I can think of a few movies that we were told were in the works, but which never materialized. Such as:
The Lord of the Rings - Part 2 of the Ralph Bakshi version.
Star Wars Episodes 7 - 9 - When ESB was in the works, George Lucas said there would be 9 films, the current middle trilogy, a prequel trilogy, and a final sequal trilogy. I can imagine all the book sequels etc. have supeceded any ability to carve out a fresh story line.
Casca the Eternal Mercenary - The endpaper of one of the books said, “Soon to be a Golan and Globus production”. I wonder if the similarity to Highlander is what put the kibosh on the whole schmiel.
Elric of Melnibone - This is a goofy one. In '91 or '92 I saw Blue Oyster Cult and when they finished playing “Black Blade”, Eric Bloom said, “Any Elric fans out there? In 1993 there will be, I can guarentee, an Elric movie”. Author Michael Moorcock did some collaberation with BOC, so they supposedly had the inside scoop. Not.
I can think of one more. Let’s see who’s the first to think of it.
There has been talk of “A Confederacy Of Dunces” being made into a movie for years, and I can honestly say that if this was actually ever attempted, it would doubtlessly be the biggest abortion Hollywood has ever attempted.
Timothy Zahn wrote several great stories for Star Wars that would be better-than-adequate for The Big Screen. Too bad King George is too much of an egomaniac.
The other movie we were promised but never given is Starship Troopers.
The first thing I thought of were two movies mentioned at the end of a movie. “Buckaroo Banzai” ended with a tease for “Buckaroo Banzai Against The World Crime League”. “Doc Savage” also teased with “Doc Savage: Arch Enemy of Evil”.
Speaking of Doc Savage, there was a rumor that Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to play him in 1999 or 2000. Another Arnold Schwarzenegger film that never got off the ground was an action film during the Crusades. And my favorite never developed film to star Arnold Schwarzenegger was Sgt Rock, as Sgt Rock. Think about that one for a second if you haven’t chuckled yet.
wiki "*The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn TreaderThe film will be released theatrically in Australia on December 9, 2010 and in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom on December 10, 2010…Ernie Malik, unit publicist for the film, confirmed[17] that filming began on July 27, 2009 on location in Queensland, Australia.[18] Filming took place at Warner Roadshow Studios in August and September 2009, with filming of exterior shots on board the ship at Cleveland Point in September 2009 and the Gold Coast Seaway. Additional shots were taken at The Southport School also located on the Gold Coast.[19
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But you’re right about the other "*New Line Cinema commissioned Hossein Amini to write a screenplay based on the second book in the trilogy, The Subtle Knife, potentially for release in late 2009, with the third book of the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass, to follow. However, New Line president Toby Emmerich stressed that production of the second and third films was dependent on the financial success of The Golden Compass.[80] When The Golden Compass did not meet expectations at the United States box office, the likelihood of a sequel was downplayed by New Line. …
In February 2008, Chris Weitz told The Daily Yomiuri that he still hoped for the sequels’ production: “at first it looked like we were down for the count because in the U.S. [the film] underperformed, but then internationally it performed [better] than expectations. So, a lot depends on Japan, frankly… I think if it does well enough here we’ll be in good shape for that”.[31] And though producer Deborah Forte expressed optimism that March that the sequels could be made, and that she intended to see them realized,[82] the studio decided against producing them, with The Independent speculating that December that the uncertain economic climate may have contributed to their cancellation.[83]
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Doc Savage: The Arch Enemy of Evil! announced at the end of *Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze * Some filming was apparently done, but the film never made it.
The sequel to “Roger Rabbit” was mentioned for years and never went anywhere.
I’m not sure if it was made public at the time, but the Beatles had planned to make a western.
I know of four films Stanley Kubrick that never happened. First, there’s his life long desire to make a film about Napoleon. He had planned on making a movie about the Holocaust, but he gave since the subject was too bleak. He handed “A.I.” to a lesser director. Finally, he had a desire to make a hardcore porn with major stars, but the closest he got was Eyes Wide Shut.
The Sword and the Sorcerer. It does appear that Tales of the Ancient Empire is being made, but Talon is not the main character as the Sword and the Sorcerer indicated.
At the end of the credits for Airplane 2 there was a promise that Airplane 3 would come soon. Cut to William Shatner “That’s just what they’re expecting us to do”
Back around 1970 there was a science fiction novel entitled Noah II by Roger Dixon. On the cover it said “Soon to be a Motion Picture”.
Still hasn’t happened.
I see the Doc Savage movie and the Sword and the Sorceror sequels have been mentioned. But, surprisingly, not Buckaroo Banzai against the World Crime League.
