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See also [[The Shelf of Movie Languishment]], where it gets done but not released.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* The third ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]'' movie took a really, ''really'' long time to make. It was released in Japan on November 17, 2012. And the fourth took another nine years after that.
** Similarly, the ''Evangelion'' manga, which began serialization ''before'' the show ever started airing. It reached its ending in June 2013, as chapters were published [[Schedule Slip|so far and between.]]
* After the third season of the ''[[Slayers]]'' anime (titled ''Slayers TRY'') aired in 1997, a fourth season (''Slayers AGAIN'') was slated for the following year; unfortunately, [[Megumi Hayashibara]]'s (the voice of the female lead) schedule was hectic, and since the entire staff and the other actors had no interest in doing the show without her, there was no direct fourth season...[[Uncancelled|until 2008]]. There was an OVA, a movie, and some radio dramas that followed through the early 2000's. However, eleven years for a direct fourth season is an ''awfully'' long time...
* Though this is a dub rather than a series, ''[[Keroro Gunsou|Sgt. Frog]]'' certainly counts. [[ADV Films]] announced their license of the series in early 2006, then went completely silent about it for two years and never released so much as a cast list, let alone a DVD or anything close (all we got were trailers for the show appearing on some of ADV's releases from 2007, and some of the actors mentioning it in commentaries and convention appearances). Then ADV lost the rights to ''Frog'' — along with nearly 3 dozen other titles — in July 2008. [[FUNimation]] picked up the distribution rights and released a "test episode" on their [[YouTube]] channel seeking feedback in late 2008. Response was... less than stellar, so Funimation went back to the drawing board to tweak the scripts and casting. The first batch of episodes was eventually released on DVD in September 2009, and some of the episodes of the final version are up on their video portal. Six months later all of Season 1 (split into two "seasons" due to its length) had been released.
** The series then went through this ''again''. Funimation had originally announced the acquisition of the first 102 episodes, but stopped halfway through, [[Kodomo no Omocha|bringing back unpleasant memories of an earlier series of theirs]]. It took another year for Funimation to announce 26 more episodes, which were released in quick succession in July and August 2011.
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* After two years, [[Touhou Project|Maikaze]] finally released a trailer for the second episode of [[Touhou Musou Kakyou|their Touhou fanime]], which had been rumored to have been scrapped over criticism, both from ZUN, the original creator of the series, and from fans.
* [[Shaman King]]. The series was cancelled at the very last chapters due to low ratings, so it was not ended. Fast Forwards many years later, the author was given the chance to finish it.
== Comic Books ==
* [[Ultimate Marvel|Ultimate]] [[Hulk]] Versus [[Wolverine]] (Issue 3). Originally solicited for April
* [[Kevin Smith]]'s "[[Spider-Man]] - Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do" mini-series.
* [http://tinyurl.com/4tdgqpv Gemini Storm] was created in 2008, but had massive delays since everyone on the project was new to ongoing comics and weren't used to deadlines, especially the colourist. Finally released in March 2010. And then the second issue was on hold until December 2010. According to the notes though, Wood has stopped inking the pages, which has sped up the process and the new colourists are much more reliable.
* ''[[Firefly]]'' -- "A Shepherd's Tale". Announced in 2007, finally released in November 2010.
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* ''[[Alien vs. Predator (film)|Alien vs. Predator]]'' is probably the most famous case of development hell. It was finally released in 2004 after more than a decade of different scripts, changes to the cast, false starts, orphaned tie-ins, several series of video games and even promotions of the believed-to-be-coming-soon movie.
* If ''AVP'' is the most famous case, ''[[Freddy vs. Jason]]'' is likely the second most famous, as the film was also famously mired in development hell for years; originally, the studios who owned the [[A Nightmare on Elm Street|two]] [[Friday the 13th (film)|franchises]] involved with the titular crossover had wanted to make it for years, but could never agree on how to make it (each studio wanted to license out the other's character and do the film their way). When New Line Cinema bought the rights to the ''Friday the 13th'' franchise, the film stayed in development hell as New Line went through numerous screenwriters and even more script ideas...until the two men who ended up writing the script for the film threw out every other script that came before them and set a list of rules to follow that respected both parent franchises involved as they wrote their script. The film was ''finally'' released in 2003, and ended up making more money than any other film in either of the parent franchises.
** The story of the film's stay in Development
* ''[[The X-Files]]: I Want to Believe'' suffered a similar ordeal, but in a smaller scale and shorter time period.
* One of the earliest examples of this was Howard Hughes's ''Hell's Angels'', which, due to Hughes's perfectionism and insistence on the latest film technology, took three years and a budget of $3.8 million to create, something unheard of at the time (and equalling somewhere on the order of $225 million in today's money). Two decades later, Hughes would take ''seven'' years to complete a similar film, ''Jet Pilot''.
* [[Superman Returns|The fifth film]] in the ''[[Superman (film)|Superman]]'' franchise was stuck in pre-production for nearly two decades. The first part of this was mostly the producers wanting to distance themselves from the failure of ''[[Superman IV: The Quest For Peace]]'', while the later half was due to [[Executive Meddling]] driving director after [[Kevin Smith|director]] after director away from the project. ''Its'' proposed sequel similarly became mired in development hell, after the lackluster performance of ''Superman Returns
* The failure of ''[[Batman and Robin (film)|Batman and Robin]]'' also caused many projects for a fifth [[Batman (film)|Batman]] movie to not take off (including a full-fledged sequel, an adaptation of ''[[Batman: Year One]]'', and a ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' film) until [[Batman Begins|a new one]] debuted eight years later.
* The rights to a live action adaptation of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' were sold to United Artists shortly before JRR Tolkien's death in 1973; it wasn't until 1994 that Peter Jackson was given approval to begin shooting (by Miramax) and [[The Lord of the Rings (film)|the first film]] was not released until 2001 (by New Line).
