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The following is a list of unproduced James Gunn projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American film director James Gunn has worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these productions fell in development hell or were cancelled. [1] [2]
In the late 1990s, Gunn and Charlie Kaufman attempted to make a film adaptation of the 1960s television series Gilligan's Island , but as a cannibal film. Although the project was supported by Warner Bros., the film was never made because Sherwood Schwartz, who created the show, disapproved. [3] [4] [5]
In 1999, an executive from 20th Century Fox offered to hire Gunn to write and direct a film about the Marvel Comics superhero Silver Surfer. [1]
Also in 1999, Gunn wrote an unproduced screenplay adaptation of Spy vs. Spy . According to Gunn, Jay Roach was to have directed and Nicolas Cage and Eddie Murphy were to have starred. [6] [7]
While much is not known about this project or how far it got, Gunn pitched a basic idea back in the early 2000s where Matthew Lillard would have starred as the titular, wise cracking hero. [8]
In a 2002 interview with IGN, Gunn revealed that one of his next projects was a script called The Newlyweds for Warner Bros., [9] which ultimately was not produced.
Gunn also revealed that he and Tromeo and Juliet composer Willie Wisely were working on a stage musical called Pure. Gunn described said project as "a love story revolving around a guy who kills and tortures people because he thinks it helps him write and draw better children's books." [9] While it was conceived for the stage, Gunn did eventually write a draft of it as a feature film in 2011.
Gunn was to have helmed Scooby-Doo 3, which would have been the third film of Scooby-Doo (2002). However, due to the critical and financial failure of Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), Warner Bros. cancelled the project. [2]
In 2004, Gunn pitched to Universal Pictures his screenplay that was intended to be a remake of the 1954 film Creature from the Black Lagoon , but the studio turned down the pitch. [2]
While promoting his film Slither (2006), Gunn revealed to IGN that he was in the process of writing a "much darker" movie about Satan. "I feel good about it," he said of the project at the time. "I think it's something special. [Slither] is really a call back to the '80s films and I think what I'm doing now, it's kind of its own thing." [10]
In 2007, it was reported that Gunn was to write and direct a comedy film for New Regency titled Pets, with Ben Stiller serving as one of the producers. [1] [11] Gunn left the project due to creative differences. [1] [12]
Larry Cohen said in a 2017 interview that Gunn had approached him for permission to make a remake of his 1974 film It's Alive . According to Cohen, Gunn "couldn't raise enough money to buy the rights. I'm sorry today I didn't give them to him." [13]
On August 31, 2017, Gunn was set to direct and co-write a dramatic continuation of Starsky & Hutch with his brother Brian & cousin Mark Gunn as co-writers for Prime Video. [14] On July 24, 2018, an Amazon Studios spokesperson revealed on Yahoo! Finance that the series was cancelled months before Gunn was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 . [15]
In August 2017, Gunn said that he was in talks with Marvel Studios to make a Ravagers spinoff series. [16] [17]
In September 2017, Gunn said he would continue to work with Marvel Studios on projects that use the Guardians of the Galaxy. [18] In 2021, actor Dave Bautista revealed that a film that Gunn "really wanted to do [was] a Drax and Mantis film." However, no follow-up was heard from the studio, so the idea was likely scrapped. [19] These characters did get to later be featured in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special .
In 2021, Gunn stated that he had ideas for a potential sequel to his film The Suicide Squad . [20] In 2022, Gunn said there had been discussions about a sequel and he was considering it for his next feature film but his focus was on television for the foreseeable future following his positive experience making Peacemaker . [21] The following June, Gunn said there would not be a sequel. [22]
