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{{trope|wppage=Development hell}}
{{outdated}}
[[File:D3poster 559.png|link=Homestar Runner|frame|[https://web.archive.org/web/20130516073531/http://www.telltalegames.com/strongbad/dangeresque3 November 2008.]]]
The state wherein an announced creative project becomes stuck at the preparation stage for years.
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The term originates in the film industry, referring to films mired in pre-production without casting or production ever beginning. A common occurrence with [[The Film of the Book|book adaptations]] and other licensed materials, as legal squabbles over rights, [[Executive Meddling]], budgetary problems, and [[Creative Differences|differing artistic visions]] keep the project from going before the cameras. And even if it does make it to the shooting stage, a [[Troubled Production]] can easily derail it and throw it right back here.
'''Development Hell''' becomes a sort of self-reinforcing feedback loop over
Projects in other media can sink into similar cesspits. The [[Video Game]] equivalent of this phenomena is [[Vaporware]]. Compare [[What Could Have Been]]. This can overlap with [[Schedule Slip]] when it comes to miniseries or other works that are released in instalments but could also be considered parts of a single as yet unfinished work.
[[The Other Wiki]] mentions the terms "development purgatory" and "development limbo" are synonyms for [[w:Development hell|Development hell]].
For those examples which ''finally'' became real, after years, or decades in some cases, look at [[Saved From Development Hell]].
Subtrope of [[Release Date Change]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* An anime adaptation of ''Tonari no 801-chan'' was originally supposed to be animated by Kyoto Animation, and even had a preliminary website up for it. Then something happened and it fell into limbo. The project was ultimately cancelled, though a 90-second animated OP was created by A-1 Pictures and bundled with Vol.4 of the web manga.
* ''[[Lost Universe]]'': A series which had only one season; a second season was due to follow, but because of a financial pitfall occurring through animation studios at the time, it was held off in favor of more ''Slayers'' media.
* A stall can be typical of all English manga distributors, especially for less common titles, but the Yaoi distributor Drama Queen seems to have either gone on a dragging hiatus since 2007, or is dead and no one can figure out where it's been buried, so to speak.
* For a while it looked unlikely that Maikaze will finish the promised second and third episodes of ''[[
* ''[[
** It's no better in Japan, where after five volumes it just ''stopped''.
* ''The Five Killers'' was supposed to be an original creation from writer/producer Eric Calderon as an animated TV series (12 episodes with a 1 hour finale) done by [[GONZO]]. A trailer is unfortunately all that came out due to GONZO's financial situation.
* An ''[[Appleseed]]'' television series titled "Appleseed: Genesis" was first announced in 2005 and languished in Development Hell until it was officially
* After ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'' ended, it was announced that there would be a movie sequel which would be the [[Grand Finale]] for the Cosmic Era timeline. However, the film's head writer Chiaki Morosawa has been battling cancer since ''Destiny'' (according to an April 2008 interview with Animage magazine, Morosawa had uterine fibroids and an ovarian cyst, and had a hysterectomy performed), so literally no progress has been made on the film since 2005.
* ''[[Despera]]'s'' production is currently on hold due to the director Ryutaro Nakamura's health issues.
* We might have found out what happens after ''[[
* After the release of its third movie, the credits listed the release of a third ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' OAV series. Took about five years and [[Tenchi Muyo! GXP|a series]] that [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|took place a year after it]] to do so. This is pretty normal for the franchise, because its creator, Masaki Kajishima, is essentially a free agent and always seeks to obtain funding without relinquishing the rights and the creative control, which is quite difficult.
** And let's not forget the fact that the English release of said 3rd OAV series' 2nd and 3rd volumes languished for a year due to the fact that Funimation screwed up on its contract.
* ''[[
* The ''[[
* The planned [[Spiritual Successor]] to the ''[[
* ''[[Ranma ½]]'' was optioned for a Hollywood big-screen adaptation in ''1999'' and promptly vanished from the radar.
== Automobiles ==
* Monica, a French luxury automobile brand, created 22 '''prototypes''' and only 8 '''production cars''' before work was stopped indefinitely. Read more [[
* General Motors planned to turn Saturn into Opel of America, with more vehicles added to the product line, when the 2007-2009 global economic crisis struck. The name then disappeared as 2009 ended and 2010 started
** The Saturn division itself was first announced and a prototype shown in 1983. It was 1991 by the time you could actually buy one, and the original sedan's wraparound rear window had been stolen ''internally'' by Oldsmobile, leading observers to see the Saturn as the "copy".
* Due in large part (but not entirely) to [[World War Two]], the VW Beetle design was finalized for production in 1938 but the first cars delivered to retail customers weren't until 1947.
* Fiat has been teasing the return of their [
== Buildings ==
* The San Francisco 49ers have been trying to build a stadium for years. Their latest plan had been stalled for several years, and groundbreaking began April 19, 2012.
* The Ballpark Village shopping/entertainment/apartment complex in downtown St. Louis, designed to revitalize the area. Building began in 2005 with a planned completion date of July 2009. Around 2008, building stopped as financier Bill DeWitt refused to spend any more money on the project (and he is a multi-billionaire who makes a lot of money off of the St. Louis Cardinals, so his penny-pinching is completely inexcusable). Cut to late 2011, and it looks it will never be finished (due to DeWitt's frugality and the state basically neglecting the city and its needs).
* La Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona, Spain has been under construction since 1882.
** Good news! [https://apnews.com/ff973c5c769c4d1d872255f04c6c1f11 After 137 years, they finally got a building permit!]
* Cologne Cathedral in Germany had the same development hell treatment during the time it was constructed. Construction started during the Middle Ages, halted construction during the 16th century, resumed during the 19th century, and finally completed in 1880. This is fairly common in medieval churches and cathedrals. The grander ones, even in the best case scenario, couldn't be completed in one generation. Under less than ideal conditions, many had construction that dragged on for decades or centuries as they repeatedly ran out of money and had to raise more. As a result, different sections are built according to the architectural styles of different eras, or are asymmetrical because they couldn't afford to build something again on the other side.
** For another outstanding example, the Milan Cathedral began its construction in 1386 and its final touches were done in 1965.
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==
* An animated ''[[Elf Quest]]'' movie has been "coming soon" since the mid eighties. Though much of the (albeit scarce) pre-production art looks great, it's still never gotten further than that and will likely never be produced.
** Supposedly, the primary stumbling block is that [[Executive Meddling|studio executives kept trying to persuade the creators]] to [[Race Lift|make all the dark-skinned elves whiter]], and then losing interest when the creators refused to even entertain the possibility. [[Society Marches On|In this day and age]] that probably isn't such a huge issue, so there is still some faint hope.
* ''[[Sasmira]]'': The second album of the series has been expected for 12 years and counting.
* Kevin Smith's smash ''[[Daredevil]]'' relaunch got him on a comics kick which turned out to be more than he could handle. His ''Spider-Man/Black Cat'' miniseries had a gap of over three years between issues 3 and 4. During that time, most fans had dismissed the remaining issues as
* The manga-inspired ''[[Battle Chasers]]'' was meant to be Joe Madureira's magnum opus, spanning several years and hundreds of issues. However, thanks to his obsession with playing video games and, in the early 2000s, pretty much abandoning the industry to draw concept art for start-up game publishers, it petered out at about ten issues, with the final issue having a delay of about 1 1/2 years and ending on gigantic cliffhangers. (And no, not [[Ms. Fanservice|Monika's]].) A continuation had been promised, but going on eight years later it still hasn't materialized.
* Devil's Due Publishing has been putting off publishing ''[[Halloween]]'' comics, including the third and final issue of ''The First Death of Laurie Strode'' and the miniseries ''The Mark of Thorn'' (which had at least a dozen covers revealed) over and over again for somewhat vague reasons.
* [[Neil Gaiman]]'s introduction to ''[[The Sandman|The Sandman: Endless Nights]]'' mentions a story called ''Obsessional'' that he plotted with the artist of ''Going Inside''. It involves the population of Manhattan joining a procession into the East River.
** Gaiman also mentioned in interviews that he was planning to do a [[Batman]] story illustrated by painter [[Steve Bisley]], which was to be titled "''Night Circus''". This was in about 1992, and the story is still yet to appear.
* Despite being created in late 2008, ''[
** Issue two was released last December and issue three's line art is done. Harrison Wood, the artist, has released half the pencils for issue four on his deviantArt account. Looks like it's been saved.
* ''[[All Star DC Comics|All Star]] [[Wonder Woman]]'' by [[Adam Hughes]] and ''All Star [[Batgirl]]'' by [[Geoff Johns]] and J G Jones. Announced in 2006 but no sign as of the end of 2010.