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* The ''[[Speed Racer]]'' live action film was first announced in 1992. Four directors later and through many casting, studio, and writer changes, the film was released in May 2008.
* The 2000 film ''Supernova'' (not to be confused with any of the many other films with that title) was in development for 12 years and cost an estimated 60 million dollars. Although the theatrical version runs only 87 minutes (the director's cut is 91), reportedly several hours of completed footage exists, much of it self-contradictory due to changes made to the script during the filming stage. Both Francis Ford Coppola and H R Giger were involved at one point.
* In a unique example of development hell continuing into post-production, the film ''[[The Exorcist|Exorcist:
* The rumors of a remake/reboot of ''[[The Pink Panther]]'' were first floated around the turn of the millennium, with everyone from Kevin Spacey to Chris Tucker to Mike Myers reportedly being considered for Inspector Clouseau (Myers was apparently the favorite of the studio, but his asking fee was too high.) It filmed as a reboot in 2004 with Steve Martin, but wasn't released until early 2006, largely due to a studio merger in the interim.
** There was also some editing done, in order to re-cast it as a family-friendly comedy rather than the more ribald, raunchy film of its original iteration.
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* A ''[[Cats and Dogs]]'' sequel was intended for release in 2005. After some story rewrites, it was finally released in 2010.
* The film of [[Richard Matheson]]'s short story ''Button, Button'' became the ''Chinese Democracy'' of the film world during its nearly four decades in development hell (though it saw a TV adaptation for the 1980s ''[[The Twilight Zone|Twilight Zone]]'' in the meantime). It would eventually be released in 2010 as ''[[The Box]]''.
* ''[[Dead Air (2009
* A live-action ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' movie was announced in 2002, but didn't get out until 2009 as ''[[
* For some unknown reason there was a 14-year gap between the fourth St. Trinian's movie (''The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery'', 1966) and the fifth (''The Wildcats of St. Trinian's'', 1980). But there's no mystery why there was a 27-year gap between ''Wildcats'' and the sixth (''St. Trinian's'', 2007); ''Wildcats'' was reportedly so dire that it's the only one not available on DVD.
* Carl Sagan wrote the 100-page film script for ''[[Contact (film)|Contact]]'' in 1985. When it went to [[Development Hell]], he just [[Novelization|made a book out of it]]. The film was finally released in 1997.
* Whilst its stay in Development Hell was rather short, ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]: [[Advent Children]]'' does fit. Announced at TGS 2003, and originally targeted for a summer 2004 release, it ended up appearing in its original form in September 2005. The reason, according to [[Word of God|director Tetsuya Nomura]], was that the movie was originally meant to only be roughly
** ''Advent Children Complete'' again deserves a mention: it saw release in April 2009, after being announced at TGS 2006. Square Enix seem to have a habit of announcing things way before they're actually finished.
* Although it eventually got a 2005 release in the wake of ''Doom 3'', the ''[[Doom]]'' movie first began its life as a rumor shortly after the runaway success of the first game, and then a flurry of studio developments, press releases and wild fan rumors after ''Doom 2'' proved even more successful. At one point, according to the stories, [[What Could Have Been|Terry Gilliam was interested in directing, and Arnold Schwarzenegger would have starred as the space marine]], but then it sank back into development hell for another decade.
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** I see your ultimate example and raise you a ''[[Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day]]''. In 1939, the film rights for the novel were bought, and production was about to begin when [[World War II]] started, throwing everything into a spin. The movie was shelved. They tried again in 1954, but nothing came of it. The movie finally was released in 2008. Nearly ''seven decades'' after the movie rights were purchased.
*** A sequel is now in the works. Let's see how long the development period will be on that one.
*** Three years (2012-2015). Released as ''Terminator Genysis''.
* A ''[[Spider-Man]]'' [[Spider-Man (film)|movie]] only came out in 2002 because of the filming rights going through various hands during 20 years - Cannon Pictures, which almost produced a low-budget movie like ''[[Superman IV]]''; Carolco, which even considered a screenplay by [[James Cameron]], but was stopped by continued financial and legal problems; and MGM, which traded the rights with Columbia for the rights to ''[[Casino Royale]]'', which was separate to the rest of [[James Bond]], after Columbia announced plans on a rival 007 franchise.
* ''[[Boondock Saints]]: All Saints Day''. The original came out in 1999, and by 2002 had finally received backing for a sequel. Planned for release in 2005, the film didn't come out until 2009, ten years after the original.
* The American ''[[Godzilla (film)|Godzilla]]'' movie was first suggested waaaaay back in the 1970s. Of course, due to things like budget, rejected scripts and the like, it wasn't until 1998 that the movie was finally released.
** There were rumors of another [[Godzilla]] movie coming out, which had been slated for a 2010 release, was to be filmed in 3-D, and evidently involved a battle in Las Vegas.
*** The American remake was released in 2014. (No Las Vegas battle, it's set in San Francisco.)
* The film adaptation of the ''Whiteout'' comic book is finally getting released after having been announced nearly 10 years ago.
* A ''[[Footloose]]'' remake was first announced in 2007, with Kenny Ortega as the director and Zac Efron as Ren. Both dropped out in 2009, the former due to disagreements with Paramount over the budget and the latter due to Efron not wanting to be typecast in [[High School Musical|musicals]]. Then Efron's replacement, Chase Crawford, backed out due to scheduling conflicts. It finally got to theaters in October 2011.
* It took over a decade for ''[[The A-Team]]'' [[The A-Team (film)|film]] to be made, and the movie went through 11 scripts. In the first script, the team members were supposed to be veterans of the ''First'' Iraq War!
* ''[[A.I.: Artificial Intelligence|AI]]'': the story that inspired it was published in 1969, [[Stanley Kubrick]] begun thinking about adapting it in the early 70's (complete with bringing the author to adapt), brought in [[Steven Spielberg]] to the project in 1985, and many false-start announcements appeared through the 90's. Then he died in 1999, Spielberg assumed control of the project, and the film finally took off.
