Tom Holland has finally given us our first look of him as Nathan Drake for the long-awaited film Uncharted.
In a posted shared on his Instagram on Thursday, we can see Holland kitted out in the familiar cargo pants combo just like the popular game franchise which was first released in 2007.
If you look closely the prominent ring, which in the game links to Nathan and the ancestor Sir Francis Drake, can even be seen.
The making of this film has not been without its troubles, however.
It’s been over 10 years since the game-turned-film has been in development with the film sifting through 7 directors!
But this is just the first of many films that have been stuck in development hell for elongated periods of time.
Whether it’s the constant movement between crews, scripts or even studios before it makes its way to production, films are often left in the void for so long they rarely end up eventually getting made.
If you’re still awaiting further film sequels for Dredd, Sherlock Holmes or The X Files we regret to inform you they are in fact stuck in development hell.
Some films, like Uncharted, do end up seeing the light of day in the end, and although some were definitely not worth the wait, sorry Sonic the Hedgehog, here are a few that lived up to our expectations and beyond.
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015)
Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
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Writer, director and producer George Miller re-acquired the rights to all future Mad Max films all the way back in 1995, so what happened?
According to Miller the ideas for a new instalment occurred to him in 1998.
He even went as far as setting up the project to begin shooting in 2001, however, after the 9/11 attacks economic constraints on the American dollar put the film at a standstill.
By 2003 a $100 million budget was agreed, and Gibson was to be recast but severe rainfall on location once again halted production.
A computer-animated version of the film was even considered but was subsequently abandoned.
Early 2010 finally saw to Tom Hardy as the title character with planned production due to begin November of that year.
However, with severely delayed principal photography filming finally wrapped on December 2012.
It would be another 3 years until we finally saw the film, but it was definitely worth the wait.
Mad Max: Fury Road grossed $375.2 million at the box office and received 10 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Director.
Don’t hold your breath for a sequel however, a prequel has been greenlit with Miller returning to direct and with Ana Taylor-Joy, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Chris Hemsworth set to star.
Fingers crossed we won’t have to wait anywhere near as long!
DEADPOOL (2016)
Credit: Marvel Studios
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So just how long was our favourite comedic superhero in development hell?
15 YEARS!
A film adaptation of Deadpool was first announced in 2000 with Marvel Entertainment set to co-produce, finance and distribute the film but it fell through.
2004 a new attempt was made with Ryan Reynolds himself interested to play the title role; he knew of the character after Deadpool refers to himself as Reynolds in the comics.
The film went through numerous writers and directors over the years, and you may even remember Reynold’s playing the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009.
Following on from the film’s initial success, there was a hunger to give the superhero his own film but it would not be until 2014 when Fox would give the film an official release date for 2016.
The consistent advocacy and determination from Reynolds are one of the main reasons the film was finally made, he had been fighting for a Deadpool standalone film for well over a decade.
The adaptation was met with ground-breaking reviews and became the 9th highest-grossing film of that year worldwide.
It also held the title as the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time until it was surpassed in 2019 by Joker.
Another successful sequel and a third in the works, it really was worth the wait.
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (2013)
Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
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It’s often unknown the long battle Dallas Buyers Club, based on the real-life of Ron Woodroof, had to go through in or to be made – it was stuck in development hell since the mid-’90s.
The first script was completed by 1996 with Columbia Pictures agreeing to buy the script, but an actual film adaptation was unable to secure the money needed to back it.
Re-works of the script took place over the years and by 2008 Ryan Gosling was reportedly attached to the film.
By the time Matthew McConaughey was set to play the title role in 2011, the script and rights had been passed around so many times it was uncertain whether it would even be a success despite such a well-known actor being attached to the production.
The film eventually made its debut and made $55.7 million against a $5 million budget!
Dallas Buyers Club went on to win 53 out of the 91 awards it was nominated for including Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor wins for both McConaughey and Leto.
AVATAR (2009)
Credit: Disney
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The revolutionary sci-fi powerhouse that is Avatar created by James Cameron introduced us to the planet Pandora and changed cinema forever.
However, we were originally set to be introduced to the Na’vi tribe all the way back in 1999!
Cameron planned to start shooting the flick after Titanic (imagine that!) but he feared technology was nowhere near as advanced enough to create the universe he had envisioned.
Basically, the development hell Avatar faced was actually self-imposed by the creator himself.
With the introduction of better motion-capture techniques and higher budgets becoming more of the norm, the film was finally released in 2009.
The film went on the make a whopping $2.79 billion at the box office making it the highest-grossing film of all time (before being knocked off the top spot to Avengers Endgame in 2019)
However, Cameron may not be completely out of the development hell many filmmakers have grown to know so well.
It was announced that there would be a total of 4 sequels with Avatar 5 allegedly concluding in 2028!
We aren’t too sure if this will definitely happen though, as Avatar 2 has had reports of so many delays we’ve lost count.
Here’s to another 4 Avatar films that will blow our minds.
It appears that as long as the filmmakers are persistent and the studio doesn’t drop funding, it may just be worth waiting it out for what will become some of our favourite films of all time.
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