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{{trope}}
[[File:dukenukemforever.jpg|link=Duke Nukem Forever
]
{{quote|''"What? Did you think I was'' '''''GONE''''' ''forever?"''|'''Duke Nukem, ''[[
[[Development Hell]]. What some works (and their authors) go through if there's too much of [[Executive Meddling]], lawsuits [[Troubled Production|and so on.]] The fanbase is waiting more and more impatiently, but nothing gets done.
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** 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.
* ''[[Slayers]]'' missed out on a direct fourth season in 1998 due to production issues and [[Megumi Hayashibara]] having schedule conflicts, and while there were more OVA's, a movie (''Slayers Premium'') and other media, it took ''eleven years'' for a fourth season to finally appear. A fifth then occurred the following year.
* It took ''nine years'' for [[Keiko Takemiya]] to get her manga series ''[[
* The ''[[Giant Robo]]'' OVA, The Day The Earth Stood Still, took ten years to finish. There are seven episodes.
* ''[[One Piece]]'' has had a crazy situation with this in America, especially if you're talking uncut episodes. 4Kids got the anime in 2004 ) and it was aired on Toonami severely edited, even by 4Kids standards. 4Kids originally said they would make uncut releases of this and other shows, then that idea suddenly died. Then in 2007 they lost the licence altogether. Then Funimation picked up the show and started putting their version on Toonami... which was cancelled after just 25 episodes (they had dubbed over 40 at the time). They started releasing DVD's uncut from the first episode, but certain actors told fans at cons that it was Funi's worst-performing series (studio reps denied it), leaving doubt as to whether Funimation would even bother releasing the season they aired on Toonami, to say nothing of any episodes after. Time between original licensing of the show and a proper uncut release: over 3 years.
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** Also, the second season finally started airing in the middle of a rerun of the first, with no advertising to speak of, amid official denials from the publisher. It's like they think the fans are masochists, or something.
* ''[[Steamboy]]'' was in production for 16 years, which definitely shows in all the [[Scenery Porn]].
* After two years, [[Touhou Project|Maikaze]] finally released a trailer for the second episode of [[Touhou Musou Kakyou
* [[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.
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== Film ==
* ''[[Alien vs. Predator (
* If ''AVP'' is the most famous case, ''[[Freddy
** The story of the film's stay in Development Hell--and the numerous script ideas that came before the final script--is a bonus feature on the movie's DVD.
* ''[[The X
* 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 (
* The failure of ''[[Batman and Robin (
* 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 (
** More recently, ''[[The Hobbit]]'' went though quite a development hell as well before finally being green-lit. The film then suffered additional problems involving creative control and the studio's refusal to allow filming to take place in New Zealand like the LOTR films, which caused then-director Guillermo del Toro to leave the project. Fortunately, Peter Jackson managed to retake control of the project and a full trailer has come out confirming the film's release in December 2012.
* ''[[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (
** For several years, the About the Author blurb in Adams books included the line (in the context of discussing the Hitchhiker's series) "A major motion picture is currently in development hell and should be coming out any decade now." This no doubt helped popularize the term.
* ''[[Watchmen]]'' and ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' were both announced as films in the mid-1980s and were mired in development hell well into the 2000s, due to budgetary concerns, the difficulty of finding suitable directors, and Alan Moore's complete unwillingness to participate in adaptations of his graphic novels. ''V For Vendetta'' eventually saw release in 2006, and ''[[Watchmen (
** Even then, after filming, ''Watchmen'' almost didn't get released due to a legal battle between Warner Bros and Fox over who owned the right to distribute the film. Fortunately, both studios managed to settle, delaying the release only by a few months.
* [[Quentin Tarantino]] announced his plans to shoot a WWII movie titled ''[[Inglourious Basterds|Inglorious Bastards]]'' shortly after the 1997 release of ''[[Jackie Brown]]''. As of 2007, he was still working on the script, but in late 2008 it began shooting and was released in August 2009.
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* 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.
* It was also around this time that the prospect of a new adaptation of ''[[Charlie and
* [[Peter Sellers]] read ''[[Being There]]'' circa 1972 and immediately visualized a film adaptation he could play the lead role of Chance the Gardener in; it didn't come to pass until 1979 (he had to rebuild his box-office clout, for one thing).
* [[Martin Scorsese]] first started trying to get ''[[Gangs of New York]]'' made in 1978. He finally did it in 2002, and a good deal of his DVD commentary on the film is devoted to explaining the arduous process.
* ''[[Indiana Jones and
* A ''[[
* 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
* ''[[Dead Air (2009
* A live-action ''[[
* 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 (
* 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.
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** The ''fourth'' ''[[Terminator]]'' film, which also burned in said [[Development Hell]] during its production as well. There were ''seven'' writers of the script when you include Jonathan Nolan and the two guys who actually did the original script, and the ending was fundamentally altered after test audiences reacted negatively. It shows.