* Since ''A.I.'' was mentioned, two films Spielberg considered directing at the time: ''[[Minority Report]]'' (announced as early as 1998 - postponed twice, first by ''A.I.'', then by [[Tom Cruise]]'s ''[[Mission: Impossible (film)|M:I:2]]'') and ''[[Memoirs of a Geisha]]'' (eventually released in 2005, but only produced by Spielberg).
* In 1988, Fox got interested in making a new ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'' with Adam Rifkin (who would later write ''Mousehunt'' and ''[[Small Soldiers]]'', among others). New executives made the project crash. [[Peter Jackson]], [[Oliver Stone]], [[Chris Columbus]], [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] and [[James Cameron]] were involved with the movie in the following years. It only took off after William Broyles, Jr. (''Apollo 13'', later ''[[Cast Away]]'') wrote a script in 1999, which attracted [[Tim Burton]], and led to the film released in 2001.
* ''[[Inception]]'' went through a stint in development hell that was actually self-imposed; Christopher Nolan saw the film as his personal opus and spent ten years revising the script until he was sure it was the absolute best he could make it, and everything in the complicated story made sense.
** He was also waiting until he had enough clout in Hollywood to get the budget he wanted. After the success of ''[[The Dark Knight Saga|Batman Begins]]'' and ''The Dark Knight'', he was essentially given a blank check to do what he wanted.
* One of the strangest cases of development hell occurred with the film ''[[Phone Booth (film)|Phone Booth]]''. Writer [[Larry Cohen]] began work on the project in the 1960's as a project for [[Alfred Hitchcock]]. After Hitchcock died, the screenplay was shelved until [[Joel Schumacher]] read the screenplay and shot the film on a low budget for two weeks in 2000 (with a then-unknown Colin Farrell and Ron Eldard as the villain). After seeing a rough cut of the film, Fox shelved the project and re-shot Eldard's scenes with {{spoiler|Kiefer Sutherland}}. While the film was on the shelf, Cohen reworked parts of the Phone Booth screenplay, updated the technology and sold ''Cellular'' to New Line Cinema (which was released in 2004). Eventually, Fox scheduled Phone Booth for November
* This happened to the 2002 ''[[Peter Pan]]''. The original plans were made by producer Lucy Fisher who acquired the rights in 1980.
* ''[[The Warrior's Way]]'' was meant to come out early 2008... almost 3 years later it finally found itself in cinemas.
* The ''[[Tintin]]'' film, which has a story very close to [[Indiana Jones]]: [[Steven Spielberg]] met the comic after ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' was compared to the series, tried to make a movie but became dissatisfied and did ''[[Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade|The Last Crusade]]'' instead, and finally started motion capture (with [[Peter Jackson]]'s assistance) after ''[[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]'' was finished.
* ''[[Trick 'r Treat|Trick R Treat]]'' went through post-production hell. Which was supposed to have been released in 2007, But was eventually released in October
* [[James Cameron]] wrote the script for ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'' in 1994, and planned for a 1999 release. It took ten years for technology to advance to the point where he could convincingly and reasonably depict another planet with CGI. [[Scenery Porn|He succeeded.]]
* [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] has two main examples: ''[[
* The film adaptation of ''[[Atlas Shrugged (film series)|Atlas Shrugged]]''. There were two failed attempts in [[The Seventies]] to turn it into a [[Miniseries]]
* ''[[Superbad]]'' was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg in the mid-'90s, as a way to prove that they could write a movie script. Years later, after working with Judd Apatow on the short-lived TV series ''[[Undeclared]]'', they pitched the script to him. Originally, Seth Rogen was to play the role of Seth, and he recorded a script reading of the lines back in '02. During the early and mid-2000s, they could not find a company who wanted to distribute the film. The script also went through a few revisions, the whole idea of Seth and Evan going to separate colleges, and the emotional friendship stuff was added in a later revision. Anyway, after the success of ''[[Talladega Nights]]'', Apatow and Rogen pitched the script to Columbia, and they accepted it. But by this time, Rogen looked too old to play the role of Seth, so they had Jonah Hill take the role.
* The film version of the [[Dave Barry]] novel ''[[Big Trouble]]'' had been filmed, had a star-studded cast and was looking to be a big box-office hit...and then September 11 happened a week before the film was to be released. Being a comedy about a plane hijacking with a subplot about two teenagers playing a large-scale tag game called "Killer", the movie was shelved indefinitely. It finally appeared in theaters with little promotion in April 2002. Despite decent reviews, it failed spectacularly at the box office.
* [[Woody Allen]] wrote the screenplay of ''Whatever Works'' in the 1970s, with Zero Mostel in mind for the main role. After Mostel died in 1977, Allen shelved the project for more then thirty years. The film was eventually released in 2009, starring [[Larry David]].
* ''[[Hounddog]]'' by D. Kampmeier. The script was originally written in the nineties, but the project hasn't found financing until 2005. When production started in summer 2006, it was overshadowed by [[Paedo Hunt|accusations of sexual exploitation of the child actors involved]]. The film was shown at the Sundance Festival in early 2007, booed and basically sent back into [[Development Hell]]. It was finally ready in 2009, but was almost completely pulled from distribution at the last moment (only having 22 screens at most). It is available on DVD since fall 2010.
* ''[[Hoodwinked]] Too! Hood vs. Evil'' was supposed to be released in January 2010. And... nothing.[https://web.archive.org/web/20120104014628/http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/whatever-happened-to-hoodwinked-too.html The creator himself wasn't sure when it was going to be released], if ever. It finally came out in April 2011.