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* Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk had a 3-year gap between issues #2 and #3.
* Issue #8 of [[Marvel Comics]]' ''[[The Twelve]]'', a 12-issue limited series, came out in January 2009. Issue #9 came out over three years later, in February 2012.
* This has happened in the industry for a while. ''[[Camelot 3000]]'', a series from DC Comics in the early 1980s. A 12-issue monthly series, the first issue came out in December 1982 and the last one in April 1985.
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* The ''[[Ranma ½]]'' fanfic ''[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/264446/1/Hearts-of-Ice Hearts of Ice]'' by Krista Perry Fisk. An epic in both size and subject matter, ''Hearts of Ice'' first appeared in 1997, and over the next two years, Fisk (then unmarried and writing under her maiden name of Perry) turned out some 25 chapters of exceptionally high-quality story, with the 25th -- the penultimate chapter -- ending on a heartbreaking [[Cliff Hanger]]. And then ''stopped writing for ten years''. She finally completed it in 2009, but not before it gained the nickname "The Great Unfinished Symphony of ''Ranma'' Fanfic".
==
* ''[[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
* [[The Movie]] of ''[[Clerks the Animated Series]]''. Originally planned as ''Clerks: Sell Out'', wherein Dante and Randall decide to make a movie about their escapades in the Quick Stop, this got an animation test in 2006 and was supposed to go straight to DVD a little while after ''Clerks 2''. However, according to [[Kevin Smith]], Disney still own the rights to the series and all designs related to it, which essentially negates all possibility of there being a movie any time soon.
* ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]: Judas Contract'' was originally meant to be one of the first of the new franchise of DC Animated films. It was supposed to be a recreation of the classic storyline meant to piggyback off the success of the canceled ''[[Teen Titans (
* The ''[[Bone]]'' movie. Partially delayed in Jeff Smith's refusal of [[Nickelodeon]]'s [[Executive Meddling|demands of putting pop music in]], apparently the rights are now with [[Warner Brothers]].[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=27366 according to the latest news] its in early stages of development. Smith doesn't seem very involved as of yet and makes very little comment on the animation/design, saying only that it is ''dynamic''.
* A sequel/prequel to ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]''. One was attempted during, but floundered due to many problems at [[Disney]], with [[Steven Spielberg]], problems converting the characters to CGI, and a skyrocketing budget. Attempts to make a sequel anyway continue to be discussed, but Roger Rabbit remains one of the biggest film properties to never be properly capitalized.
* A CGI ''[[Spyro the Dragon]]'' movie was announced in late 2007, and posters emerged in early 2009 which slated the film for a Christmas release. While two years is hardly a stretch in Development Hell terms, as of this writing (September '09), virtually nothing is known about the film; there is no official web site, no confirmed release date, and no details about the cast or plot. Rumors persist that development has been postponed indefinitely due to the merger between Activision and Blizzard Entertainment and the subsequent closure of ''Spyro'''s parent studio Sierra Online. [[Word of God]] has stated that the movie has been officially canceled.
* ''[[
** Since its 2015 Indiegogo had less-than-stellar funding, and since making an animated movie is ''extremely'' expensive, '''and''' since the Indiegogo only promised one minute of full animation out of a 10 minute pitch, the chances of it ''ever'' getting out of Development Hell is miniscule.
* The CGI ''[[Thundercats]]'' film, which was supposed to be made by the art director of ''[[Halo (series)|Halo]]''.
** It [[Epileptic Trees|apparently]] reincarnated in the form of new [[Animated Series]] ''[[Thundercats 2011|ThunderCats (2011)]]'', which premiered in July 2011 on [[Cartoon Network]].
* ''The [[Samurai Jack]] Movie''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110813202501/http://www.kungfucinema.com/j-j-abrams-to-produce-samurai-jack-film-11829 It was supposed to be seeing the light of day]... in 2009.
** [[Saved From Development Hell|Movie? Who needs a movie?]]. A comic book continuation series was made between 2013 and 2015.
*** '''And''' [[Toonami]] will air a '''new''' season!!! (Set for 2016)
* ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'' also had an animated film in Development Hell for a while. [[That Other Wiki]] says the "Wishology" specials may have started out as that movie; [[A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!|a live-action FOP TV movie]] was eventually released in 2011.
* ''[[The Dream Machine]]'', delayed by the declining health and eventual death of [[Satoshi Kon]]. His collaborators planned to finish it, but was announced in August 2011 that production had been halted due to financing issues.
* ''Truckers'': [[
* ''Blue Planet'', a CGI sci-fi action movie planned by now-defunct Rainbow Studios (later aquired by [[THQ]]), with a video-game tie-in. A trailer was released, to widespread acclaim, which showcased the for-the-time high-quality CGI, parodies of Pixar's ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' and ''[[A
* In the late 1990's, Fox and [[Matt Groening]] signed a deal to make three films based on ''[[The Simpsons]]''. The first film was released in 2007.
* ''National Treasure 3''{{'}}s [[IMDb]] page listed a release date of "????", which is usually given to films in Development Hell. It has since changed to "(in development)."
** The last news about the subject was in 2014.
* ''The Story of Bonny and Clyde'' has been delayed for several years . After Hillary Duff who was cast as Bonny became pregnant the producers quickly replaced both leads fearing that with Duff pregnant the film would be delayed further if they waited for her to be available. With the roles recast the film however has yet to start production. Even Duff has since given birth.
* ''[[Eloise]] in Paris'' - A live-action adaptation of the ''Eloise'' book of the same name has been in development since late 2007-2008, and was to star Australian child actress Jordana Beatty for the title role alongside ''[[Kill Bill]]'' actress [[Uma Thurman]]. A few years later and yet little, if any, development was announced, and Beatty would obviously be too old to play the title character. Thurman would later sue Handmade Films for "a film that never was". In 2020 another [https://variety.com/2020/film/news/eloise-at-the-plaza-movie-remake-1234830096/ live-action Eloise adaptation] was announced, but like with the previously aborted project, practically nothing was heard from it since.
* ''Invisible Monsters'', based off of a book penned by Chuck Palahniuk (of ''[[Fight Club]]'' fame), has been in development for forever and a half.
* ''[[Fahrenheit 451]]''. It had a French version successfully released in 1966, but those guys over at Hollywood are still stuck on this.
** At one point, Frank Darabont was involved and wrote a script. That was in ''2005''.
* [[Terry Pratchett]] joked that the road to film for ''[[Good Omens]]'' has become so long and complicated that even he stopped paying attention. He relied on fans at conventions and signings to keep him posted on the latest news/rumors. One such rumour was that Robin Williams will play the angel.
** [[Terry Gilliam]] was going to direct an adaptation of ''[[Good Omens]]''. A script was completed in 2002, but the project has essentially been in Development Hell ever since. Just about every Gilliam film experiences Development Hell one way or another. Says [[Eric Idle]] on Terry Gilliam productions, "Go and see them by all means -- but to be in them, fucking madness!"
**
** It finally made it to air in 2019 as a [[Netflix]] miniseries.
* Dreamworks was going to make a ''[[Nomes Trilogy|Bromeliad]]'' movie. Where'd that go?
* And a couple of years ago{{when}} the big news was that [[Sam Raimi]] was directing ''[[The Wee Free Men]]'' from a script by Pamela Pettler (who wrote [[Tim Burton]]'s ''[[Corpse Bride]]''). Since the initial announcement, nothing. Pratchett apparently vetoed a script that "had all the hallmarks of something that had been good, and then [[Executive Meddling|the studio had got involved]]", and now thinks "it probably won't happen."
* ''[[The Man Who Killed Don Quixote]]'' by [[Terry Gilliam]] turned into Development Hell. Gilliam eventually released a documentary about making the film, but the film itself was never completed. Pre-production resumed in 2009, but as of late 2010, the project appeared to be shelved again due to a collapse of funding.
* The unfinished 1938 production of ''I, Claudius'' was waylaid by an accident involving its lead actress and by the difficulty that Charles Laughton had in getting into Claudius's role. Only a few scenes from the film were ever publicly released in the 1960s. (The DVD release of the TV version of ''[[I, Claudius]]'' includes a documentary which features this footage.)
* The ''[[
* There are rumors of a live-action adaptation of ''[[The Last Unicorn (
* A remake of ''[[Creature
* The film version of ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'' has been talked about for at least 10 years now. There was a rumor back in the day that it would resurface in
** Given that the comic revolves around a character going on a quest to kill God, it's understandable why people are hesitant to touch the property, it's likely too controversial for any major studio to helm.
