still in hell

20 years of tantalising films that never escaped Development Hell…

Vampirates

First mentioned: # 47 How is this not greenlit already with a name like that?

Domu

First mentioned: # 51 Guillermo del Toro was to adapt Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo’s horror manga about an old man with psychic powers who holds silent sway over an apartment block.

Brother Termite

First mentioned: # 54 James Cameron acquired the rights to Patricia Anthony’s tale of political intrigue about aliens who’ve occupied the United States. The film was never produced. The lizard men told him not to.

The Tripods

First mentioned: # 56 Touchstone was considering a film version of John Christopher’s YA War Of The Worlds, with Graham Yost ( Broken Arrow) attached to direct.

Battlefield Earth 2

First mentioned: # 62 Oddly enough, only ever mentioned before the first movie came out.

The Stainless Steel Rat

First mentioned: # 67 It’s genuinely criminal that Harry Harrison’s wonderfully gnarly space hero has never made the big screen, but he came close in 2000 when director Jan de Bont and Twentieth Century Fox came sniffing.

The I nvisibles

First mentioned: # 85 Grant Morrison’s bizarro psychic investigators on screen? Yes please. The Farrelly brothers directing? Erm, maybe not.

At The Mountains Of Madness

First mentioned: # 97 Guillermo del Toro’s cherished Lovecraft project seems to pop up in Development Hell every time he finishes another project. Maybe one day…

Akira

First mentioned: # 98 The live- action version of the infamous anime is still on the cusp of escaping Development Hell today…

Forever Man

First mentioned: # 103 Stan Lee was apparently developing a superhero specifically for the big screen “with unique powers”. Not common ones.

The Flash

First mentioned: # 137 David S Goyer’s take on the Fastest Man Alive cropped up many times in Development Hell. What makes it especially intriguing is a quote from prospective star Ryan Reynolds, who mentioned, “I think God’s financing it…” which we think means the script was unfilmably expensive.

Wonder Woman

First mentioned: # 129 Specifically the Joss Whedon- scripted version. Bet Warner wish they’d gone for it now.

The Black Hole

First mentioned: # 192 Tron: Legacy helmer Joseph Kosinski was hoping to remake Disney’s space opera. Presumably they’re still trying to write the ending ( not that the original bothered).

Rentaghost

First mentioned: # 205 Russell Brand as an irritating jester? Sounds like perfect casting in this big- screen version of the BBC kid- com of the ’ 70s about career spooks. Yet to be exhumed. Dave Golder