* Two MGM films, [[Cabin In The Woods]] and the [[Red Dawn]] remake were announced in 2009, both films ended up delayed for several years as a result of MGM's financial problems(they were also forced to cancel their plans to convert "Cabin" into 3-D, though most people consider that a good thing) [[Red Dawn]] also had problems securing a distributor due to it's rather "touchy" subject matter with the Chinese invading America, so MGM had to change the villains to North Koreans in post production in order to get a distributor. "Cabin" now has a release date of April 2012 and [[Red Dawn]] has finally found a distributor and is also set to come out in 2012.
* Tri-Star purchased the rights to make a film of the book ''One For The Money'' back in 1999, but nothing came out of it. Lionsgate picked up the distribution rights in early 2010, and the movie was finally made and released in January 2012.
* [[George Lucas]] began development on ''[[Red Tails]]'' in 1988 but could not get any studio to produce the film (due to studios being uneasy on an adventure film with a mostly black cast). Finally, he decided finance the film himself and had most of it filmed between 2009 and 2010. Then the film entered post-production hell due to the many scenes of visual effects, the difficulty in finding a distributor and the film's director being unavailable for reshoots (due to his work on the show ''[[Treme]]''). The film was finally released in 2012.
* The rights remake of the 1976 movie ''Sparkle'' were bought by [[Whitney Houston]]'s production company in the mid 90's, and [[Aaliyah]] was intended to be cast as the lead. However, after Aaliyah's death in a plane crash in 2001, the film was not produced. In 2011, Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil, the producers of ''[[Jumping the Broom]]'', took on ''Sparkle'' as their next project and filming ended in November 2011. The movie has a set release date of August 17, 2012.
* ''[[John Carter of Mars]]'', based on [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]' Barsoom stories, was mired in Development Hell since ''1931'', as almost every major studio in Hollywood tried and failed in putting a film together. At various points in the 2000s, Robert Rodriguez, Kerry Conran, John Favreau, and Brad Bird had been attached to direct the project. In 2006, Disney acquired the rights after Paramount's attempt at filming it failed, Paramount having acquired the rights from Touchstone (a Disney company) in 2002. Actual filming began in January 2010, with plans for a 2012 release, and it ''was'' released in March
* James Clavell's ''Tai-Pan'' and James A. Michener's ''Caravans'' had their film rights bought up by MGM, with the 1967 promotional short "Lionpower from MGM" announcing both as future projects. [[Fall of the Studio System|But MGM was falling apart]] and ultimately both books reached the screen through other means. ''Caravans'' arrived in 1978 via Universal, and ''Tai-Pan'' in 1986 through De Laurentiis Entertainment Group.
* The ''[[Silent Hill (film)|Silent Hill]]'' film sequel. Somewhat remedied now with the announcement of ''Silent Hill: Revelation 3D'', with a new director/writer, originally scheduled for release in 2011. As of August 2011, the film appeared to be in post-production hell, only to be saved by the announcement of an October 2012 release.
* [[Sin City]] 2, which was supposed to be released in 2008 is finally in [http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2012/04/sin-city-2-is-go-at-last.html production.]▼
* The second [[The X-Files]] movie fell victim to Development Hell. 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.
* A film adaptation of the ''[[Les Misérables (theatre)|Les Misérables]]'' musical has been discussed for many years. It's finally slated for a December 2012 release.▼
▲* [[Sin City]] 2, which was supposed to be released in 2008,
▲* A film adaptation of the ''[[Les Misérables (theatre)|Les Misérables]]'' musical has been discussed for many years
* ''[[Skyfall (film)|Skyfall]]'', the 23rd entry in the ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'' series, has been lagging in development hell since 2010, and was released on November 2012.
* A sequel to [[Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy]] has been caught in pre-production for several years. While a script existed The studio refused to produce it based on budget concerns mainly they felt that the first movie didn't make enough money.
** On March 26, 2012 on the talk show Conan, Will Ferrell, while in-character, revealed that the sequel had finally been green-lit. The final film was released in 2013.
* The next ''[[Evil Dead]]'' film, which was either gonna be a sequel or a remake. At one point in time, there was even a rumor floating around about a crossover with the ''[[Phantasm (Film)|Phantasm]]'' series, yet another horror franchise with a sequel stuck in Development Hell.
** A remake, it was. (Released in 2013)
* The long-awaited ''[[Ender's Game]]'' film. The book was published in 1985 and has since been considered one of the greatest works of the genre. A film has been discussed as early as 1998, but a script was only announced in 2003. It then drifted into creator disputes before Card grasped control for himself and wrote his own script, finally completing it in February of '09. How that turns out remains to be seen.
** 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.
** The adaptation was completed and released in 2013.
* The ''[[RoboCop]]'' remake.
* ''[[Kick-Ass]] 2''
* [[Steven Spielberg]]'s [[Abraham Lincoln]] biopic starring <s>[[Liam Neeson|Liam]] [[What Could Have Been|Neeson]]</s> [[Daniel Day-Lewis]].
* ''[[World War Z]]''; [[J. Michael Straczynski]] implied the studio was nervous due to script leaking despite being based on a book. The director Marc Foster claims that they're still scripting. And that he doesn't think it'll be his next film. The latest news is that Straczynski's script has been re-written by Matthew Michael Carnahan (for better or for worse), and that Marc Foster has left the project. But other then that nobody knows. Some are speculating that nobody wants to fund a R-rated zombie epic, and the re-writes of the script worries some fans. Some speculate Brad Pitt added himself to the cast just to get the production to move faster.
** The film has been on the verge of collapsing as Paramount was looking for a co-financier to share the risk of the large budget, Plus it's rumored to be PG-13. If they couldn't find a co-financier it was likely to be killed. Supposedly a cinematographer has been chosen and is prepping for the shoot, so we might see it sooner than we think....
*** Filming begun in Malta in 2012. Paramount is co-financing with Indian company UTV. The movie came out in June 2013.
* ''[[The Hobbit]]'' - Peter Jackson has threatened to move production of ''The Hobbit'' over production woes. as Cleolinda [http://cleolinda.livejournal.com/908754.html#cutid1 put it,] "Did you guys try to film something over an ancient burial ground? Because, seriously, I can't figure out why we can't make this happen." However, as of 2010/07/28, it now appears [[James Cameron]] has joined as producer, and gotten the studio to back del Toro's vision of a big budget, highly faithful adaption (shot in 3D of course).