* The live-action ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' movie was originally announced in 2003 by ADV Films and as of 2010 has only ''finally'' started production
**
* ''[[The Sandman]]''. Considering that the people interested in filming it were Joel Schumacher and [[Executive Meddling|Jon]] [[Giant Spider|Peters]], though, it may be fortunate that this film never got off the ground. One of the proposed scripts is available online. The script Roger Avary and the guys behind ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' worked on was a pretty sweet blending of the first two collections and the "Endless gather again for the first time" scene from ''Season of Mists''. But then the script was sent in for rewrites under Jon Peters, and Neil Gaiman called the script not only the worst ''Sandman'' script he'd seen, but one of the worst scripts he'd ever seen.
** The film adaptation of ''[[The Sandman]]'' spin-off ''Death: The High Cost Of Living'' has also been in development hell for several years. IMDB has a release date of 2013 (as of April 2011), but there's not even a ''production company'' attached yet.
* [[Guillermo del Toro]] examples:
** It wasn't until making ''[[
** He was also planning an adaptation of ''Domu: A Child's Dream'', by [[Katsuhiro Otomo]] (better known for ''[[
* ''[[The Dam Busters]]'', a remake of the 1955 classic. Mel Gibson bought the rights in the late 1990s but never made much progress past rumors of filming in west England. Peter Jackson obtained the rights a few years ago and rumor has it that filming had begun in 2009. Then Jackson decided to scrap the film and restart in 3-D.
* The film ''Quality of Life'', a movie that was supposed to wrap up the storyline of the Canadian series ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130827071226/http://davincisinquest.com/index_dvi.php DaVinci's Inquest]'', about a coroner living in downtown Vancouver who champions rights for heroin junkies and prostitutes. The series ended after eight seasons (with one of those seasons being a spin-off where the lead character becomes the Mayor of Vancouver, emulating the real-life example of coroner Larry Campbell). The film was due to be released in 2006, but has been pushed back continually, to the point that it is on hold indefinitely. Of course, considering that the show was cancelled by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation during an election, and the film deals with hot-button issues like prostitution and safe-injection sites, perhaps there is more to this situation than meets the eye?
* There's a lot of [[Marvel Universe|Marvel]] films that appear to have stalled.
* ''[[The Punisher]]'' sequel to the 2004 version was in this condition before getting cancelled. In 2007, Thomas Jane, who would have played Jigsaw in the sequel, refused to appear, stating his intent to buff up for the role was not worth a movie he just didn't believe in.
** The proposed [[Luke Cage]] film.
** Both the third ''[[Fantastic Four (
*** A similar situation
** One recurring [[X-Men (
** Sub-Mariner.
* ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' has been in constant hell for years:
** In 2001, Joel Silver was the producer, asking Todd Alcott to write a script. After blowing through a series of screenwriters in the following years, the project stalled, but appeared to gain traction again in 2005 when [[Joss Whedon]] was placed in charge of directing and scripting the film. After nearly two years of no progress on a draft, Whedon left the project on bad terms and it stalled yet again. A spec script was purchased as Whedon departed to ensure the rights didn't revert back, but yet another script was commissioned in 2008.
** David E. Kelley wrote a treatment for a Wonder Woman TV series. It was rejected by NBC, but after seeing the strong initial ratings for Kelley's ''[[Harry's Law]]'' show, they changed their mind. A pilot directed by McG was produced... and rejected by NBC in May 2011. After seeing the leaked scripts for the project, some Wonder Woman fans consider this a good thing.
** The movie project might not be quite dead yet. Nicolas Winding Refn (yes, [[Drive (film)|that guy]]) has expressed interest in directing, and Christina Hendricks is being considered for the lead (of course). However, the earliest production start date
** In DC's mad scramble to catch up the the [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]], it's finally been made and heading for the screen (at the end of 2016).
* The ''[[Battle Royale]]'' American adaptation. In June 2006, producers Neil Mortiz and Roy Lee announced that they had the greenlight to go ahead with the movie, which would, indeed, retain the "high schoolers killing each other" theme, and that New Line Cinema had given a tentative release date of 2008. Aside from the Virginia Tech Massacre making New Line nervous about the themes, they still haven't acquired the rights to make the film in the first place and apparently don't wish to try.
** ''[[Battle Royale]]'' might be fast tracked depending on the performance of the ''[[Hunger Games]]''. In fact ''[[Hunger Games]]'' may open a new renaissance of human hunting human movies in the same manner as 28 Days Later resurrected the ''[[Zombie Apocalypse]]'' genre.
*** It did. Kind of. Just with [[:Category:Young Adult Literature|a genre more fitting]] for the American public. [[:Category:Fantasy Literature|Contemporary fantasy]] hit it big, but only fantastical creatures and magical powers did.
* The ''[[Castlevania]]'' Movie seemed to have been this one for some years, and still is, thanks to the [[Writers Strike]].
** ''[[Castlevania]]'' might actually be one of the rare cases in which
** This may be underway
* There is a rumor that there would be a ''[[Fatal Frame]]'' movie, but it seems we're in for a long wait.
* ''[http://www.dionaea-house.com/ The Dionaea House]'', a story told virally over the internet from 2004 to 2006, abruptly stops on several cliffhangers at different points in time, apparently because Warner Bros. purchased rights for a film adaptation. According to [http://listing-index.ebay.com/movies/The_Dionaea_House.html eBay's film listing]{{Dead link}}, it was supposed to come out in 2007. IMDB once had a listing for a 2010 release (under the name ''The Residents'' for some reason), but even that has fallen down the Memory Hole.
** According to the creator it's dead for now. Whether or not [[Incredibly Lame Pun|the door is still open]] for it to be made remains to be seen.
* ''[[Hack
* [[J. Michael Straczynski]] still wants a ''[[Babylon 5]]'' made-for-cinema movie someday. There was a project to produce one in 2004, but it was aborted in 2005. It would have been called "The Memory of Shadows" and involved Galen and an [[Earth Force]] intelligence officer tracking down an intergalactic conspiracy that used Shadow technology.
* ''Meg,'' which was supposed to have arrived in 2005.
* The American adaptation of ''[[
* ''Tulia'', which is about an attorney who works on behalf of a group of local black men who are wrongly convicted of their involvement in a drug ring. Likely the source material has derailed this project.
* Similarly, ''Pinkville,'' which is about the My Lai Massacre.
* At one point there was talk of a ''[[Dead Rising]]'' movie.
* The ''[[Sin City]]'' sequels. "A Dame to Kill For" was released in 2014, and now, we have to wait for the others...
* Since ''[[Superman (film)|Superman]] Returns'' was mentioned, everyone was signed to a sequel to that, but it got postponed over and over again (the middling box office returns helped Warner not prioritize its production), and was eventually cancelled and replaced with a reboot.
* ''[[The Bad Seed]]'' remake.
* ''[[Halloween (
** A bit of trivia. There was actually a contest sponsored by Dimension Films at one point that would award one lucky fan with a bit of screen time in this movie. Needless to say, a winner was apparently announced. Said winner was shown on the 30th anniversary documentary, including showing the announcement of her winning. She was an extra in the remake.
* The ''[[Spawn]]'' movie sequel.
** For awhile, there was talk of a sequel; Michael Jai White even expressed interest in reprising his role, but as of now(2011), all plans for a sequel seem to have all but faded.
* Hey Paul Reubens, when are you going to make those new Pee-wee Herman movies? At last report, two sequels were being written back-to-back but Herman's stage show has stalled production of said movies.
* The ''[[Gears of War]]'' film has hit Many road blocks. New Line has slashed the film's budget and is trimming back the epic plot elements, requiring a new script to be written. Also, Len Wiseman has apparently decided not to direct the film.
* ''[[Onimusha]],'' due to the death of Heath Ledger.
* The sequel to ''[[Dog Soldiers]]'', which was possibly derailed because of [[Gender Flip]].
* ''[[Rendezvous With Rama]]'': Now dead since Morgan Freeman (the rights holder) doesn't want to do it now.
* A few years ago there were competing development projects about Hannibal Barca. One with Denzel Washington, another with Vin Diesel. Either one could have been interesting. But so far, nothing.
* ''The Sky Is Falling,'' which is said to be the greatest screenplay never filmed.
* Similarly, Brian Flemming's ''Danielle''
* ''Ripley's Believe it or Not!''
