We all know how disappointing it is when we get super-excited about a film, only for production to stall, relations break down between the crew and studio, and the film to languish in a Schrödinger’s cat-esque state of being neither alive or dead. That the studios don’t even have the good graces to accept defeat and let salivating fans know the outcome half the time is equally frustrating, and the news will only flush down the pipe some time later when someone associated with the production can be bothered to switch their computer on. Here are 12 films that are suffering from just such issues, and so we expect they’ll never see the light of day.
Now watch as production resumes on half these projects tomorrow…
1. Y: The Last Man
Y: The Last Man is a relatively popular comic book series, having spanned over five years and 60 issues, and with its dark, dystopic plot which follows the one remaining man on Earth – after every other male is killed by what appears to be a plague of some kind – seems like the sort of material that would be ripe for the Hollywood treatment. Before the comic had even finished its run, New Line Cinema acquired the rights for a film adaptation, appointing D.J. Caruso (Disturbia, Eagle Eye) as director, and David S. Goyer (who helped wrangle the story for Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy) as producer. Initially planned to be filmed in 2008, Caruso later claimed that the 60 comics could not be reasonably condensed into one film, and so they would instead be split into a prospective trilogy of films.
Frequent lead in Caruso’s films Shia LaBeouf was earmarked for the role – despite the actor initially claiming that it was too similar to his Transformers character – yet when Caruso and New Line could not agree on a trajectory for the series (for the studio favoured a standalone film over a proposed trilogy), the director decided to make the abominable I Am Number Four instead. After Caruso walked, the notion of a TV series was bandied around, and the last update we had on the project was in March 2012, where it was reported that writers Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia were being signed to adapt the comic series.
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10 Comments
I think Justice League is a 50/50 one, if Man of Steel is very successful, maybe has a Martian Manhunter cameo at the end (similar to Nick Fury) then who knows, maybe it might just get made,
Good article though feel inclined to disagree on a couple of movies. The Justice League movie I would argue is more likely to happen following the avengers. It would allow someone to reboot batman following nolans take, it may also allow wonder woman a chance of its own movieif successful. Look what avengers did with the hulk successfully capturing that character where others have failed. It could also open other franchise pictures such as the flash etc
In regards to the girl with the dragon tatoo, I’m not convinced there is much anticipation I thought finchers take was far inferior to the other movies and the main issue being fans of the books had seen those movies before finchers version hence the lower than anticipated box office.
Regarding step brothers that still broke the 100 million barrier in the states & apart from will ferrells fee I can’t imagine a sequel would cost too much thus the chance recouping the budget would be high, though I take the point that due to the four year gap people are likely to have forgotten. One will Ferrell film & arguably his best role which was rumoured to have a sequel which will never get made is old school. Too much time has passed since the first film for that to get made.
In regards to fletch & six million dollar man these need to green lit & cast now. A Bourne style reboot of six million dollar man would be awesome. 1 final to be listed as a guilty pleasure but I loved fletch lives
Man, did they screw up Golden Compass. That could have been the beginning of a great series, and they just clusterf***ed it to death.
Cool premise. Of all these entries, Y The Last Man makes me the saddest. In addition: Preacher, The Umbrella Academy, Bone, The Dark Tower, and though it’s a TV show, Powers.
But they confirm the girl with dragon tattoo sequel didn’t they??
I read somewhere that they’re waiting for the final draft of the script and the movie will be released in 2014.
And I can perfectly visualize Fincher directing it… He just walked out from that cleopatra movie and maybe his project at disney won’t lunch.
I really want him to return. The american version was much,much better than the swedish one and although it didn’t make lots of money I think it did enough to guarentee a sequel.
Great List by the way.
Ghostbusters 3!
Its because of religion loving people that The Golden Compass “failed”
Ghostbusters 3
Masters of the Universe
At the Mountains of Madness
The Dark Tower (better suited as a TV series IMO)
Any Chuck Palahniuk novel
Please, for the love of god and all that is holy, give your readers a “View All” option.
Wet Hot American Summer 2 needs to be made even if all the original actors are 50+.
Sad how something can be not profitable enough for a production company. How many more hundreds of millions would be considered a success?!