Edgar Wright’s Unmade Movies, from ‘Ant-Man’ to a ‘Shaun of the Dead’ Sequel

Many, many directors have careers filled with passion projects that never got made, scripts that died in early development, or projects they were attached to briefly before departing. Edgar Wright has a lot of those misses in his back catalog, but the “Shaun of the Dead” and “Baby Driver” director can rest comfortably knowing that he’s in the company of greats like James Cameron, Quentin Tarantino, and Steven Spielberg.

Wright, most famously, almost made the leap from beloved indie director to superhero cinema in 2015, when he was attached to write and direct “Ant-Man” for Marvel Studios. Ultimately, Wright’s vision for the film didn’t match up with the demands of the MCU content machine, and he departed the project in 2014 due to creative differences. Peyton Reed replaced him, and Wright — who made his name directing cult British TV comedy “Spaced” and a string of well-received films like “Hot Fuzz” and “The World’s End” — went back to working on his own original ideas like “Baby Driver” and “Last Night in Soho.”

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Even beyond his experience with “Ant-Man” though, there are a lot of projects Wright had a hand in developing that largely ended up vaporware. The director has an intense love of film, so it’s perhaps not a surprise that he sometimes seems to want to make as many films as possible. At any point since breaking out with “Shaun of the Dead,” Wright’s been simultaneously attached to two or three movies or so, and inevitably, some of those don’t quite end up panning out.

Here’s a look at all of the films Wright was involved with but never filmed, and seem increasingly unlikely to ever get released. The director has a lot of potential films he’s been attached to over the years, so the list (for now) excludes projects announced relatively recently that still have a chance of materializing as a feature. That includes: “Set my Heart to Five,” a Focus Features and Working Title Films adaptation of author Simon Stephenson’s novel about an android dentist; a film version of Adrian McKinty’s novel “The Chain” for Universal Pictures; and a new film adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Running Man” for Paramount Pictures.

The list also includes movies that Wright was involved with but departed and eventually filmed under a different director — so yes, “Ant-Man” is included. Read on for the 10 movies Wright almost made but didn’t.

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