Development Hell: Difference between revisions

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== Anime and Manga ==

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* ''[[Lost Universe]]'': A which had only one season; a second season was due to follow, but because of a financial pitfall occurring through animation studios at the time, it was held off in favor of more ''Slayers'' media, and may be still.

* A stall can be typical of all English manga distributors, especially for less common titles, but the Yaoi distributor Drama Queen seems to have either gone on a dragging hiatus since 2007, or is dead and no one can figure out where it's been buried, so to speak.

* For a while it looked unlikely that Maikaze will finish the promised second and third episodes of ''[[Touhou Musou Kakyou (Fanfic)|Touhou Musou Kakyou]]'', due to low sales and criticisms over the [[Off Model|artwork]], but a trailer for the second episode was released at Comiket 79, so there may be hope after all.

* For a while it looked unlikely that Maikaze will finish the promised second and third episodes of ''[[Touhou Musou Kakyou (Fanfic)|Touhou Musou Kakyou]]'', due to low sales and criticisms over the [[Off-Model|artwork]], but a trailer for the second episode was released at Comiket 79, so there may be hope after all.

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts II]]'': Due to Tokyopop's losing the license to the series, only two volumes of the manga version were released, with all further stuck in development hell. Ditto with ''[[Great Teacher Onizuka|Shonan Junai Gumi]]''.

** It's no better in Japan, where after five volumes it just ''stopped''.

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* ''[[The Dream Machine]]'', delayed by the declining health and eventual death of [[Satoshi Kon]]. His collaborators planned to finish it, but was announced in August 2011 that production had been halted due to financing issues.

* ''Truckers'': [[Dream Works]] was supposed to do an adaptation of [[Terry Pratchett]]'s book with Academy Award winning writer Simon Beaufoy writing the script and a set release date of 2012. The talks of making the film seemed to die down once the script was completed and [[Dream Works]] and Beaufoy have since moved on.

* ''Blue Planet'', a CGI sci-fi action movie planned by now-defunct Rainbow Studios (later aquired by [[THQ]]), with a video-game tie-in. A trailer was released, to widespread acclaim, which showcased the for-the-time high-quality CGI, parodies of Pixar's ''[[Toy Story]]'' and ''[[A ~~Bugs~~ Life (Animation)|A Bugs Life]]'' characters, and a soundtrack featuring "More Human Than Human" by [[Rob Zombie]]. Much of the already-shot footage was recycled for the time-in game, which was eventually released as ''[[Deadly Tide]]''.

* ''Blue Planet'', a CGI sci-fi action movie planned by now-defunct Rainbow Studios (later aquired by [[THQ]]), with a video-game tie-in. A trailer was released, to widespread acclaim, which showcased the for-the-time high-quality CGI, parodies of Pixar's ''[[Toy Story]]'' and ''[[A Bug's Life (Animation)|A Bugs Life]]'' characters, and a soundtrack featuring "More Human Than Human" by [[Rob Zombie]]. Much of the already-shot footage was recycled for the time-in game, which was eventually released as ''[[Deadly Tide]]''.

* In the late 1990's, Fox and [[Matt Groening]] signed a deal to make three films based on ''[[The Simpsons]]''. The first film was released in 2007 but absolutely nothing has been heard about the sequels (rumors have had one of the films be based on ''Itchy and Scratchy'').

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* There are rumors of a live-action adaptation of ''[[The Last Unicorn (Literature)|The Last Unicorn]]'', which has reputedly been in [[Development Hell]] for many years now. According to [[Peter S Beagle]] at SDCC '06, the makers of this alleged adaptation had a cast list and production art on their site for years before they finally admitted that they hadn't actually contacted the agents of ''any'' of the actors on the list. And admitted they may not legally have the rights to do a film anyway.

* A remake of ''[[Creature From the Black Lagoon]]'' has been in on-and-off development since at least the early 1980s, when John Landis tried to launch a production helmed by the director of the original movie, Jack Arnold. In 1995, Peter Jackson was given a choice between helming a new ''Creature'' movie or doing ''[[King Kong]]''. [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, Guillermo del Toro, Brett Rattner, and a crossover with [[Hellboy (Comic Book)|Hellboy]], of all things, have all been mentioned at one time or another. The latest would-be director is Breck Eisner (director of ''[[The Crazies]]'' and son of Michael Eisner), but who knows when or if a remake will actually materialize?

