Development hell

"Development hell" is media-industry jargon for a film, television screenplay, or computer program (or sometimes just a concept or idea) getting stuck in development and never going into production. The film industry buys rights to many popular novels, but it may take years for them to make it to the screen, and there may be considerable changes if, in fact, they do ever become movies.

History

In the case of a film or television screenplay, the screenwriter may have successfully sold a screenplay to a certain set of producers or studio executives, but then new executives can be assigned to the project, and these new executives may raise objections to all the scripts and casting decisions they oversee, mandating rewrites and recasting. As a director and actors become "attached" to the project, further rewrites and recasting may be done, to accommodate the needs of the new talents involved in the project. Should the project fail to meet their needs, they might leave the project or simply refuse to complete it, causing further rewrites and recasting.

Worse still is when a finished project (for example, a television pilot) is sent back for rewrites and recasting, which can often force a project to begin again from scratch.

This process can last for months or years. More often than not, a project trapped in this state will be abandoned by all interested parties or cancelled outright. Hollywood starts ten times as many projects as are released, so many scripts will, of necessity, languish. Many times, this "hell" is caused by the lack of foresight and competing visions of those involved. This revolving door in the film industry happens most commonly with projects that, to some, may have multiple interpretations and affect several points of view.

Films

Still uncertain production status

Ghostbusters 3 - Hellbent

Originally mentioned by Dan Aykroyd in the early 1990s, the project has been surrounded by several rumors aroused and was confirmed by Aykroyd several times. Eventually, Dan Aykroyd confirmed that the project, which had two drafts of a script similar to the premise of the series Extreme Ghostbusters was not going to happen, due to Bill Murray not wanting another sequel. In 2007, a Ghostbusters video game was confirmed for a fall 2008 release, with Aykroyd and Harold Ramis contributing the script originally developed for the film Ghostbusters 3, though Aykroyd also mentioned the possibility of a third film, unrelated to this script, being done in CGI.

Cervantes

Based on Stephen Marlowe's The Death and Life of Miguel de Cervantes, a fictional autobiography of the famous 16th century Spanish soldier, poet, playwright, and novelist who wrote Don Quixote. The film was originally listed on the Internet Movie Database as scheduled for release in 2008 with an "unknown" status; it has since vanished from the site.

Metroid

A live-action movie version of Metroid was reportedly in development by Lion Rock Productions, based around Samus Aran, along with her early battles with the Metroids and the Mother Brain, with an intended release in 2006. A second attempt was supposedly being made by Hollywood director John Woo., though there have been no recent updates on any progress made. In an issue of Nintendo Dream Magazine, producer Yoshio Sakamoto stated that there was no plan to begin production of the film.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

First announced in May 2003 by ADV Films, the live-action adaption of the Japanese anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion has been not since progressed from continued confirmation from ADV and released conceptual art by Weta Workshop Ltd..

Rendezvous with Rama

Morgan Freeman has expressed his desire to produce a film adaption based on Arthur C. Clarke's novel Rendezvous with Rama through his production company, Revelations Entertainment. Dealing with difficulties in procuring funding for the movie [1], the film's release date was upgraded in February 2007 to the year 2009. David Fincher is still listed as its director. [2]

Shattered Glass

A sequel to the 1980 Hazel O'Connor film Breaking Glass was filmed in 2002, to be released alongside the DVD release of the original film. When the DVD was eventually cancelled, the film was put on hold and is still waiting for a release date. According to Hazel's website, she was not asked to appear in the sequel, which was set in the late 1980's when the band is brought back together for a reunion album and tour.

The Six Million Dollar Man

Originally optioned during the mid-1990s; Kevin Smith being amongst the writers who have submitted treatments. After Jim Carrey became attached to the film, the direction of the film changed to become more comedic and ironic. No finalized script has been reached at this time.

