The Hollywood filmmaking process is a complicated one. Typically, on average, a movie may start filming over the span of a month's time and when it's finished, it gets prepped to get released theatrically (or streaming, depending on the service and the studio) within a year's time. Not every movie can afford that luxury. Literally.
Often due to financial difficulties, some movies remain on the shelf for years at a time. And sometimes, the delay is more complicated than mere financial issues. Sometimes, the issues lie in production, lawsuits, disagreements between the studio and creators, or often just bad luck.
10 Margaret Took Six Years Due To Legal Battles
It might be surprising to see just how long it took this movie to come out considering that Margaret sports one of the more high-profile casts on the lists. Filmed in 2005, it stars Anna Paquin while she was still Rogue in the X-Men franchise, Matt Damon at the height of the Bourne franchise's success, and Mark Ruffalo during his Hollywood rom-com run.
What kept this movie out of theaters for so long was a legal battle between director Kenneth Lonergan and Fox Searchlight, who were reluctant to approve his three-hour runtime. This dispute sparked multiple lawsuits that weren't completed until 2014, although Fox Searchlight finally approved a 150-minute cut for a 2011 release.
9 The New Mutants Took Three Years Because Of Bad Luck
The New Mutants' pitfalls to get to the theater have been well-documented by now. The reasoning doesn't boil down to one particular reason, but instead, a bad case of continuous bad luck. Filming was completed in late 2017 and set for a 2018 release date until that date fell on the same time period that Deadpool 2 was coming out. It was pushed to 10 months later in 2019 until Fox decided releasing this X-Men spinoff around the same time as Dark Phoenix would be a bad idea.
Things got messier when Disney and Marvel Studios gained the rights of the X-Men franchise in the middle of all this, putting the movie's release in jeopardy again. Nonetheless, The New Mutants got a shiny new April 2020 release date, but since theaters worldwide closed a month earlier as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic, this delayed the movie again until August 28th.
8 Take Me Home Tonight Took Four Years Because Of Drugs
Take Me Home Tonight was something of a passion project for Topher Grace, who not only stars in it but also has an executive producer credit and wrote the story, while That '70s Show alumnus Jackie and Jeff Filgo wrote the screenplay.
This movie is a throwback to the '80s and there's a lot of cocaine use in this movie, which didn't sit well with Universal Pictures, which didn't know how to promote what was essentially a teen comedy when such a movie can't maintain a PG-13 rating. So the movie sat on the shelf until it was required by Relativity Media subsidiary Rogue, who bought the movie for $10 million and released it under an R-rating.
7 Accidental Love Took Seven Years Because Of Production Issues & A Name Change
When Accidental Love originally finished its production, it wasn't even called Accidental Love. The original title was Nailed and Nailed endured a tumultuous production from the start that included James Caan quitting due to creative differences, Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel walking out over nonpayment, the director walking out, and financial budget cuts. These budget cuts led to the 2008 production starting and stopping nearly 15 times.
Due to all the chaos and budget cuts, the studio that produced the movie went under before the movie's 2015 release once it was required by a different studio, prompting a name change.
6 Red Dawn Took Three Years Because Of China
One year before his Hollywood breakout in Thor as the title character, Chris Hemsworth starred in a remake of Red Dawn. Or, rather, filming on Red Dawn finished in 2009. The movie was set to release a year later in November, but MGM's financial struggles forced a delay in post-production.
In the meantime, word got out about the movie featuring a villainous portrayal of China, which did not sit well with the country in real life. Once the controversy threatened the movie from being released in China, time was taken in post-production to change the villains from Chinese to North Korean. These $1 million changes kept the movie out of theaters until 2012.
5 A Thousand Words Took Three Years Because Of A Studio Separation
Eddie Murphy first landed on the set of A Thousand Words in August of 2009 and after filming was over, a release date was set for 2009. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until the movie found itself in the middle of a studio separation where DreamWorks Pictures tried to break away from Viacom and Paramount Pictures.
The lengthy battle put A Thousand Words on the shelf, forcing reshoots in 2011 and a release in 2012. Judging by the fact this movie has a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and was a box office bomb, it doesn't look like it was worth the wait.
4 Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer Took Four Years Because Of The MPAA
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer has withstood the test of time as one of the most violent, disturbing movies to ever grace a big screen. This Michael Rooker vehicle was even more disturbing in 1985 when it first finished filming. The movie then premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival a year later and despite positive reviews, it struggled to find either a distributor or a vote of confidence from the MPAA, who refused to release it under an R-rating.
After spending an additional few years circulating at film festivals and sporting positive reviews from none other than Roger Ebert, the movie finally received a vote of confidence in 1990, albeit it was released under an X-rating.
3 Cabin In The Woods Took Two Years Because Of Finances & 3D
Chris Hemsworth must have had the worst luck around this time. While waiting for his Red Dawn vehicle to be released, he was waiting just as long to see Cabin in the Woods see the light of day. Initially, after filming ended in May 2009 for a February 2010 release date, it was delayed until January 2011 so that it could be converted into 3D, as 3D had become all the rage at the time. Blame Avatar.
Another delay commenced because of MGM's financial issues, similar to Red Dawn's situation. This lasted until the movie was finally picked up by Lionsgate in 2011, leading to a US release date in April 2012.
2 Fanboys Took Two Years Because Of A Cancer Subplot
The summer of 2007 saw Fanboys filming under its original script, focusing on a group of friends on a road trip to break into Skywalker Ranch circa 1999 to see The Phantom Menace early because one of their friends' cancer diagnosis wouldn't let him live long enough to see the theatrical release.
After filming was over, The Weinstein Company was suddenly reluctant to include the subplot, deeming it too depressing for a comedy. Director Kyle Newman was replaced and reshoots commenced to turn this into more of a buddy comedy surrounding buds who decided to break in on a drunken whim. When word circulated online about the cancer plot's exclusion, internet outrage commenced until The Weinsteins were compelled to bring back Newman to recut the movie to its original version within 36 hours. It was then quietly released in February 2009.
1 Camp Hell Was Delayed, Then Sued By Jesse Eisenberg
Though not much is known about why Camp Hell wasn't released until 2010 when it finished filming in 2007, it can be assumed it's simply because of the movie's small budget. However, more infamous than the delay is the movie's post-release lawsuit from Jesse Eisenberg.
During filming, Eisenberg agreed to show up to film one scene for a modest paycheck as a favor to a friend. Although he isn't in the movie for very long, posters released had Eisenberg's face plastered as if he was the main star. It also can't be coincidental that 2010 was also that year Eisenberg had his Oscar-nominated breakout in The Social Network. Eisenberg sued the studio for $3 million over falsely advertising his image.
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