderous heir). The project bounced around for several years, but a suitable script was never completed, while the director and stars worked on other projects instead. With both Nichols and Williams now deceased, any chance that the film would ever go into production seems to have vanished. |
| 280 | * As IMDB's trivia page for the film and a few other sites report, Columbia purchased the rights for a remake of Swedish comedy film ''Film/{{Kopps}}'', about a small town's police force, shortly after the film came out. Creator/AdamSandler's Happy Madison Production was supposedly involved. But the film came out in 2003 and nothing more was heard about the remake since then. |
| 281 | * ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' was only the last in a long line of proposed T.E. Lawrence biopics, stretching back to the 1920s. Many never got past the idea stage, but a few came close to production: |
| 282 | ** Alexander Korda personally contacted Lawrence about a film based on his ''Revolt in the Desert''. After Lawrence's death in 1935, Korda spent several years developing the project: Walter Judd, Creator/LeslieHoward, Creator/LaurenceOlivier and Creator/RobertDonat were all possibles for Lawrence. By 1939 the movie was finally ready to shoot, until the outbreak of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII scrubbed it. Supposedly, UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill personally intervened, telling Korda that he didn't want to alienate Turkey in the lead-in to war. |
| 283 | ** In the early '50s, Columbia Pictures approached numerous directors to adapt ''Seven Pillars of Wisdom'': Creator/JohnFord, Creator/MichaelPowell and none other than Creator/DavidLean among them. None seemed especially interested, though the project kicked around for several years, with such unlikely names as Creator/AlanLadd and Creator/BurgessMeredith rumored to play Lawrence. |
| 284 | ** Meanwhile, the British Rank Organization developed their own Lawrence movie. The project got underway in the late '50s, with a screenplay by Terence Rattigan and Dirk Bogarde attached to play Lawrence. The movie was set to film in Iraq, before a military coup in 1958 derailed production. Rattigan reconfigured his script into a stage play, ''Ross'', which was successful enough that producer Herbert Wilcox again tried bringing it to the screen. By this time, however, Sam Spiegel and David Lean were producing ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia''. After an exchange of legal threats and lawsuits, Wilcox dropped the project. ''Ross'' was [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell finally adapted in 1970]]... as a low-budget BBC MadeForTVMovie, starring a young Creator/IanMcKellen. |
| 285 | ** In early 2013, Creator/RolandEmmerich announced a Lawrence-focused miniseries, supposedly based on Michael Korda's ''Hero''. There's been no news since that initial announcement. (Emmerich [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/roland-emmerich-interview-moonfall-1235080389/ was asked about it in 2022]], and said the project was going through rewrites) |
| 286 | * A sequel to the 1982 cult sci-fi movie ''Film/LiquidSky'' was [[https://www.theawl.com/2014/02/the-liquid-sky-sequel-is-coming-a-chat-with-the-director-of-the-best-film-about-new-york/ announced in 2014]] by its director, who also stated that the main actress was going to reprise her role after more than three decades. But no further news have ever surfaced about it. |
| 287 | * A remake of ''Film/LittleShopOfHorrors'' was announced in 2009, with a director attached to the project and purportedly having a darker tone than previous versions. No further information has surfaced in the following years since. |
| 288 | * Around 2003, Creator/RobertZemeckis was planning to remake the Creator/WilliamCastle film ''Macabre'' for Dark Castle Entertainment (a company he co-founded with Joel Silver) at some point in between the productions of ''WesternAnimation/ThePolarExpress'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Beowulf|2007}}''. After Zemeckis got heavily into motion capture, he abandoned the project and eventually left Dark Castle to start Imagemovers Digital. Nothing has been heard about the project since. |
| 289 | * At the San Diego Comic-Con 2011 director Creator/RobertRodriguez stated that he intends for ''Film/{{Machete}}'' to become a trilogy. The 2013-sequel, ''Film/MacheteKills'' even includes a fake trailer for ''[[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace Machete Kills Again... In Space]]'' and ends with a SequelHook that sends the titular hero in fact into space. However, the intended threequel till date never came to be, while both fans and even main actor Creator/DannyTrejo campaign hard to make it happen. Other than vague updates by both Trejo and Rodriguez about working to make it happen, nothing new is coming out from that movie till date. |
| 290 | * According to [[https://www.cbr.com/ed-brubaker-writes-maniac-cop-remake/ this 2014 article]], a remake of the slasher film ''Film/ManiacCop'' was going to be produced by Creator/NicolasWindingRefn and written by Ed Brubaker. Later on, Creator/LarryCohen, writer of the original movie, stated that the remake was not getting made; however, still in 2018 [[https://ew.com/movies/2018/11/19/maniac-cop-remake-different-tone/ it was reported]] that the ''Maniac Cop'' remake was still being made but with "a completely different tone". Nothing more has been said about it since then. |
| 291 | * The long-mooted ''Theatre/MyFairLady'' remake. When first announced in 2008, Columbia Pictures attached Creator/DannyBoyle to direct and Creator/EmmaThompson write the screenplay, with Creator/DanielDayLewis as Henry Higgins and Creator/KeiraKnightley as Eliza Doolittle. By 2009, Boyle had dropped out of the project, followed by Day-Lewis and Knightley. Then John Madden was announced as director, with Creator/ColinFirth and Creator/CareyMulligan starring. Then Madden left the project after [[ExecutiveMeddling Columbia demanded Madden cast]] Creator/HughGrant as Higgins instead of Firth. Then, after Firth won Best Actor for ''Film/TheKingsSpeech'' in 2011 he was reattached to star... by which time Mulligan was tied up shooting ''Film/{{Shame}}'' and ''Film/TheGreatGatsby2013''. Finally, in 2012 CBS Films threatened to sue Columbia over rights to Lerner and Loewe's musical. As of fall 2014, the movie still hasn't been made, and it doesn't seem likely anytime soon. |
| 292 | * ''Film/NationalTreasure 3'' was stuck in this for almost 15 years. As of May 2020, the script has been finished and a Disney+ series was also in development. However, when said series, ''Series/NationalTreasureEdgeOfHistory'', came out to tepid fanfare in 2022, it was cancelled after its first and only season, and star Creator/NicolasCage has since stated that "there is no third National Treasure," effectively confirming that the series is now dead in the water. |
| 293 | * A sequel to ''Film/NewJackCity'' has been in development since 1991, when it was announced to begin filming for a Christmas 1992 release. Since then, the project has been off-and-on in development. Most recently, there were plans to make it straight-to-DVD but not much is known yet. |
| 294 | * The remake of ''Film/{{A Nightmare on Elm Street|2010}}'' was supposed to start a new franchise, with stars Creator/JackieEarleHaley and Creator/RooneyMara signed on for sequels, but the critical and commercial disappointment of the film [[StillbornFranchise stalled future installments, and sent Freddy back to the graveyard once again]]. Whispers of a new ''Nightmare'' film still pop up, but no such film is known to be in development. |
| 295 | * On a similar note, ''Film/OhHeavenlyDog'' was going to get a [[https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a666135/a-remake-of-chevy-chases-1980-comedy-oh-heavenly-dog-is-in-the-works/ reboot]] with the director of Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks directing. Nothing has been heard since. |
| 296 | * There were at least two sequels planned for ''Film/TheOogielovesInTheBigBalloonAdventure'': ''The Oogieloves In The Big Family Adventure'' and ''The Oogieloves In The Big Holiday Adventure''. The plot summary for the former film was on AMC Theatres' website for some time, suggesting that the film was completed, and revealed that it was about the characters taking a road trip. |
| 297 | * Creator/MelGibson announced that a sequel to ''Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist'' was in the works in 2016. It was initially planned to be released in 2021, but was pushed back to 2022. Currently, it has a target release of 2024. |