* The film version of ''[[Preacher]]'' has been talked about for at least 10 years now. There was a rumor back in the day that it would resurface in 2008--as an HBO series. Nearly two years later, we still have nothing. Rumor has it HBO passed on this, saying it's too dark. ''Seriously.''

* The film version of ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'' has been talked about for at least 10 years now. There was a rumor back in the day that it would resurface in 2008--as an HBO series. Nearly two years later, we still have nothing. Rumor has it HBO passed on this, saying it's too dark. ''Seriously.''

** Given that the comic revolves around a character going on a quest to kill God, it's understandable why people are hesitant to touch the property, it's likely too controversial for any major studio to helm.

* The live-action ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' movie was originally announced in 2003 by ADV Films and as of 2010 has only ''finally'' started production -- 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, the producer of ''Appleseed Ex Machina'', [[John Woo]], was a producer and they were looking for more. This was in 2008.

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** At last report, Summit picked up the project from Warner Bros. and has hired Gavin Hood to direct. Casting is currently underway with Hugo child actor Asa Butterfield in the role of Ender.

** One big reason for this, according to Card himself, is that he's not allowing the directors to take any liberties with the story. "If the movie gets made, it'll be the movie ''I'' want to make, not the movie ''they'' want to make." Naturally, it's a rare director willing to work under those conditions. Fans can at least be consoled in that if the movie gets made, it'll probably be very faithful.

* Apparently, there were plans for a ''[[Warrior Cats (Literature)|Warrior Cats]]'' movie, but they were dropped when it was considered a gamble in light of the economic recession, due to [[What Do You Mean ~~Its~~ for Kids|the appropriateness of the content of what is ostensibly a children's series]]. The film's status has been downgraded from "definitely going to happen", to "not even under consideration".

* Apparently, there were plans for a ''[[Warrior Cats (Literature)|Warrior Cats]]'' movie, but they were dropped when it was considered a gamble in light of the economic recession, due to [[What Do You Mean It's for Kids?|the appropriateness of the content of what is ostensibly a children's series]]. The film's status has been downgraded from "definitely going to happen", to "not even under consideration".

* The sequel for ''[[The Incredible Hulk]]'' has fallen into this territory. While some actors are under contract or willing to return for the sequel, Norton himself is not and it is unclear if he will reprise his role. Leterrier has gone back and forth on the decision, but has stated that he's open to directing the sequel, but it's predicted that said sequel won't be coming out until at least 2012 and after the much anticipated ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers]]'' film. Even that film is moving very slowly.

* The rumors about a ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' movie 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.

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* The ''[[Rifts]]'' movie. [[Jerry Bruckheimer]] 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. Though, considering how other Rifts spin-offs (like the CCG and the N-Gage video game) went, this may not be a bad thing.

* A [[Biopic]] of [[Silent Age of Hollywood|silent film]] comedian [[Fatty Arbuckle|Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle]] has been in this state for about three decades. Like the aforementioned ''[[A Confederacy of Dunces]]'', it had [[John Belushi]], John Candy and Chris Farley lined up to star in it shortly before their respective deaths. No word has come out of it since.

* This is the current and probably permanent location of the proposed film of the television series ''[[~~Blakes~~ Seven (TV)|Blake's 7]]'' since Paul Darrow (the actor who played Avon) resigned from the project due to "artistic differences".

* This is the current and probably permanent location of the proposed film of the television series ''[[Blake's Seven (TV)|Blake's 7]]'' since Paul Darrow (the actor who played Avon) resigned from the project due to "artistic differences".

* The Snoop Dogg movie ''Black Ice'' has been on and off in development for the latter part of the decade. Snoop said in a recent interview that scheduling and communication issues have caused the delays, but insists that it'll see the light of day.

* The ''[[Red Dawn]]'' remake was stalled during post-production for a long time because of MGM's financial issues, after the company's restructuring, the film was finally completed, though no release date has yet been announced, so it most likely won't come out until 2012.

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* The second [[The X-Files]] movie fell victim to this. The show ended in 2002, but the script for the movie ended up in [[Development Hell]] for six years. What was ''supposed'' to be a continuation of the [[Myth Arc]] ended up being a drawn-out Monster of the Week 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.

* ''[[Kick Ass]] 2''. The film was intended to be ready in time for a 2012/2013 release but has been put on hold due director Matthew Vaughn being busy with other projects and star Aaron Johnson wanting to be closer to his family. So far, the only things that were known were Hit Girl would become the main character and Katie would return.

* A few years ago, [[Tom Hanks]] expressed interest in making and starring in film adaptations of [[Arthur C Clarke]]'s ''[[Two Thousand One|2061]]'' and ''3001'', although nothing has been heard of this since.

