20 films that took the longest to finish

1. Schindler’s List

This famous movie took a decade to cross over from conception to fruition. Steven Spielberg first came to know about Oskar Schindler in 1983. One of the children saved by Schindler, Poldek Pfefferberg, met Steven that year. Steven asked directors like Scorsese if they were interested in making it. But in 1993, Steven decided that he would make it himself, as he was mature enough to direct it by then.

2. Boyhood

Richard Linklater took on the mammoth task of making a movie about a boy from his first grade till his high school graduation. Boyhood began filming in 2002 and would film a few weeks each year. Linklater also decided to make the whole film on 35mm so that there was no discontinuity in the film’s look. The film finally released in 2014 and has been appreciated by audiences and critics alike.

3. The Flash

In 2013, a bunch of films were announced as DC Comics and Warner Bros. decided to launch their own cinematic universe in competition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The Flash was first mentioned during the time, along with other films like Aquaman, Cyborg, and more. But constant controversies cancelled many projects. The Flash stuck around, and filming began in 2021 with director Andy Muschietti. It still took two years to make and release as Ezra Miller’s life was in the news.

4. Black Adam

The Black Adam movie hit the theaters in 2022 and had started shooting in 2021. However, the project had been in talks since 2007, before even the MCU itself started. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson had shared a screenshot of the first press coverage done for the film way back in November 2007. The film had gotten its script ready back in 2018, when finally, the project was able to take off in 2021.

5. A.I. Artificial Intelligence

The screenplay for A.I. Artificial Intelligence was authored in 1969 by Brian Aldiss, and Stanley Kubrick started his work on the story in the late 1970s. Plans for the movie became silent, and in around 1994, Kubrick requested Spielberg to film it, but Spielberg refused. Kubrick instead filmed Eyes Wide Shut because he was concerned that the film had too weak visual effects. When Kubrick died in 1999, Spielberg finally agreed to take up the project at Kubrick's wife's request. The movie was filmed and released in 2001.

6. The Up Documentaries

Similar to Boyhood, The Up Documentaries is about following people through their lifetime. Filmed for the British BBC, the movie tracked 20 children through their lives. With ten installments in total, some children unfortunately passed away, while others decided to not continue shooting. With ten out of the twenty children remaining, the last installment saw the ‘children’ now at the age of 63. The director, Michael Apted, died in 2021.

7. The Meg

The Meg was based on a 1997 novel by Steve Alten and remained in development hell for a long time before it came to the screen. When the book was released, Disney acquired the rights and got scripts ready, but things did not work. New Line Cinema tried next but cancelled due to budget constraints, and the rights went to the author. After another decade, the movie finally began filming in 2016 and was released in theatres in 2018.

8. Avatar: The Way of Water

The blockbuster release of Avatar meant that a sequel would soon be on its way. But director James Cameron is known for his passion towards technology. The perfectionist director took his time to release the next installment because he wanted to get the CGI look of underwater right, and Avatar: The Way of Water’s pre-production and production were delayed several times. Cameron was ready with the scripts, though, and filming finally began in 2017 and was released in 2022.

9. Avatar

Like its sequel, even the first installment took its own sweet time to come to the screen. Avatar was first worked on by Cameron in 1994 and was to be filmed after Titanic. But things did not work out due to limitations of technology. Cameron decided to wait to perfect his vision, and the movie revived in 2006. Filming began in 2007 when James was satisfied with the technology, and the superhit movie hit theaters in 2009.

10. Alita: Battle Angel

Alita: Battle Angel is based on a manga by Yukito Kishiro; it was in development for more than a decade. In 2003, James Cameron said he would love to make the film, but he already was busy with the Dark Angel series. In 2005, Cameron was too busy with the making of Avatar. As the director kept getting distracted by other projects, he decided to let director Robert Rodriguez take the film, and shooting began in 2016. The film released in 2019.

11. Eraserhead

Eraserhead was the feature-length debut movie of director David Lynch, and from the first movie itself, Lynch had a distinct style that he wanted to express on the screen. Due to financial constraints, the film got postponed for many years and finally was produced with the aid of the American Film Institute. A total of six years were taken to make this film ready, and it finally reached the cinemas in 1977.

12. The Thief and the Cobbler

Animator Richard Williams had conceptualized The Thief and the Cobbler back in 1964. But it took over three decades to lift it off the ground. It was only after the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit that Warner Bros. decided to finance the movie. Unfortunately, the film could not stick to budget and went behind schedule. After Williams’ ousting, an unfinished version was released in 1993.

13. Mad Max: Fury Road

It was in 1987 when director George Miller first conceptualized Mad Max: Fury Road. However, it took nearly three decades for the movie to be brought back. The movie started its production period in the early 2000s, but it was put on hold due to the 9/11 attacks and Mel Gibson's recasting. Miller shifted his attention towards a Mad Max prequel, which led to more postponements. Finally, after 2012, it was filmed with Tom Hardy headlining, and finally it was released in 2015 after three years in post-production.

14. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

Terry Gilliam first worked on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in 1989, but he took a decade to get funds. Shooting started in 2000 with Johnny Depp as the lead, but due to flooding and continuous financial struggles, the movie was halted. The movie tried to restart production but kept lingering. Gillian said he required 16 million euros to fund his project. The film began shooting with Adam Driver in the lead, and it was released in 2018.

15. The Other Side of the Wind

The Other Side of the Wind first shot in 1970 with Orson Welles sitting in the director's chair. The principal photography went on and off for six years with financial issues and was left uncompleted when Welles died. Other people attempted to finish the film, but the project got stuck. Finally, in 2016, Netflix came out and decided to make a release of the film along with a documentary about its troubled shooting. The film was released in 2018 after 48 years.

16. Gangs of New York

Based on a book by Herbert Asbury, Gangs of New York was first considered for an adaptation by Martin Scorsese in 1970. But the director had trouble getting it financed as he was not famous then. Scorsese got the rights to the book in 1979, but it was only twenty years afterwards that he got the finances from Miramax. The film was finally released in 2002 and was an instant hit.

17. Megalopolis

Francis Ford Coppola first thought of Megalopolis in 1977 but took a break from filmmaking after some unsuccessful releases. Finally in 2019, he decided to come back with this humongous project and even financed it himself. The movie was marred by tragedy as controversies and experiments hit the production, and last-minute improvisations were added to the script. The movie, which revolves around an architect’s rebuilding of Rome, was released in 2024 after almost 47 years since its conception.

18. Cronos

Guillermo del Toro’s horror movie, Cronos, had a tough history as it faced many problems and took eight years to get going. Due to his perfectionism, Toro went over budget and behind schedule. The movie was finally released in 1992 after Toro decided to take out loans and cut Ron Perlman’s pay. The reason for the difficulty in raising funds was due to Toro’s inexperience at the time and the movie’s complicated nature.

19. Roar

The movie Roar was conceived by Tippi Hedren and her husband, Noel Marshall, when they saw lions on a trip to Africa. But the duo found it difficult to rent lions and began to raise them on their own. The movie took five years for photography plus four years with production. On set, a flood delayed the shoot and tragically killed a few lions. The movie also lost footage. After eleven years, the film finally saw the light of day in 1981.

20. Sleeping Beauty

The script for the popular Walt Disney movie, Sleeping Beauty, started in 1951 but went through multiple rewrites that delayed the process. Further, the movie took a while to complete because of its tiring animation process. The movie was first recorded using actual actors in costumes and then animated by animators, who used the recording as models for their drawings. The movie finally released in 1959 to instant success.