*** And the fifth and sixth proposed ''Terminator'' films look headed in the same direction: The Halcyon Company, which owned the rights to the ''Terminator'' franchise entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy shortly after the movie screened, and they've been looking to flog off the rights ever since. The highest bidder... the company Halcyon owed money. [http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world-news/pacificor-hires-agency-to-sell-terminator-rights_460765.html Who wants to resell the rights.] At least the T1/T2 co-writer [http://www.deadline.com/2010/02/exclusive-wishers-take-on-terminator-5-6/ has ideas for a script] if the movies eventually get made.
* Perhaps the ultimate example of all time: in the '60s, Richard Williams began work on ''[[The Thief and
** I see your ultimate example and raise you a ''[[Miss Pettigrew Lives for
*** A sequel is now in the works. Let's see how long the development period will be on that one.
* A ''[[Spider-Man]]'' [[Spider-Man (
* ''[[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 (
* 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 ''[[
* ''[[
* 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 (
* 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.
* ''[[
** 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
* One of the strangest cases of development hell occurred with the film ''[[Phone Booth (
* This happened to the 2002 ''[[Peter Pan]]''. The original plans were made by producer Lucy Fisher who acquired the rights in 1980.
* ''[[The
* The ''[[Tintin
* ''[[Trick
* [[James Cameron]] wrote the script for ''[[Avatar (
* [[James Bond (
* The film adaptation of ''[[Atlas Shrugged (
* ''[[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]].
* ''[[
* ''[[Hoodwinked]] Too! Hood vs. Evil'' was supposed to be released in January 2010. And... nothing.[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.
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* 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.
* [[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.]
* A film adaptation of the ''[[Les Misérables (
== Literature ==
* The third book in the [[Inheritance Cycle]] took around three years to finish. Then [[
* It took Ricardo Pinto eight years to write the third book in ''[[The Stone Dance of the Chameleon]]'' trilogy. His British publisher picked up the book and reprinted the older two books, his American publisher did neither.
* ''...And Ladies of the Club'' took Helen Santmyer ''fifty years'' to write.
* [[George
** 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 ''[[
** 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
* An arguable example: Mark Danielewski spent ten years working on ''[[House of Leaves]]''.
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* ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]'' was shopped around from network to network for about ten years before getting picked up by ABC Family in 2008.
* 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
##There were legal issues surrounding the 3rd-season episode "The Pieces of Fate Affair", scripted by [[Harlan Ellison]], who, in true Ellison fashion, had filled the script with [[Take That|Take Thats]] at numerous thinly disguised people. (This episode was notorious for many years as being one of the few episodes of the show that almost never got shown in syndication.)
##It was very difficult to find top-quality masters of many of the first-season episodes; for quite some time, in fact, it was feared that they had been lost.
##There were disputes over who was entitled to release the show on DVD.
** 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
== Music ==
* ''[[Guns N' Roses
** Perhaps inevitably, a song from ''Chinese Democracy'' was released in 2008...on ''[[Rock Band]] 2'', [[Early-Bird Cameo|about two months before the album itself was released.]]
* [[Massive Attack]]'s next album. For a while at the end of 2006 it had a confirmed release date, which was spring 2007, but it did not come out. Since then, it has no release date at all, the band even dropped the title, ''Weather Underground''. As of now (January 2010) we still don't know when will it come out and what will the title of the album be. They released an EP recently though.
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** 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.
* Flavor Flav's solo album, "Lifestyles of the Rich And Flavor", had been touted (mostly by Flav himself) since the mid-90s. It finally saw release (sort of) as "[[wikipedia:Flavor Flav (album)|Flavor Flav]]" in 2006. Most rap fans are completely unaware of the album's existence.
* A similar tale relates to [[
* 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."
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* 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.
* [[The Beatles (
* [[Peter Gabriel]] was working on the album ''Up'' for about 7 years - he started working on it in 1995, it was supposed to be "near completion" in 1998, and yet it took four more years to finally see release. Then there's the debut album by the side project Big Blue Ball, which was in production for ''eighteen'' years.
* Nelly's album ''Brass Knuckles'', which was intended to be released in 2006, spent two years in delays due to having a large number of producers having different ideas on how to produce the record. The final album, with many guests and credited writers and producers, was released in 2008 to negative reviews and very weak sales (selling only 1/24th of what Nelly's previous album, the double album "Sweat/Suit" sold). Nelly hasn't recovered from its failure.
