10 Films That Were Stuck In Development Hell For Years

The original Planet of the Apes movie came out in 1968, with four sequels being released in the years that followed. The franchise then took a break, but talk of a reboot started up in the late 80s. Producer and screenwriter Adam Rifkin wanted to bring the apes back in 1988 and his project made some progress before being shut down.

Screenwriter Terry Hayes then wrote a script for a film called 'Return of the Apes' which was set to star Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the project again got a little traction before being cancelled. The likes of Peter Jackson, Chris Columbus, Sam Raimi, and James Cameron were all linked with the project at various stages, but it just couldn't seem to get off the ground.

Then, in 1999, William Broyles Jr., who also has writing credits on hit movies like Cast Away and Apollo 13, wrote a new script, which caught the eye of Tim Burton, who seems to have a bit of a knack for rescuing doomed projects from the pits of development hell. He joined the film in 1999 and had it in cinemas by 2001.