At any point in time, there are hundreds of films that are stuck in development for reasons that can range from having the perfect script to a studio simply wanting to wait on it. For whatever the reason, it has prevented some of the most anticipated films from getting made.
This can also happen because film studios buy the rights to the films and do not want to give them up so that one of their rivals can scoop it up and make it instead. Just because they are not prepared to make the film does not mean they want someone else to do it.
But some of these films wind up sitting on the shelves for so long, people give up on the idea that they will ever happen. Do you remember the first time you heard about a rumored Ghostbusters 3 sequel? What about Space Jam 2? Let's take a look at the 15 longest rumored films that were finally made, from shortest to longest time span, in years.
15 Top Gun: Maverick (10 Years, 2020)
Going back to 2010, Paramount Pictures started going around looking for someone to direct a Top Gun sequel and someone to write a script. The film did not really take off until 2017 when Tom Cruise revealed the film's title. It is set to be released this Summer and it could be just as big as the original.
14 Bad Boys For Life (12 Years, 2020)
Bad Boys 2 was one of the funniest action films ever. It also gave us a thirst for another film. However, Will Smith and the film's director, Michael Bay, had become members of Hollywood's elite so the cost to get them back would be an issue. It took 12 years but they finally were able to find the money to bring them back together for one more ride.
13 Super Troopers 2 (12 Years, 2018)
With one of the largest cult followings in movie history, a Super Troopers sequel was destined to happen eventually. The biggest issue was funding and Jay Chandrasekhar even tried to raise money for the film using Crowdsourcing. It took them until 2015 to finally get the greenlight for the sequel.
12 Jurassic World (14 Years, 2015)
Months before the release of Jurassic Park III, the rumors about a fourth film started when director Joe Johnston told a reporter there was a story idea in the works. The next 14 years would feature many roadblocks along the way until they finally landed the funding to make it happen in 2015.
11 Independence Day: Resurgence (15 Years, 2016)
Going all the way back to 2001, when the idea of a sequel to the hit summer blockbuster Independence Day first started, the world changed and the story got shelved. Over a decade later, with only a few returning characters, it arrived to a somewhat mixed audience.
10 Avatar 2 (15 Years, 2021)
Only James Cameron could have predicted that Avatar would become the number one film of all time. That kind of success can literally force anyone to create another film, just to feed off that success a little bit. It will be 15 years by the time it finally comes out next summer.
9 Mad Max: Fury Road (18 Years, 2015)
If there was ever a film that was worth waiting nearly 20 years for, it has got to be Mad Max: Fury Road. This film punched us all in the face with the use of sound editing and amazing action sequences to tell a story like we have never seen before.
8 Venom (21 Years, 2018)
Because of how dark the Venom storyline is, Marvel had to keep it on its own timeline and not really involve him with the Avengers or the MCU. He still lives inside the MCU, but we might never see him interacting with the other characters, and that is ok.
7 Dallas Buyers Club (21 Years, 2013)
Dallas Buyers Club started becoming a film after the death of Ron Woodroof, the person who the film is based on, back in 1992. Screenwriter Craig Borten actually met with and interviewed Ron just a month before his death. However, it took another 21 years to get the funding from the studios.
6 Watchmen (23 Years, 2009)
Movie producer Lawrence Gordon loved the comic book Watchmen so much that he acquired the film rights for 20th Century Fox back in 1986. But since superhero films were simply not the thing back then, this one took a backseat to various other projects until it finally happened in 2009.
5 Space Jam 2 (24 Years, 2021)
The original idea for a Space Jam sequel started in 1997 and most likely would have happened if Michael Jordan signed on to do it. When he declined, it fell apart and sat around gathering dust until Warner Bros. Pictures got LeBron James to do it and now we will get to finally enjoy the sequel we have been wanting for decades.
4 Sonic The Hedgehog (26 Years, 2020)
Once they started turning video games into motion pictures, the demand for a Sonic the Hedgehog film began. The reason it took 26 years for it to happen was a combination of funding and script. They could never get them both together at the same time, until in 2019.
3 Beverly Hills Cop 4 (27 Years, 2021)
After becoming a hermit crab the last few years, Eddie Murphy has finally returned to the spotlight, and it has been an amazing comeback for one of the funniest actors in Hollywood. Netflix has gotten in on the action and is funding the film to be finally released in 2021.
2 Ghostbusters 3 (28 Years, 2016)
When a film is so successful that it spawns a sequel, which also becomes a massive hit, then a third film will almost always be rumored. Ghostbusters 3 had become one of those films we thought would never happen, but after almost 30 years of waiting, we got an all-female cast that did a great job of passing the torch along.
1 Indiana Jones 5 (44 Years, 2021)
The reason that Indiana Jones 5 earns the top spot on our list is because it took them 44 years to make it. Originally, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg signed a five picture deal with Paramount Pictures and it took them more than four decades to finally get it finalized.
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