* ''Hysteria'' by [[Def Leppard]]. Production for the followup to 1983's ''Pyromania'' was to begin in 1984, but their producer [[Mutt Lange]] was busy producing [[The Cars|the Cars']] ''Heartbeat City'' album, so Leppard worked with [[Jim Steinman]], the composer of [[Meat Loaf|Meat Loaf's]] classic albums. Unfortunately, the band and/or their record label did not know that Steinman was not a producer, and his method of producing was far looser than Lange's style. On top of that, on New Year's Eve 1985, their drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in a car accident, and was determined to learn how to play the drums using his one attached arm and his feet. Leppard supported Allen and tried to boost Rick Allen's confidence (and their own) with a number of comeback concerts in 1986, where they constructed an electronic drum kit for Allen to play. They reconvened with Mutt Lange in '86, and were subject to his usual meticulous taskmaster production style, finally releasing ''Hysteria'' in late 1987.
* [[
* 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 <ref> Afghan Whigs, Whiskeytown, and Idle Wilds</ref>, while two others had managed to break up ''and'' reunite <ref> [[Gin Blossoms]] and The Posies</ref> during the eight year interim. At the time one of the big draws was to be a new song from Big Star themselves, but the song in question, "Hot Thing", showed up on the compilation ''Big Star Story'' to generally lackluster reception.
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== Theater ==
* [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]] announced plans for a sequel to ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'' in the late 1990s; ''Love Never Dies'' didn't open until 2010.
* Work on a sequel to ''[[
* ''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...
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== Video Games ==
* '''''[[
** [http://duke.a-13.net/ An incomplete list of things that happened during DNF's development.]
* ''L.A. Noire''. It was released in 2011 after a seven year haitus. One of the reasons behind the delay was because they were trying to master the new technology of facial reading to make the characters look as realistic as possible.
* [[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 [[
* [[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 the Groove]] 3'' was in this until recently, thanks to Konami's lawsuit.
* ''[[
** Not just Anglophones--versions of the patch are available in French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Dutch, and even Malay.
* 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, ''[[
* ''[[Alan Wake]]'', first announced way back in 2004, finally released Spring 2010.
** The PC version took two years longer, only finally seeing light in 2012. This was due to Microsoft's meddling of paying off Remedy to make it [[X Box]] exclusive. They needed to wait for MS' contract to expire.
* ''[[The Red Star]]'' was rescued by XS Games after Acclaim went under and released in May 2007.
* ''[[Operation Flashpoint]]: Dragon Rising''.
* ''[[Heart of Darkness (
* ''[[Repton]]: The Lost Realms''. Originally titled ''Repton 4'', the game was written in 1988, too close to ''Repton Infinity'' for publication. Abandoned, then rediscovered in 2008, by which time the game's home platform (the [[BBC Micro]]) was '''[[Deader Than Dead|extinct]]''' and the source code lost, meaning the entire game had to be reprogrammed '''from scratch'''. [[Moment of Awesome|Even that didn't stop]] a dedicated team designing additional levels and graphics via emulators, eventually getting the game ready for its release on 6 November 2010.
* ''[[Kirby]] Air Ride'', in development since 1995 for the Nintendo 64, shelved a few years later and surprisingly resurfaced in 2003 on the [[Game Cube]].
** Speaking of the pink puffball, the infamous GCN Kirby had been revived in 2011 as ''[[
* Roughly half of the plots and quest lines from the canceled Interplay ''[[Fallout]]'' project ''Van Buren'' made their way into ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' after being stuck in limbo for about 15 years.
* ''Nights Journey of Dreams'' was in development hell ever since the 1996 release of the original ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[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).
** ''[[Perfect Dark]] Zero'' had the same fate.
** And Banjo-Threeie (now Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts).
* 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|Game Modifications]] are known for often imploding on themselves spectacularly, but every so often, one will come out after a long development period. One such game was [[The Nameless Mod]], a modification for [[
* ''[[
** ''[[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 Activision--being the complete idiots they are--apparently thought the game was supposed to be a music game and was going to outsell the next ''[[Guitar Hero]]'' game, so Activision and EA fought for quite some time. EA won the battle, and so the game was finally released in 2009.
* ''[[
* [[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.
* ''[[Super Smash Bros Brawl]]'' began development in October 2005, but was delayed several times (to much frustration from fans) until it was released in early 2008.
** ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising
* The newest addition to the ''[[
* I-Mockery's Roger Barr had the idea for a giant NES fangame starring Abobo back in 2002. The project came to a halt, but in 2006 new developers came to the rescue and thus ''[[
* ''[[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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== Western Animation ==
* The french animated film ''[[The King and
* The ''[[
* ''[[
* The ''[[Astro Boy (
* ''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
* 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 [[Saved From Development Hell]]. Sort of. There is the small issue of damn near the entire original soundtrack being ripped away and replaced by generic musical scores or silence, but MTV figures the fans will take what they can get. And for the most part, that's true.
* 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.
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[[Category:Saved From Development Hell]]
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