Dreaming Machine
Incomplete/Unreleased WorkThis film was never completed and released to the public, and there are no known copies of the existing footage outside of Madhouse Studios. It is thus impossible to document more than rumor and speculation about its contents, nor is identifying any tropes employed by the film or filmmakers possible.
— The Mgmt.
Dreaming Machine (also known as The Dream Machine) is an unfinished anime film by the late Satoshi Kon and his long-time collaborator Madhouse Studios. The film was to be Kon's fifth (and final) film; after his sudden death from pancreatic cancer in 2010, the film went into Development Hell as the studio pondered what to do. On November 12, 2010, the movie resumed production with an acting director - character designer and chief animation director Yoshimi Itazu - to oversee completion of the film based on the completed screenplay, the already-completed storyboards, and Kon's own directorial tapes and notes. (Madhouse founder Masao Maruyama reportedly told Kon in one of their final discussions about the film that Madhouse would do "whatever it takes" to complete it.)
The film is said to be outside of Kon's usual style of film making, as the film is reportedly a more family-friendly show, as an Homage to Astro Boy.
The film was initially scheduled for a release date in 2011, but in August 2011, Maruyama revealed that production of the film had been halted due to lack of finances. Since then, it has briefly appeared on industry radar a few times, but never to announce the resumption of production. In August 2018, Maruyama revealed that the movie will not be completed and released in the foreseeable future, as there were no Japanese animation directors that could match Kon's level of ability, though he did not rule out the possibility of the project being revived in the future under a talented foreign director.
- Author Existence Failure: As described above, the reason why this film has been in Development Hell for years.