10 Pitched Movies Hollywood Wasn't Ready For

1. Alejandro Jodorowsky's INSANE Dune Adaptation

Alejandro Jodorowsky's attempts to mount an adaptation of Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel Dune were so extensive and elaborate that there's even a brilliant documentary, Jodorowsky's Dune, about the subject.

In 1975, the legendary surrealist filmmaker was planning to shoot Dune as a 10-hour movie starring Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, Gloria Swanson, David Carradine, Mick Jagger and more, with Pink Floyd providing the musical score.

Budgeted at $9.5 million, the project was deep in pre-production when funding ran short, and upon meeting with Jodorowsky, Herbert discovered that $2 million of the budget had already been spent before shooting a single frame of film. Worse still, Jodorowsky's gigantic script would actually result in a 14-hour movie.

The plug was pulled, then, and David Lynch was eventually drafted in to direct the hugely divisive 1984 adaptation, which was widely criticised for its lack of faithfulness to Herbert's novel, while Lynch ultimately disowned it due to a lack of sufficient creative control.

Rather ironically, next year's new Dune adaptation is being directed by another risky, left-field filmmaker - the brilliant Denis Villeneuve, whose previous film, Blade Runner 2049, was a $185 million box office dud.

Though Villeneuve's film likely won't get close to the acid-tinged insanity of Jodorowsky's vision, it might at least provide a glimpse into what the iconic filmmaker was grasping for 45 years ago.