| 298 | * Hey Creator/PaulReubens, when are you going to make those new Pee-wee Herman movies? At last report, two sequels were being written back-to-back but Herman's stage show has stalled production of said movies. |
| 299 | ** He stated in 2013 that a new TV show, and a new film, could happen in 2014. Late ''that'' year, Reubens announced the new film would be produced by Creator/JuddApatow, and in February 2015, he stated it would be exclusive to Netflix, under the title ''Pee-wee's Big Holiday''. |
| 300 | * Italian film ''Perfetti sconosciuti'' (''Perfect Strangers'') has entered the Guinness Book of Records for being the movie with the most foreign remakes in history: there are 25 as of 2023, made everywhere from Mexico to Vietnam and Iceland. However, an American remake is still stuck in development hell. It was being optioned by The Weinstein Company, but, thanks to the founder's notorious troubles, the project ground to a halt. 2019 was the last time anyone heard of it. |
| 301 | * ''Film/{{Phantasm}}'' series, yet another horror franchise with a sequel stuck in DevelopmentHell. The fifth (and supposedly final) film was announced as having been completed in March 2014, but no release date was given at the time. |
| 302 | * In the early 2010s [[https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/50835/pin-remake-finally-moving/ there were talks]] of a remake of the cult classic Canadian 1988 horror film ''Film/{{Pin}}'', but nothing more was heard about it since then. |
| 303 | * The second sequel to ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' (after ''Film/AlienCovenant'') is on ice after ''Covenant'' failed to impress at the box office. That hasn't stopped Creator/RidleyScott from talking about it, but with Disney taking over 20th Century Fox, even Scott isn't sure if the sequel will ever get off the ground. |
| 304 | * Even after the under-performance of ''Film/ReignOfFire'', actors from the film still indicated that there still might be a sequel in the works. That was back in 2002. |
| 305 | * The remake of ''Film/RevengeOfTheNerds''. ''Film/{{Fanboys}}'' director Kyle Newman was given the greenlight to direct a remake back in 2007. Unfortunately, the studio kept cutting the budget, and the only college in Georgia that would let them film was an all-girls school, as the other colleges had previously had bad experiences with film crews. The studios also kept on making demands for things as trivial as the main characters' wardrobe, then after the all-girls school found out that the film was more "risque" then the crew had let on, they were kicked out and had no money left to finish the movie, so the studio pulled the plug on the remake and nothing has been heard ever since. |
| 306 | * A sequel to the 2014 ''Film/{{RoboCop|2014}}'' [[ContinuityReboot reboot]] was planned, only to be shelved for several years due to the reboot flopping massively in the United States. [[http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/robocop/249003/robocop-reboot-sequel-plans-not-dead Den of Geek reported in 2015]] that Sony was still intent on making the sequel, but several years later it was reported that the sequel was dead, as the rights to the ''[=RoboCop=]'' franchise reverted back to MGM. A second reboot, said to take place after the [[Film/RoboCop1987 first film]] and thus [[CanonDiscontinuity rendering the original sequels non-canon]], was announced simultaneously with ''Film/District9''[='=]s Creator/NeillBlomkamp attached to direct. |
| 307 | * Sometime in the late 2000s, a remake of ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'' was announced but it never happened due to protests from the movie's cult followers, who detested the idea that Creator/{{MTV}}[=/=]Creator/DisneyChannel teen idols would be cast in the lead roles. A live broadcast remake, ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShowLetsDoTheTimeWarpAgain'', was released in 2016 on Fox, which mostly got [[SoOkayItsAverage a middling reception]]. |
| 308 | * Various project based on ''Film/Scarface1983'', detailed in [[https://collider.com/scarface-remake-history-explained/ this]] ''Collider'' article, have bounced around Hollywood for decades. The first notable attempt was by hip-hop artist Cuban Link who [[https://www.cbr.com/scarface-son-of-tony-didnt-happen/ pitched a sequel starring himself]] as the son of Tony Montana, but it stalled out. Since 2011, Creator/{{Universal}} has had a laundry list of names come and go in pursuit of a reboot including Creator/AntoineFuqua, Creator/DiegoLuna, Creator/LucaGuadagnino, and Creator/TheCoenBrothers, with no end in sight. |
| 309 | * ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'': |
| 310 | ** A third ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' film was planned and green-lit during production of the second film, and Creator/MatthewLillard and Creator/LindaCardellini signed on to reprise their roles. After the second film performed less than expected (wasn't a flop though, it still made money, just not as much as the studio hoped), Creator/WarnerBros canceled the project. Five years later, two made-for-TV prequels were made with a different cast. There are now talks of a reboot of the series, in addition to a theatrical animated film (which was eventually released as ''WesternAnimation/{{Scoob}}'' in 2020). |
| 311 | ** Speaking of the prequels, there was supposed to be a third one of those as well, with the entire cast signed on. However, the project has gone nowhere. It might have to do with the negative reception ''The Curse of the Lake Monster'' received. |
| 312 | * Development of the third ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' has been long delayed due to issues on the business side. Producer Joel Silver left the series's distributor, Creator/WarnerBrothers, for Creator/{{Universal}} after the second film's release in 2011. WB wasn't happy that the film underperformed at the box office with two expensive but bankable stars in Creator/RobertDowneyJr and Creator/JudeLaw but Silver blamed it, in part, on what he saw as poor marketing on WB's end. Also throwing a wrench in the process are Downey and Law's starring commitments to more lucrative franchises (the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse and ''Film/FantasticBeasts'' respectively) that's made it hard to get the two of them in the same place at the same time. Although progress has been made in getting it off the ground and it was given a December 2021 release (which it still technically has), it was delayed again by about a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with production hoping to start in 2022. Despite Dexter Fletcher replacing Guy Richie at one point and a rumored plot of Homes and Watson taking on a case in America, as of 2023 it remains trapped, with recent interviews from Law and Richie saying they're waiting on if RDJ is interested in making the movie to see if it ever gets made. |
| 313 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has had [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Undeveloped_Star_Trek_projects several unproduced projects]], many of which never got past the proposal stage, although there were some movie projects that had significant preproduction work done before being shelved: |
| 314 | ** ''Star Trek: Planet of the Titans'' was one of several ideas to revive the live-action franchise in TheSeventies, but the only one to gain enough traction to move beyond the earliest drafts. Eventually, the project stalled and was ultimately shelved in favor of a new TV series, ''Star Trek: Phase II'', though after extensive pre-production work had been done on the series, it too was shelved in favor of ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''. Two study models of a delta-winged ''Enterprise'' created for ''Planet of the Titans'' (based on designs by Ken Adam and Ralph [=McQuarrie=]) were ultimately used as background ships in ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'' and ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. |
