It’s tough to make a film, but getting a film made is even tougher. The journey from the initial pitch to the first day of shooting can be long and winding. Many potentially great movies never escape what’s known as Development Hell.
With the average film costing around $65 million (and many exceeding $100 million), production companies need to be completely sure about every detail before giving a project the green light. Even then, studios can still pull the plug. Here are 10 movies that could have been amazing, if only they had made it out of Development Hell.
10 When The Perfect Location Isn’t
Some films fail even after shooting begins. Terry Gilliam spent a decade trying to get The Man Who Killed Don Quixote off the ground, eventually finding a location in Bardenas Reales, Spain. The desert, with its unique sandstone hills, seemed perfect for the story of Don Quixote.
However, the location scout missed one crucial detail: a nearby NATO airbase. The constant noise of aircraft disrupted filming. Gilliam tried to work around it, planning to replace the audio in post-production.
On the second day, disaster struck: a flash flood and hailstorm damaged equipment and altered the landscape, making it impossible to match the previous day’s shots. To top it off, Jean Rochefort, playing Quixote, developed a herniated disc. The production was shut down. A documentary crew, who were originally filming a ‘making of’ documentary, instead made Lost In La Mancha. Gilliam finally completed the film in 2018, almost 30 years after his initial pitch, but faced further legal issues, resulting in a limited release and poor box office results.
9 When Old Enough Isn’t Good Enough
Guillermo del Toro wanted to adapt H.P. Lovecraft’s At The Mountains Of Madness, a novel about explorers in Antarctica discovering ancient ruins. Many considered the book unfilmable, but del Toro seemed like the perfect director.
In 2006, Warner Bros. liked the screenplay but wouldn’t provide funding, citing concerns about the lack of a love interest and the bleak ending. Del Toro tried again in 2010 with Universal. After negotiations, the studio refused to green-light the film because del Toro insisted on an R-rating instead of the desired PG-13.
Del Toro refused to compromise, and the movie was canceled. He later regretted his decision, saying, “The R [rating] was what made it. If ‘Mountains’ had been PG-13, or I had said PG-13 … I’m too much of a Boy Scout, I should have lied, but I didn’t.” He then made Pan’s Labyrinth instead.
8 When The Money Runs Out
In the 1980s, Carolco became a major Hollywood production company, focusing on action movies. They had a hit with First Blood and continued with successes like Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
However, by the early ’90s, Carolco struggled financially, mainly due to buying out a partner. In 1994, Arnold Schwarzenegger signed on for Crusade, described as Spartacus meets Conan The Barbarian. Sets were being built when director Paul Verhoeven attended a finance meeting at Carolco.
The meeting was short and unsuccessful. Verhoeven refused to guarantee he wouldn’t exceed the $100 million budget. Carolco canceled Crusade and instead invested in Cutthroat Island.
Cutthroat Island bombed, and Carolco declared bankruptcy soon after.
7 When A Sequel Just Doesn’t Work
Gladiator’s massive success led to discussions about a sequel. One major hurdle: Maximus Decimus Meridius died. But that’s just a minor detail, right?
Ridley Scott, director of the first film, wanted a sequel set in the same world without Russell Crowe’s character. Crowe disagreed and hired Nick Cave to write a script that would include him.
Cave’s screenplay turned the Elysian Fields into a miserable purgatory. Maximus finds a spirit guide who takes him to the gods, who offer him a chance to reunite with his family if he kills one of them.
Maximus somehow returns to Rome ten years after his death to find his son (who also died in the first film). There’s incidental persecution of Christians and a Colosseum fight with 100 alligators. Ultimately, Maximus time-travels through wars and ends up behind a desk at the Pentagon, waiting for the next battle.
Even Crowe found the script hard to accept, replying with his famous terseness, “Don’t like it, mate.” Ridley Scott, however, is still developing his own sequel.
6 When Life Imitates Art Imitating Life
When Francis Ford Coppola wants to make a film, it should be easy, right? Not always. Even for bankable directors, projects can fail when real life interferes.
Coppola wanted to make Megalopolis, a sci-fi film about rebuilding New York after a major disaster. Talks progressed well, and he began screen-testing actors in 2001. Then, on September 11, disaster struck New York.