Tintin

In the 1980s, Steven Spielberg bought the movie rights to The Adventures of Tintin, the internationally renowned Belgian comic book created by Hergé (George Remi). Spielberg intended to make three original scripted films, although Roman Polanski (one of the proposed directors) preferred to make a movie of King Ottokar's Sceptre. Between the autumn of 1984 and the spring of 1986, Spielberg rejected several scripts (among them, a script by E.T. writer Melissa Matheson placing Tintin in Africa against ivory dealers while falling in love with a girl). Spielberg is known to have used some intended Tintin storyboard shots for Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. Christopher Lambert, Henry Thomas, and the pre-Titanic Leonardo DiCaprio are among those having been considered for the titular role. Both Jack Nicholson and Sean Connery were considered for the role of Captain Haddock.

The project had been abandoned in 1988, but in May 2007, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson announced they would be teaming to direct and produce three back-to-back features of Tintin for DreamWorks, produced in full digital 3-D using performance capture technology. The two filmmakers would each direct at least one of the movies; no information is available for which director would helm the third (Kathleen Kennedy would join Spielberg and Jackson as a producer on the three films, which might be released through DreamWorks Animation).

Unreleased and in production

Artemis Fowl

The novel series by Eoin Colfer has been considered by several major production companies for a film adaptation, with many leading English actors in mind for the major roles, but no real progress was made for several years. Part of the problem was the age constraint of the main character being twelve years old at the time of the first book taking place, and many actors initially considered for the role grew too old to convincingly play the part while the film project languished in pre-production. It was not until 2007 that a director was confirmed and an official release date was set.

Ender's Game

Plans for a movie based on Orson Scott Card's acclaimed science fiction novel have been floating around since 1996, when Card began working with Lynn Hendee and Robert Chartoff of Chartoff Productions to bring it to the screen. It was officially announced in 2002 that Warner Bros. had optioned both Ender's Game and its companion novel Ender's Shadow for a movie that would integrate the story lines of both books, with Hendee as lead producer and Wolfgang Petersen signed to direct. However, progress has stalled since then, with Card and the studio struggling to create a satisfactory script. Several scriptwriters have come and gone, and as of March 2006, Card himself was working on a brand new script not based on any previous drafts. As of July 10, 2007, Ender's Game has entered pre-production, though no other information has been released at this time.

Mortal Kombat: Devastation

The MK3 film has been in development hell for numerous years due to the poor reception of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. To make things more complicated, Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, the location where the film was supposed to be shot. Christopher Morrison, the director of MK3, claims that the film is currently in the development stage with Threshold Entertainment, Midway, and an independent film studio collaborating in writing the script. The film will also be a reboot to the film franchise.

Spawn 2

In 2001, Michael Jai White discussed Spawn 2 in an interview on IGN, which he stated his intention to begin working on it soon. Then in 2002, Columbia Pictures got the rights to distribute the second Spawn film. Producer Don Murphy revealed. "We turned in the draft to Sony. Sony's a mess. I'm not sure where that stands at the moment. If Sony doesn't make it, I'm sure that New Line would want their franchise back." In a 2006 interview with Todd McFarlane, he reiterated that Spawn 2 had been stuck in "development hell" due to Don Murphy being busy with other movies and his own plans for the Torso movie, the new Spawn animation, and the live-action Spawn film he plans to finance, write, produce and direct himself by the end of the year (on a budget of less than $10 million). He is currently trying to get an R-rating and a release for the film in late 2008.

Completed

The Bodyguard

Lawrence Kasdan delivered the original screenplay in the early 1970s. Designed as a vehicle for Diana Ross and starring Steve McQueen production was announced and then stalled at various points due to changes in cast and the film gained a reputation as the best un-produced script in Hollywood. Eventually, Kevin Costner used his influence to get Kasdan's script produced and the resulting film was a worldwide smash when released in November 1992.

Chicago

Originally slated to go into production in the early 1980s, and to star Frank Sinatra, Goldie Hawn and Liza Minnelli, the film never got past the development stage due to the death of director Bob Fosse. After a successful stage revival, Miramax attempted to produce a film version starring Madonna and Goldie Hawn. Filming was repeatedly delayed over troubles involving developing a suitable script, hiring a director and casting issues, with actresses like Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Cameron Diaz, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Rosie O'Donnell signing on to the project, only to drop out shortly thereafter.