* The IMAX special ''Godzilla: 3D to the Max''
* ''[[Hunter]]: The Reckoning''. Rumor has it the project entered Development Hell because [[Uwe Boll]] bought the film rights to the video game; when White Wolf found out just who was going to be adapting one of their properties for cinema, they basically told him, "Don't you fucking dare."
* ''[[Mortal Kombat (
* The ongoing tale of the film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel ''[[A Confederacy of Dunces]]''. First of all, the book was only published years after its author's suicide when his mother found a handwritten manuscript. Attempts were made to make a movie starring John Belushi in 1983, [[Author Existence Failure|but then Belushi died]]. Then there was going to be one with John Candy in 1994, [[Author Existence Failure|but then Candy also died]]. And then one with Chris Farley in 1997, but then,...well...[[Author Existence Failure|yeah]]. Yet another attempt with Will Ferrell seemed to be going well, and had even accrued other big names like Lily Tomlin and Mos Def. Then Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the film's setting.
** At one point, John Waters was being considered to direct an adaptation. Waters himself wrote that it was the one and only time he seriously considered making a film not based on one of his own scripts. Oh, what might have been...
*** Speaking about Waters, he had planned to direct a family-oriented Christmas comedy called ''Fruitcake'' about a gay teenager finding acceptance during the holidays for a 2007 release. The film never got made due to financial troubles at production company Capitol Films (unlike Waters' newer projects, this did not have studio backing) and seems to have been locked up due to that company's bankruptcy. Waters hasn't directed since then (but has done many acting roles and live appearances).
* The remake of ''[[
* The re-release of ''[[Let It Be]]'', the infamous [[The Beatles (band)|Beatles]] documentary. [http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/54635/Macca-and-Ringo-say-just-Let-It-Be Sources say] it hardly will be released while Paul and Ringo are still alive.
* ''[[Bloom County|Opus: The Last Christmas]]'', which is dead according to Berkeley Breathed.
* Similarly, a ''[[Get Fuzzy]]'' movie has been long rumored.
* And a ''[[Dilbert]]'' movie has been too.
* ''The Magic 7''. This December 2009, it finally comes out.
** Or not. The project was in development since the 1990s. Two voice actors have died during the wait.
* What the hell is up with [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Cell]]'' movie? Similarly ''[[The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon]]''.
* A remake of ''[[A Clockwork Orange (
* [[The Movie]] of ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]''.
** It
* ''Case 39'', The film has been completed as far back as 2007, but it stayed in limbo until it finally got a US release in October 2010.
* The American live-action adaptation of ''Wicked City''.
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* Since at least the early 1990s, Roger Daltrey of [[The Who]] has been attempting to put a biopic of his late bandmate Keith Moon on the big screen. Robert Downey Jr. was once considered for the lead role before, in Daltrey's words, he read the script and did everything in it. Currently, IMDB lists [[Mike Myers]] as playing the title role in "Untitled Keith Moon Project."
* In 1994 there were talks of a film adaptation of the musical ''[[Into the Woods]]'', where [[Robin Williams]] would have played The Baker. Sadly, it never came to pass.
** Instead, a different adaptation was released in 2014.
* An entire section of this page can go to planned video game movies, among other things, ''[[Rainbow Six]]'' (based off part 3) with John Woo as director, ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' was announced in 2001 (later changed to a TV series but still no word), ''[[Crazy Taxi]]'' back in 2000, and of all things a LIVE-ACTION ''[[Pac-Man]]'' movie was announced in 2003.
** ''[[American McGee's Alice]]''. There were even rumors of [[Tim Burton]] directing, probably just because the game appears heavily inspired by his works. A [[Alice in Wonderland (
** The ''[[
** Fresnadillo has also left the project
** [[The Suffering]] is currently slated for a 2012 release. Given that the only available info on the project is from 2005-7, it doesn't seem likely.
** ''[[Halo]]''
*** [[Steven Spielberg]] is attempting to revive the ''Halo'' film, but is instead focusing on the novelizations like ''Fall of Reach'' in order to avoid legal issues with Universal.
*** [http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/04/halo-movie-generation-xbox/ This Wired article] provides an in depth view of the drama, and points out that the film's failure to materialize is likely due to Microsoft's inexperience in dealing with Hollywood politics.
** A ''[[Monkey Island]]'' film was in production for some time and got canceled. Much of the script was reworked for ''Pirates of the Carribean.'' So the first high-quality theme park movie adaptation could have been the first high-quality video game movie adaptation.
* Apparently, there were plans for a ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' movie, but they were dropped when it was considered a gamble in light of the economic recession, due to [[What Do You Mean It's for Kids?|the appropriateness of the content of what is ostensibly a children's series]]. The film's status has been downgraded from "definitely going to happen", to "not even under consideration".
* The sequel for ''[[The Incredible Hulk]]'' has fallen into this territory. While some actors are under contract or willing to return for the sequel, Norton himself is not and it is unclear if he will reprise his role. Leterrier has gone back and forth on the decision, but has stated that he's open to directing the sequel, but it's predicted that said sequel won't be coming out until at least 2012 and after the much anticipated ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers]]'' film. Even that film is moving very slowly.
* The rumors about a ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' movie have been circling around since the series ended in 2001. It has been discussed many times by series creator Rob Tapert, who kept saying it was stuck because of legal issues at Universal. Looks like it will never get made, though.
* The ''[[Dragonriders of Pern]]'' has been in development hell since probably the 80's. At one time there was a TV series that was in production, but it was basically [[In Name Only]] so it never went forward (most people see this as a good thing). A movie was supposed to be released last year (2009), but the date has been pushed back to 2011.
* The Brazilian Job, sequel to the 2003 remake of ''[[The Italian Job (2003 film)|The Italian Job]]'' has been in the works since 2004 but was never finished due to the inability for the studio to agree on a finalized script. There have been rumors that a script was being considered in 2009, but nothing final. The project is currnetly still listed as being in development, but there's not even a projected year of release, so don't expect it anytime soon.
** There's also rumors that one of the scripts for this film ended up becoming [[Fast Five]], which is plausible, given that the plot for the Brazilian Job sounds almost identical to that film.
* The planned ''[[Justice League]]'' film (in a serious case of [[What Could Have Been]]) petered out after a year in development. In 2007, pre-production got underway, with many major names attached to star in the film (including Adam Brody as The Flash, Common as [[Green Lantern]] John Stewart, and Michael Gough as Alfred [reprising his role from the 90's ''[[Batman (film)|Batman]]'' franchise]). Numerous problems happened during pre-production (the film's costume designer passed away, a Hollywood writer's strike derailed the script development and there were rumors that director George Miller [''[[Mad Max]]''] had been canned from the project). Finally, the film was delayed less than ''a month'' before it began shooting. It is now indefinitely on hold.
* A third ''[[Fletch]]'' movie has been in the works since 1997, with [[Kevin Smith]] once attached to direct and Ben Affleck and even Zach Braff for the title role. [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20342679,00.html This] ''Entertainment Weekly'' article has all the sordid details.
* ''Tongue of Fury'', the sequel to ''[[Kung Pow]]: Enter the Fist'', was announced since the end of the first film in 2002. However, no word of it has ever surfaced. [[Word of God]] states that Steve Oedekerk is still sifting through a huge library of Hong Kong martial arts films to find the right scenes to lift. There were also rumors of a possible 2010 release.
* The ''Elfstones of [[Shannara]]'' and ''[[Magic Kingdom of Landover|Magic Kingdom for Sale -- SOLD!]]'' movies. Yes, there are plans. One version of the proposed script for the latter would have given Ben a son and daughter, but Terry Brooks nixed that because their characters weren't developed enough.
* The third ''[[James Bond (
* ''[[The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension]]'' has two of these: The sequel film ''Buckaroo Banzai vs. the World Crime League'', which stalled out despite enthusiastic responses from the original cast; and an animated spinoff TV series on Fox, ''Buckaroo Banzai: Ancient Secrets and New Mysteries''. At this point, they can both be considered dead. The DVD release of the original move was this for about a decade, due to a complicated rights issue that was not resolved until the death of the license holder.
* Diane Duane wrote a screenplay for the first book of the ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series and reported that it was in very early development stages on the Young Wizards website back in 2007. As of 2010, there has been no progress whatsoever towards a finished movie.
* The live action [[Voltron]] film. Due to rights issues between the American rights holders (they own the names) and the Japanese rights holders (they own the likenesses).
**
* Even after the under performance of the first ''[[Reign of Fire]]'' film, actors from the film still indicated that their still might be a sequel in the works.
* The third ''Alien vs. Predator'' film.