| 315 | ** The proposed Starfleet Academy prequel movie (alternately known as ''Star Trek: The First Adventure'' and ''Star Trek: The Academy Years'') that Harve Bennett had hoped to make as the sixth film was shelved in favor of ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry''. However, the prevailing feeling around Paramount was that the 25th-anniversary movie should feature the original cast, and there were concerns that recasting the classic characters would've been too great of a risk. The original cast was also not happy about being replaced. Some helped spread the false rumor that the film was to be a spoof in the footsteps of ''Film/PoliceAcademy''. In addition, an Academy film would've required all-new sets, costumes, and models, all of which would've been time-consuming to create, while a movie set in the film series' "present" era allowed the reuse of existing assets, making it a lot easier for the film to make the desired December 1991 release date. Bennett would try to sell the project again over the next several years, but Paramount ended up using only the most bare-bones part of the premise - Kirk, Spock, and [=McCoy=] meeting at the Academy - in Creator/JJAbrams' ''Film/StarTrek2009''. |
| 316 | ** The third sequel to the 2009 film movie has been put on ice after the box office underperformance of ''Film/StarTrekBeyond''. Although Abrams and Paramount were confident in another installment, the financial failure of ''Beyond'' and many of Paramount's tentpole films led the studio to focus more on developing smaller budget movies. In 2018, Paramount greenlit both a main sequel directed by S. J. Clarkson and a spin-off directed by Quentin Tarantino. However, to accommodate the smaller budget of the sequel, the cast had their salaries reduced significantly, leading to Creator/ChrisPine and Creator/ChrisHemsworth dropping since they were originally promised lucrative pay raises that were agreed upon prior to ''Beyond'''s release. Abrams also vacated his role as producer and creative consultant after signing on to direct ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', which lost its original director and undergone massive re-writes following the death of Creator/CarrieFisher. The death of cast member Creator/AntonYelchin (Chekov) also dampened much enthusiasm for future sequels. While the Tarantino project ultimately stalled, Paramount continued pursuing a ''Star Trek 4'', and in 2022 announced ''Series/WandaVision'' director Matt Shankman to be the in the director’s chair as well as a 2023 release date, though the old cast had yet to be confirmed. Then Shankman left the project to replace Creator/JonWatts on the MCU reboot of ''Fantastic Four'', and the film was subsequently pulled off the schedule, putting it back in limbo for now. |
| 317 | * In 2010, Creator/SamRaimi and Creator/GuillermoDelToro announced rival production labels (Raimi at Lionsgate, del Toro at Disney) that would produce horror films for younger audiences. Raimi's label even announced its first project (a remake of the 2007 Swedish sci-fi film ''Film/TheSubstitute'') but neither label got past talks due to Raimi's busy schedule and Disney cutting its production slate. |
| 318 | * ''Tongue of Fury'', the sequel to ''Film/KungPowEnterTheFist'', was announced since the end of the first film in 2002. However, no word of it has ever surfaced. WordOfGod states that Creator/SteveOedekerk is still sifting through a huge library of Hong Kong martial arts films to find the right scenes to lift. There were also rumors of a possible 2010 release. |
| 319 | * In 2012, a sequel to ''Film/Twins1988'' titled ''Triplets'' was revealed to be in development, and the plot would revolve around Julius and Vincent finding out about their long lost brother, whom Creator/EddieMurphy would play. No further news has been made about the film since. |
| 320 | * Franchise/UniversalHorror: |
| 321 | ** A remake of ''Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon'' has been in on-and-off development since at least the early 1980s when Creator/JohnLandis tried to launch a production helmed by the director of the original movie, Jack Arnold. In 1995, Creator/PeterJackson was given a choice between helming a new ''Creature'' movie or doing ''Film/{{King Kong|2005}}''. [[http://www.the-reelgillman.com/news/remake.html This fan site]] shows a stream of news and rumors about a remake going back over ten years. Stephen Sommers, Creator/GuillermoDelToro, Brett Rattner, and a crossover with ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}, of all things, have all been mentioned at one time or another (plus [[Film/{{Pleasantville}} Gary Ross]], who wrote a script as his father co-wrote the original). The latest would-be director is Breck Eisner (director of ''Film/{{The Crazies|2010}}'' and son of Michael Eisner), but who knows when or if a remake will actually materialize? [[http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Creature-From-Black-Lagoon-Remake-Gets-Writer-33543.html Again, news of it appeared in 2016]], and Creator/ScarlettJohansson was in talks to play the female lead, but nothing has been whispered since. Some of Creator/GuillermoDelToro's rejected ideas for a ''Creature'' remake were incorporated into his Best Picture-winning film ''Film/TheShapeOfWater''. |
| 322 | ** Universal announced the Film/DarkUniverse in July 2014, with ''Film/{{The Mummy|2017}}'' as the first installment. Other films will include ''The Wolf Man'', ''Frankenstein'', ''Bride of Frankenstein'', ''The Invisible Man'', and yes, ''Creature from the Black Lagoon''. A ''Van Helsing'' reboot set in the same universe was also mentioned. However, the poor critical reception and [[BoxOfficeBomb box office flopping]] of ''The Mummy'' put the future of the Dark Universe in question, with some even wondering if the whole thing will be a StillbornFranchise. The ''Bride of Frankenstein'' remake had a set release date of February 14, 2019, with Bill Condon (''Film/GodsAndMonsters'' and ''Film/{{Beauty and the Beast|2017}}'') attached as director and Creator/JavierBardem attached to star (with the studio in talks with Creator/AngelinaJolie as the Bride), but it was delayed indefinitely right before filming was supposed to begin. The Dark Universe was officially announced as cancelled in January 2019, with a series of separate and independent filmmaker-driven films taking its place (''Film/TheInvisibleMan2020'' would see release in 2020 as a standalone film). |
| 323 | * Around 2005, a modern-day remake of ''Film/TheWildBunch'' was announced, to be directed by Creator/DavidAyer. Years passed without further developments. Then in early 2013 news outlets reported a similar project featuring Creator/WillSmith in production. |
| 324 | * In the late 2000s, Disney had been planning sequels to surprise hits ''Film/WildHogs'' and ''Film/TheProposal'' but canceled both after the box office failure of ''Old Dogs''. While the former had gone through some development (even having a plot be revealed), the latter seems to have never gotten past talks nor was it known what it would have been about. |
| 325 | * The remake of ''Film/TheWiz'', which was rumored to star Music/{{Aaliyah}} and R&B singer Ginuwine. This was back in 1999-2000. But the idea seemed to stall even before Aaliyah's untimely death. |
| 326 | ** In 2015, NBC aired a live version of the musical, which appears to be unrelated, but makes the idea of another theatrical film less likely. |
| 327 | * A third sequel to the horror movie ''Film/{{Xtro}}'' has been in the works since the 90s with information finally been released in 2019. |
| 328 | * ''Film/TrainToBusan'' had an American remake announced in 2018, with Creator/JamesWan attached as the producer. News about it was virtually nonexistent until 2021, which was when it picked up a director (Timo Tjahjanto), screenwriter (Gary Dauberman), and the title ''The Last Train to New York''. It was originally slated to be released on April 21, 2023, but it was dropped from Warner Bros.' schedule and seems to have been delayed indefinitely. |
| 329 | * ''Film/DriveAwayDolls'': The film project was first announced in 2007. It took until 2024 to be released, and went through many different actors being attached, then leaving, along with its title changing. |
| 330 | [[/folder]] |
| 331 | |
| 332 | [[folder:Western Animation Adaptations]] |
| 333 | * In late 2016, [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/glen-powell-writing-captain-planet-movie-adaptation-1139860/ it was announced that Paramount]] had signed on for a live-action adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'', with Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio, a known environmentalist, acting as producer. One of the main writers, Glen Powell, [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/glen-powell-writing-captain-planet-movie-adaptation-1139860/ confirmed he was writing the script during a September 2018 interview and described the tone as "subversive" and "fun"]]. No further news has emerged since that time. |