The project remained in development hell, with various names attached to the project until screenwriter Bill Condon and director Rob Marshall constructed a feasible story concept and found stars willing to remain committed to the project. Eventually, the film was released in 2002, starring Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere and Queen Latifah. It garnered six Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 2002.

Dune

This film moved from potential director to potential director (amongst them Alejandro Jodorowsky and Ridley Scott) throughout the 1970s until David Lynch was placed in control of it. The film was eventually released in 1984, and re-made as a TV miniseries in the late 1990s.

Freddy vs. Jason

In 1988, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood was originally supposed to be the film in which Freddy and Jason clash. Plans fell through when Paramount Pictures, who owned the Jason Voorhees character and the Friday the 13th series at the time, and New Line Cinema, who owned the Freddy Krueger character and the Nightmare on Elm Street series, couldn't reach an agreement. New Line was able to buy the rights to the Jason Vorhees character in 1993, but it still wasn't until 2003 that the film was released.

Hannibal

Dino De Laurentiis spent $9 million for the screen rights to novelist Thomas Harris' sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, but the ending was considered "too grisly." During this film's development hell, playwright David Mamet and screenwriters Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List) and Ted Tally (The Silence of the Lambs) worked on producing a satisfactory screenplay.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The film was in development hell from 1982 until it was finally green-lighted in 2003, two years after Douglas Adams, the author of the novel and the screenplay, had died. Adams once remarked, "Getting a movie made in Hollywood is like trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it." ^[3] The film was eventually made and released in 2005.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Though George Lucas and Steven Spielberg originally made a deal with Paramount Pictures for five films about archaeologist Indiana Jones, following the theatrical release of the third film in 1989, Lucas let the series end because he could not find a sufficient plot device for the next film. Lucas came across the idea of crystal skulls while producing The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles in 1992 and spent the next two years working with Spielberg and Harrison Ford on reworking the concept into an idea more acceptable to them. The film was delayed until 2006, by both the directors' schedules and the difficulty in agreeing on a final screenplay from all the different writers who submitted drafts, with a final draft by David Koepp being used. The film is set to premiere on May 22, 2008.

The Phantom of the Opera

An Andrew Lloyd Webber musical to languish in years of development, production on the film began in the early 1990s, with original stage stars Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. However, when Brightman and Lloyd Webber divorced, the project stalled. Various directors including Shekhar Kapur and stars such as John Travolta and Antonio Banderas came and went, before the film was finally produced in 2004 directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler.

A Scanner Darkly

A film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel A Scanner Darkly had been in development for years. According to the book Dark Knights & Holy Fools, director Terry Gilliam was interested in directing an adaptation of the book, but was unable to secure funding, and so the project was abandoned. At one point, Charlie Kaufman was tagged to adapt the screenplay, but when the project changed hands, Kaufman was no longer involved. In 2006, an animated version directed by Richard Linklater using the rotoscoping process was released.

Superman Returns

A remake/additional film of Superman, titled Superman Lives, was initially proposed by producer Jon Peters; it was to be directed by Tim Burton and would star Nicolas Cage. This project was ultimately canceled, though there are several known versions of the script that took on possible storylines, such as Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday and his resurrection, departing from the established storyline at varying degrees.

Director Kevin Smith is said to have written a script for this picture and in interviews has discussed several alleged elements of his involvement with the project including the producer's insistence that Superman could not fly. Wolfgang Petersen was attached to develop a joint Superman/Batman film, Batman vs. Superman, but this also fell through.

A second script by J.J. Abrams had various directors attached with Brett Ratner, and McG actually commissioning set designs. In 2004, it was announced that production would start on a new script with Bryan Singer as director; this version was released in 2006. It has been said by producers and director Bryan Singer that a 2009 sequel is going ahead.

Albums

Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy

Chinese Democracy is the name of the long-awaited sixth studio album by the hard rock band Guns N' Roses. When released, it will be the band's first album of original studio material since the simultaneous release of Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II in 1991.

