While a production period of a few years can be expected for a feature film, some movies have taken a shockingly long time to finally be released. In some instances, directors have spent decades developing projects, and financial issues or other concerns have meant that highly anticipated movies lay in development hell for extended periods before they, at last, see the light of day. Other times, filmmakers have even passed away before they could complete their projects, and years later, the movie’s completion gets overseen by other directors or production companies.
Some of the best directors ever have taken extended periods of time to finally release long-awaited movies. While it’s rarely the intention to have a production stretch out across several decades, the fact that these movies were all eventually released showcased the firm commitment of filmmakers and creatives to their art and work. While not every long-gestating film turned out to be a masterpiece, all of these movies have something special to offer and have gained a place in the complex history of cinema.
10 Eraserhead (1977)
Eraserhead took six years to make
While most low-budget first-time directors will shoot their debut movie over the course of a couple of weeks, David Lynch never did things the ordinary way. Eraserhead was Lynch’s feature-length directional debut that signaled his transition from a painter into a fully-fledged filmmaker, and right out the gate, he had already formed his distinctive surrealist style of moviemaking. However, the production of Eraserhead was not straightforward, and due to budgetary issues, the film was delayed for many years (via AFI.)
Eraserhead was produced with the assistance of the American Film Institute, although with just a twenty-page script, the institute assumed they had green-lit a short film and not the 89-minute avant-garde experimentation it became. Lynch’s frequent collaborator Jack Nance was cast as the lead in 1971, meaning he had to maintain Henry Spencer’s signature outrageous haircut for several years. However, despite taking so long to be completed, Lynch was just 31 years old when production wrapped and had plenty more time to continue developing his strange and idiosyncratic style.
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David Lynch’s Eraserhead is a surrealist horror movie where Henry Spencer, played by Jack Nance, deals with the terrifying challenges of fatherhood, including caring for his deformed child. Released in 1977, the black-and-white film has sparked many discussions about its meaning and themes.
Director David Lynch Release Date March 19, 1977 Writers David Lynch Cast Jack Nance Runtime 89minutes Budget $100,000 Expand
9 Boyhood (2014)
Boyhood took 12 years to make
While there’s nothing unusual about movies that take place across long stretches of time, it’s practically unheard of to actually wait for the actors to age so that this can be filmed. However, director Richard Linklater didn’t let silly restrictions like the passage of time stop him from telling the story of Mason Evans Jr.’s journey from six years old to adulthood in Boyhood. Instead, Ellar Coltrane was cast in the lead role when he was just a child, and the film was shot for a few weeks every summer for 12 years (via BBC).
Boyhood was a major success that showcased adolescence in a way never previously depicted on screen. As viewers watched Mason age in real-time, the emotional impact of Boyhood’s narrative became even grander as he struggled with the consequences of his parents’ divorce, an abusive stepfather, and the challenges of growing up. Boyhood was a deeply compelling movie that worked so well thanks to the intense commitment of everyone involved in it.
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Directed by Richard Linklater, Boyhood depicts the childhood and adolescence of Mason Evans Jr., a young man from Texas whose coming-of-age during the mid-2000s is the main focus of the film. Linklater shot the film over the course of 12 years, chronicling Mason’s childhood in time with the growth of his actor, Ellar Coltrane. Besides Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, and Lorelei Linklater also star.
Director Richard Linklater Release Date June 5, 2014 Studio(s) Universal Pictures Distributor(s) Universal Pictures Writers Richard Linklater Cast Ellar Coltrane , Patricia Arquette , Ethan Hawke , Elijah Smith , Lorelei Linklater , Steven Chester Prince Runtime 163minutes Budget $4 million Expand
8 Avatar (2009)
Avatar took 15 years to make
James Cameron first began working on Avatar in 1994 and planned to start filming the movie after he wrapped production on Titanic in 1997. However, things didn’t quite pan out this way as technology had not reached a point to fully express Cameron’s vision, and he decided that he would wait until the movie could be fully realized before officially starting production. This provided more time to develop the Na’vi language and ensure that Pandora’s sci-fi story was as rich and fleshed out as possible.
It was not until 2006 that Avatar started to look like a real possibility, and actors like Sigourney Weaver were cast. By 2007, 13 years after Cameron first wrote the treatment for Avatar, the technology had caught up with his intentions, and filming at last began. Then, when Avatar was finally released in 2009, it became a worldwide sensation, a box office smash, and the highest-grossing film of all time.
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Avatar is a sci-fi action/adventure film created by James Cameron and released in 2009. Set in the fictional world of Pandora in the distant future, humans seek a rare mineral found on the planet but find a race of highly-intelligent beings directly in their mining path. To attempt to communicate and work with them, scientists create body replicas called “avatars,” and one man will change the destiny of both races using an avatar of his own.
