10 Movies That Are FINALLY Happening

Getting any movie made - even a really, really bad one - is the artistic equivalent of heaving a giant boulder up a very, very steep mountain. No matter how much of a good idea a film might seem, getting it in front of cameras and nudging it over the finish line is a whole lot of pain and anguish that's hopefully worth it in the end. And so, it's basically a miracle that any movies get made, let alone that some of them are actually pretty good.

With that in mind, the following long talked-about films seem to have finally pushed their way through all the red tape and are ramping up to begin production - if they haven't been filmed already, that is.

These movies have all been in some stage of development - and development hell, even - for years, even decades, but now they seem closer than ever to actually becoming a reality. A few are already in the can and presumably mere months away from release, while others are gearing up to go before cameras by the end of the year. 

Given all these films have been through, whoever saw that coming?

Michael Mann's Heat is one of the most acclaimed crime thrillers of all time, and with damn good reason, though for about 20 years it seemed like Mann's film would be that rarest of things - a brilliant one-off.

But in 2016, Mann surprisingly revealed that a follow-up novel was in the works, and in 2019 the filmmaker proclaimed that he also intended to adapt the finished novel into either a TV show or movie.

Heat 2, which ultimately served as both a prequel and sequel to the original film, was finally released in August 2022 to rave reviews, shortly after Mann confirmed that he would be directing a feature film adaptation. By spring 2023, Heat 2 was officially set at Warner Bros. with Adam Driver in talks to play a young Neil McCauley (played by Robert De Niro in the 1995 movie).

The prequel-sequel's momentum has largely cooled since that initial announcement - at least until last December, when Mann announced that the screenplay was close to finished and it will indeed be his next film.

Michael Mann sure sounds optimistic about how things are coming along, so it's looking likely that Heat 2 will actually start shooting sometime this year, three decades after the original landed in cinemas.