The Beach Boys' Smile

Smile is an album by the Beach Boys, and perhaps the most famous unreleased rock and roll album of all time. The project was intended by its creator Brian Wilson as the follow up to The Beach Boys' influential album Pet Sounds (1966), but was never completed in its original form. The project was resurrected in 2003 and a newly recorded version was released by Beach Boys composer and leader Wilson in 2004. During the 37 years since its cancellation, Smile had acquired a considerable mystique, and bootlegged tracks from the never-completed album circulated widely among Beach Boys collectors. Many of the tracks that were originally recorded for Smile were eventually placed on subsequent albums.

Video games

Games with uncertain production status

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3

Unofficially announced in December 2004, this game never made it to production. Instead the development studio working on the project, EA Los Angeles, went on with Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars.

Duke Nukem Forever

Forever is the sequel to the 3D Realms first-person shooter Duke Nukem 3D on the PC, which was released in January 1996. Forever was announced in April 1997 and as of 2007 is currently still in development. The long development period has been put down to lack of manpower early in the project, game engine changes, content remakes and team members leaving during the development. In 2006, 3D Realms said they were firmly on track to getting the game into production. No release dates have been set since 2001, when they stated that Forever would be released "when it's done"[4]. Since Forever's 2001 trailer, 3D Realms has only released a few small screenshots and a minute-long teaser video. GameFAQs went as far as to saying in a poll of the day, that Duke Nukem Forever will be in development, "forever." It was announced, possibly to some disappointment, that all original work on the game planned for 1997 has been completely scrapped.

Elite IV

It will be a sequel to 1984's Elite, that Braben and his former associate, Ian Bell, wrote primarily for the BBC Micro. Two other sequels, Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, were released in the 1990s, during which time Braben and Bell had an acrimonious falling out.

Features promised for Elite 4 include Newtonian gravity, realistic star systems and the ability to land on planets.

Elite 4 is considered by many to be vaporware, meaning it looks unlikely that it will ever appear. It was first proposed in 1998, and while many games these days can take several years to complete (for example, Frontier took five and a half years) there have been no formal previews, screenshots, press releases or progress reports since. A pair of character screenshots, technical background on a real-time animation system, and a brief discussion of its implications for character nuance, were included in an Edge magazine feature on animation circa 2000. The only details about the game provided by the developers are found in a brief FAQ on Frontier Development's site which does not appear to have been updated since 2001.

In September 2005, play.com had a pre-order form for Elite 4, listed as scheduled for release in September 2006. [5] However, Frontier Developments informed a fansite that play.com's release date was merely speculation on their behalf and that no release date had been formally given. [6] Elite fans have, at least, taken some joy that this incident and Frontier Development's response implies the game is still in serious production.

Jazz Jackrabbit 3

The awaited sequel for Epic Games' popular platform-shooter Jazz Jackrabbit 2 was developed by World Tree Games using the new Unreal Engine at that time around 1999. Epic Games tried hard to find publishers but failed, and in May 2000 the project was canceled. Since then the early alpha build of the game has been leaked onto the Internet. Furthermore an unofficial FAQ has been published on the internet on the developers' behalf on Jazz2Online.com.

However, a potential revival of the game is under planning. Cliff Bleszinski has announced that he's still interested in offering the project for sponsoring by publishers. Although he doesn't want to reveal too many details about the game, he has announced a potential idea could be the hero Jazz Jackrabbit getting in trouble with the Turtle Mafia.

Shenmue III

This game has been in developmental Hell since the fall of the Dreamcast in 2002. The series has suffered the same fate. It is one of the few games in developmental hell to be a direct story-driven sequel in which the previous installment (Shenmue 2) left the player with the story unfinished (ie: "to be continued"). Sega has made little mention of this sequel, as it was originally planned on the Xbox and industry focus has shifted to the Xbox 360.

Skies of Arcadia 2

Since Sega announced a development plan in 2003 for PS2...there was an under the radar ancipition for it coming out. Some speculation says it would be in development for Wii, because Skies of Arcadia Legends came out for Gamecube.