| 334 | * The Creator/RobertRodriguez helmed remake of ''WesternAnimation/FireAndIce'' was announced [[https://www.slashfilm.com/live-action-fire-and-ice-remake/ back in 2010 with Rodriguez claiming]] production had started in 2014. Nothing has been heard since that time. |
| 335 | * A ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' script was floated [[https://www.polygon.com/movies/22436088/gargoyles-movie-live-action-90s-script around Touchstone Pictures]] during the mid-90s for adaptation. It would have been a radical departure from the series bordering on InNameOnly (for instance, the Manhattan Clan were all humans turned into Gargoyles and all had names before awakening in the modern). Production was halted when Touchstone executive Todd Garner was told that the titular Gargoyles would need to be portrayed by actors in suits, which convinced him the effects technology wasn't there yet to realize his vision. In 2018, [[https://www.slashfilm.com/jordan-peele-gargoyles-movie/ Jordan Peele went to Disney to pitch his own adaptation, but was told Disney had no interest in the property at the time and rebuffed his proposal]]. |
| 336 | * On a similar note, back in 2011, Rodriguez had announced at San Diego Comic-Con he was going to [[https://screenrant.com/robert-rodriguez-movies-unmade/ helm a remake of]] ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal''. 2017 saw head publisher of ''Magazine/HeavyMetal'' [[https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/227854/exclusive-kevin-eastman-status-new-heavy-metal-movie/ Kevin Eastman express hope that progress would begin on the film]], but as of March 2021 there is no additional information. |
| 337 | * A live-action film based on ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'' has been in development hell for a very long time. Creator/{{Paramount}} purchased the rights to do one in 1985 but sold them to Creator/UniversalStudios a few years later. The result was the ''animated'' film, ''WesternAnimation/JetsonsTheMovie''. A live-action film was later discussed in 1995, but nothing happened. In 2001, Rob Minkoff was attached to direct a live-action ''Jetsons'' film, but in 2003, it was announced that its script was being reworked and Adam Shankman in talks to direct. In 2004, the script went through another rewrite with Sam Harper, and Shankman still attached to direct. It once again fizzled but was resurrected again in 2006 with Adam F. Goldberg now attached to write the screenplay and Robert Rodriguez entering negotiations with Universal to direct a CGI film for a 2009 release, but the project stalled. In 2012, Music/KanyeWest, of all people, was rumored to be involved in a ''Jetsons'' film project in some way, though this was later confirmed to just be a preliminary idea. The film rights are now in Creator/WarnerBros' hands. In 2015, they announced that they planned on producing another animated ''Jetsons'' film with Matt Lieberman of WebVideo/SourceFed writing the script. Unfortunately, no live-action film is known to be in development at the moment. |
| 338 | * ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' is another Hanna-Barbera property whose live action adaptation has been stuck in development hell for decades. It was first announced in the early 90s when Turner began seriously pushing a revival of the franchise. Creator/RichardDonner expressed interest in directing, with production beginning in 1995 and filming scheduled for 1996, but it never happened. The project was revived in 2006 with Creator/ZacEfron attached to star as Jonny Quest and Wrestling/DwayneJohnson attached to star as Race Bannon, but once again, the project fizzled. In 2016, Creator/RobertRodriguez became the next name to be attached to direct a live-action ''Jonny Quest'' film, and Chris [=McKay=] (director of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoBatmanMovie'') was attached in 2018, but time will tell if it ever actually does get off the ground. |
| 339 | * A ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' movie was confirmed to be in development from Creator/WarnerBros as a star vehicle for Wrestling/DwayneJohnson. That was back in 2002, and nothing has been heard since. |
| 340 | * Nickelodeon had been planning films for ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' and ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' since early 2015, with ''Film/DoraAndTheLostCityOfGold'' finally being SavedFromDevelopmentHell in 2019. There's still no info yet about ''Korra'', though. |
| 341 | * In 2008, there were plans to make a ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' [[RogerRabbitEffect live-action/CGI hybrid]] Christmas movie starring Creator/MikeMyers as Marvin the Martian, which was billed for a release on 7 October 2011. It was scrapped in 2010 when Warner Bros. removed it from their schedule, and [[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xw9bwr leaked footage appeared online in 2012]]. |
| 342 | * Mattel has made numerous attempts at a second live-action ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse'' film. As far back as 2008, Justin Silver was attached to the film, only for it to undergo rewrites over the course of the next decade, with occasional overtures made to actors, such as Creator/DolphLundgren being entertained for the role of King Randor and Creator/ChrisHemsworth turning the film down for He-Man's perceived similarities to Film/{{Thor}}. Finally, in 2019, Noah Centieno announced on ''Series/TheTonightShowStarringJimmyFallon'' that he had signed on for the role of He-Man/Prince Adam, and Mattel's licensing expo booth that year promised a March 2021 release with a "Marvel-level budget" according to a conference call. However, Sony, the film's distributor, pulled ''Masters'' from its March 2021 release date, with no word as to when the film would start production. [[https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1163515-exclusive-noah-centineo-talks-working-with-dwayne-johnson-in-black-adam#/slide/1 Finally, a February 2021 interview with Centineo to promote]] the upcoming ''Black Adam'' film with Wrestling/DwayneJohnson had him announce he was no longer attached to ''Masters'', leaving the film's fate uncertain. |
| 343 | [[/folder]] |
| 344 | |
| 345 | [[folder:Other]] |
| 346 | * The film adaptation of Music/GreenDay's RockOpera ''Music/AmericanIdiot'' has been in development since 2005. Several scripts have been written, and Creator/TomHanks has expressed interest in producing the film, but nothing definitive has yet been announced. When asked if the movie was a truth, lie, or mystery, drummer Tre Cool responded that it was "a true mystery". |
| 347 | * Creator/JamesRolfe, following the production and release of his debut feature ''Film/AngryVideoGameNerdTheMovie'', has discussed many times the intention for his second feature to be an original, [[BottleEpisode less budget/resource-intensive]] venture into horror. In the time since, in addition to continuously producing ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' and other ventures on Cinemassacre, he became a father of two, so development has been continuously held back, and as a result of the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVuDpkRBsJo it's been postponed indefinitely.]] |
| 348 | * A {{biopic}} about Baron Gustaf Mannerheim, Marshal of Finland during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, was announced in 2000, with Finnish director Creator/RennyHarlin attached. The filming has been postponed many times due to budgetary issues. Harlin finally pulled out in May 2011, but it is unclear whether the project will go on without him. |
| 349 | * In the early days of the New Atheism movement, there was some buzz around Brian Flemming's plans for a film called ''The Beast'', an atheist parable about a Christian high-school student named Danielle, who finds out her missing Bibilical scholar father discovered proof that Jesus Christ never existed, and subsquently goes on a quest to spread the truth while fighting off fundamentalist Christians trying to keep it a secret. The film was scheduled for release on [[NumberOfTheBeast June 6, 2006]], but the release date came and went without the film surfacing, and nothing has been heard of the project since. |
| 350 | * In 2019, Creator/MarkHarmon bought the rights to make a film based on a Texas Monthly article about the murder of SportsDad Bill Butterfield at the hands of his abused son Lance. Since the announcement, no news about it has surfaced as of 2022. |
| 351 | * The Music/SnoopDogg movie ''Black Ice'' has been on and off in development for the latter part of the decade. Snoop said in an interview that scheduling and communication issues have caused the delays, but insists that it'll see the light of day. |
