Those who have grown up with the Percy Jackson book series might think that this new teaser trailer for the upcoming Disney+ show feels familiar. And that’s really the highest compliment you can pay an adaptation. So far, we’ve seen brief glimpses of the mythology-based series, but this is the first time we’re getting a good look at how the story will come to life. This new trailer for Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians finally introduces us to the adventure and, integrally, the quest that awaits us in the show. Percy Jackson may not have wanted to be a half-blood, but we sure can’t wait for his story to find its way back to our screens.

The Percy Jackson Series’ Plottiest Teaser Trailer Yet

It’s hard out there for a half-blood. There are bad grades, bullies, all the normal stuff, and then there’s your teacher turning into a monster in front of your eyes. But that’s just life when your father is a god of Olympus. And not only that one of the Big Three, to boot. But, as Grover tells us in this teaser trailer for Percy Jackson & the Olympians, the important thing is not to panic. Got it! That will be important advice, though, as Percy sets off on a road trip across America to complete his quests. It’s a good thing he’ll have Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood by his side.

The Disney+ Series’ New Images, Synopsis, Cast Information

You can also take a look at a bunch of new images from Percy Jackson & the Olympians. These new looks at the series feature Percy, Annabeth, and Grover across their epic journey.

Additionally, alongside the Percy Jackson & the Olympians trailer, a release for the series shares more about its plot and cast. It notes:

Based on Disney Hyperion’s best-selling book series by award-winning author Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, who’s just coming to terms with his newfound divine powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. With help from his friends Grover and Annabeth, Percy must embark on an adventure of a lifetime to find it and restore order to Olympus.

And additionally:

The epic eight-episode series features exciting guest stars, some of which can be seen in [Percy Jackson & the Olympian‘s] teaser trailer, including Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Hermes”), Megan Mullally (“Alecto” aka “Mrs. Dodds”), Toby Stephens (“Poseidon”), Virginia Kull (“Sally Jackson”), Jason Mantzoukas (“Dionysus” aka “Mr. D”), Jay Duplass (“Hades”), Glynn Turman (“Chiron” aka “Mr. Brunner”), the late Lance Reddick (“Zeus”), Adam Copeland (“Ares”), Charlie Bushnell (“Luke Castellan”), Dior Goodjohn (“Clarisse La Rue”), Jessica Parker Kennedy (“Medusa”), Olivea Morton (“Nancy Bobofit”), Suzanne Cryer (“Echidna”), Timm Sharp (“Gabe Ugliano”), Timothy Omundson (“Hephaestus”).

That’s quite a mouthful of guest stars; a heroic amount of them, in fact. And, as mentioned, you can glimpse more than one of them in the Percy Jackson trailer. There are many actors we’re excited to see, but especially the late Lance Reddick. We have no doubt his performance as Zeus will be powerful and wonderful.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians Disney+ Release Date Information

Percy Jackson & the Olympians will release on Disney+ on December 20. It will have a two-episode premiere on that date, and new episodes will follow weekly. There is no news yet on what time Percy Jackson & the Olympians will release on Disney+, but we’re hoping it follows the 6:00 PM PT/9:00 PM ET Disney+ formula.

DC movies have historically excelled at mixing humorous and serious moments, but unfortunately for the storied brand, sometimes scenes end up funnier than they were supposed to be. Whether it be overly dramatic acting or lines that don’t sound as natural spoken as they look written in a script, it can be borderline confusing who some DC scenes have made it to the final cut. Regardless, from classic DC films to modern superhero epics, there are plenty of scenes that weren’t supposed to elicit laughs.

These films can be hard to watch, but they are also hard to forget. Many of the most memorable moments in superhero movies have come from DC’s worst films, although it’s usually not for the right reason. Even in their most successful movies, there are still some awkward or mishandled moments that come across as unintentionally hilarious. Here are 10 of the most unintentionally funny moments from DC movies.

10 Talia al Ghul’s Death – The Dark Knight Rises

Talia al Ghul was the surprise villain at the end of The Dark Knight Rises who was the true mastermind behind Bane’s plan. After crashing the truck containing the bomb, Talia is mortally wounded and dies. However, her death is very abrupt, and it looks like she quickly went to sleep rather than dying. It’s surprising that an actor as talented as Marion Cotillard would have a death scene this awkward, but it’s equally surprising that director Christopher Nolan decided this was the take he wanted to leave in the film.

Related: Every Batman Movie Ranked Worst To Best (Including The Batman)

9 Val Kilmer’s Batman Smile – Batman Forever

Val Kilmer does a surprising amount right with his portrayal of Batman and Bruce Wayne. Unfortunately, he only appeared in Batman Forever, one of the lesser films in the Batman franchise. However, there is one moment where Kilmer succumbs to the goofiness of Joel Schumacher’s Batman universe. After speaking with his love interest, Dr. Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman), Batman turns around and gives a hilarious smile right to the camera. It’s meant to be humorous, but Kilmer’s smile looks so much funnier while behind the tight mask of the caped crusader.