Games still in production

Fallout 3

An early version of Fallout 3 codenamed Van Buren was developed by Black Isle Studios in 2003. After Interplay Entertainment, the publisher of the Fallout game series and owner of Black Isle, declared bankruptcy, Van Buren was canceled and the rights to Fallout 3 were sold to Bethesda Softworks, the creators of The Elder Scrolls series. No details emerged on the project until June 2007 when a teaser trailer was released.

Taikodom

After much hype and an open beta release, the game release was postponed, and the production re-started, nearly from scratch, after poor player reception.

Released games

Team Fortress 2

This game has been in development since 1998 and was released October 10 2007. After undergoing several drasticly different iterations, the game now closely resembles the original Team Fortress, but with significant modernizations, gameplay adjustments and a completely different art style. The game was finally released along with The Orange Box, a compilation including Half Life 2, its episodic expansions, and Portal.

Daikatana

The game, originally announced in March 1997, met with numerous delays and fracturing within development studio Ion Storm before finally being released in April 2000. The game has since been known as one of the major commercial failures of the computer game industry.

Prey

Prey has seen several attempts of complete rewrites starting in 1995, right after 3D Realms finished Rise of the Triad. The main developers always left for different reasons, with the self-made engines turning out to be troublesome [7]. The last incarnation by Human Head Studios with the licensed Doom 3 engine has been successful, releasing the game in 2006, eleven years later with positive reviews.

Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain

The game was originally called "Syphon Filter 4" and was announced around 2001. It was pushed back several times before its late disappointing release in 2004 for the Play Station 2.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was first announced in late 2001 and its original release date in 2003 was pushed back several times. It was released in March 2007.

Blizzard Entertainment

Main article: Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard has a somewhat infamous reputation for projects winding up in development hell, whether it is delivering a game 2 years later than intended, or simply cancelling development altogether. Every game released by the company since StarCraft has been released more than a year later than originally announced. In recent years Blizzard has stopped including release dates with announcements.

The gaming community seems to forgive this behaviour from this particular company because most are of the opinion that when the product is finally delivered it is generally of very high quality.

Automobiles

The term "development hell" has also been applied to automobiles - not to be mistaken as a term for concept cars, but for vehicles that either were being developed for production but never produced, or for vehicles which went through many delays before being produced.

Released

Note: Some models noted here were released into production but have been removed from production. These vehicles all went into mass production at some time.

Dodge Durango Hybrid

In 2000, DaimlerChrysler said that they started development on a hybrid version of the Dodge Durango, just after the release of the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius. Dodge claimed that it will have a conventional gas engine powering the rear wheels, and an electric motor powering the front wheels. Dodge originally claimed that it was to be released in 2003, but it never was. Instead, they released a redesigned Durango. The second-generation's hybrid version is slated to go on sale for the 2009 model year.

1998 Eagle Vision

When Chrysler set to redesign its LH cars, they redesigned the Eagle Vision using a nearly different body and components than the Dodge Intrepid and Chrysler Concorde. However, the Eagle Vision was discontinued in 1997, and the Eagle brand was cut in 1998, the same year that the new LH platform cars were released. As a result, the 1998 Eagle Vision fell into development hell, and sat unreleased. It escaped in 1999, when it was released as the Chrysler 300M.

Ford Mustang III

With fox bodied Mustang sales dropping, Ford decided to replace the rear-wheel drive Mustang with an aerodynamic front-wheel driven model. Ford jointly developed the model with Mazda. Ford planned to release it in 1987, but when it was ready for release, Ford was met with many letters of protest from Mustang fans. As a result, Ford continued production of the rear-wheel drive Mustang, and the Mustang III fell into development hell. The Mustang III escaped development hell in 1989, when it was released as the Probe (a named borrowed from an earlier Ford concept vehicle). The Probe proved largely unsuccessful (despite a redesign in 1994 with more power), and was cut by 1997 (with annual sales hovering around 50,000-60,000 units). The Mustang (in traditional RWD form) continues in production and has recently enjoyed a healthy sales increase thanks to major refresh (on the old platform) in 1994 and 1999, and a complete (retro-themed) redesign in 2005 on a new platform (still front engine, RWD).