| 352 | * [[http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=5813834 This]] ESPN the Magazine article gives an inside account of the process of getting stuck in Development Hell. David Fleming's tried for years to get his novel ''Breaker Boys'', about an early NFL team whose championship was revoked after bitter lobbying by richer rival team owners, onto the big screen. Fleming sees this as a larger failure than most -- because the movie isn't getting made, the NFL won't be forced to admit its mistake and restore the stolen championship. |
| 353 | ** Ultimately, the project was sunk by the failure of ''Film/{{Leatherheads}}'', which studios believed signified there was no money to be made in a movie about football in the 1920s. As the article mentions, ''Leatherheads'' was itself stuck in development hell until Creator/GeorgeClooney stepped into the picture. Fleming's ESPN colleague Rick Reilly wrote the original screenplay in 1991... and it hit theaters in 2008. It's a point of contention between Fleming and Reilly as to who got the worse deal. |
| 354 | * After proving to be a dynamic duo in the film classics ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid'' and ''Film/TheSting'', Hollywood big-shots Creator/RobertRedford and Creator/PaulNewman tried for years to do another film that would feature them together. Hope for that third movie died along with Newman in 2008. |
| 355 | * In 2016, producer Jonathan Sothcott announced he had bought the rights to the ''Film/CarryOn'' franchise and would make a new set of films. Subsequently, Brian Baker bought the rights in 2019 and announced he would be filming three new installments back-to-back, however production was hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the death of Barbara Windsor in 2020, and nothing has been heard of the projects since. |
| 356 | * A film based off [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_the_lion Christian the lion]] was announced in 2008 by Sony Pictures, with Neal Moritz producing. After trudging along for about five years, it got a writer and director before the Sony hack shook up Sony management, with newly-installed motion picture group chairman Tom Rothman deciding not to move forward with it. It was shelved indefinitely when Moritz jumped ship to Paramount a couple of years later due to continued conflict with Rothman, and with both the writer and director having moved on, no progress has been made. |
| 357 | * ''The Chronicles of Rick Roll'', a fantasy comedy featuring the stars of various early internet memes such as Music/TayZonday, Numa Numa Guy, David After Dentist and WebVideo/ChadVader, among many others ([[{{Irony}} though ironically]], not Music/RickAstley, the star and namesake of [[JustForFun/{{Rickroll}} the meme it was named for]]), was announced back in 2013 and was expected to be released in 2014, but little has been heard of the project since. |
| 358 | * There was a fair bit of buzz in 2010 over a film Creator/TheWachowskis were developing with the working title of ''Cobalt Neural 9'', reported to be a {{Mockumentary}} from a hundred years in the future that would have been about a homosexual romance between an American soldier and an Iraqi during the Iraq War. It was reported in 2012 that they had invested $5 million into it and would probably fund it entirely themselves because no studio would buy it, but that was the last news about it. |
| 359 | * A film called ''Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill'', starring Creator/SachaBaronCohen and written by Creator/TinaFey, was supposed to come out around 2007 or 2008, but never materalized. |
| 360 | * ''Literature/TheDionaeaHouse'', a story told virally over the internet from 2004 to 2006, abruptly stops on several cliffhangers at different points in time, apparently because Warner Bros. purchased rights for a film adaptation. According to [[http://listing-index.ebay.com/movies/The_Dionaea_House.html eBay's film listing]], it was supposed to come out in 2007. [=IMDB=] once had a listing for a 2010 release (under the name ''The Residents'' for some reason), but even that fell through, and the creator later admitted he felt the project was all but dead. |
| 361 | * In 1960, UsefulNotes/RobertFKennedy published a nonfiction book called ''The Enemy Within'' about his role in the Senate's investigation of organized crime and labor corruption. After [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy his brother]] became President and RFK became Attorney General, he hoped to adapt it into a film, approaching producer Jerry Wald. Wald commissioned Budd Schulberg, screenwriter of the similarly-themed ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'' to write a screenplay, which he did in 1962 in close collaboration with Kennedy; ''Waterfront'' director Creator/EliaKazan was attached to direct, and there were even talks with Creator/PaulNewman to play Kennedy himself. Just as production seemed ready to start, Wald died of a heart attack, Kazan fell out with Schulberg over changes to the script, and the project fell into limbo. While several studios considered producing it afterward, threats from the Teamsters and other unions which Kennedy's book depicted in less-than-flattering terms, made producers reluctant to film it, while Kennedy's own interest in the project eventually waned. As late as 1969, the year after Kennedy's assassination, there were still rumors of a production by Columbia Pictures, but nothing ever came of them. |
| 362 | * In 2010, Creator/SamRaimi's Ghost House Pictures announced [[http://www.movieviral.com/2010/05/06/this-man-dream-viral-to-become-feature-film/ a horror movie]] based on the internet hoax/viral marketing/meme "Ever Dream This Man?", that was to be directed by Bryan Bertino, who directed ''The Strangers'' in 2008. They even bought the thisman.org website for a short while as a means to promote the film, but that was the last that anyone ever heard of it. |
| 363 | * ''ComicBook/GiraffesOnHorsebackSalad'' was a film pitch by Creator/SalvadorDali for a romantic comedy starring [[Creator/MarxBrothers Harpo Marx]] as the leading man. MGM Studio chief Louis B. Mayer, already [[ScrewedByTheNetwork not a fan of the Marxes]], felt the premise was [[AudienceAlienatingPremise too weird for mainstream audiences]] and turned it down. It was forgotten for almost 80 years, languishing in Dali's notebook and being only briefly mentioned in scattered interviews, until Josh Frank gathered a team to revive it as a graphic novel instead. |
| 364 | * ''Gray State'' was to be a dystopian action film about a Second American Revolution against a OneWorldOrder, largely rooted in the conservative/libertarian fears and conspiracy theories of its creator, David Crowley. Unfortunately, given Crowley's [[PaterFamilicide double murder-suicide of his family]], the film will likely never see the light of day. The only thing to come from it has been a Creator/WernerHerzog-produced documentary titled ''A Gray State'', which focused on Crowley and what drove him over the edge. |
| 365 | * Creator/GuillermoDelToro examples: |
| 366 | ** It wasn't until making ''Film/PansLabyrinth'' that he finally got a studio to okay his script for ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness'' -- a script that apparently had no romantic subplot, a BittersweetEnding and very vague monsters, none of which are things producers want. It was also going to have Creator/RonPerlman, apparently; he joked that [[AuthorAppeal del Toro will let him pick the sort of jar he gets to float in]]. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_mountains_of_madness#Film But Universal Studios gave up on it in 2011, and del Toro gave up on it altogether in 2012]]. |
| 367 | ** He was also planning an adaptation of ''Domu: A Child's Dream'', by Creator/KatsuhiroOtomo (better known for ''Manga/{{Akira}}''), which has apparently been called off due to rights issues. |
| 368 | * A few years ago, there were competing development projects about [[UsefulNotes/PunicWars Hannibal Barca]]. One with Creator/DenzelWashington, another with Creator/VinDiesel. Either one could have been interesting. But so far, nothing. |
| 369 | * There were several movies about Creator/HarryHoudini that were planned but never made: |
| 370 | ** In 1932, Creator/RKOPictures considered making a biopic, with Paul Muni in the lead. For legal reasons though, Houdini's name could not be used, so Harry Houdini became Harry Pinetti. Titled ''Now You See It'', the first screenplay was written by Fulton Oursler, who knew Houdini personally. Oursler's screenplay followed Houdini's life very loosely and invented many fictional episodes. Then Kubec Glasmon was brought in to write a new screenplay. The project was then shelved, but in 1936 the Pinetti name resurfaced in treatment for a movie called ''Man of Magic'', which had nothing to do with Houdini. That movie was also never made. |
