10 Terrible Movies That Should Have Stayed In Development Hell
4. Green Lantern
Ryan Reynolds has apologized for Green Lantern on numerous occasions over the years, but even he isn't as sorry as the executives at Warner Bros., who spent almost fifteen years trying to get the movie made before it ultimately landed with an almighty thud at the box office, and was savaged by critics for good measure.
Kevin Smith had turned down the opportunity to write the script as early as 1997, while Quentin Tarantino of all people was also offered the chance to write and direct. The closest Green Lantern actually came to moving forward was when Jack Black was set to star in a comedic version, but huge backlash from the fans quickly saw that idea swept under the rug.
David S. Goyer also rejected the chance to tackle Hal Jordan's big screen debut, before Martin Campbell was eventually recruited and an exhaustive casting search saw Reynolds beat out Bradley Cooper and Justin Timberlake to land the highly-coveted lead role.
After the $200m blockbuster bombed hard, with Warner Bros. losing $100m in the process, any plans for a sequel were swiftly scrapped. Now we find ourselves experiencing deja vu, with the DCEU's reboot that was first announced in October 2014 following its predecessor's lead and lingering in development hell.