* A fifth [[Indiana Jones]] movie is much rumored by Spielberg, Lucas, Ford and [[La Beouf]]. Considering that the fourth film was in
* There's been talk going around about filming ''[[
* Something called ''Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill'', starring [[
* The ''[[Rifts]]'' movie. [[Jerry Bruckheimer]] picked up the right in 2004, and has been renewing the option every year, but doesn't seem to have done anything with it yet. Though, considering how other Rifts spin-offs (like the CCG and the N-Gage video game) went, this may not be a bad thing.
* A [[Biopic]] of [[Silent Age of Hollywood|silent film]] comedian [[Fatty Arbuckle|Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle]] has been in this state for about three decades. Like the aforementioned ''[[A Confederacy of Dunces]]'', it had [[John Belushi]], John Candy and Chris Farley lined up to star in it shortly before their respective deaths. No word has come out of it since.
* This is the current and probably permanent location of the proposed film of the television series ''[[
* The Snoop Dogg movie ''Black Ice'' has been on and off in development for the latter part of the decade. Snoop said in a recent interview that scheduling and communication issues have caused the delays, but insists that it'll see the light of day.
* A [[Biopic]] about Baron Gustaf Mannerheim, Marshal of Finland during [[World War II]], was announced in 2000, with Finnish director Renny Harlin attached. The filming has been postponed many times due to budgetary issues. Harlin finally pulled out in May 2011, but it is unclear whether the project will go on without him.
* A remake of ''[[The Incredible Shrinking Man]]'' has been in the works since 2001, with [[Eddie Murphy]]'s name often attached. It's still apparently in pre-production.
* In 1992 it was announced that [[John Hughes]] had
** A 2015 animated adaptation came out instead.
* There has also been a lot of talk about the musical version of ''[[Wicked (theatre)|Wicked]]'' being made into a movie. It appears to be just that: talk. Oh sure, it's said to be officially confirmed, but only recently have they began looking for a cast, at least three years after the confirmation of it...
* The Brazilian movie ''Chatô'' started filming in 1998. It spent a lot of money, led his director to get sued, but no one even knows if it will ever come out!
* ''[[Red Sonja]]'', specially since the ''[[Conan the Barbarian 2011]]'' tanked at the box office.
* The remake of ''[[The Entity]]''.
* The adaptation of Sister Souljah's urban fiction novel ''The Coldest Winter Ever''. The adaptation was rumored as far back as 01 or 02. But nothing ever came of it. Then in 05 Jada Pinkett-Smith tried to get it off the ground as a producer but it fell through.
* The remake of ''[[The Wiz]]'', which was rumored to star [[Aaliyah]] and R&B singer Ginuwine. This was back in 1999-2000. But the idea seemed to stall even before Aaliyah's untimely death.
* The new adaptation of ''[[The Crow]]''. Nobody could agree on a script. Stephen Norrington eventually left the project. Then a lawsuit between Harvey Weinstein and [[Relativity Media]] threatened the project again. Relativity won the suit and F. Javier Gutiérrez was named as director in January 2012.
* ''The Minds of Billy Milligan'', the story of a (actual) man with multiple personalities, was adapted into a screenplay called ''The Crowded Room'' by Todd Graff in something like the late 1970s. Dozens of actors, producers and directors including James Cameron (who wrote a second screenplay) and Steven Soderburgh have signed onto the project and quit.
* The remake of ''[[Barbarella]]'' has been stuck here for a while. Back in 2008, Universal was gearing it up with Robert Rodriguez as the director. Rose
** Though
* There is little news of the American adaptation of ''[[
* The [[Julia Roberts]] / [[Ryan Reynolds]] film ''Fireflies in the Garden'' has been mired in post-production hell since being finished in early 2008 due to mixed early word, the film's original distributor (the same one as the aforementioned ''[[All the Boys Love Mandy Lane]]'') going under, and legal issues involving the film rights. It's also notable that Roberts was even doing the talk show rounds promoting the film's forthcoming release...in 2008. It has been released internationally though.
* The IMDB has had a listing for a forthcoming live-action version of ''[[Kiki's Delivery Service]]'' since at least 2005. We can only hope the situation remains unchanged indefinitely.
* The ''[[
* ''[[Wanted]]'' was supposed to get a sequel, yet everyone involved in it got so busy (the director with ''[[Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter]]'', the protagonist with ''[[X-Men (
* The film adaptation of Green Day's rock opera ''[[American Idiot]]'' has been in development since 2005. Several scripts have been written, and Tom Hanks has expressed interest in producing the film, but nothing definitive has yet been announced. When asked if the movie was truth, lie, or mystery, drummer Tre Cool responded that it was "a true mystery".
** A 2010 Broadway musical was made instead.
* There is something of a cottage industry based around rumors about live-action adaptations of anime films:
** The live-action ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' film was announced sometime between 2005-2007, but nothing has come of it since. [[Keanu Reeves]] (who is supposed to playing the lead character, Spike Spiegel) has given conflicting statements about his involvement in it.
** The ''[[
** There was talk around 2008-9 of a live-action remake of ''[[Ghost in
* ''[[The Great Khan]]'', Sergei Bodrov's follow-up to the 2007 ''[[Film/Mongol|Mongol]]''.
* The ''[[Skins]]'' movie. It was supposed to be released in summer 2011, but as of the last report they're having difficulty even just figuring out which characters are going to be in it. While it was originally supposed to focus just on tying up Generation 2's loose ends, they also were trying to shoehorn in a few characters from Generation 1, and then with the new third generation things became even more complicated. Especially with some fan speculation that the upcoming sixth series may be the show's last, and the film may end up being the wrap-up to the ''whole franchise''. Maybe now that the US remake has been cancelled Bryan Elsley will be free to focus on the film again and we'll start getting some answers.
* Fans of [[The X-Files]] are hoping that a third movie will wrap up loose threads of the plot.
** Forget a movie. ''There's getting a whole-new season!'' [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|That's way better.]]
* A few years ago, [[Tom Hanks]] expressed interest in making and starring in film adaptations of [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s ''[[
* A sequel to ''[[New Jack City]]'' has been in development since 1991, when it was announced to begin filming for a Christmas 1992 release. Since then, the project has been off-and-on in development. Most recently, there were plans to make it straight-to-DVD but not much is known yet.
* ''[[Revenge of the Nerds]]'': Fanboys director Kyle Newman was given the greenlight to direct a remake back in 2007, unfortunately the studio kept cutting the budget, and the only college in Georgia that would let them film was an all girls school, as the other colleges had previously had bad experiences with film crews. The studios also kept on making demands for things as trivial as the main characters wardrobe, then after the all girls school found out that the film was more "risque" then the crew had let on, they were kicked out and had no money left to finish the movie, so the studio pulled the plug on the remake and nothing has been heard ever since.
* A live-action film of ''[[Transmetropolitan]]'' has been been in the early proposal/planning stages for over a decade now; spearheaded by long-time fan [[Patrick Stewart]], who is the fan-favorite to play Spider Jerusalem. At one point, an animated version was proposed, with Steward voicing Jerusalem. Ellis and Robertson have indicated that they would like [[Tim Roth]] to play the title role; but as of this time, no production has started on any adaptation.
* It's possible the fourth ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' film
* Around 2003, [[Robert Zemeckis]] was planning to remake the William Castle film ''Macabre'' for Dark Castle Entertainment (a company he co-founded with Joel Silver) at some point in between the productions of ''[[The Polar Express]]'' and ''[[Beowulf (
* A ''[[Gunnm|Battle Angel]]'' film with director James Cameron. On again off again with rumors as far back as the early 2000s including supposed casting calls for a lithe girl who could move like a cat ... then nothing. Then he said he was waiting for the technology to catch up to his vision. Then ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]''. Is he even working on it still? Who knows.
* The ''[[Clue (
* [http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=5813834 This] ESPN the Magazine article gives an inside account of the process of getting stuck in Development
** Ultimately, the project was sunk by the failure of ''[[Leatherheads]]'', which studios believed signified there was no money to be made in a movie about football in the 1920s. As the article mentions, ''Leatherheads'' was itself stuck in development hell until [[George Clooney]] stepped into the picture. Fleming's ESPN colleague Rick Reilly wrote the original screenplay in 1991... and it hit theaters in 2008. It's a point of contention between Fleming and Reilly as to who got the worse deal.
* A [[Robotech]] live action film was announced in 2008 by Harmony Gold and Warner Bros. A certain Tobey Maguire was said to be producing it. Also heavily hyped was the announcement that Lawrence Kasdan (yes the same one who wrote ''[[
* At one point Paul Greengrass was
** ''Selma'', a film made by a different crew, was released in 2014.
* [[Witchblade]] was in development not too long ago.
