10 Movies That Escaped Development Hell (And Were Worth The Wait)

As iconic as the 1990 Tim Curry-starring mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's It was, Hollywood had been pursuing a big-screen remake since 2009.

In 2012, Cary Fukunaga came aboard as writer-director for a two-part, R-rated It adaptation, with Will Poulter later cast to play Pennywise. However, Fukunaga quit the project in May 2015 amid creative disagreements, that New Line wanted him to craft a more conventional duology of horror films.

Just two months later, Andy Muschietti came aboard while Gary Dauberman was hired to re-write Fukunaga's scripts to fit Muschietti's vision for the story.

The next summer, Bill Skarsgård was hired to play Pennywise, with shooting finally beginning shortly thereafter.

Despite enormous fan skepticism about the project, especially the unconventional appearance of Pennywise, It went on to received rave reviews and gross more than $700 million worldwide.

The trickier sequel didn't quite capture the same critical or commercial success, but still, it was an overall solid result for a project which could've so easily crashed and burned.