| 371 | ** In the mid-30s Houdini's widow, Bess Houdini, approached Creator/ColumbiaPictures about a Houdini biopic. However, the studio's president, Harry Cohn, rejected it, claiming, that Houdini's life was not dramatic enough. Then Mrs. Houdini approached Paramount, which in 1936 announced ''Houdini the Great'', with a screenplay by Frank O’Connor and Dore Schary as producer. Schary later commissioned another screenplay by Pierre Collings. Paramount however eventually dropped the project and in 1944 Schary offered it to David O. Selznick. Selznick wanted Creator/AlfredHitchcock to direct it and Creator/CaryGrant or Joseph Cotten to star in it, but the Master of Suspense rejected it. Then William Dieterle was attached to the project as director and Garry Moore as Houdini, but the project soon died out. |
| 372 | ** Producer Ray Stark tried to make his own Houdini biopic for many years. In 1969, he announced a stage musical about the King of Handcuffs under the title ''Hocus Pocus''. By 1974 this turned into a movie called ''The Magic Man: The Story of Houdini'', with James Bridges as director and Creator/JamesCaan as Houdini. However, the movie went through several screenwriters, as Stark was unsatisfied with them. At one point Stark wanted to turn the movie into a time travel fantasy. Then in the early-90s Stark managed to sign on Creator/RobertZemeckis as director, with Universal and Columbia co-producing the movie. However there was still no script, so in 1992 Zemeckis dropped out. By 1997 Stark managed to get a screenplay written by Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson and Creator/PaulVerhoeven signed on as a director, but he soon left the project. Up until his death in 2004, Ray Stark claimed, that he was in talks with Creator/AngLee to direct and Creator/TomCruise to star in his Houdini biopic, but the project went to the grave with him. |
| 373 | ** In 1988 a movie called ''Harry's Back!'' was announced, which would have starred Creator/TonyCurtis as a man turning up in present-day New York and claiming to be Houdini. The movie was never made. Similarly announced, but never made was ''The Dead of Night'', which would have paired Houdini with Aleister Crowley. The project never went beyond an ad in a 1990 issue of ''Variety''. |
| 374 | * On January 2015, ''Creator/{{Sanrio}}'' announced a ''Franchise/HelloKitty'' film with a tentative release date of 2019. However, Sanrio didn't even start production until they licensed the rights to Creator/NewLineCinema and Creator/WarnerBrothers, and Flynn Pictures Company (New Line and Flynn Pictures also has the movie rights to other Sanrio Characters) [[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/business/media/hello-kitty-movie-warner-bros.html in March 2019]]. With Beau Flynn as the producer and Wendy Jacobson as executive producer. [[https://deadline.com/2021/03/hello-kitty-movie-directors-jennifer-coyle-leo-matsuda-new-line-1234704997/ By March 2021]], the movie was revealed to be a live-action/CGI hybrid alongside revealing Jennifer Coyle and Leo Matsuda as the film's directors. Since [[Creator/DiscoveryChannel Discovery]] fully required Warner Media (now ''Creator/WarnerBrosDiscovery'') on April 9th, 2022, the current state of a Hello Kitty feature film and other Sanrio films remains uncertain for now. |
| 375 | * Creator/{{Universal}} announced a live-action Franchise/{{LEGO}} ''Toys/HeroFactory'' movie project back in 2012, and despite the [[WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie other major LEGO-inspired film]] becoming a huge success, it hasn't been discussed any further. With the toy line being canceled in response to the 2015 return of its [[Toys/{{Bionicle}} much more famous predecessor]], it is doubtful that it will ever be made. |
| 376 | * No less than two Creator/JimHenson biopics were placed in development in the 2008-2011 period but never got off the ground. ''Henson'', written by Robert D. Slane, appears to have been a standard bio. ''The Muppet Man'', written by Australian actor/writer Christopher Weekes, was a more unorthodox story that was going to parallel Henson's life with Muppet scenes, and even have Muppet characters interact with Henson. In both cases, Disney refused to give permission to use the characters, which was really odd for ''The Muppet Man'', since the Muppets' creators and previous owners The Jim Henson Company had actually bought the screenplay after it topped the annual Black List for the best unproduced screenplays. Creator/JimCarrey, Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio and Creator/HughJackman were all said to be in the running to play Henson. The Henson organization wasn't too thrilled with the way ''The Muppet Man'' delved into the collapse of his marriage, and couldn't work out a compromise with Weekes. The screenplay still circulated, with bloggers and Muppet fans registering mixed reactions over it, noting that Henson never sentimentalized his characters or regarded them as real, and that the script was a bit sloppy, with misspellings, factual errors and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Americans using Australian slang terms]]. The Henson biopic concept may yet get SavedFromDevelopmentHell, since in 2021 Disney announced they would make one called ''Muppet Man'' (minus the "The", and not connected to the Weekes screenplay), apparently based around the launch of ''Series/TheMuppetShow''. |
| 377 | * In 2015, Peter 'Stoney' Emshwiller crowdfunded [[http://www.laterthatsamelife.com/ Later That Same Life]], a documentary where he unearthed footage of his 18-year-old-self interviewing him when he was - at the time - 56. However, despite [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9n9dt2fKeE&lc=Ugx2A-R7l-loJZvbGZZ4AaABAg a comment on the trailer in 2018 assuring the film was still in development despite unexpected personal and health issues]], nothing about the project has been announced since. The fact that there hasn't been a blog post for years and [=RocketHub=], the site used for crowdfunding, no longer even exists doesn't bode well for the project being delivered any time soon, if at all. |
| 378 | * ''Leaving Neverland'' director Dan Reed has announced plans for a follow-up documentary focusing on the accusations against Music/MichaelJackson by Jordan Chandler and Gavin Arvizo, however due to the film's controversy the sequel seems to have been shelved. |
| 379 | * The re-release of ''Film/LetItBe''. Contrary to popular belief, neither Music/PaulMcCartney nor Music/RingoStarr have tried to block its re-release, nor are they opposed to the idea of it ''being'' re-released -- in fact, [[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/paul-mccartney-looks-back-the-rolling-stone-interview-w433437 McCartney WANTS it to be]], and has openly wondered why it hasn't been. The reluctance seems to instead lie with Apple Corps, as [=McCartney=] has stated he's brought it up several times to the board, only for them to nix the idea each time for one reason or another. However, when Paul announced what would become ''Series/TheBeatlesGetBack'', a longer version of the sessions that resulted in ''Let It Be'', he said a remastered version was probable. |
| 380 | * Fox acquired the film rights to both ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' and ''Play-Doh'' from Creator/{{Hasbro}} in 2014. Since then, no other word has come out from either project, and both projects appear to be shelved in the aftermath of Fox's acquisiton by Disney. |
| 381 | ** The former film appears to be dead, as Creator/{{Netflix}} announced an anime ''Magic: The Gathering'' series in June 2019 that will be helmed by Creator/TheRussoBrothers. The latter film is still in limbo. |
| 382 | * A {{Biopic}} about Creator/MaryShelley titled ''Mary Shelley's Monster'' staring Creator/SophieTurner fell to this. Between no new casting information coming up about the film since its August 2014 announcement and the production falling to ScheduleSlip (it was supposed to begin in Fall of 2014 but was delayed to January 2015, but still failed to start), it never came to fruition. The 2017 movie simply titled ''Mary Shelley'' starring Creator/ElleFanning probably didn't help this movie's chances either. |