** Until further issues caused Del Toro to leave before production even began. The film was finally greenlit in October 2010 with Peter Jackson signed on to direct, but is still suffering, this time with union disputes.
*** The movies finally started filming in late March 2011, and things appear to be going at a fair clip. The first movie has a release date of December 2012, with a full trailer to back it up. Two more films were made since then.
* ''[[Mad Max|Mad Max IV: Fury Road]]'' was preparing to start filming in 2001 when the 9/11 attacks made it unfeasible for the production crew to travel to Australia. Since then, Mel Gibson has lost interest in reprising the role, making it unlikely that the film will be shot any time soon. Reports in 2009 posited that it will now be made without Gibson's involvement. Mad Max has been recast (Tom Hardy has replaced Mel Gibson), but production has been pushed back to 2012.
** The film was finally released in 2015, to critical acclaim.
* ''[[Jurassic Park]] IV'' was originally rumored to be in pre-production as far back as 2002, starring (a rumored) David Boreanaz as an ex-military operative who goes back to the original island to stop an industrialist from creating a new race of genetically-engineered "smart" dinosaurs. Most of the cast from the first film were set to appear, but ended up changing their decisions as time went on. After a few script reviews, and reports that Spielberg was unhappy with the different drafts that had been written, the project dropped off the face of the Earth. In 2011, Joe Johnston expressed interest in doing the film after ''[[Captain America: The First Avenger]]''.
** "Jurassic World", featuring a similar concept, was released in 2015.
* ''[[Ghostbusters]] 3''. The story behind the proposed third film is as strange as it gets. Rumors of multiple scripts and new Ghostbuster cast members have floated around the internet for years - to give you some perspective as to how long this has been going on, ''Chris Farley'' was being considered as a supporting character back in the 90's. Dan Aykroyd has reportedly written several scripts over the years, all of which failed to ignite enough interest to start pre-production. At one point, there was apparently a script written where the original team journeyed to a hellish [[Alternate Universe]] New York City called "ManHellton" (which, in turn, prompted the Russian video game studio ZootFly to produce a ''[[Gears of War]]''-esque [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM4cuKgGNvg tech demo] based on this proposed script in the late 00's). This, in turn, spurred the development and eventual release of ''Ghostbusters: The Video Game'', which (according to Aykroyd) may as well be the canonical third film. Yet, script and cast rumors still continue to float around - Ben Stiller, Bill Hader and Eliza Dushku have all been rumored to be potential replacement candidates. In January 2010, Ivan Reitman announced he was directing the film, and Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky (''[[The Office]]'') reportedly wrote a script with Aykroyd and Ramis that they were all very happy with. Yet, there's been no word for months on the status of development. A major part of the delay seems to involve Bill Murray - as of [http://screenrant.com/ghostbusters-3-bill-murray-2-aco-99337/ early 2011], it appears the production is only waiting on Murray to approve the script before they move forward with pre-production. Whether the film will finally [[Incredibly Lame Pun|materialize]] is anyone's guess.
** Bill Murray is [[Put on a Bus|out of the picture]], at last report, and Aykroyd is currently looking for an actor to play [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute|replacement]]. Production was stated to have begun in Spring 2012, with or without Murray's involvement.
*** A production with an entirely different concept, starring an all-female version of the Ghostbusters, will be released on July 15, 2016.
* The [[Deadpool]] movie was somewhat stalled as its star Ryan Reynolds is tied up with other projects and producers are dead set on Reynolds being the star of the movie.
** The final movie will come out on February 2016.
* The [[Doctor Strange]] film: Disney has announced that Dr. Strange will be happening back in 2012. The final film will be released on November 2016.
== Literature ==
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** Incidentally, by "too large to publish" we mean that if GRRM had not split the story, he'd be handing us a book with [[Doorstopper|1600 pages]] in it. ''Before'' the lengthy [[Loads and Loads of Characters|House indexes]] in the back.
** Even better, his original plans were for Book 2 (now called ''A Clash of Kings'') to be entitled ''A Dance with Dragons'', and first editions of ''Game'' have it listed as the sequel. In other words, we've been waiting for ''some'' book, ''any'' book, called "A Dance with Dragons" for well over a decade.
** Martin's decreased writing pace has also raised concerns because the series is being adapted for television as ''[[Game of Thrones]]''. At current plans,<ref>Weiss and Benioff are trying to get two seasons for ''A Storm of Swords'', and the chronology of the ''Feast for Crows/Dance with Dragons'' conglomerate precludes them being squashed into one season</ref>
** Fortunately for the fans, GRRM did reveal several major plot points to the producers of the show in case he got "hit by a truck".
* Margaret Mitchell spent nearly ten years writing ''[[Gone with the Wind]]'', and she had previously written several other hundred plus page stories which never made it to publication.
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* Saban had been trying to get a network to pick up an Americanized version of ''[[Super Sentai]]'' for ''years'', but no one had faith in the idea. He finally got his lucky break as the then president of Fox Kids had previously had tried to do the same thing before but failed. Thus ''[[Power Rangers]]'' was created, and the rest is history.
* More specifically a DVD release of a classic TV show: The DVD box set of ''[[The Man from U.N.C.L.E.]]'' lingered in [[Development Hell]] for years due, among other reasons, to these factors:
** Eventually, however, the arguments and legal disputes were settled, masters were found, and Warner Brothers, which owns the copyright on the series, finally put the DVD boxset of the series out, first as a limited release through Time-Life Video in late 2007, and then under its own imprint the following year. It all ended happily; the boxset was received with delight by fans and, for the most part, highly positive reviews by critics.