* A few years ago, [[Tom Hanks]] expressed interest in making and starring in film adaptations of [[Arthur C. Clarke (Creator)]]'s ''[[Two Thousand One|2061]]'' and ''3001'', although nothing has been heard of this since.

* A sequel to ''[[New Jack City]]'' 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.

* ''[[Revenge of the Nerds]]'': 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.

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* Donald Knuth's ''The Art of Computer Programming'' was started in 1962 (which may as well be the Bronze Age as far as computer programming is concerned) and not all the volumes are out yet. Initially not helped by Knuth deciding to create a typesetting system from scratch since he was not satisfied by what was available.

* [[Timothy Zahn]] and [[Michael Stackpole]] collaborated on a six-issue [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] comic for the ''[[X Wing Series]]'' which bridged over into Zahn's [[The Thrawn Trilogy|Thrawn]] [[Hand of Thrawn|books]]. It's called [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Reenlistment_of_Baron_Fel The Reenlistment Of Baron Fel]. But the [[X Wing Series]] comics were canceled [[No Ending|abruptly]]. So Zahn and Stackpole worked on the script and turned it into a four-chapter novella, something that they've done before. And Del Ray did not buy this script. Both versions are languishing on their hard drives, and it's been something like ten years since the [[X Wing Series]] was going.

** It's particularly frustrating when you see that in 2005 someone came out with a three-issue [[X Wing Series]] comic, [[Rebel Leader|Rogue Leader]], which had nothing to do with Stackpole and is generally considered inferior due to [[Off Model]] art, rampant [[Decompressed Comic|decompression]], and a basically pointless storyline, without even any good character interaction, that could be summed up in two sentences: "The Empire will fight [[The Remnant|even without an Emperor]], and some of its people are [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]. Luke Skywalker leaves Rogue Squadron to do Jedi things."

** It's particularly frustrating when you see that in 2005 someone came out with a three-issue [[X Wing Series]] comic, [[Rebel Leader|Rogue Leader]], which had nothing to do with Stackpole and is generally considered inferior due to [[Off-Model]] art, rampant [[Decompressed Comic|decompression]], and a basically pointless storyline, without even any good character interaction, that could be summed up in two sentences: "The Empire will fight [[The Remnant|even without an Emperor]], and some of its people are [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]. Luke Skywalker leaves Rogue Squadron to do Jedi things."

* Wherefore ''[[His Dark Materials|The Book of Dust]]''? We've had a sequel novella and a prequel novella, and they are nice but?

* Stephanie Meyer [[Creator Breakdown|put off writing]] ''[[Twilight (Literature)|Midnight Sun]]'' because an unfinished copy was leaked. She said in 2008 that if she can go two years without hearing anyone mention it, she may begin work on it again once "everyone's forgotten about it", but that clearly did not happen.

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== Live Action TV ==

* The ''[[~~Blakes~~ Seven (TV)|Blakes Seven]]'' re-imagining had an announcement of script ordering in mid-2007 and nothing since. In 2010, Britain's Sky1 channel announced that a series would not be commissioned.

* The ''[[Blake's Seven (TV)|Blakes Seven]]'' re-imagining had an announcement of script ordering in mid-2007 and nothing since. In 2010, Britain's Sky1 channel announced that a series would not be commissioned.

* ''[[K 9]]'' was first announced in 1997. It subsequently premiered in the UK in 2009, airing its full season in Scandinavia in 2010.

* The [[Disney Channel]] series JONAS, suffered from this. The original plan was to launch the vehicle for [[The Jonas Brothers]] with the band serving as a front for a group of secret agents (think a [[Kim Possible]] meets [[Hannah Montana]] hybrid) with the name standing for "'''J'''unior '''O'''peratives '''N'''etworking '''A'''s '''S'''pies). For whatever reasoning, that didn't fly, resulting in [[Retool]] after [[Retool]], ultimately culminating in a standard, run of the mill sitcom (albeit sans [[Laugh Track]]). Then after a botched launch on Saturdays where ''[[I Carly]]'' cleaned its clock, it went through yet another retool after the first season, and with the Jonas Brothers fading among teenagers, turned into an unexpectedly depressing soapish dramedy in the second season, renamed, JONAS LA, (yes, it's in ALLCAPS). JONAS LA was canceled, because of predictably low ratings.

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* [[The Veronicas]] recording company pushed back their third album 3 times now.