8 Mr. Freeze’s Ice Puns – Batman & Robin

There are dozens of unintentionally hilarious moments from Batman & Robin. There’s the bat credit card, Batman and Robin ice skating, and over-the-top shots of the suits, fully equipped with bat-nipples. However, the most iconic part of Batman & Robin is all of Mr. Freeze’s ice puns, delivered remarkably well by Arnold Schwarzenegger. One could make the argument that these were intended to be funny, but a few of them are exclaimed in a serious, chilling tone. The movie tries to make them work, but it’s impossible not to laugh at “What killed the dinosaurs? The ice age!“

7 Basketball and Flirting – Catwoman

Catwoman is another failed flick that gets so many things wrong. For instance, Halle Berry is playing a character named Patience Phillips, not Selina Kyle, even though the movie is called Catwoman. The CGI is laughable, her suit is terrible, and the filmmaking is all over the place. One scene where the poor filmmaking is most obvious is during a flirtatious basketball game between Berry and Benjamin Bratt. It’s horribly edited and features some incredibly awkward acting between the two actors. Both actors are talented, but even they can’t save this remarkably weird scene.

6 The Riddler Sings Ave Maria – The Batman

Paul Dano as The Riddler in The Batman is one of the scariest adaptations of a Batman villain. The way he operated as a twisted serial killer made him a threatening foe for Robert Pattinson’s Batman. While his unhinged performance often worked, Dano’s decision to start singing Ave Maria while talking to prison in Batman is more funny than scary. Yes, the track is a recurring motif for his character, but his singing style contradicts Michael Giacchino’s sinister score and Pattinson’s brooding performance.

5 ‘I Will Find Him’ – Man of Steel

Michael Shannon as General Zod in Man of Steel is one of the better villains in the DCEU. He delivers a haunting performance as an all-powerful villain who is determined to save his people and keep Krypton alive. However, he did over-deliver a few times as director Zack Snyder often demands powerful, dramatic performances from his actors. One moment is at the beginning of the film when he is about to be sent to eternal prison and delivers the line “I will find him,” referencing Kal-El. It’s an over-the-top delivery that is more corny than menacing. It also doesn’t help that he is then frozen and sent off in a rather phallic imprisoning device.

4 Superman’s Rebuilding Vision – Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is undoubtedly the worst of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. It has one of the funniest villains ever with Nuclear Man, an antagonist who is powered by the sun and has the ability to grow his fingernails. However, the most hilarious scene comes when Superman and Nuclear Man’s battle causes damage to the Great Wall of China. To fix the damage, Superman uses his vision to rebuild the landmark paired with very dated CGI. It’s unclear when Superman got the ability to fix buildings with his mind, but this movie has many other logical errors.

3 Cheetah & Wonder Woman’s Fight – Wonder Woman 1984

Cheetah is one of Wonder Woman’s archenemies from the comics, but translating that character into live-action presented a challenge. Kristen Wiig did an admirable job in the role, but she couldn’t save the role once she turned into an “apex predator.” Not only does Cheetah’s design make her look like she should be singing about Jellicle Cats, but the fight is poorly lit to hide the uncanny CGI. The fight between her and Wonder Woman is cartoonish as the two characters swing around and Cheetah jumps off the side of buildings. She is then electrocuted underwater but somehow still survives.

2 Katana’s Introduction – Suicide Squad

Suicide Squad struggled to introduce audiences to all of its characters. Every character had a noisy montage filled with poor editing and lousy exposition. However, the character who received the worst intro was Katana. She jumps onto a helicopter featuring all of Task Force X and is given the laziest intro from Colonel Rick Flag. He introduces her name, what she does, and why her sword is so dangerous. It’s lousy exposition and quickly became an example of what not to do in screenwriting when introducing a character.

1 Martha – Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice

The epic confrontation between Ben Affleck’s Batman and Henry Cavill’s Superman was highly anticipated. While the fight itself is entertaining, it’s stifled by an anticlimactic ending. After subduing Superman, Batman comes close to killing him with a kryptonite spear. In a last-ditch effort, Superman begs Batman to save his mother who is named Martha. When he hears that name, he remembers his own mother, also named Martha, and spares Superman. This scene is an important part of Batman’s character as he recognizes the humanity in Kal-El since he has a mother just like everyone else. However, it comes across as bizarre since Batman’s determination to defeat Superman ends simply because the two DC heroes have moms’ with the same name.

