The dark purgatory, known as development hell, refers to a frustrating state where a movie gets stuck in an endless process of script iterations, casting delays, swaps of directors and production companies, legal issues, and everything else that, to the fans’ frustration, prevents it from seeing the light of day. However, some lucky films manage to escape that abyss — only to flop in the box office and utterly disappoint the fans.

There are movies, like Deadpool, Watchmen, or Lord of the Rings, that, once finally released, delivered on everything they promised and were worth the long wait. Unfortunately, there are others that lost their identity somewhere along with the 100th re-write, ironically ended up being rushed, or lost the momentum and relevance. These five movies should have remained beautiful, unattainable dreams and never have escaped the development hell.

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Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

Independence Day 2016 sequel

When released in 1996, the action-packed, effects-laden sci-fi extravaganza that is Independence Day was a huge success both with critics and fans and became a classic of blockbuster cinema. The director’s Roland Emmerich original plan was to follow it with two sequels, which he intended to shoot back-to-back. However, they entered development hell and remained suspended until 2009. The new script intended to bring back the original cast, but the film’s lead, Will Smith, refused to return (reportedly demanding $50 million that the studio couldn’t afford), so the revised concept focused on the mix of the new and old characters.

Independence Day: Resurgence, featuring Liam Hemsworth, Jesse Usher, Bill Pullman, and Jeff Goldblum, had too many clichés, lacked the unapologetic cheesiness and charm of the original, and the wit and charisma of Will Smith (who was substituted by four-too-many lead characters). When it finally hit the cinemas in 2016, the movie bombed at the box office, suffered dreadful reviews, and killed any possibility of a sequel.

The Dark Tower (2017)

2017 adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower

Stephen King’s adaptations have always been a struggle for both writers and directors. While some of the results became modern classics, like Carrie and It, others, like Thinner and Graveyard Shift, were written off as awkward mistakes. The adaptation of the epic 8-book series of the same name, The Dark Tower, was an ambitious project. It was stuck in development hell for over ten years, with various filmmakers like J.J. Abrams and Ron Howard attached to it at some point and even a spin-off TV show canceled along the way.

In 2015, Sony finally announced that the movie was in the works. It was intended as the first installment in a multimedia franchise, which never happened due to the film’s critical and box office failure. While many fans believe that Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey did a great job portraying the lead character Roland and his nemesis, The Man in Black, the movie’s premise weakened it from the start. Instead of following the winning recipe of franchises like Harry Potter that used the traditional book-by-book adaptation format, The Dark Tower acted as a sequel to the series and tried (and failed) to compress King’s expansive fictional world and rich story into a single movie.

Catwoman (2004)

2004 Catwoman Batman spin-off

The massive success of Michelle Pfeiffer’s iconic performance of the notorious sexy cat burglar in Batman Returns created the perfect launchpad for a spin-off. While the lead actress, director Tim Burton, and writer Dan Waters originally wanted to make it a reality, Warner Bros. was not convinced with the new, decisively less family-friendly script and put the movie on hold, throwing it into the development hell. Eventually, Waters, Burton, and Pfeiffer jumped ship, allowing Halle Berry to step in as the lead actress and the music video maestro Pitof as director.

Catwoman strongly deviated from the source material and completely altered the main character, portraying her as Patience Phillips (rather than Selina Kyle), a graphic designer who worked for a cosmetics company run by an evil corporate overlord. Instead of being a burglar, she gets resurrected by a magical cat and develops catlike superpowers, similar to Spider-Man. Catwoman was a blatant critical and box office flop, scoring $20 million less than its production budget, and was nominated for 7 Razzie Awards, winning 4 (including Worst Picture).

Alien Vs. Predator (2004)

2004 franchise crossover Alien Vs. Predator

Attempting a franchise crossover is always a risk. On the one hand, it can potentially double the audience, attracting both fans’ camps. On the other, the crossover has to live up to double the expectations. While the big baddie face-off recipe has worked for the likes of Freddy Vs. Jason, it wasn’t the case for Alien Vs. Predator.

The idea of a crossover appeared in 1993, and with the success of the same-concept comic book and a buzz-generating Easter Egg showing an Alien skull in Predator 2, 20th Century Fox was ready to move on it. However, Alien’s lead Sigourney Weaver, as well as James Cameron and Ridley Scott, disliked the concept, and the studio put it on hold. The movie, finally released in 2004 and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, lacked the scale, effects, and originality and was criticized for not doing either of the legendary monsters justice. The released sequel, Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem, prompted an even worse response, leading to the studio separating the franchises again and releasing the prequels Predators and Prometheus instead.

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)

Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The iconic adventure trilogy seemed complete with 1989 The Last Crusade. But fans never stopped hoping for the return of the rugged archaeologist, and nearly 20 years later, Lucas and Spielberg came together once again to produce Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. In it, Indiana faced the Soviets during the Cold War while trying to return an artifact to a sacred temple in the Amazon. While the movie was an undeniable box office success (playing on the fans’ loyalty and decades-long anticipation), it was an overall critical failure that is still being referred to as one of the worst franchise installments ever made.

In 1993, George Lucas began working on the sequel’s concept, which, weirdly enough, featured aliens — the element that received much criticism from the fans and critics alike — from the very start. The project got stuck in development hell due to the endless re-writes, conflicting schedules, and both Ford’s and Spielberg’s reluctance to get on board. The finally released 2008 movie suffers from excessive CGI, over-the-top (even for Indi) plot devices — the scene with Jones hiding in a refrigerator to avoid being blasted by a nuclear explosion still makes most fans cringe — and a weak story. Worst of all, it turned Indi into a joke, a weary and cranky old man who is just tagging along for the ride with his greaser son. Still, with Indiana Jones 5 in the works, fans are hoping against all hope for the famed fedora-hatted adventurer to make a comeback he deserves.

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