* After the release of [[The Beach Boys]] critically acclaimed ''Pet Sounds'', Brian Wilson immediately went to work on ''Smile'', an album that he planned to be his magnum opus. Public interest in the album quickly rose with the preview single "Good Vibrations" in the fall of 1966, but Wilson's good fortune quickly took a turn for the worse due to a combination of a drug induced breakdown and his band-mates unenthusiastic response to the project. By May of 1967, Wilson shelved the project, more or less ending his role as the main creative force in the group. Meanwhile, the album would remain untouched for the next 37 years before Wilson decided to give it another shot. ''Smile'' was finally released as a solo album in 2004, with surprisingly positive reviews. In 2011, Capital Records released ''The Smile Sessions'', which includes a reconstructed version of the album using The Beach Boys' original recordings.

* Forest For The Trees' debut (and [[One Book Author|only]]) album took four years to be completed, due to Karl Stephenson having a nervous breakdown. The interesting thing is how much the final result seemed like a more world-music-influenced ''[[Beck (Music)|Odelay]]''; Stephenson, who produced and co-wrote several songs on [[Beck (Music)|Beck]]'s ''Mellow Gold'' including "Loser", had actually started working on this material when Beck was still a relative unknown, so who knows how the album might have been received had it come out a few years before ''Odelay''...

* Forest For The Trees' debut (and [[One-Book Author|only]]) album took four years to be completed, due to Karl Stephenson having a nervous breakdown. The interesting thing is how much the final result seemed like a more world-music-influenced ''[[Beck (Music)|Odelay]]''; Stephenson, who produced and co-wrote several songs on [[Beck (Music)|Beck]]'s ''Mellow Gold'' including "Loser", had actually started working on this material when Beck was still a relative unknown, so who knows how the album might have been received had it come out a few years before ''Odelay''...

* Leona Lewis has had her album Glassheart pushed back by a year (Originally due Nov' 11 now due Nov 12) by her recording company. Her first two albums "Spririt" and "Echo" didn't have this problem.

* [[Vanessa Amorosi]] has dealt with recording company issues and getting someone behind her work twice. First with her Somewhere In The Real World album, which had trouble getting destributed and her album V which ran into production issues and had to be edited to become right with her recording company, after already having a single out.

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* ''[[Warhammer 40 K|Warhammer 40000]]:'' Since updates to rulebooks and models for different armies are largely based on player demand, and player demand is in turn based on the availability of up to date rulebooks and models, some teams spend years in development hell. This was exemplified by the Dark Eldar who went ''over a decade'' without an updated codex while the much more popular space marines received seven. They were mercifully [[Saved From Development Hell]] with an excellent new codex and model range, but others [[Demoted to Extra|haven't fared so well]].<br /><br />Games Workshop recently started work on updating older books, which thankfully will see a resurgence of the forgotten armies. However the Sisters of Battle are notable in that while they're not as old as the Dark Eldar, they might very well have to wait quite a bit longer given that they're getting a Magazine Codex (which usually means development on them has halted and they're just getting lip service in the meantime). Even more notable is that the army is so old, they're the only ones who still require you to use metal models for the entire army (every army, even the Necrons and Dark Eldar, had plastics for troops. Sisters are not so lucky).

** With the release of the Necrons during the halloween of 2011, the Sisters of Battle is now literally the oldest range, having not received a new model in the longest time.

* [[Gary Gygax]] had always wanted to release a version of his iconic "Castle Greyhawk", the location that pretty much launched ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]]'' while at TSR. Due to his busy schedule as the head of TSR, and his writing duties on a myriad of other modules, he never was able to complete or even start the module. (His being sent to Los Angeles to develop the ''D&D'' cartoon series didn't help either). In 1982, the module had been advertised in Dragon Magazine, but as of 1986, when Gygax left the company due to "[[Creative Differences]]", no module had been published. In '87, TSR did a wild and [[Dude Not Funny|mostly unfunny]] parody version of the Castle that bore no resemblance to Gygax's design. It was seen by many gamers as little more than a parting shot against Gygax, and the module has been pretty solidly rejected by players and [[Canon Dis Continuity|pretty much disowned]] by TSR and [[Wizards of the Coast]], leading to a second try at the module which was much more warmly received.

