Saved From Development Hell: Difference between revisions

 

See also [[The Shelf of Movie Languishment]], where it gets done but not released.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

** 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...

* 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 ==

* ''[[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''.

* 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).

* 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.

* 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.

* 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]]''.

* 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.

* 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 40–50 minutes long. However, fan interest skyrocketed as soon as the movie was announced, so the script was rewritten and the movie lengthened to accommodate for fan expectation.

** ''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.

* 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.

* 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.

* ''[[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 2009 on DVD. Some saw this as a punishment to Bryan Singer from Warner Bros. who was disappointed with ''Superman Returns''.

* [[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.]]

* ''[[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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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, and was released on December 2012.

* ''[[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.

* The ''[[RoboCop]]'' remake.

* ''[[Kick-Ass]] 2''

* ''[[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....

* ''[[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.

* 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 ==

* 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."

* 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.

* ''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 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.

 

* [[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.]

* ''[[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 Anglophones—versions of the patch are available in French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Dutch, and even Malay.

* ''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.

* ''[[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).

* ''[[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]].

* ''[[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.

 

* [[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)

* ''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.

 

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[[Category:Trivia Trope]]

[[Category:Film Tropes]]