Coppola considered continuing but felt he couldn’t make Megalopolis without turning it into a film about 9/11. He shelved the idea but announced in 2019 that he was ready to develop the film again. However, no progress has been made, and Coppola is now over 80.
Coppola can still rest on his laurels, having brought us both Apocalypse Now and The Godfather II.
5 When Someone Else Had The Same Idea
Stanley Kubrick wanted to make a movie about Napoleon. After the success of 2001: A Space Odyssey, he sent an assistant to travel the world in Napoleon’s footsteps and had an all-star cast lined up.
Kubrick also planned to ‘borrow’ tens of thousands of soldiers as extras. However, things fell apart when another film on the same subject, Waterloo, starring Rod Steiger and Orson Welles, bombed at the box office in 1970.
Producers got nervous and withdrew funding. Kubrick tried to revive the project in the 1980s but ultimately admitted defeat.
4 When The Director Really Doesn’t Want To
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind was a massive hit for Steven Spielberg, and Columbia Pictures wanted a sequel. Spielberg was less enthusiastic. He knew from experience that if he turned down the opportunity, they might give the film to another director, as happened with Jaws 2.
Spielberg came up with Night Skies, a dramatization of the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter, about a farm allegedly besieged by aliens. The aliens were lost on a strange planet and terrorized the livestock and humans.
Spielberg announced he would produce rather than direct the film, hoping this would preserve the reputation of the original. A dark script was written, and NASA announced that Spielberg had booked a slot on their next space flight to film the opening shots.
However, due to Spielberg’s lack of enthusiasm, Night Skies didn’t go ahead. The script inspired several other projects, including Critters and E.T.
3 When The Source Material Isn’t Film Material
Adaptations are always tricky, especially adapting Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. With 75 comic books, none of which are traditional stories, translating it to film seemed almost impossible.
Roger Avary hired Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, the team behind Pirates of the Caribbean, to write a screenplay based on the first two volumes. Avary liked it, but Warner Bros. didn’t.
Producer Jon Peters didn’t understand the premise and kept asking for more traditional tropes. Another draft was called for, this time by William Farmer. The studios still had issues: Who is the bad guy? Where is the love interest?
At one stage, the studio wanted superhero capes, fistfights, and a plot based on Y2K disaster theories. Thankfully, the project was put on hold indefinitely. Netflix has since acquired the rights, hoping the TV format and their budget, will finally bring The Sandman to life.
2 Sometimes an idea is just too weird
We all love innovation in movies: new ways of telling stories, never-before-seen effects, or cool stunts. But sometimes, writers go too far.
The Tourist, not the Johnny Depp-Angelina Jolie film, was a screenplay by Clair Noto in 1980 about a hidden world of alien refugees living beneath Manhattan. It has been described as one of the most influential sci-fi movies never made.
H.R. Giger, the artist behind Alien, produced concept art, and Francis Ford Coppola signed on to produce this alien-erotica film. However, the studios worried that alien-erotica would be a niche market. Noto refused to compromise, and the studio backed out. The screenplay, however, has influenced several later sci-fi films, including Blade Runner.
Meanwhile, Clair Noto has barely been heard of since.
1 When The Script Just Doesn’t Make Sense
In 1977, after the release of Eraserhead, David Lynch announced his next film, Ronnie Rocket, inspired by his favorite 1950s sci-fi movies. The film has been ‘in development’ ever since.
Lynch struggled to raise money, likely due to the strange script. The elevator pitch: “A detective enters the Second Dimension by standing on one leg and is chased by Donut Men, getting lost in a maze of rooms. The detective is chasing Ronnie Rocket, a teenage rock star, and his tap-dancing girlfriend, who uses his ability to control electricity.”
In a 2012 interview, Lynch said he was still considering Ronnie Rocket, but there were still a few things he “hadn’t figured out yet.”
Like, what’s going on in this film?
Development Hell is a strange place where good ideas go to die. Whether it’s due to finances, creative differences, or just plain weirdness, many promising films never make it to the big screen. These ten films offer a glimpse into the potential lost masterpieces that could have been.
What do you think? Which of these films would you have most liked to see? Let us know in the comments below!