Director James Cameron Release Date December 18, 2009 Studio(s) 20th Century Fox , Lightstorm Entertainment , Dune Entertainment , Ingenious Film Partners Distributor(s) 20th Century Fox Writers James Cameron Cast Sam Worthington , Zoe Saldana , Sigourney Weaver , Stephen Lang , Joel David Moore , Giovanni Ribisi Runtime 162 minutes Franchise(s) Avatar Sequel(s) Avatar: The Way of Water , Avatar: Fire and Ash , Avatar 4 , Avatar 5 Budget $237 Million Main Genre Action Expand
7 The Thief And The Cobbler (1993)
The Thief and the Cobbler took 29 years to make
The Canadian animator Richard Williams intended for The Thief and the Cobbler to be a major new milestone in the world of animation. Although this ambitious project was first devised in 1964, it took Williams nearly three decades to bring his passion project to fruition. This meant that Williams spent those years also working on other movies, and it was only after the incredible success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit that Warner Bros agreed to finance and distribute the film (via Culture Cartel.)
Williams developed his script and the characters for The Thief and the Cobbler throughout the 1970s and, during the 1980s, was gathering finances for the movie. With early footage that impressed Steven Spielberg, the early versions of The Thief led to Williams working on Roger Rabbit with Robert Zemeckis. Sadly, The Thief went over budget and fell behind schedule, leading to Williams being pushed out of his own production, and a disappointing unfinished version was released to negative reviews in 1993.
6 A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence took 24 years to make
The legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick first considered adapting the 1969 short story “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” by Brian Aldiss back in 1977. Reportedly, Kubrick saw Star Wars and, although he didn’t care for the film, recognized its commercial potential (via The Ringer) and sought to make something that could be just as successful. Conceived as a “picaresque robot version of Pinocchio,” the movie became A.I. Artificial Intelligence was Kubrick’s long-term goal, although he was unable to complete it before his death in 1999.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence had already entered pre-production by 1994, although it was put on hold for Kubrick to finish his film Eyes Wide Shut. Following Kubrick’s death, Steven Spielberg took over the production, and A.I. was released to critical acclaim in 2001. While Spielberg’s version was a powerful and heartwarming story, the idea of how Kubrick’s darker and far-less sentimental sensibilities would influence his unmade version became one of the great what-ifs of Hollywood.
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A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become “real” so that he can regain the love of his human mother.
Director Steven Spielberg Release Date June 29, 2001 Studio(s) Warner Bros. Pictures , DreamWorks Pictures , Amblin Entertainment , Stanley Kubrick Productions Writers Steven Spielberg Cast Haley Joel Osment , Jude Law , Frances O’Connor , Sam Robards , jake thomas Runtime 146 Minutes Budget 100000000 Main Genre Drama Expand
5 Mad Max: Fury Road
Mad Max: Fury Road took 28 years to make
George Miller first came up with the idea for Mad Max: Fury Road in 1987, but it would be 28 years before the film was finally released. Originally intended as a direct sequel to Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, had things gone according to plan, Mel Gibson would have reprised his role as the title character he had already played in three movies. It was 1998 before Miller further developed his idea, and it was not until the early 2000s that it was set to enter production.
However, the production stalled following the attacks on September 11, 2001 (via Time Out), and by the time Miller returned to the project, Gibson’s career had become highly controversial, and he needed to be recast. Miller then started developing a Mad Max prequel subtitled Furiosa, which, at one point, he considered filming back-to-back, which further delayed the production. Finally, by 2012, Tom Hardy had been cast in the lead role, and filming commenced, yet it still took three years for post-production to finally be completed, and Fury Road was released to widespread acclaim.
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Mad Max: Fury Road is the fourth film in George Miller’s long-running sci-fi franchise, with Tom Hardy starring as Max Rockstansky, a vagabond who lives on the road in an apocalyptic wasteland. When Max comes across a cult group that keeps its people in fear and under control with a monopoly on water and other crucial supplies, he joins up with Imperator Furiosa, a warrior woman leading a rebellion against the cult’s leader, Immortan Joe.
Director George Miller Release Date May 14, 2015 Studio(s) Village Roadshow Pictures , RatPac-Dune Entertainment , Kennedy Miller Mitchell Distributor(s) Warner Bros. Pictures Writers George Miller , Brendan McCarthy , Nick Lathouris Cast Tom Hardy , Charlize Theron , Nicholas Hoult , Zoe Kravitz , Hugh Keays-Byrne , Riley Keough , Courtney Eaton , Abbey Lee , Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Runtime 120 Minutes Franchise(s) Mad Max Sequel(s) Mad Max: The Wasteland prequel(s) Mad Max , Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior , Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome , Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Budget $154-185 Million Expand
4 The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote took 29 years to make
Movie lovers were delighted when Terry Gilliam’s long-gestation film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote was at least released in 2018. Gilliam first started working on the film as far back as 1989, but it took almost ten years for him to secure the funding needed, and shooting began in 2000. However, the story does not end there. Gilliam’s narrative about a 21st-century film producer thrown back in time would be halted due to flooding (via BFI), insurance issues, and significant financial difficulties.
With actors Jean Rochefort and Johnny Depp originally cast in leading roles, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote attempted to restart production throughout the 2000s but continued to undergo significant changes. It looked like this project would never be made as it lingered in development hell for decades, with Gilliam speaking in 2016 about needing a 16 million euro budget to finish it (via Libération.) However, the stars eventually aligned as Paulo Branco came on board as producer, Adam Driver was cast as the lead, and the long-awaited film was released in 2018.