| 383 | * In 2007, a film version of ''The Mayor of Castro Street'', a biography of Harvey Milk, was announced. This was derailed by the successful release of ''Film/{{Milk}}'' the following year. |
| 384 | * Music/MichaelJackson-related examples: |
| 385 | ** GK Films [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/michael-jacksons-thriller-to-be-hideously-transfor,46849/ announced a movie]] based on Music/MichaelJackson's ''{{Thriller}}'' video, with Kenny Ortega, set to direct and [[Film/TheHangover Jeremy Garelick]] set to write a script that would have had ''a lot'' of AdaptationExpansion, in 2010. |
| 386 | ** Jackson's estate [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/michael-jackson-estate-prepping-film-about-very-sp,65251 was shopping around]] a {{Biopic}} in late 2011, but nothing's been heard of it since. Given that his rise to superstardom was already covered (if sugarcoated) by the Jacksons-sanctioned (and since [[AdoredByTheNetwork ran into the ground by VH-1]]) 1992 MadeForTVMovie ''Jacksons: An American Dream'', and that his estate apparently doesn't want to bring up the scandals and misfortunes that dominated his later years, there haven't been any takers. |
| 387 | * A Music/MilliVanilli biopic has been in this state for years, dating back to 2007 screenplay written by fan Jeff Nathanson (who was also interested in directing at some point). In February 2021, it was announced that Creator/BrettRatner would be directing the project, making it Ratner's first directorial movie since both Film/Hercules2014, and his accusations of sexual harassment in 2017. |
| 388 | * A Music/BlueManGroup movie entitled ''Mind Blast'', in which the original performers enter a creatively congested person to help them express themselves, was announced in 2011, and that was the last time anyone heard about it. |
| 389 | * ''Literature/TheMindsOfBillyMilligan'', the true story of a convicted felon with multiple personalities and the landmark struggle to free him from prison, was adapted into a screenplay called ''A Crowded Room'' by Todd Graff in something like the late 1970s. Dozens of actors, producers, and directors including Creator/JamesCameron (who wrote a second screenplay) and Creator/StevenSoderbergh have signed onto the project and quit, after which Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio picked up the rights. Di Caprio has long expressed an interest in writing, producing, and/or starring in the film (the name of which has since changed to '''''The''' Crowded Room''), but nothing more has been heard of it since 2016. |
| 390 | * Literature/{{Momo|Creepypasta}}, an Internet horror meme linked to a supposed curse that caused people to commit suicide (actually based on a picture of a statue by a Japanese artist), was to be the basis for at least two movies. One is [[https://deadline.com/2019/07/momo-challenge-orion-pictures-the-ring-producers-1202643927/ an untitled project]] produced by Orion Pictures, and no other news surfaced about it. The other is titled GETAWAY and [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9893228/?ref_=nm_flmg_cin_3 according to IMDb]] has entered production and has the typical premise of a bunch of teenagers in a cabin in the middle of nowhere telling each other scary stories and urban legends. Still not much else is known about it. |
| 391 | * ''Nicole & O.J.'', a true crime film about the murder of Creator/OJSimpson's wife Nicole Brown that takes the view that Simpson was, in fact, innocent. Director Joshua Newton claims to have discovered shocking new evidence that exonerates OJ, and the film got the endorsement of several people who knew him in real life. Creator/BorisKodjoe was cast as OJ, British actress Charlotte Kirk played Nicole Brown, and principal photography was being done in Bulgaria (inverting CaliforniaDoubling because the crew actually recreated OJ's house inside and out)...and absolutely nothing has been heard of the project since then. |
| 392 | * A film about Hiroshima bombing survivor Sadako Sasaki, titled ''One Thousand Paper Cranes'', was announced to be in development in 2019, with Creator/EvanRachelWood cast as Eleanor Coerr, the journalist who published a children's book about her. When the news drew backlash from Asian-Americans critical of the focus on a white American woman in a Japanese girl's story, director Richard Raymond claimed in response that he was working with the Sasakis' input and the film would be in Japanese with Japanese actors. Other than some reports that Creator/JimSturgess and Shinobu Terajima were also cast in unspecified roles in the film, nothing else has been heard about it or its production since. |
| 393 | * ''Pinkville'', which is about the My Lai Massacre. |
| 394 | * The ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' movie. Creator/JerryBruckheimer picked up the right in 2004, and has been renewing the option every year, but doesn't seem to have done anything with it yet. |
| 395 | * In 2006 it was announced that Creator/MartinScorsese would direct an adaptation of Edmund Morris's biography ''The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt'', written by Nicholas Meyer and starring Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio as Roosevelt. Ever since it's been on hiatus, with little evidence that the project ever developed beyond the idea stage. Scorsese put ''Rise'' on hold for other projects, before ultimately dropping out as director. Scorsese has said that he's interested in producing the film if someone else would direct, but as of yet, no one's taken him up on the offer |
| 396 | * A {{biopic}} of [[UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood silent film]] comedian [[Creator/FattyArbuckle Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle]] has been in this state for about three decades. Like the aforementioned ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces'', it had Creator/JohnBelushi, Creator/JohnCandy, and Creator/ChrisFarley lined up to star in it shortly before their respective deaths. No word has come out of it since. |
| 397 | * The Italian parody movie ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheHams'' by comedian Ezio Greggio has near the end a poster for ''Jurassic Pork'', directed by... Ezio Greggio. It turned out that it wasn't just another one of the movie's many sight gags and parodies, but Greggio actually wanted to film it, and thus decided to promote it ahead of time. However, thanks to various pre-production problems, and the fact that in the meantime another ''Jurassic Park'' spoof, ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_Park Chicken Park]]'', was released in Italy, ''Jurassic Pork'' ended up not being made. |
| 398 | * In 2011, Sony Pictures had purchased a Creator/RolandEmmerich pitch named ''Singularity'', a science fiction film about a man composed of nanomachines. [[https://collider.com/roland-emmerich-singularity-failed-blockbuster-what-happened/ It suffered several delays over the following decade, mostly regarding the script]], with co-writer Harald Kloser even saying the idea for ''Film/{{Moonfall}}'' was brought up in what was supposed to be a writing session for ''Singularity''. And given during promotion of ''Moonfall'' Emmerich did not bring up ''Singularity'' as a future project, it can be assumed it won't start production any time sooner. |
| 399 | * Creator/{{Hasbro}} has attempted [[http://mentalfloss.com/article/69454/hollywoods-repeated-inexplicable-attempts-stretch-armstrong-movie multiple times]] since TheNineties to give Stretch Armstrong his own movie. Proposals varied wildly, from a WhenYouComingHomeDad comedy to a DarkerAndEdgier action tentpole. Actors considered include Creator/DannyDeVito, Creator/JackieChan, and Creator/TaylorLautner. Lautner even received [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HtNzFnS5EE an animatic]] demonstrating how his stretching powers could apply to a set piece. Hasbro ultimately had more luck adapting Stretch Armstrong for the small screen; Creator/{{Netflix}} gave him [[WesternAnimation/StretchArmstrongAndTheFlexFighters his own cartoon]] in 2017, starring Creator/ScottMenville. |
| 400 | * ''The Sky Is Falling'' has a reputation as one of the greatest screenplays never filmed. Drew [=McWeeney=] wrote about this script from TheNineties [[https://uproxx.com/hitfix/big-question-what-unfinished-film-do-you-wish-had-happened/ in an August 2013 Hitfix.com article about films that never made it]]: Two priests GoMadFromTheRevelation of God's '''non'''existence and become AxCrazy, and now the challenge for the authorities is to both stop their rampage ''and'' keep the physical proof of this revelation from becoming known to the rest of the world, lest further mayhem ensues. It's little to no wonder New Line Cinema didn't go through with it. |
