14 Movies that were stuck in development hell, from The Irishman to Chicken Run 2

The Woman in the Window arrived on Netflix in 2021, and it was a book adaptation a long time coming – the Amy Adams-led thriller has been in the making for nearly half a decade, stuck in what is known as "development hell." 

A movie (or a TV show or video game) that's stuck in development hell is one that's been trapped in development for an especially long time, often moving between different crews, scripts, or studios before it progresses to production – if it ever does. This kind of scenario is particularly common when movie studios buy the rights to books, video games, or comics. It's not a situation that's unique to The Woman in the Window, by any means.

Here are some recent releases that have spent years – and sometimes decades –lingering in development hell before they reached our screens.

By Emily Garbutt