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The Man Who Killed Don Quixote took just shy of three decades to make, with writer and director Terry Gilliam first starting work on the project in 1989. It tells the story of a film director named Toby, whose student short has a profound impact on an old Spanish cobbler and leads to the pair embarking on many epic adventures throughout history.
Director Terry Gilliam Release Date June 1, 2018 Studio(s) Amazon Studios Distributor(s) Amazon Studios , Warner Bros. Pictures Writers Terry Gilliam Cast Adam Driver , Jonathan Pryce , Stellan Skarsgård Runtime 113minutes Budget $16 million Expand
3 Gangs of New York (2002)
Gangs of New York took 32 years to make
While Martin Scorsese has plenty of unfinished projects, Gangs of New York was a decades-long gestating film that eventually saw the light of day. Based on Herbert Asbury’s book The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld, Scorsese first considered an adaptation as far back as 1970, but as a young director at the start of his career, he did not have the clout needed to get it financed. Instead, Scorsese spent the 1970s making some of that era’s best movies, like Mean Streets and Taxi Driver.
Scorsese managed to secure the screen rights to Asbury’s book in 1979, but it was still another 20 years before there was any significant movement on the project (via Independent.) In 1999, Scorsese partnered with Miramax and gained the approximately $100 million budget he needed (via The Numbers) and actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis were cast. Finally, Gangs of New York was released in 2002 to critical and audience acclaim, even gaining a nomination for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
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Gangs of New York, directed by Martin Scorsese, is a historical drama that explores the violent rivalries between immigrant groups in 19th-century New York City. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Amsterdam Vallon, who returns to the Five Points area seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, played by Daniel Day-Lewis. The film dramatizes the socio-political unrest in America during that era, highlighting issues like gang warfare and ethnic tension.
Director Martin Scorsese Release Date December 20, 2002 Writers Jay Cocks , Steven Zaillian , Kenneth Lonergan Cast Leonardo DiCaprio , Cameron Diaz , Daniel Day-Lewis , Jim Broadbent , John C. Reilly , Henry Thomas , Liam Neeson , Brendan Gleeson Runtime 167 Minutes Main Genre Drama Expand
2 Megalopolis (2024)
Megalopolis took 47 years to make
Image via Lionsgate
Although director Francis Ford Coppola was known for making some of the greatest movies of all time, like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, the later part of his career was less impressive. With embarrassing releases, like Jack, or box office failures, such as his last film Twixt, Coppola took a step back from filmmaking in recent years only to reemerge in 2019 with plans to finally make Megalopolis, a passion project that he first conceived as far back as 1977 (via Romberger.)
This ambitious, big-budget feature in an imagined modern United States where a visionary architect aimed to rebuild the metropolis of New Rome after a devastating disaster. Coppola self-funded Megalopolis himself with a staggering budget of $120 million for a controversial and experimental production categorized by improvisation and last-minute changes to the script. While Megalopolis was intended as Coppola’s swansong and masterpiece, reviews have been polarizing as viewers struggled to make sense of this hugely divisive film.
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Megalopolis, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is a visionary 2024 film exploring the ambitious dream of reconstructing New York City into a utopia, following a devastating disaster. The narrative delves into the clash between the architect’s utopian vision and the political and personal turmoil that ensues. With a star-studded cast, the film examines themes of ambition, power, and the human spirit’s resilience against the backdrop of a futuristic metropolis.
Director Francis Ford Coppola Writers Francis Ford Coppola Cast Adam Driver , Forest Whitaker , Nathalie Emmanuel , Jon Voight , Laurence Fishburne , Aubrey Plaza , Shia LaBeouf , Jason Schwartzman , Grace VanderWaal , Kathryn Hunter , Talia Shire , Dustin Hoffman , D. B. Sweeney , Giancarlo Esposito Runtime 138 Minutes Main Genre Drama Expand
1 The Other Side Of The Wind (2018)
The Other Side of the Wind took 48 years to make
Orson Welles first started filming The Other Side of the Wind in 1970, and it was intended to be his directional comeback as he attempted to prove his relevance amid the burgeoning New Hollywood movement. While filming took place on and off for six years, it would actually take 48 years for The Other Side of the Wind to see the light of day (via Collider.) This troubled production was plagued by financial, legal, and political complications, which meant it remained unfinished by the time of Welles’ death in 1985.
However, the story doesn’t end there, as many attempts were made to finish this long-awaited movie that utilized a film-within-a-film structure to tell the story of an aging director (John Huston.) Finally, in 2016, it was announced that Netflix had negotiated a deal to release The Other Side of the Wind and a documentary about its troubled history (via New York Times.) At last, the movie was released in 2018 to widespread acclaim, with many considering it to be Welles’ lost masterpiece.
Sources: AFI, BBC, Culture Cartel, The Ringer, Time Out, BFI, Libération, Independent, The Numbers, Romberger, Collider, New York Times