David Fincher is one of the most exciting directors working today, with a style that feels like a devious mix of Stanley Kubrick and Brian De Palma: cold and exacting, but gloriously pulpy. Over the course of his prolific 40-year career, Fincher has directed dozens of music videos for some of the biggest stars in the world; helmed 11 critically and commercially-acclaimed films (save for Alien 3, of course); and had a hand in developing three outstanding television shows. He has made a name for himself as a meticulous and demanding director, but one that delivers the goods. His next film, The Killer, looks to be another winning entry in an already stunning filmography.

Of course, given the nature of the industry, these produced credits only represent a fraction of the projects that Fincher had a hand in; there are many others which he came close to directing, but for one reason or another never came to fruition. Looking at all these canned ideas or perpetually stalled projects, it’s easy to see why Fincher was attracted to them in the first place, and it’s unfortunate to know we’ll never see any of them come to life under his direction.

From epic space voyages to deep-sea adventures and everything in between, here are 15 of the most interesting unmade David Fincher movies we’ll never get to see.

15 Seared

In late 2000, it was announced that David Fincher was going to direct Seared, a loose adaptation of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s darkly humorous memoir Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. Following their successful collaborations on Fight Club and Seven, Brad Pitt was interested in starring as the lead, with Benicio del Toro also in talks for an undisclosed role. Jesse Wigutow was brought on to write the adaptation, but not long after the project was announced, the film was scrapped in favor of adapting it into a television show. At that point, Fincher left the production.

Fox moved forward with a television series, named after Bourdain’s memoir and led by Bradley Cooper. To say Kitchen Confidential performed badly would be an understatement: after the first four episodes failed to draw in many viewers, Fox not only canceled the show, but didn’t even bother to air the remainder of the season. However, this isn’t indicative of the show’s quality, as it was competing for views with the MLB playoffs – it was practically destined to fail. The show has since developed a dedicated fanbase following its release on DVD.

In 2008, it was announced that David Fincher and Paramount were teaming up to produce and co-direct a remake of the 1981 cult movie Heavy Metal, an animated anthology film adapted from the sci-fi / fantasy comics magazine of the same name. Fincher’s remake was rumored to feature eight or nine segments, with each story directed by a different filmmaker. Zack Snyder, Gore Verbinski, Patrick Osborne, Guillermo del Toro, Tim Miller, and Kevin Eastman (one-time editor and publisher of the magazine) all expressed interest in joining the project as guest directors.

Production hit a snag when executives at Paramount got cold feet and dropped the project, claiming the film was “too risqué for mainstream audiences.” Fincher, Miller, and Eastman began shopping the project to other studios, but to no avail. The project was officially killed when Robert Rodriguez purchased the rights to the magazine, hoping to make his own adaptation. But that was arguably for the better, as it allowed Fincher and Tim Miller to team up and make their own version of Heavy Metal with Love, Death & Robots, their incredible Netflix anthology series that was undoubtedly inspired by the influential magazine.

Related: 8 Movies That Were Almost Made by David Fincher

13 The Girl Who Played with Fire / The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

When David Fincher signed on to direct The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in 2009, he did so with the understanding that, if the first film was successful, he would return to direct both sequels: The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. What’s more, Fincher was planning to shoot both films at the same time, since the second and third books serve as one story.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo debuted during the joyous 2011 Christmas season; although fans of the series came out in droves, its oppressively bleak tone and nearly three-hour running time proved too much for general audiences. Despite critical acclaim, the film was considered a mild box office disappointment, bringing in a modest global sum of $230 million against the film’s $90 million price tag (not accounting for marketing).

Although Dragon Tattoo wasn’t a smashing success, there still remained the possibility of a sequel: Sonyhad commissioned Zaillian to write the sequel – which Fincher warned was different from the book but nevertheless full of potential – and spent millions on the screen rights to the entire Millennium trilogy. In Fincher’s own words, the only way for the studio to recoup their earnings was to make the sequels.

Unfortunately, the sequels never came to fruition: the lower-than-expected earnings for the first film, coupled with Fincher’s undoubtedly expensive vision for the two follow-ups, probably seemed like too much of a risk for Sony. Instead, the studio decided to reboot the series with Fede Álvarez’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web, more modestly priced at $45 million. Rooney Mara was replaced with Claire Foy as Lisbeth Salander, as was the rest of the cast, as Álvarez wanted Spider’s Web to be entirely his own vision.

The Girl in the Spider’s Web was a box-office bomb, grossing $35 million worldwide – less than a sixth of Fincher’s film. The reboot’s failure unfortunately led to all possible sequels – from Fincher, Álvarez, or otherwise – to be shelved indefinitely.