* [[Gary Gygax]] had always wanted to release a version of his iconic "Castle Greyhawk", the location that pretty much launched ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]]'' while at TSR. Due to his busy schedule as the head of TSR, and his writing duties on a myriad of other modules, he never was able to complete or even start the module. (His being sent to Los Angeles to develop the ''D&D'' cartoon series didn't help either). In 1982, the module had been advertised in Dragon Magazine, but as of 1986, when Gygax left the company due to "[[Creative Differences]]", no module had been published. In '87, TSR did a wild and [[Dude, Not Funny|mostly unfunny]] parody version of the Castle that bore no resemblance to Gygax's design. It was seen by many gamers as little more than a parting shot against Gygax, and the module has been pretty solidly rejected by players and [[Canon Dis Continuity|pretty much disowned]] by TSR and [[Wizards of the Coast]], leading to a second try at the module which was much more warmly received.

** Still, that wasn't Gygax's castle, one that wouldn't see print until 2008, when "[[Lawyer Friendly Cameo|Castle Zagyg]]" was published by Troll Lord Games. Sadly that one went straight back into development hell after Gary [[Author Existence Failure|died shortly after the first installment was released]] and the deal Troll Lord games had with Gygax fell apart when his wife took control of the company. Nobody's sure what exactly happened, all people know is that in 2008, Gygax Games was going to find a way to publish the rest of the castle. It is now 2012, and as of this writing, the Gygax Games website has been ofline since at least 2009, still promising "something good in the works."

** Still, that wasn't Gygax's castle, one that wouldn't see print until 2008, when "[[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo|Castle Zagyg]]" was published by Troll Lord Games. Sadly that one went straight back into development hell after Gary [[Author Existence Failure|died shortly after the first installment was released]] and the deal Troll Lord games had with Gygax fell apart when his wife took control of the company. Nobody's sure what exactly happened, all people know is that in 2008, Gygax Games was going to find a way to publish the rest of the castle. It is now 2012, and as of this writing, the Gygax Games website has been ofline since at least 2009, still promising "something good in the works."

* d20 Spectaculars was a [[Superhero]] add-on to ''d20Modern'' that was supposed to be published by Wizards of the Coast in 2006, but it never materialized (possibly because ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' already had rules for d20 supers and did it very well). Possibly because that's when they started work on 4th edition.

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]] 4th edition'' was supposed to be released alongside a series of software tools. The most notable was a "virtual game table" allowing people to play live D&D online, complete with 3D models of characters and monsters. But all that was postponed and the game came out without any of the promised tools. A Rules Compendium was later released, then a Character Builder (still in beta). A year later, and still no sign of the virtual game table. Probably because there's plenty of free software online that does the same thing.

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* Nelvana holds the rights to the ''[[Little Critter]]'' characters and at least a couple of scripts were written around 2000, but nothing further has been heard since and it is assumed development was dropped.

* Hasbro had planned two DVD releases based on the character TJ Bearytales and even released a music video featuring this character on a ''[[My Little Pony]]'' DVD. The DVDs were slated for release in either late 2007 or early 2008, but neither ever materialized.

* [http://www.rugratonline.com/ntnot.htm This webpage] has information on five series that qualify, they include [[Spin Off]](s) of both ''[[Rugrats (Animation)|Rugrats]]'' and ''[[Hey Arnold (Animation)|Hey Arnold]]'', [[Dueling Shows|a clone]] of ''[[Teachers Pet (Animation)|Teachers Pet]]'', a [[Animesque]] series like ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' and a series that was supposed to be based off of a comic book. [http://www.rugratonline.com/ntshows.htm another page] (on the same website) has information on a show that was originally aired as a 15-minute short in 2002. But no more information has surfaced on it.

* [http://www.rugratonline.com/ntnot.htm This webpage] has information on five series that qualify, they include [[Spin-Off]](s) of both ''[[Rugrats (Animation)|Rugrats]]'' and ''[[Hey Arnold (Animation)|Hey Arnold]]'', [[Dueling Shows|a clone]] of ''[[Teachers Pet (Animation)|Teachers Pet]]'', a [[Animesque]] series like ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' and a series that was supposed to be based off of a comic book. [http://www.rugratonline.com/ntshows.htm another page] (on the same website) has information on a show that was originally aired as a 15-minute short in 2002. But no more information has surfaced on it.

* An animated series based on the comic book series ''[[The 99 (Comic Book)|The 99]]'' was announced to be one of the launch programs on [[The Hub]], no word about the series has been heard [http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/05/18/the-99-animated-series-the-hub/ since its announcement in March 2010]

* A DTV animated movie based on ''[[Castlevania III Draculas Curse]]'', with character designs by James Jean and a script by Warren Ellis, was announced in 2007, but no further developments has been made.

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[[Category:Film Tropes]]

[[Category:Development Hell]]

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