Jeep Grand Cherokee

The Jeep Grand Cherokee was originally under development by American Motors as early as 1983 as a replacement for the Jeep Cherokee. Development was done by 1987, and when then Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca first heard about it, he desperately wanted it, as well as the Jeep brand. As a result, this became the driving force behind a Chrysler buyout of American Motors in 1987. Chrysler originally planned to release the Grand Cherokee in 1988, but Iacocca ordered instead for the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager to be redesigned, and as a result, Chrysler couldn't put the Grand Cherokee into production due to a lack of corporate funds. Because of this, the Grand Cherokee fell into development hell until it was finally released in 1993. The Grand Cherokee turned out to be a resounding success, and is still in production today.

Mercury Sable LTS

With the release of models such as the Buick LeSabre T-Type and the Oldsmobile Touring Sedan, Mercury was developing a luxury touring model to compete with them. This model was to be called the Mercury Sable LTS, and it was to use the suspension, interior, and drivetrain of the Ford Taurus SHO, but not the engine. As a test bed for this model, a special edition 50th anniversary Sable was released with the chassis and drivetrain of the LTS. However, the Taurus SHO turned out to sell more than Ford expected, so they focused most of their funds towards selling and marketing the SHO, and the LTS fell into development hell. The LTS escaped in 1994 when it was added as a top tier model of Sable. However, it was more or less composed of features that were optional on the Sable LS.

Vector W2

The Vector W2 was first displayed in 1978 by Vector Supercars, which was the effort of entrepreneur Gerald Wiegert to sell an American made supercar. The original W2 prototype was an engineless shell, but it was mobile and production-ready by 1982. Wiegert intended to produce the W2, but never had the money to do it. As a result, the W2 fell into development hell, until it was produced as the Vector W8 ten years later.

Permanently disbanded projects

Ford Ecostar

During the fad for electric vehicles in the nineties, Ford was developing an electric vehicle called the Ecostar, which was based off of the Ford Escort. Although Chrysler and General Motors released their electric vehicles to the public, the Chrysler TEVan and General Motors EV1, respectively, the Ecostar dropped out of public sight as Ford focused on other projects and still hasn't been released.

Ford GN-34

Ford began a project in the mid 1980s to build a 2 seater "fun car", which was to compete with the Pontiac Fiero and Toyota MR2. Ford had jointly developed an engine for this car with Yamaha, which they locked in a deal with to produce. However, by the late 80s, popularity for the "fun" cars decreased dramatically, and Ford abandoned the project. To use up the engines, Ford put them into the Ford Taurus, thus creating the high performance SHO model.

Role-Playing Games

Dragon Fist

After starting his own company, Green Ronin Publishing(GR), Chris Pramas announced that GR had been given (or purchased) back the rights to the wuxia-inspired Asian martial arts movies influenced AD&D add-on ruleset and campaign world that he originally wrote for TSR/Wizards of the Coast; and that GR would publish a new version of the game.

A forum was soon set up at the GR web site (www.greenronin.com) where speculation about which rule-set would be utilized soon arose. Several times during 2004-2006 GR made announcements regarding the game's progress or details regarding its form, but no game has of yet materialized.

Dragon Fist has had a troubled history right from the start. It came right in the transition between AD&D and the (then) new Third Edition rules. This meant that Dragon Fist was never published on paper. It did reach the general public as a free PDF download for a limited time, before it was removed from the WotC website.

Recently, it has fallen between chairs again, in the aftermath of Green Ronin's troubles with a distributor, and because Green Ronin changed its plans for which ruleset to use.

As of 6 September 2006 the Dragon Fist forum at the Green Ronin website has been locked with the words: "As the game is currently still being developed, and because frankly there's nothing to say about it and this forum is currently only being occasionally used (and then only to complain) I'm locking it up for the time being. The Dragon Fist forum will re-open when there's information about the game that can be shared."

See also

• Shelved
• Film production
• Vaporware