15 Announced Movies That Are Destined For Development Hell

14. Ghost In The Shell

Status So Far: The rights to a live-action adaptation of the classic manga series were originally acquired by DreamWorks and Steven Spielberg in 2008, and last year, Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) was announced as director, while Scarlett Johansson will apparently be starring. The release date has been set for April 14, 2017. Why It's Destined For Development Hell: Because it's such a ridiculously ambitious project to bring into the live-action realm, and it may simply be that the filmmakers have bitten off far more than they can chew. Though the announcement of a release date is encouraging, given the difficulty involved in adapting the story to the live-action form, not to mention the technical challenges in physically realising the manga's insane vision, it would surprise nobody if this one was pushed back a few times before falling off the slate altogether. Johansson is a fine choice for the part (in so far as an Asian actress was never going to be cast), but expect things to be relatively quiet on this one for a while as Sanders and co. try to make it work, which they may not be able to do.