Sometimes films spend so long in development hell that it feels like they’ll never get made, only for the stars to finally align and the movie to make it to theaters. While setbacks on a film production are common, there are certain movies that are continually stalled, and months turn into years, and sometimes even decades. However, the fact that the creatives behind these movies never lost faith is a testament to their belief in the project and that true determination and perseverance can have extraordinary results.

There are lots of famous instances of long-standing ion project off the ground. Although not every one of these movies did well at the box office or was a hit with critics, the fact that they were made at all is already incredibly impressive.

10 Alien Vs. Predator (2004)

In Development Hell: 14 Years

The crossover movie Alien vs. Predator took two all-time great horror franchises, Alien and Predator, and brought them together for a lackluster film that disappointed fans of both franchises. While the concept itself was great, the execution left a lot to be desired and did not live up to the great comic series that it was based on. Despite being a poor addition to both franchises, Alien vs. Predator had a long production history and was stuck in development hell for 14 years.

The first script for Alien vs. Predator was written by Peter Briggs back in 1990, and he successfully pitched it to 20th Century Fox in 1991. However, the company did not move forward with the film until 2002, and by that point, they decided they wanted a new script (via IGN.) Eventually, Event Horizon director Paul W. S. Anderson ed the film as director and writer, and it was at last released in 2004.

9 28 Years Later (2025)

In Development Hell: 17 Years

The third entry in the iconic zombie series, 28 Years Later, was first announced back in 2007, but the underperformance of 28 Weeks Later put these plans on hold (via Bloody Disgusting.) Instead, the film languished in development hell for years with sporadic updates from the original 28 Days Later director, Danny Boyle, and screenwriter Alex Garland. As time went on, the film felt increasingly unlikely, but interest in a sequel never went away, and in 2023, plans for Boyle, Garland, and the original star Cillian Murphy to reunite for a sequel were announced.

Not only was 28 Years Later confirmed to be happening (via Hollywood Reporter), but it was also set to be the first in a brand-new trilogy exploring the effects of the Rage Virus decades after it had collapsed society and turned everyday people into fast-moving zombies. Sadly, plans for Murphy to reprise his original role of Jim never came to fruition, but he remained onboard as an executive producer. With Jodie Comer as the new lead, 28 Years Later is set to be released on June 20, 2025.

8 Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

In Development Hell: 28 Years

The Mad Max franchise came from the mind of the Australian filmmaker George Miller, who envisioned a fourth film in the series way back in 1987; however, it would be 28 years before audiences finally got to see Mad Max: Fury Road. While this was originally intended as a sequel to Beyond Thunderdome with Mel Gibson reprising his role as Max, the film was continually delayed to the point that the lead character was recast.

While Miller planned to get Mad Max: Fury Road into production in the early 2000s, the attacks on September 11, 2001, meant the project was put on hold (via Time Out.) Add to this, Gibson had become embroiled in several Hollywood controversies in the years since Miller first conceived the sequel, and in 2012, he recast Tom Hardy in the role of Max. Even after filming had at last commenced, it still took three years for production to be completed, and Mad Max: Fury Road was released to widespread critical acclaim in 2015.

7 The Thief And The Cobbler (1993)

In Development Hell: 29 Years

The Thief and the Cobbler was an incredibly ambitious movie from Canadian animator Richard Williams, which he intended to serve as a new milestone in the world of animation. With plans for the film dating back to 1964, it took almost three decades for him to finally get the project made. In the intervening years, Williams built up his reputation working on films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and it was these successes that allowed him to secure funding (via Culture Cartel) and distribution through Warner Bros.

However, the story does not end there, as The Thief and the Cobbler went over budget and Williams fell behind schedule. This meant he was pushed out of the production of his own movie, and an unfinished version of the film was released to negative reviews in 1993. Williams was left so heartbroken by the whole fiasco that he has never even seen the theatrically released version of his own ion project.

6 Wicked (2024)

In Development Hell: 29 Years

While the 2003 stage musical Wicked is one of the most beloved shows ever put on Broadway, plans for a movie adaptation actually date back to 1995. As the show was based on The Wizard of Oz prequel novel by Gregory Maguire, Universal Pictures actually bought the rights to the novel back in the late 1990s. With the Broadway musical adaptation being a major hit, the question on everybody’s lips for years was when a movie version of the show was going to make it to the big screen.