* A 2012 adaptation of [[The Bell Jar]] by [[Sylvia Plath]] has been in the works since at least 2010; if not sooner. It's been pushed back repeatedly and IMDB has very little information that hasn't changed much in all this time. The only screen adaptation of the novel that's been released was back in the 1970s and the few people who've actually seen it will usually tell you that it's terrible, so maybe it's a good thing this will probably never be released.
* ''[[
* The [[Wesley Snipes]] western ''Gallowwalker'' was shot in 2006, with reshoots done in 2009, but as of 2012 remains unreleased (partially due to Snipes's legal issues, which previously led to delays in the reshoots).
* The film rights to ''[[The Borribles]]'' have been bought several times since the first book came out in the late 1970s -- and in fact as of the late 2010s are ''currently'' in play. But no project has ever gotten past the simple ''proposal'' stage.
* The Jim Henson Company has been planning a ''[[Fraggle Rock]]'' movie and ''[[The Dark Crystal]]'' sequel for quite some time. Every now and then, they'll announce ''The Dark Crystal'' sequel, but no progress appears to have been made. This was parodied by ''[[Robot Chicken]]'', which joked that the primary reason it's not going forward is that today's kids don't want to watch an all-puppet film.
** As with ''Good Omens'' above, a ''Dark Crystal'' prequel series, ''[[The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance]]'', will air on [[Netflix]] in summer 2019.
** ''[[Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock]]'' finally aired in January 2022, as a new TV series.
* The idea for a [[The Muppets|Muppet]] movie known as ''[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/The_Cheapest_Muppet_Movie_Ever_Made! The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made]'' was originally floated in 1985. It's presumably about Gonzo directing a Muppet movie and he blows half the budget on the opening titles, resulting in the movie progressively getting shittier and shittier to the point where a shot of the same street corner is used for every city in the world. The title card was revealed in September 2009, but it was subsequently set aside in favor of ''[[The Muppets (film)|The Muppets]]''.
== Food ==
* MRE pizza is considered the holy grail of food preservation and the single most requested dish. It's also pretty much every food preservation ''problem'' (Bread, acidity, combining very distinct items into a single package) combined into one so development has lasted over a decade. In 2015 it was projected to be finished by 2017, and it was with lab made examples being successful. Unfortunately additional issues with mass production introduced a serious issue: While edible its entire shelf life, toward the end of its life it turns a hideous brown color so no one will eat even though it is still edible. After being shelved indefinitely, it was discovered rosemary extract would solve the color issue and it was released in late summer 2018 to generally positive response from troops.
== [[Literature]] ==
* Donald Knuth's ''The Art of Computer Programming'' was started in 1962 (which may as well be the Bronze Age as far as computer programming is concerned) and not all the volumes are out yet. Initially not helped by Knuth deciding to create a typesetting system from scratch since he was not satisfied by what was available.
* [[Timothy Zahn]] and [[Michael Stackpole]] collaborated on a six-issue [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] comic for the ''[[X Wing Series]]'' which bridged over into Zahn's [[The Thrawn Trilogy|Thrawn]] [[Hand of Thrawn|books]]. It's called [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Reenlistment_of_Baron_Fel The Reenlistment Of Baron Fel]. But the [[X Wing Series]] comics were canceled [[No Ending|abruptly]]. So Zahn and Stackpole worked on the script and turned it into a four-chapter novella, something that they've done before. And Del Ray did not buy this script. Both versions are languishing on their hard drives, and it's been something like ten years since the [[X Wing Series]] was going.
** It's particularly frustrating when you see that in 2005 someone came out with a three-issue [[X Wing Series]] comic, [[Rebel Leader|Rogue Leader]], which had nothing to do with Stackpole and is generally considered inferior due to [[Off
* Wherefore ''[[His Dark Materials|The Book of Dust]]''? We've had a sequel novella and a prequel novella, and they are nice but?
* Stephanie Meyer [[Creator Breakdown|put off writing]] ''[[Twilight (
** She also has talked about working or planning to work on a story from Renesmee's point of view, a story from Leah's point of view, a mermaid story, a ghost story, and a time travel story. There's no sign of any of these.
* ''A Dance with Dragons'' has been in the queue in the ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' series in one form or another for nearly a decade. It was originally going to be one massive book, but it eventually surpasses a reasonable publication size so author [[George
** On March
*** Until it was announced on April
* They did get someone to finish the [[Author Existence Failure|late lamented]] Robert Jordan's ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' series.
* Another book example is the [[Harlan Ellison|Harlan Ellison-edited]] anthology ''[[Dangerous Visions|The Last Dangerous Visions]]''. It was originally announced for 1973 and
** There's even a (short) book about this fiasco, The Book on the Edge of Forever, by author Christopher Priest (most famous for [[The Prestige]]). When you consider that TLDV was slated to include stories by long-dead authors such as Frank Herbert, Alfred Bester, and Cordwainer Smith (who died in 1966!!), this is the very pinnacle of development hell.
*** Cordwainer Smith's story, "Himself in Anachron" was published in a collection, ''The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith
* [[Diane Duane]] has been somewhat notorious among her fans for this. In her ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series, there was a eight year gap between the release of ''A Wizard Abroad'' and ''The Wizard's Dilemma'', and a five year gap between ''Wizards at War'' and ''A Wizard of Mars'', which was released in April 2010 after getting pushed back by its publishers about six times. Finally, there is the ''[[The Tale of Five]]'' series which has lain unfinished for nearly eighteen years now, with the last part, ''The Door into Starlight'' having gone unfinished since 1992, but she promises she is still working on it.
* David Gerrold's fans have been waiting for the fifth ''[[War Against the Chtorr]]'' novel (A Method For Madness) since at least 1994.
** Currently scheduled for 2011. And there's two more books after it.
* "The Scarlet Gospels" by [[Clive Barker]].
* Quite a few by [[Neil Gaiman]]. In the world of ''[[Neverwhere]]'', ''The Seven Sisters'' and ''How the Marquis Got His Coat Back''. In the world of ''[[Stardust (
* ''The Captal's Tower'', third book in [[Melanie Rawn|Melanie Rawn's]] ''Exiles Trilogy'' is still nowhere to be seen 13 years after the release of the second book.
* The Hellgate Series by David Weber and Linda Evans. Whether because the authors are no longer communicating or because Weber's realized he can make much more money churning out 'Honor Harrington' books, it's been four years since the second book ended on a cliffhanger and there's no sign from the publisher or the authors that a third book will ever come out.
** It's not the only series that David Weber is holding up either. Fans of his ''[[Prince Roger]]'' collaboration with [[John Ringo]] have had nothing since 2005, with very little to indicate that anything is actually being worked on.
* There were rumors for years about a sequel to ''[[The Princess Bride (
* ''[[Orson Scott Card]]'' and Kathryn H. Kidd's 'Rasputin,' a sequel to 1994's 'Lovelock' and the second in 'The Mayflower Trilogy.' Still listed as a work in progress on Card's website.
* Universercus, the promised third book in Gillian Rubenstein's Galax-Arena trilogy, is yet to be more than breifly mentioned at the end of Terra Farma (which was published in 2001). Even though the auther has published books since then and left the plot gaping open!
* For the ''[[
* ''The Repossession Mambo'' (which was adapted as the film ''[[Repo Men]]'') was written in 1996 but did not find a publisher until 2008. However, the manuscript had been circulating in Hollywood for some time and the film was greenlighted a few years before the book was published. The film also suffered through post-production hell as Universal shelved it for two years.
* The third book in the [[Gentleman Bastard Sequence]] series, ''The Republic of Thieves,'' has been repeatedly announced as forthcoming...and as repeatedly postponed.
== [[Live
* The ''[[
* ''[[
* The [[Disney Channel]] series ''JONAS
* The team behind ''Human Giant'' announced that MTV had allowed them a third season. Unfortunately, they couldn't film much because Aziz was busy on ''[[
* The Sci-Fi Channel announced in 2002 that they would produce a ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' television movie featuring Sam's daughter as a new leaper. A proposed release date of 2004 was given, and the movie's writer even gave a ''QL'' fansite [http://www.quantumleap-alsplace.com/quantum2/castandcrew/treycallawayinterview.htm an interview] about the plot, but ultimately nothing ever came of it.
