What Do You Think of the Whole Concept of Development Hell In Cinema?

[BAYLOR]

You hear about a film project that you like ans its going to that gonna happen and suddenly, whoever in charge od the studio , or director or producer or lead across. bales from the project for what ever reason, takes it off production and it end up in the purgatory of Development Hell ,likely never to be seen again. How many potentially great film have been killed or ruined by being consigned to development hell ? I find the concept to be an affront to fans like me that want to see this films happen. and they don't happen because of studio stupidity an lack of vision or they have game plan if thing go wrong that derail the project.

Yes I know Im being silly , but I don't care.


Thoughts ?

 

[BAYLOR]

Back in the 1980's we were supposed to get a Childhoods End film . In one the science fiction magazine the showed washout appeared to be artist rendering of what the proposed film would look like and then , the film didn't. We were also supposed get a sequel to the 1951 film The Day The Earth Stood Still, thye even told what the story was going to be about and this film too, never happened. both likely never made it outside of development hell .

 

[Steve Harrison]

During my years of (unsuccessfully) trying to sell feature screenplays, I heard lots of stories about development hell. The most disturbing was studios apparently buying scripts or rights to works similar to movies that they had in production specifically to stop anyone else making them and competing with theirs.

I don't know about the timing regarding Childhood's End or the Stood Still sequel, but it would be interesting to know the producers involved and what other movies they were making around the same time...

 

[BAYLOR]

During my years of (unsuccessfully) trying to sell feature screenplays, I heard lots of stories about development hell. The most disturbing was studios apparently buying scripts or rights to works similar to movies that they had in production specifically to stop anyone else making them and competing with theirs.

I don't know about the timing regarding Childhood's End or the Stood Still sequel, but it would be interesting to know the producers involved and what other movies they were making around the same time...

Correction , In 1980 was a a proposer fe o- Miniseries adaptation of Childhoods End. a man by the name of Neil Adams did concept art, it never happened . In 1981 Fox studios brought in Ray Bradbury to to write sequel follow up to The Day the Earth Stood still , This one didn't get far either

I read this stuff 40 odd years ago.

 

[BAYLOR]

Ive also see an edition of Alfred Bests The Demolished Man which said soon to be a major motion picture the book cover art looked like something dome in late 1970's or 1980's . I had no idea any studio was ever contemplating a film adaptation of this one.

 

[Rodders]

I suspect that Developement Hell natural, especially as movie companies go bankrupt and take their IP's with them. I also think it is made a lot worse as there is so much money involved and lawyers want their cut.

 

[BAYLOR]

I suspect that Developement Hell natural, especially as movie companies go bankrupt and take their IP's with them. I also think it is made a lot worse as there is so much money involved and lawyers want their cut.

And the screenplay play for the film ends up languishing in the draw of an executive , never to see the light of day.

 

[BAYLOR]

Then there was Guillermo Del Toro's At the Mountains of Madness that we never got.

 

[KGeo777]

One of the most famous is THE DEVIL'S BROOD--which I think was planned as a Universal Monster rally prior to Son of Frankenstein.
It would have had Karloff's Monster and Lugosi's Dracula in the same film.

 

[BAYLOR]

One of the most famous is THE DEVIL'S BROOD--which I think was planned as a Universal Monster rally prior to Son of Frankenstein.
It would have had Karloff's Monster and Lugosi's Dracula in the same film.

Those two cinema titans in their most famous iconic roles ? That would have been epic and , a huge box office hit !

 

[KGeo777]

The tow hour titans tiger in their most famous role ? That would have been epic and , a huge box office hit !

I don't recall the specifics--there was a book that mentioned movies which never got made and this was one of them. I think the title was originally The Bride of Dracula and then it became The Devil's Brood which was used for the advertising of The House of Frankenstein.


This is the closet we gt to it:

 

[BAYLOR]

I don't recall the specifics--there was a book that mentioned movies which never got made and this was one of them. I think the title was originally The Bride of Dracula and then it became The Devil's Brood which was used for the advertising of The House of Frankenstein.


This is the closet we gt to it:

Ive see this one before.

They were both such great actors, legends !

 

[wazz]

In his book Bullsh** Jobs, which I finished recently, David Graeber gave a compelling argument for his belief that development hell in cinema is a product of bullsh**ization, the process of corporations incessantly adding layers and layers of unnecessary jobs and bureacracy. Thus where 70 years ago you might have had a fairly simple process of scriptwriter -> producer > board -> legal and then hey presto you make your movie, today each of those processes will be broken up to crazy degrees. The result is a whole subindustry looking to feed off the riches off the main industry of those whose jobs are ostensibly to make things more efficient and safe but actually just make it slower and more party to money influencing art in undue ways.

I'm glad that some studios and directors are relatively able to cut through that development hell. Dune was in development hell for ~10 years before Denis came along and said 'right, i'm making this movie, all you f***heads out of the room now, you're giving me the rights to the script and I'm bringing my people on board and you'll see the first one in ~5 years and it's going to be great so just stfu and keep paying everyone.'

