8 Movies That Escaped Development Hell (And Weren't Worth The Wait)

The most recent attempt at Ghostbusters had the potential to reboot a beloved franchise, bring something new to the supernatural table, and sigh a breath of fresh air in a fun new spin on the 80s classic. However, it jumbled up all of its intentions into one big underdeveloped mess that landed particularly sorely with audiences and critics alike. Instead of the breath of fresh air, we got a cloud of fart instead.

But Ghostbusters wasn't always intended to be this way. In fact, it began life as Ghostbusters 3, a pipe dream constructed by Dan Akyroyd that sees the four paranormal investigators go to Hell. Whilst this struggled to be pinned down from 1999 - 2009, the successful release of Ghostbusters: The Video Game saw companies start sniffing around for film material with renewed enthusiasm - and Akyroyd's script was brought back and reshaped for a modern audience.

This saw replacement Busters and a 'new generation' being bought to the fore, as Bill Murray had no interest in doing a sequel at the time. From 2009 until 2014, the idea was kicked around, remoulded, and passed off between directors and producers until finally settling on a gender-flipped reboot with Bridesmaids' Paul Feig.

Whilst all the good intention in the world was there with plenty of backing from most of the original stars, the film just didn't hit the heights it needed to to land on its feet and continue the franchise. That's 15 years they won't get back.