* A few years ago, a planned live-action ''[[Star Wars]]'' TV series was announced, but since then there hasn't been much news about it. Reportedly, it will be a [[Darker and Edgier]] episode-based show that focuses on the minor characters of the series rather than the main storyline, and will take place between Episodes III and IV.
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* ''[[ER]]'''s [[Pilot]] script was written in 1974 but the show wasn't filmed until 1994.
* Adapting ''[[Super Sentai]]'' over to ''[[Power Rangers]]'' was a very difficult task. There are reports that Haim Saban had been planning to adapt ''[[Choudenshi Bioman|Bioman]],'' which was made 8 years before the first seasons to be adapted ''[[Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger|Zyuranger]].''
* ''Entertainment Weekly'' reported in 2010 that a [[
* A spinoff from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' focusing on Giles to be called ''Ripper'' was on the drawing board for years once the original show ended in 2003. Safe to say it's never going to happen...
* No fewer than ''ten'' pilots were made between 1996 and 2010 for a revival of the ''[[Pyramid]]'' game show franchise. Even with a successful revival from 2002 to 2004, the pilots just kept coming in the subsequent years.
== [[Music]] ==
* [[The Blue Nile]] are the kings of this trope. They spent five years in between the first and the second album, seven years between the second and the third, and eight years between the third and the fourth. Very little [[Executive Meddling]] is involved in the production; it's all because the band takes this long to produce these songs '''on purpose''' and it shows.
* [[Limp Bizkit]]'s ''The Unquestionable Truth (Part 2)''
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* The career of Andrew Eldritch of [[The Sisters of Mercy]] fame: "We are working on an album, inter alia, but the matter of single releases is currently on hold..." and has been for thirteen years.
* Dr. Dre's third solo album, ''Detox.'' It is been in talks for most of the aughties, though the current state of hip hop makes the prospect much less exciting than when ''Chronic 2001'' came out. Dr. Dre has been promising Detox since 2000. Between the list of artists Dre said would be on the album and the lame acts he's signed to Aftermath over the years (acts who, according to many critics, already took up far too much of ''2001'') it's obvious what the holdup is: the man's become a perfectionist and can't decide who to work with.
** The only two artists he's been able to work with consistently are [[
{{quote|
** The album had two well-received promo singles in 2011; the second, "I Need a Doctor", hit the top 5 and has been nominated for a Grammy. So of course we get announcements that a) neither song will be on the album if it's ever finished, and b) Dre's going on a hiatus from music altogether.
* Anthony Rapp released a single solo album, ''Look Around'', in 2000. After that, he claimed he was giving up solo work in favor of promoting his alternative/indie rock band Albinokid, and has promised they'll release an album since 2005. Several track listings have appeared on his [[
* Wintersun's next album, ''Time'', is taking forever to be released, supposedly due to problems with the recording equipment. It slowly became a punchline akin to ''[[
* E Nomine's next album. It was stated that it would be out by 2008 but as of September 2009 there has been no news of ''any'' band activity.
* MF DOOM's Swift & Changeable still hasn't seen the light of day after being announced a few years ago. (That's not even counting the countless records that [[Screwed
* The Black Star follow-up album.
* Nicole Scherzinger's solo debut was to come out in 2008. However, work with the Pussycat Dolls and lousy single choices doomed it, and she's creating new material for an album that will allegedly out in 2011.
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* Anthrax's ''Worship Music'' has been languishing for a good while, mostly due to the band's recent inability to keep a vocalist for more than a couple of years; since their last album they've had John Bush, then Joey Belladonna, then Dan Nelson, John Bush again, Joey Belladonna again...should be Dan Nelson's turn again next.
** [[Saved From Development Hell|Fear not, it is finally being released in September 2011...]][[And the Fandom Rejoiced|With Joey Belladonna on vocals.]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzDmgn-G2FM The first single (provided through the link) sounds pretty damn good too!]
* Indie band [[Havalina Rail Co.|Havalina]] announced their sixth album, ''Pacific'', in 2004. The recording got delayed because the bassist wanted to add the percussion of a library cart being hit, and it took months for him to arrange to record this (the library wouldn't let him borrow the cart). Then the bassist left, and Matt Wignall found a new bassist, renamed the band to Matt Death & The New Intellectuals, rerecorded two songs, and tweaked the track list of the album (renamed to ''Death on the Pacific''). Matt Wignall has said that the album is finished, and that he plans to release it as a free download. That was back in 2008...
* Tapeworm. The super-band was headed by Trent Reznor as a side-project to [[Nine Inch Nails]]. Lineup was made of musicians from A Perfect Circle and others bands in the same "music genre"... Nothing resulted. Except a song that A Perfect Circle played live once and used in their last album (The song being "Passive"). More info [http://www.ninwiki.com/Tapeworm here].
* [[Bone Thugs-n-Harmony]]'s ''Uni5:The World's Enemy'' album. It went through a frustrating amount of delays and pushbacks. Originally scheduled for a 09 release but was perpetually pushed back to May
* The music industry is notorious when it comes to shelving or stalling albums by female pop artists. [[Unfortunate Implications|Unfortunately]], female pop artists have the least creative control. Usually they have to fight over artistic direction and their own [[Hotter and Sexier|public image and style]], thus sending their albums to development hell territory.
** This is especially true for female Pop, R&B, and Rap artists, Adina Howard being among the most known examples. Her '97-'98 ''Fantasy Island'' record was shelved because she wanted to do more than just sexually explicit songs. It was eventually bootlegged and released to the streets. Funnily, the album was still rather overtly sexual, leading people to wonder just how much sexier her label wanted the album to be.
** Female rap group Da 5 Footaz ''Lifetime'' album never saw the light of day either, despite press kits being available. Their album was suppose to have been released as far back as ''''96'''. It has since been released underground via bootleg.
** Charli Baltimore's record is in perpetual
** [[
* [[Skinny Puppy]]'s ''Handover'' album was planned to be released in 2009, but it fell into limbo when their label, SPV, went bankrupt. Now scheduled for a November 2011 release.
* Nas' collab with DJ Premier, announced back in 2006, hasn't had any other info released since, but ''supposedly'' it's still being worked on.
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* LeAnn Rimes' cover album ''Lady & Gentlemen''. First announced in 2009; first single stalled at the bottom of the charts. The announced release date has come and gone. LeAnn tweeted that the album would see release later in 2010 with a bonus re-recording of her debut single "Blue". A non-cover single dropped in 2011 but fell out of the 40 in the blink of an eye. Finally in mid-2011, ''another'' new single has cracked the charts (also not a cover) and the album has an announced release date of September 2011, come hell or high water. Incidentally, Rimes and Messina are on the same label (Curb Records, a longtime house of [[Executive Meddling]]).
* And a more extreme example from Curb is Amy Dalley, who put out ''seven'' singles between 2003 and 2007, but despite getting as high as #23, none were deemed successful enough for an album launch.
* Deltron 3030's (Del the Funky Homosapien, Kid Koala and Dan the Automator, all contributors to the [[
* LaToya Jackson's ''Startin' Over'' began its production on November 2001, has had some singles released, but has no date for hitting shelves yet.
* [[The Kovenant]]'s ''Aria Galactica'' has been in limbo since 2003. Sort of the ''[[
* [[
* The follow up to Australian plunderphonics collective The Avalanches' debut album ''Since I Left You'' has been in development hell for nearly a decade. Every so often, a member of the band claims its done and they're just clearing the samples (this being important, since they're a plunderphonics group that means almost ''all'' of their music is samples), but then nothing in heard for a few years. The latest estimation is late 2011/early 2012.
* [[My Vitriol]] are another famous example. Their 2001 debut ''Finelines'' faced no success in the US due to [[Executive Meddling]] which caused exhausting touring that put them into a 4-year hiatus. Then they got back together and started recording and then scrapped an album's worth of material (except four tracks that appeared on an EP) after lukewarm fan reception. Since then the follow-up has left fans waiting over 10 years. The band has had no word on when or if the album will ever be completed.
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* [[Christina Aguilera]] usually takes four years between albums.
* [[The Veronicas]] recording company pushed back their third album 3 times now.
* After the release of [[The Beach Boys]] critically acclaimed ''Pet Sounds'', Brian Wilson immediately went to work on ''Smile'', an album that he planned to be his magnum opus. Public interest in the album quickly rose with the preview single "Good Vibrations" in the fall of 1966, but Wilson's good fortune quickly took a turn for the worse due to a combination of a drug induced breakdown and his band-mates unenthusiastic response to the project. By May
* Forest For The Trees' debut (and [[One
* Leona Lewis has had her album Glassheart pushed back by a year (Originally due Nov' 11 now due Nov 12) by her recording company. Her first two albums "Spririt" and "Echo" didn't have this problem.