* The [[Top Gear US|US version]] of ''[[Top Gear]]'' went through three different pilots before finally being picked up. It's now in its third season.
* ''[[One Day At a Time]]'' was originally conceived in the 1960s, inspired by and as a vehicle for actress Whitney Blake and her daughter [[Meredith Baxter]]. However, it took more than 15 years to reach the air, in which time both actresses had grown too old for the roles based on them.
== Music ==
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** It was released in February 2010, and the title is ''Heligoland''.
* The worst case ever is ''Smile'', which was supposed to be a [[Beach Boys]] album back in 1967. Band leader Brian Wilson re-recorded and released it 37 years later, in 2004. What truly makes this sad is the reason it never came out: Brian Wilson suffered a [[Creator Breakdown]] of epic proportions and allegedly deleted the original masters before sinking into a fog of mental illness for years.
** But that was just a lie. [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|2011 saw the release of ''The Smile Sessions'', a recreation of ''Smile'' using all the material recorded back in 1967.]] It's a It was released in many formats, including a two disc set and a five disc box set, [[Limited Special Collectors' Ultimate Edition|among other things.]] The box set features over 5 hours of session material, most of which have never seen the light of day.
* Shortly after releasing ''[[Tommy]]'', [[The Who]] began working on an epic followup to be entitled ''Lifehouse'', which would have been accompanied by a film and a series of experimental concerts involving using the vital statistics of audience members to produce synthesizer tracks. The project fell apart and most of the songs were released on the ''Who's Next'' and ''Who Are You'' albums. Pete Townshend ultimately released ''Lifehouse'' in 2000 as a six-disc solo album and a radio play for the BBC, and the synthesizer concept found its way onto the web in 2007.
** The album that became The Who's ''Endless Wire'' was announced in 1999 and hit the shelves in 2006, its release having been delayed by touring, Townshend's putting the finishing touches on ''Lifehouse'', and the death of John Entwistle. Two "preview" tracks were released on a compilation album in 2003 - neither made it onto the final album.
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* Slightly odd example as it didn't involve newly recorded material: Neil Young's ''Archives'' self-curated best-of compilation. First discussed in the late 1980s, and announced several times since. There were rumours that Young had convinced himself that actually releasing them would send him into a terminal writer's block. First massive installment finally came out in 2009.
* Although [[Meat Loaf]] has been fairly prolific over his nearly 40 year career, the ''Bat Out of Hell'' series of albums are notorious for their stints in Development Hell. The first, released in 1977, is still considered one of the greatest albums of all time. ''Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell'' wasn't released until 1992, however, due to ongoing conflicts between Meat Loaf and songwriter/producer Jim Steinman. And finally, after an almost as long gap, ''Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose'' was released in 2006, which ran into problems including Meat Loaf and Steinman fighting over who owns the rights to the title "Bat Out of Hell" (they were ultimately awarded to Meat Loaf) and only half of the tracks being written by Steinman, and those tracks not being original works, but rather recycled from his work with other musicians and solo projects. When asked to comment on his relationship with Steinman, Meat Loaf once said "Jim and I love each other. We're best friends. It's just our managers and lawyers that can't stand each other, and they're the ones that keep starting all this shit."
* After 1997's ''Medazzaland'', [[Duran Duran]] began work in earnest on their next album. In the meantime, [[Blondie (band)|Blondie]] reunited and Nick Rhodes and Warren Cuccurullo were assigned the task of writing some songs for their upcoming album. These songs were never used for some reason and the Blondie reunion album, 1999's ''No Exit'', included only Blondie's songs. Nick and Warren decided to use them for the upcoming Duran Duran album instead. Another complicating factor was the fact that EMI (Duran Duran's record company) dropped them from the label and the band had to find a new record company. Finally in 2000, ''Pop Trash'', whose title is taken from one of the album's songs that were originally written for Blondie ("Pop Trash Movie"), was released on Disney-owned Hollywood Records.
* Simple Minds' Our Secrets Are The Same was recorded and intended for release in 1999. However it wasn't released that year because of a number of record company mergers, followed by their record company deciding they couldn't do anything with it and releasing the band from their contract in 2000. However, during this time an unmastered promo CD-R arrived in the hands of a Spanish radio host who proceeded to play all the tracks from the album over a few weeks. Fans recorded these and these recordings were subsequently bootlegged. Because of the bootlegs, an attempt to release the album in early 2003 fell through as it was considered unmarketable on its own. Eventually it was released officially as the last disc of the box set Silver Box in late 2003.
* Ohgr (Nivek Ogre of [[Skinny Puppy]])'s ''Welt'' album was originally recorded in 1995, but got stuck in legal limbo until 2001.
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* [[Mission of Burma]] released the EP ''Signals, Calls and Marches'' in 1981 and the studio album ''Vs.'' in 1982. Then singer Roger Miller lost his hearing. Sophomore effort ''ONoffON'' appeared in 2004.
* [[Chicago]]'s ''Stone of Sisyphus'' was originally slated to be ''Chicago XXII'' in 1994, but Reprise rejected the album. They responded by leaving the label and making a big band-styled album as their 22nd. ''Stone'' would eventually be released in 2008 as ''Chicago XXXII'' on another label (Rhino) mostly intact.
* [[Daniel Amos]] finished recording their third album ''Horrendous Disc'' in 1978. Many
* Dystopia had released two full-length albums (''Human = Garbage'' and ''The Aftermath'') based off tracks from various splits they did with other bands, but their first full album with new material had been in the working process for many years. Tracks were recorded in 2004, but due to label issues they didn't get released at the time. It wasn't until 2008, nine years after ''The Aftermath'' and several years after the band broke up, that ''Dystopia'' was finally released.
* Orchestral Manœuvres in the Dark's 11th studio album was announced in late 2002 and finally released, after several release dates were announced and retracted, in late 2010, under the title "History of Modern." Since Paul Humphreys rejoined the band during that time, a whole new album was recorded with him, and only one of the songs was retained (in rerecorded form). So technically the album that was announced in 2002 is ''still'' unreleased.
