Just because a horror movie is languishing in development hell, it doesn't mean the project is gone forever. For every At the Mountains of Madness (an H.P Lovecraft adaptation which Indiewire reports was once tied to Guillermo Del Toro), there are success stories like Freddy vs. Jason, a movie which was promised in the early '90s and finally saw the theaters in 2003, going on to make millions of dollars.
But once a project is released from development hell, there is no guarantee it will actually succeed. Sometimes a movie's reputation increases while fans await for its debut, leading to box office success, while other times momentum is lost, and audiences show their apathy by not showing up to the theaters.
Leprechaun: Origins (2014)
Starring WWE wrestler Hornswoggle, the 2014 Leprechaun: Origins is considered to be the worst film in the Leprechaun franchise.
Lionsgate wanted to make a seventh installment to the Leprechaun franchise, but the original star, Warwick Davis, decided to step away from the franchise. Public interest was low, causing no rush, and the sequel was axed and replaced with a reboot starring the WWE wrestler, Hornswoggle.
The X-Files: I Want To Believe (2008)
The X-Files: I Want to Believe premiered in 2008, six years after the series ended, and made $100 million less than the original X-Files movie, Fight The Future. Though it fared poorly at the box office and was critically panned, if the film had debuted in 2002, as originally discussed, there is a chance that it would have succeeded, considering the anticipation for an X-Files movie would have been higher.
What caused the delay? In 2004, Chris Carter told SFX Magazine, "Because it's a sequel, there are peculiar and specific kinds of negotiations that are holding us up. I think that there's an appetite for it, but I think that it's got to be good. People won't just go and see anything." With only making $21 million dollars during its stateside run, it seems like the audience has spoken.
Doom is a popular first-person shooter game, which sparked Hollywood's attention in the mid-90s after the release of the second game in the series. Id Software sold the film rights to Universal Pictures and Columbia Tristar, who then sold it to Warner Brothers, who lost the rights back to Universal.
When production finally began, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg were asked to help with the script, but they declined. While there is no doubt they would have elevated the script above the cliche plagued mess that went into production, Doom is still one of those actions movies that are so bad, they're good.
Trick R' Treat (2009)
The cult classic horror film Trick R' Treat sat on a shelf at Warner Brothers for two years before finally being released to the public. When it did debut, it was only shown at a limited number of film festivals before being sent straight to DVD. While this is usually a death knell for most movies, Trick R' Treat succeeded due to word of mouth.
The cause of this developmental hell has only been speculated. Producer Bryan Singer told IGN that Warner Brothers showed it to a test audience, who were expecting a movie resembling Saw and got something entirely different. Whatever the reason, despite its hellacious journey, DVD sales of the film provided a nice treat for Warner Brothers.
Happy Death Day (2017)
Happy Death Day was originally announced in 2007 under the working title Half to Death. A decade later, the film finally saw a release date and has since grossed $125 million.
"The movie got shut down and it just got stuck on a shelf, and I got so bummed out about it," said director Christopher Landon in a 2017 interview with Business Insider. Landon, who fell in love with the film's premise, continued pushing Happy Death Day whenever he could and Universal Pictures green-lit it for the 2007 release.
A 1989 Alien Vs. Predator comic book series initially started the hype train for a film about a battle between the 20th Century Fox heavyweights. Reports about a possible script being pitched surfaced in 1991, but the film company didn't move forward with production until 2002.
20th Century Fox's focus on 1997's Alien: Resurrection mostly caused the delay. Also, multiple rewrites to the film's script, as one version of the draft wanted to take the movie in a completely different direction by setting the film on Earth.
Alien 3 (1992)
After the massive success of the two films in the Alien franchise, Alien 3 seemed inevitable. After failing to secure the original Alien writer, Ridley Scott hired cyberpunk novelist William Gibson as the head writer. Gibson's 1987 script, which has achieved a cult-like status with fans, didn't meet the producer's expectations and they tossed it aside.
Finally, Fox decided to pass the torch to rookie film director David Fincher and the film was finally released in 1992. While Fincher told the Guardian that he hates Alien 3 more than the film's staunchest critic, the film's legacy has grown over the years, and some even rank it as the best movie in the Alien franchise.
Blair Witch (2016)
Blair Witch arrived in theaters in 2016, after seven years in development hell. The film's idea was first pitched to the original directors in 2009, with a script that was supposed to be a direct sequel to the first movie and even featured some of the original cast members. Lionsgate never approved the script and Blair Witch thus entered development hell.
Blair Witch finally was released to the masses and grossed $45 million after being made for $5 million. However, it was still considered a massive disappointment after the original movie made $250 million with a budget of only $60,000.
Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)
New Line and Paramount originally tried making a Freddy vs. Jason film in 1987, but never agreed on a script. Rumors about a battle between the two slashers began heating up again in 1993 when the final shot of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday teased a crossover.
New Line eventually secured the rights and the film escaped development hell in August 2003, earning $116 million, making it the highest-earning film in the Friday the 13th franchise and the second-highest earner for the Nightmare on Elm Street series.
It (2017)
It might be the highest-grossing horror film of all time, but there was once a time where the chances of it actually seeing the light of day seemed slim. After being optioned in 2009, not much was heard about the film until 2012, when director Cary Fukunaga signed on with Midsommar actor, Will Poulter, set to play Pennywise.
With a director and leading actor on board, filming was set to shoot in 2016, until Fukunaga abandoned the project, which he later told Variety was due to creative differences. New Lion regrouped and replaced the director and leading actor. The movie saw a September 2017 release date, where it made $123 million during its opening weekend.