* [[Vanessa Amorosi]] has dealt with recording company issues and getting someone behind her work twice. First with her Somewhere In The Real World album, which had trouble getting destributed and her album V which ran into production issues and had to be edited to become right with her recording company, after already having a single out.
* The line-up of [[Van Halen]] which featured Gary Cherone of [[Extreme]] imploded after the critical and commercial failure of their sole studio album, ''Van Halen 3''. Eddie Van Halen would go through drug and alcohol addictions, survive tongue cancer (he apparently still smokes cigarettes) and a divorce to longtime wife [[One Day At a Time|Valerie]] [[Hot in Cleveland|Bertinelli]]. A reunion tour in 2004 with Sammy Hagar followed, on the heels of a two-disc anthology with two new "Van Hagar" recordings (similar to the failed reunion in 1996 with David Lee Roth for [[Greatest Hits Album]] ''Best Of Vol. 1'', but the Roth reunion never happened), but Eddie's re-emerging alcoholism led to poor performances and Sammy's second departure, this time taking founding bassist Michael Anthony with him to form [[Chickenfoot]]. Eddie would sober up, rehire David Lee Roth, and begin a world tour with Eddie's son Wolfgang replacing Anthony. ''A Different Kind Of Truth'', Van Halen's first new album in fifteen years, and its first with Roth since ''1984'', would be released to commercial and critical success in 2012.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]:'' Since updates to rulebooks and models for different armies are largely based on player demand, and player demand is in turn based on the availability of up to date rulebooks and models, some teams spend years in development hell. This was exemplified by the Dark Eldar who went ''over a decade'' without an updated codex while the much more popular space marines received seven. They were mercifully [[Saved From Development Hell]] with an excellent new codex and model range, but others [[Demoted to Extra|haven't fared so well]].
** With the release of the Necrons during the halloween of 2011, the Sisters of Battle is now literally the oldest range, having not received a new model in the longest time.
* [[Gary Gygax]] had always wanted to release a version of his iconic "Castle Greyhawk", the location that pretty much launched ''[[
** Still, that wasn't Gygax's castle, one that wouldn't see print until 2008, when "[[Lawyer
* d20 Spectaculars was a [[Superhero]] add-on to ''d20Modern'' that was supposed to be published by Wizards of the Coast in 2006, but it never materialized (possibly because ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' already had rules for d20 supers and did it very well). Possibly because that's when they started work on 4th edition.
* ''[[Dungeons
** The virtual tabletop is now a reality and is currently in beta. But Wizards still has other parts of the D&D software suite in
* ''[[GURPS]]: [[Girl Genius]]'' may be headed in this direction, due to an edition change since the Foglios wrote most of the content.
* Also from GURPS, the third edition had a Middle Ages I (which dealt with England) and there was supposed to have been a Middle Ages II (for the continent) which never materialized.
* ''Capcom World Tournament'' was delayed for a while, then put on hiatus, due to issues with Living Room Games being unable to guarantee a profit through traditional distribution and being unable to risk alienating retailers with distribution methods that would be more likely to turn a profit, like electronic-only format or Publish On Demand. It's still not officially "canceled", despite their decision allowing the license to lapse and their not being able to release it now if they wanted to. This particular bit of vaporware essentially killed the company, too.
** There was some talk of releasing it with the Capcom elements removed, but Living Room Games folded due to the financial loss incurred by not actually releasing the game before this could happen. Many RPG fans are disappointed, as by all accounts, it was one of the best and most novel applications of the d20 system ever.
* ''[[Mekton]]'' is pretty much the (barely-) living definition of
** In the 1990s, RTG licenced Mekton to a Japanese company to produce a ''[[Gundam]]'' RPG. In about 2000, RTG then licenced this RPG with the intent of
** Mekton Zeta itself was subjected to a lot of development hell. The first sourcebook for the edition was out over a year before the rulebook was released. The mecha in it were
==
* Richard O'Brien has, for years, planned on making a sequel to the ''[[Rocky Horror Picture Show|Rocky Horror Show]]''. So far, however, nothing beyond a few rumors and some scrapped script ideas. All that's known about the yet-to-be-made sequel is that it would've involved Frank N Furter coming back to life.
** The first "leaked" script, ''Revenge of the Old Queen'', began making the rounds in the late '90s, though it reads more like a glorified [[Fanfic]]. Last year, O'Brien announced that he had finally begun writing the playbook for a true sequel, entitled ''Rocky Horror: The Second Cumming''. See the Discussion page for a more detailed version.
** There is the movie sequel ''[[Shock Treatment]]'', though many[[Fanon Discontinuity|refuse to accept it]]
* The severe postponing of the Belgian production of ''[[Tanz
* Jim Steinman has been trying to get a ''Bat Out of Hell'' musical off the ground pretty much since the album was released, even stating in interviews it's a concept album that he imagines being adapted to the stage. But after the complete mess that was ''Dance of the Vampires'', Steinman was all but blackballed from Broadway. He still claims he'll make the ''Bat Out of Hell'' musical a reality one day, though, even though he face yet another setback in 2006 when Meat Loaf successfully sued for the rights to the title.
* ''Vanities: The Musical'' was planned to be staged on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre in 2009, but due to the recession, this was "postponed indefinitely", and thus its New York debut was relegated to a short run at the off-Broadway Second Stage Theatre.
* A musical version of ''[[The Man Who Fell to Earth]]'', which would have been closer to the original novel than its 1976 film adaptation, was announced for Broadway at the turn of 2000, and had a dedicated website with song demos and costume designs. The project never got further than a few more demos. Curiously, there were unrelated plans for a new film adaptation of the book for 2009, but that project never made it further than an IMDb page. Both projects may have suffered for the fact that the story has a ''huge'' [[Downer Ending]].
* The Broadway version of ''[[Love Never Dies]]'' was set to open Fall 2010, but it was pushed back first to Spring 2011 and then indefinitely.
== Theme Parks ==
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== Transportation Infrastructure ==
* London rail infrastructure has the Crossrail lines: the Crossrail 1 "Elizabeth line" (which had been planned by TFL and (pre-privatization) British Rail since 1989, and was supposed to finally open in December 2018, but keeps getting delayed) and the Crossrail 2 "Chelsea-Hackney line" (which, according to TFL's original plans, was supposed to be built as a London Underground line after the Victoria and Jubilee lines were completed in the 70s, but is still in development hell today).
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''Muertitos'', the equivalent of Hollywood is actually ''called'' Development Hell, in a [[Shout-Out]] to this. The story arc it appears in actually primarily parodies [[Adaptation Decay]] and [[So Bad It's Horrible]], however.
* ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' commented on ''[[Star Wars Galaxies]]'' [https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/03/17/a-genuine-appraisal here].
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Parodied in this ''[[The Onion|Onion]]'' article: [http://www.theonion.com/articles/script-has-been-floating-around-hollywood-for-75-y,18172/ Script Has Been Floating Around Hollywood For 75 Years]
* [[The Masked Girl]] had a year between release of the opening and release of the actual first episode.
* Jack Douglass (of [http://www.youtube.com/user/jacksfilms jacksfilms]) has been promising a [[YouTube]] version of "Choose Your Own Adventure" since 2008.
* [[Shiny Objects Videos]] promised a fully stop-motion animated video back in 2010. It, uh... hasn't panned out.
* Go to the
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* The three ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' OVAs. Reports conflict as to whether they were finally cancelled, but evidence points to their cancellation. <s>In a similar vein, the live-action series, which was announced as "in discussion" a year ago and has not been heard from since, is probably in danger of becoming this.</s> Actually, some recent PDFs found on Moonscoop's website suggest that they are in the late planning stage/early filming stage. Of course, who knows about release dates...
* Nelvana holds the rights to the ''[[Little Critter]]'' characters and at least a couple of scripts were written around 2000, but nothing further has been heard since and it is assumed development was dropped.
* Hasbro had planned two DVD releases based on the character TJ Bearytales and even released a music video featuring this character on a ''[[My Little Pony]]'' DVD. The DVDs were slated for release in either late 2007 or early 2008, but neither ever materialized.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120311030237/http://www.rugratonline.com/ntnot.htm This webpage] has information on five series that qualify, they include [[Spin
* An animated series based on the comic book series ''[[
* A DTV animated movie based on ''[[Castlevania III:
* Robotech Shadow Rising is the proposed sequel to ''[[Robotech:
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This page will be finished, any year now. ''What do you mean, it's "outdated"?''
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