| 401 | * ''The Story of Bonnie and Clyde'' has been delayed for several years. After Music/HilaryDuff, who was cast as Bonnie, became pregnant, the producers quickly replaced both leads, fearing that the film would be delayed further if they waited for Duff to be available. That was back in 2011, and the film has yet to enter production. Given the December 2013 release of the A&E miniseries, ''Bonnie and Clyde'', starring Holliday Grainger and Creator/EmileHirsch (which may or may not have ever been connected to the Hilary Duff remake), a feature film remake seems unlikely anytime soon. |
| 402 | ** Films about the OutlawCouple tend to attract this. An independent project on the pair attempted to get off the ground during TheNineties, and even got as far as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32wS7WMOpXo having footage shot for it]], but was unable to secure enough funding to complete the film. There were whispers of another attempt at a film around TheNewTens, but nothing has come of it so far. At most there was ''Film/TheHighwaymen'', based on the Rangers in pursuit rather than the couple. |
| 403 | * As hinted above, just about every Creator/TerryGilliam film experiences Development Hell one way or another. Says Creator/EricIdle on Terry Gilliam productions, "Go and see them by all means -- but to be in them, fucking madness!" |
| 404 | ** Following the success of ''Film/TheFisherKing'', Gilliam and Richard [=LaGravenese=] worked on a script called ''The Defective Detective'', which centered on a cop getting trapped in a child's fantasy world. Creator/NicolasCage was considered to play the lead, but Paramount didn't give the project the go-ahead. While Gilliam still has plans to make the film and hinted at it for years, it's currently on the back burner. |
| 405 | ** Gilliam has toyed with making ''Theseus and The Minotaur'' ever since TheSeventies, though it is still stuck in script phase. |
| 406 | ** Gilliam also wanted to direct an adaptation of ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' with Creator/MelGibson, but Gibson dropping out to make ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' and budget disputes prevented this from happening. Creator/LiamNeeson was going to replace Gibson. |
| 407 | * In 2015 animation blog Cartoon Brew published [[https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/california-raisins-set-for-comeback-in-live-actioncg-feature-exclusive-110510.html an article]] about a live action/CG hybrid movie starring The California Raisins, the ad mascots/cartoon characters/fictional singers from the 80s. It had a planned release for late 2016 or Spring 2017, but no further news have surfaced about it. |
| 408 | * In the late 80s, Creator/RidleyScott was set to direct a Carolco Pictures produced sci-fi horror movie entitled ''The Train''. Described as Alien on a futuristic subway train featuring designs by Creator/HRGiger, the film's production was cancelled when Scott dropped out due to creative differences. A few years later, the film (renamed ''ISOBAR'') was revived by Carolco Pictures and was set to star Creator/SylvesterStallone and Creator/KimBasinger with Creator/RolandEmmerich directing. However right before shooting was set to start, Carolco Pictures collapsed due to the box office failure of ''Film/CutthroatIsland'' and the film has remained stuck in development hell ever since. |
| 409 | * 20th Century Fox optioned William Monahan's script ''Tripoli'' in 2001, depicting the Barbary Pirate Wars. After Monahan's 2006 Oscar win for ''Film/TheDeparted'' its production was announced and would be directed by Creator/RidleyScott and featuring Creator/RussellCrowe, Creator/KeanuReeves, and Ben Kingsley. Despite periodic claims of future release dates, it still hasn't been made. |
| 410 | * ''Tulia'' is about an attorney who works on behalf of a group of local black men who are wrongly convicted of their involvement in a drug ring. Likely the politically-charged nature of the story, based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulia#1999_drug_arrests an actual event]], has derailed this project. |
| 411 | * An adaptation of "Twisting My Melon", the autobiography of Shaun Ryder, lead singer of Music/HappyMondays has been in development since 2013, when Ryder himself announced that Creator/{{ITV}} were looking to adapt it, and he mentioned that Danny Brocklehurst was set to write the screenplay. By the end of the year, it was switched to a TV series and was formally announced by ITV. In 2019, NME reported that the idea went back to being a movie, with Matt Greenhalgh set to direct and Jack O'Connell announced to star as Shaun Ryder. Filming was planned for early 2020, but the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic may have cancelled it. As of 2024, nothing has been heard of the project since. |
| 412 | * Numerous attempts to make a biopic about Wrestling/VinceMcMahon have stalled due to lack of funding or objections from the Wrestling/{{WWE}} itself. In 2017, [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/vince-mcmahon-wwe-biopic-pandemonium-landing-at-tristar-987511 Tristar bought the rights to a script titled]] ''Pandemonium, INC'' which the Wrestling/{{WWE}} eventually bought itself to ensure the film couldn't be made without heavy modifications. Excerpts of the script were eventually leaked, and few objected to WWE buying the script. Some, such as Wrestling/JimCornette, when [[https://youtu.be/_LaSEn2Is1I he reviewed the script on his podcast]], theorized the inaccuracies were so egregious they could allow the wrestlers or their families to sue for defamation. A few examples include portraying Wrestling/RoddyPiper as a drunken felon Vince recruited, rather than a regular for Jim Crockett Promotions, and most of the members of the Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance as gangsters willing to kill promoters that step out of line. Most egregiously, at the start of the movie, Vincent J. [=McMahon=], Vince's father, freely admits to killing a promoter working for him. As of November 2020, Tristar is no longer involved, as the WWE [[https://sportzwiki.com/wwe/movie-on-vince-mcmahon-coming-on-netflix announced during a conference call they had inked a deal]] with Creator/{{Netflix}} to make a Vince biopic in conjunction with WWE Studios. This project has no connection to the earlier ''Pandemonium, INC'' script. |
| 413 | * Since at least the early 1990s, Roger Daltrey of Music/TheWho has been attempting to put a biopic of his late drummer bandmate Keith Moon on the big screen. Creator/RobertDowneyJr was once considered for the lead role before, in Daltrey's words, he read the script and did everything in it. Creator/MikeMyers was teased all throughout the 2000s to be playing the man himself, but after its intended release day in 2007 passed, nothing has come of it. Currently, [=IMDB=] lists the film as "Untitled Keith Moon Project", with Mike Myers still attached to the title role. |
| 414 | * ''Kaiju Gaiden'' was a crowdfunded documentary meant to raise awareness on obscure, independently-produced {{kaiju}} movies, which began production in mid-2014. Despite clearing its $25,000 Website/{{Kickstarter}} goal by over $5,000, its progress quickly stagnated. The project director was removed in early 2016 when it became apparent he was a conman who took the money and ran, but the main producer vowed to continue production on his own. However, updates from him and the project's Website/{{Facebook}} page ceased in mid-2018. His personal Facebook page resumed activity in late 2022 without mentioning ''Kaiju Gaiden'', but it was eventually discovered in early 2023 that the producer had actually been in prison for participation in a child porn distribution ring, a revelation that almost certainly put the final nail in the coffin for the film. |
| 415 | * Creator/WillSmith was once reported to be starring in a SwordAndSandal epic about the Nubian pharaoh Taharqa called ''The Last Pharaoh'', with ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' screenwriter Randall Wallace penning the script. This was in 2008, and nothing else was heard of it afterwards. |
| 416 | * The filming of ''Demons'' by UsefulNotes/{{Ukrain|e}}ian director Natalya Vorozhbyt was interrupted indefinitely by the UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n invasion of the country in 2022. Actress Ruslana Pysanka took refuge in Germany, and died from a brutal cancer on 19 July 2022. |
| 417 | [[/folder]] |
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