 

[BAYLOR]

In his book Bullsh** Jobs, which I finished recently, David Graeber gave a compelling argument for his belief that development hell in cinema is a product of bullsh**ization, the process of corporations incessantly adding layers and layers of unnecessary jobs and bureacracy. Thus where 70 years ago you might have had a fairly simple process of scriptwriter -> producer > board -> legal and then hey presto you make your movie, today each of those processes will be broken up to crazy degrees. The result is a whole subindustry looking to feed off the riches off the main industry of those whose jobs are ostensibly to make things more efficient and safe but actually just make it slower and more party to money influencing art in undue ways.

I'm glad that some studios and directors are relatively able to cut through that development hell. Dune was in development hell for ~10 years before Denis came along and said 'right, i'm making this movie, all you f***heads out of the room now, you're giving me the rights to the script and I'm bringing my people on board and you'll see the first one in ~5 years and it's going to be great so just stfu and keep paying everyone.'

Rendezvous with Rama A project that never seems to happen.

 

[CupofJoe]

Neill Blomkamp’s Aliens follow on and Vincent Ward's Alien 3 are the ones for me...

 

[BAYLOR]

That for some the films that we've end up with, it's not always a bad thing.

 

[Foxbat]

There was talk a while back of a movie based on Stephen Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant books but this also seems to have slipped into development hell. I do remember one attempt and Lord Foul was going to be changed to Saturn.

I can’t find any recent news so it looks to be a dead duck.

I vaguely recalled an old thread here on the subject. Found it.

Covenant Movie

I think they mean Satan not Saturn....

www.sffchronicles.com

 

[BAYLOR]

There was talk a while back of a movie based on Stephen Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant books but this also seems to have slipped into development hell. I do remember one attempt and Lord Foul was going to be changed to Saturn.

I can’t find any recent news so it looks to be a dead duck.

I vaguely recalled an old thread here on the subject. Found it.

Covenant Movie

I think they mean Satan not Saturn....

www.sffchronicles.com

I don't want to see this as a film.

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

It seems that two primary factors of "production hell" are --
1. Lack of a complete script and
2. Perceived lack of commercial viability of the concept.

The more film festival panels I've seen and the more I've read the more aware I've become on how often scripts are incomplete or virtually non-existent when when films are green lighted.

As an example:
I saw a panel discussion with the person that did the Story Board work for Terminator: Genisys. He noted that the script was incredibly meager. He was given essentially free reign to "Create a cool way for the characters to get from here to there." That film was greenlighted without a script but with a commercially viable concept.

Megalopolis[a] is a 2024 American epic science fiction drama film written, directed, and produced by Francis Ford Coppola. (wikipedia) Accordin g to World of Reel the script had over 300 rewrites. It is a great example of how simply have a famous director and famous cast is not enough to sell tickets.

I am fascinated by Guillermo del Toro's "At the Mountains of Madness" project. It seems that del Toro hasn't bothered to write a tight script that anyone can read and visualize the great story. Of all of Lovecraft's stories this one seems ready for a psychological horror / action film with no more changes to the base story than Peter Jackson did to Tolkien -- though it might require Hobbit level of changes. Though the ATMOM film, when produced should be a tight 90 minutes.

Here is my question for the group:

Has any film that languished in production hell for years been a commercial success when finally completed?

 

[BAYLOR]

It seems that two primary factors of "production hell" are --
1. Lack of a complete script and
2. Perceived lack of commercial viability of the concept.

The more film festival panels I've seen and the more I've read the more aware I've become on how often scripts are incomplete or virtually non-existent when when films are green lighted.

As an example:
I saw a panel discussion with the person that did the Story Board work for Terminator: Genisys. He noted that the script was incredibly meager. He was given essentially free reign to "Create a cool way for the characters to get from here to there." That film was greenlighted without a script but with a commercially viable

It wasn't bad film. I thought the concept of alt times here was interesting and unlike other installments in the series Arnolds Terminator character Pops got to live , I like that.

concept.

Megalopolis[a] is a 2024 American epic science fiction drama film written, directed, and produced by Francis Ford Coppola. (wikipedia) Accordin g to World of Reel the script had over 300 rewrites. It is a great example of how simply have a famous director and famous cast is not enough to sell tickets.

When a film lots of rewriters , this tends to not bode well for the final product . In this case the film flopped .

I am fascinated by Guillermo del Toro's "At the Mountains of Madness" project. It seems that del Toro hasn't bothered to write a tight script that anyone can read and visualize the great story. Of all of Lovecraft's stories this one seems ready for a psychological horror / action film with no more changes to the base story than Peter Jackson did to Tolkien -- though it might require Hobbit level of changes. Though the ATMOM film, when produced should be a tight 90 minutes.

Id still liked have seen Del Toros take At The Mountains of Madness.

Here is my question for the group:

Has any film that languished in production hell for years been a commercial success when finally completed?

A good question I wonder what the answer is to this one is? I'd like to know .