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* [[Limp Bizkit]]'s ''The Unquestionable Truth (Part 2)''. The first one came out in 2005, and the band went on hiatus shortly after its release. They reunited later, and released ''Gold Cobra'' in 2011, then announced that ''The Unquestionable Truth 2'' was '''not''' cancelled and would be released in 2012.
* Recording for [[Yes|Yes's]] ''Big Generator'' album began in 1985, with Trevor Horn producing. Due to [[Creative Differences]] between Horn and guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist/co-writer Trevor Rabin, work resumed on the album with Rabin as producer until its release in 1987.
* The [[Big Star]] [[Cover Album|tribute album]] ''Big Star, Small World'' was completed and scheduled for a Spring of 1998 release by Ignition Records. Ignition went under before it could be released though, and the compilation didn't see the light of day until 2006, when Koch Records bought the rights. As a result, the album ended up an [[Unintentional Period Piece]] of sorts: Most of the contributing artists were at their height of popularity in the mid-nineties, and three bands who appeared on the album were long broken up when it came out
** Big Star's album ''Third/Sister Lovers'' was released three years after they broke up.
* [[Lupe Fiasco]]'s third album, ''Lasers'', was shelved in 2008 by his label because they thought it wasn't "pop" enough. A combination of Lupe caving to pressure and rewriting some songs (something he has said will forever taint his own opinion of the album) and general fan outrage led to the album finally being released in 2011.
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* ''Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark'' may be the ultimate theater example. After being batted around since 2007, was finally supposed to open in February 2010. As of November 2010, it has had precisely one preview (in which the [[We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties|technical difficulties]] that had caused the production to be so delayed in the first place still occurred and [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/theater/29spiderman.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2 delayed the performance by over thirty minutes at one point]).
** It has an announced opening on March 2011, which the producers said was "the final postponement". [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/theater/spider-man-a-superlative-for-all-the-wrong-reasons.html?src=dayp Nobody bought it], and was postponed for summer. Considering how [http://www.avclub.com/articles/spiderman-turn-off-the-dark-terrible-or-make-it-st,51518/ the first reviews] went those extra months better upgrade the show...
** The show finally opened in [https://web.archive.org/web/20121021125021/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/151764-Believe-It-or-Not-Spider-Man-Turn-Off-the-Dark-Opens-on-Broadway-June-14 June 2011], after some major rewriting of the story.
* The Broadway revival of ''[[Godspell]]'' was scheduled to open at the end of 2008; it lost a producer and thus didn't open until the fall of 2011.
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* [[Limbo of the Lost]]. Given the quality of the game, you could argue that this "game" was not ''saved'' from hell and it would have been much better if it had never been released. Nevertheless, [[Limbo of the Lost]] has the second place as the most delayed game ever, perhaps taking the place of [[Duke Nukem Forever]] since the game took ''at least'' 13 years to be finished. A demo of the first version of the game was released in 1995 (for the Amiga), while the game was finally released in 2008.
* [[Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth]], originally announced in 1999 and set for release in 2001, until the original publishers went under. Luckily, after seeing the success of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on the Xbox and PC, Bethesda picked up the publishing rights, so long as they made an Xbox version - which tacked on ''another'' 6 months. By the time it finally came out (fittingly in October) in 2005, it would become the LAST marquee title released for the Xbox, where it promptly languished with sub-standard sales. After which, the developers Headfirst Interactive were subsequently shuttered and their other two titles planned as sequels; Beyond The Mountains of Madness and Sanity's End, which would form a trilogy were forgotten. Don't worry about them [http://fallout.bethsoft.com/ They made a little game you might have heard of.]
* ''[[In
* ''[[Mother 3]]'' was originally planned for release on the Nintendo 64's 64DD peripheral. Unfortunately, the 64DD didn't turn out so well and it was scrapped. It was then later put on the [[Game Boy Advance]] and was one of the last titles for the system. [[No Export for You|There was no official English translation.]] American and European fans were not happy, though at least the English fan translation is complete so Anglophones in North America and Europe can play it in their native language (as well as any non-native speakers fluent enough to read this page).
** Not just
* 3D Realms' game ''[[Prey]]'' began development in 1995, and was finally released in 2006 after they farmed out development to another team. The release of ''Prey'' served to give fans hope that 3D Realms' ''other'' long-awaited title, ''[[Duke Nukem Forever]]'', would eventually find its way out of [[Development Hell]] as well (which it did, as mentioned above).
* ''[[Alan Wake]]'', first announced way back in 2004, finally released Spring 2010.
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* ''Nights Journey of Dreams'' was in development hell ever since the 1996 release of the original ''[[NiGHTS Into Dreams]]'' and was originally going to be for the ''Sega Saturn'' using a tilt sensor in the Analog Pad under the working title ''Air Nights''. It was ported to Dreamcast development then shelved. It eventually escaped hell in 2007 as the Wii title we see today.
* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' was announced in 1999 as "Team Fortress 2: Brotherhood of Arms", but the final product didn't show up until 2007. Also, the game went through many changes during this time. For example, the early incarnation of the game featured a realistic artstyle like TF1 and a more serious tone, while the final product features a cartoonish artstyle and a more comical tone.
* ''[[Shira Oka: Second Chances]]'' is a stat-driven [[Dating Sim]] inspired by the [[Tokimeki Memorial]] series, but [[No Export for You|written originally in English]]. Development began around 2005. A demo was released to the public in summer 2010. The full retail game was released on Impulse Driven on December 10, 2010.
* ''[[Too Human]]''.
* ''[[Kameo: Elements of Power]]'' was originally announced as a launch title for the Gamecube. It later came out as a launch title for the Xbox 360, four years after it was supposed to come out (having a cancelled Xbox development on its way).
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* The games that eventually became ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue]]'' were initially announced in an early form in 1990, and didn't come out until 1996.