Throughout the years, a Wicked movie went through many false starts, with talk of a made-for-TV movie adaptation and even a miniseries (via 7x7) being reported on in 2009. With a long development that was further delayed due to the onset of COVID-19, Wicked was at last released in 2024. With Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in the lead roles, Wicked was a major hit, and a part two, titled Wicked: For Good, is set for release in November 2025.

5 The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)

In Development Hell: 32 Years

Monty Python member Terry Gilliam has been behind plenty of cult classics like Brazil, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and 12 Monkeys, although one movie he struggled to get made was The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Gilliam first started developing the film back in 1989, but it would not be until 1998 that it finally entered production. However, these plans fell through after the set was plagued by floods (via BFI), and enough setbacks occurred that the film was cancelled altogether.

Gilliam attempted to restart production several times throughout the 2000s, and, after so many setbacks, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote started to earn a reputation as a cursed film. While it looked like this project would never be made, in 2016, Gilliam finally succeeded in getting production started again after Paulo Branco came on board as producer and Adam Driver was cast as the lead. After more than 30 years, Gilliam's take on Miguel de Cervantes’s classic novel was finally released in 2018.

4 The Irishman (2019)

In Development Hell: 35 years

The Irishman was the ninth collaboration between director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro, although the pair first came up with the idea decades before it was finally released. While The Irishman was an adaptation of the 2004 non-fiction book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt, Scorsese and De Niro had an idea for a movie about an aging hitman as far back as the 1980s, and it was only after reading Brandt’s book that the plans were revisited.

The Irishman entered the development stage back in 2007, although rewrites and setbacks meant Scorsese made Hugo, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Silence during the intervening years. At last, in 2017, filming actually started with an all-star cast including De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino in his one and only Scorsese movie. Through the use of de-aging technology, The Irishman told an epic gangster story across decades and stood out as a late-career triumph from Scorsese.

3 Barbie (2023)

In Development Hell: 40+ years

The iconic Mattel fashion doll was first introduced back in 1959, and it's wild that it took so long for a live-action Barbie movie to finally be made. While there were plenty of animated Barbie movies over the years, discussions about a live-action feature starring the titular toy began during the 1980s and went through many stages of development before finally making it to the screen. In 2016, comedian Amy Schumer was in talks to star in a Barbie movie (via EW), but the role eventually went to Margot Robbie with Greta Gerwig onboard as director.

Gerwig’s Barbie was a major hit with viewers, whose feminist underpinnings struck a chord with audiences worldwide. Add to this, the natural hype that developed due to Barbie’s release coinciding with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer led to the highly memeable cultural phenomenon known as Barbenheimer. With stars aligned perfectly for box office success, Barbie sured everyone’s wildest expectations and grossed nearly $1.5 billion (via Box Office Mojo) at the box office.

2 Megalopolis (2024)

In Development Hell: 47 Years

The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola conceived the idea for Megalopolis during the filming of Apocalypse Now in 1977 (via Movie Web.) With hundreds of pages of notes and script fragments, over the subsequent decades Coppola drew from political cartoons, historical subjects, and countless other sources to flesh out his plans for a futuristic Roman empire reimagining of modern America. While Coppola had several films considered among the greatest movies ever made, he saw Megalopolis as his magnum opus.

However, the lofty ambitions of Megalopolis meant it was always going to be an expensive movie to make, and as Coppola’s career went through downturns in the 1980s and 1990s, it was increasingly difficult for him to secure funding. In the end, Coppola decided to bet on himself and invest $120 million of his own money into getting the movie made. The results were a divisive film that flopped at the box office, with some saying it’s laughably bad but others claiming it stands out as one of Coppola’s most accomplished works.

1 John Carter (2012)

In Development Hell: 81 Years

While plenty of movies have languished in development hell for years or even decades, few have the troubled production history of John Carter. As the notorious Disney box office flop, not only was John Carter one of the biggest bombs in history, but it took 81 years for this Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptation to make it to the big screen. Based on the 1912 fantasy novel A Princess of Mars, Burroughs was first approached about making the movie that would become John Carter back in 1931.

These early plans to make A Princess of Mars movie never made it past the early stages as audiences reacted negatively to test footage. With a potential adaptation from stop-motion director Ray Harryhausen proposed in the late 1950s, and plans were reinvigorated during the 1980s to be a competitor to Star Wars, the film could never seem to get off the ground. When Disney finally managed to release John Carter in 2012, they invested over $300 million into the film, and it only grossed $284 million worldwide.

Sources: IGN, Bloody Disgusting, Hollywood Reporter, Time Out, Culture Cartel, 7x7, BFI, EW, Box Office Mojo, Movie Web