* ''[[Gran Turismo]] 5'' was revealed on E3 2005. In 2008, a demo version, ''Gran Turismo 5 Prologue'' was released and sold well. In 2009, the full version was announced, and got a release date for February 2010... which was then delayed to November 2010 due to technical issues.
* [[Game Mod
* ''[[Psychonauts]]'' was originally going to be a horror-like platformer published by Microsoft, and was going to be an Xbox-exclusive. A trailer was shown at E3 (and can be found on the discs of ''[[Blinx the Time Sweeper]]'' and ''[[Voodoo Vince]]'') in 2002, and the game was originally set for a 2003 release. But later into development, Double Fine decided to change the game's mood from scary to funny, and Microsoft refused to publish the game because of this, so the game was delayed as Double Fine scrambled around to find a publisher, until they found Majesco in '04. The game was then announced for PC and [[PlayStation 2]] as well as Xbox, and was finally released in '05.
** ''[[Brutal Legend]]'' had a similar story. Originally, Vivendi Universal was publishing it, but once they merged with Sierra (didn't they merge with Sierra? Correct me if I'm wrong), Double Fine was left out in the cold, and again, they had to scramble around for a publisher. They found EA, but then
* ''[[Dragon Quest VII]]'' entered development in 1996 for the 64DD, but switched to the Sony Playstation in 1997. It was not released until 2000, and its release in 2001 basically let it get [[Overshadowed by Awesome]] considering that the Xbox and Playstation2 were already out and the Gamecube was ''just around the corner''. Not to mention,[[Seinfeld Is Unfunny|it got complained because it looked dated]], and still does seem quite dated translationwise with the engrish-y names for some things.
* [[Final Fantasy XIII]] [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30640/Exclusive_Behind_The_Scenes_Of_Square_Enixs_Final_Fantasy_XIII.php got into development hell right after its initial trailer], reasons varied from an under-developed Crystal Tools engine to late play testing.
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* ''[[Solatorobo]]'' spent ten years in development, thanks to [[Namco Bandai]] insisting that [[Cyber Connect 2]] continually tighten and tweak the world and gameplay due to ''[[Tail Concerto]]'''s low sales and their reluctance to back a [[Spiritual Sequel]] to such a game. The result, however, [[Tropes Are Not Bad|is one of the most beautiful for the DS]].
* ''[[Penny Arcade Adventures]]: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness''. Hothead Games canned the series after Episode 2 (released in fall 2008) because it didn't sell as good as the first episode, so it seemed that the story was never going to be finished. But now, the series has been picked up by a new developer, and the next episode is set for a summer 2012 release. [[And the Fandom Rejoiced]].
* ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' officially began development for the [[Game Cube]] in 2001 (not counting an earlier false start which eventually evolved into ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' instead). After the first trailer shown at the end of 2002 shortly after the release of ''[[Resident Evil
* ''[[Max Payne 3]]'', being released a whole nine years after its predecessor, was announced multiple years before its release and delayed multiple times as well.
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* ''Destino'', the unlikely collaboration between [[Walt Disney]] and [[Salvador Dali]], was first conceived back in 1946, but didn't reach screens until 57 years later. The home video release also counts; a ''Walt Disney Treasures'' set was announced for 2008 but dropped, the short and a making-of documentary eventually appearing as extras on the ''[[Fantasia]]/Fantasia 2000'' Blu-Ray release in 2010.
* The show ''[[Ni Hao, Kai-Lan]]'' was originally announced for Spring 2007, but didn't materialize until February 2008, though the characters from the show were featured for months in the now-defunct Nick Jr. Magazine.
* Getting ''Daria'' on official DVD was [[Development Hell]] for many years. To the point where fans all but gave up on seeing an official DVD at all. It was finally
* Disney's 2D adaption of "[[The Snow Queen]]" has been going in and out of production, most recently in 2002 [[What Could Have Been|when John Lasseter expressed interest in the project.]] However, it went back on hold after the lackluster box-office performance of ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'', and remained in limbo until being brought back into production in 2011 as the CGI film ''Frozen'', released in 2013.
* An [[Animated Adaptation]] of the Hungarian play ''[[The Tragedy Of Man]]'' had its script written way back in 1983. Production began in '88. The finished film was released in late 2011.
* [[Samurai Jack]] might not get a movie, but it got a comic book continuation series, made between 2013 and 2015.
** ''And'' [[Toonami]] will air a '''new''' season!!! (Set for 2016)
* * In 2004, the CGI film ''Food Fight'' was announced (though it had been in development since the 90s, with production being halted in 2002 when the files containing the animation were stolen from a hard drive and the animators had to start over from scratch). Best described as "''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' in a supermarket", the film promised to bring together over 80 famous [[Product Placement|beloved advertising characters]] (not to mention, the process of licensing that many food mascots took YEARS) with voice talent including Charlie Sheen, Hilary and Haylie Duff, Wayne Brady, and Eva Longoria. The creators expected it to be a real commercial hit, merchandise for the movie started appearing on store shelves before the movie even had a release date... unfortunately the film ran into countless problems as detailed [https://web.archive.org/web/20120908020250/http://www.cartoonbrew.com/cgi/whatever-happened-to-foodfight.html here.] After many years, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}X9r4pfoT1As a trailer] was finally shown at AHM in 2011, and [http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/foodfight-coming-to-dvd.html?commentSubmitted=true#comments a company has the bought the DVD rights for this film in Europe]{{Dead link}}, and the US DVD was released in 2013. [[So Bad It's Good|Alas.]]
* ''Last Days of Coney Island'' from [[Ralph Bakshi]] was announced in 2005, but due to distributor and production problems it was put on hold a few years later. Although believed to be canceled, Ralph put on a [[Kickstarter]] for the project in 2013, and the final product was released in 2015.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Trivia Trope]]
[[Category:Film Tropes]]
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