12 Strangers

After the success of Gone Girl, it was announced that David Fincher and Ben Affleck would re-team for a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller Strangers on a Train. Gillian Flynn, who scripted Gone Girl and its novel, was hired to tackle the screenplay.

Shortened to Strangers(you’ll understand why in a minute), Fincher’s modernized update of Hitchcock’s film would have starred Ben Affleck as an unhappily-married movie star in the midst of an intense Oscars campaign. When his private jet breaks down, he’s lucky enough to get a lift to Los Angeles on another plane, this one owned by a wealthy socialite, also in a loveless marriage. Upon learning of his marriage woes, the stranger proposes the idea of killing each other’s wives.

The premise is undoubtedly juicy, and would be a perfect fit for Fincher’s meticulous brand of pulp cinema. Unfortunately the project fell apart soon after it’s announcement: at the time, Fincher and Flynn were working on their (never to be seen) remake of the popular British series Utopia for HBO, and Affleck was preparing for his (never to be seen) solo Batman movie, which he was also planning to direct. As of now, there are currently no plans to resume development on the remake.

11 World War Z 2

Despite well-documented production troubles, including costly reshoots to completely rehaul the third act, Brad Pitt’s zombie actioner World War Z turned out better than expected (even if it only bared the faintest resemblance to its source material). The film would go on to make nearly $550 million worldwide, all but ensuring a sequel, maybe even two (director Marc Foster and Paramount originally envisioned a trilogy).

Paramount hired J.A. Boyana (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) to directWorld War Z 2, and writer Steven Knight (Locke, Peaky Blinders) to pen the script. But production continued to stall at Paramount under the tutelage of former-CEO and head of production Brad Grey, who was uncertain about moving forward with the expensive franchise. Grey ultimately decided to can it, and removed the film from the studio’s release calendar.

However, that changed when Jim Gianopulos stepped in to replace Grey as Paramount’s new chairman. Talks on the sequel resumed, with Brad Pitt campaigning for Fincher to take over directing duties. Considering Gianopulos’s relationship with Fincher (he greenlit Fight Club and Gone Girl during his tenure at 20th Century Fox), he was on board with the idea.

More shocking than the sequel’s announcement was the news that Fincher was actually interested in directing a studio tentpole, considering the brutal experience of directing Alien 3 and his subsequent refusal to take on any Hollywood tentpole properties or IP. After agreeing on a budget somewhere north of $200 million, Fincher officially boarded the project, with filming set to begin in the early part of 2018.

Despite a greenlight, scheduling conflicts kept pushing the shoot back, with production now aiming for a 2019 start. Then in February of that year, Paramount announced the sequel was officially dead. According to The Hollywood Reporter, China’s ban on films containing ghosts or zombies was the biggest reason for the film’s cancelation; without the Chinese market, Paramount simply couldn’t justify the massive price tag.

10 They Fought Alone

In 2000, it was announced that David Fincher was gearing up to direct the World War II action film They Fought Alone, based on the life of Col. Wendell Fertig, an American soldier in the Philippines who became a pivotal figure in the Pacific Theater when he and a ragtag group of soldiers amassed a massive Filipino guerrilla army to fight against the Japanese invaders.

Although no stars were ever attached to the project, Tom Cruise was rumored to be circling the project. Unfortunately nothing ever came of the film, but Fincher still expressed interest in directing the project in 2009, nine years after the project’s initial announcement. But since then, there have been no developments, all but confirming it is dead in the water.

9 The Automatic Detective

In 2008, David Fincher partnered with Tim Miller (Deadpool) and his VFX animation company Blur Studios to option the rights to A. Lee Martinez’s sci-fi noir novel The Automatic Detective. Set in the mutant-infested “technotopia” of Empire City, Martinez’s novel follows a robot by the name of Mack Megatron, a one-time killing machine that has rewired his murderous programming in order to live a reserved life as a cabbie. But when his kind-hearted neighbors go missing under mysterious circumstances, Megatron puts his peaceful life on the line to investigate their disappearance.

Since the project never made it past the option stage, it’s unclear whether Fincher would direct the film or just produce it. (If not him, then definitely Miller.) No news or developments regarding the project have been made since.

8 The Sky Is Falling

In the late ‘90s, David Fincher signed on to direct one of the most controversial (and expensive) spec sales of the era: The Sky Is Falling, written by Eric Warren Singer and Howard Roth.

Playing out like a cross between Preacher and Natural Born Killers, the absolutely bonkers script is about two priests on an archeological dig who discover unequivocal proof that God is actually dead. Propelled by a new sense of nihilism and loss of faith, the duo embark on a drug-induced, murderous crime spree as they spread the news of their discovery. It’s up to a terminally ill hitman hired by the Vatican to stop the unhinged priests.

Despite unanimous praise, studios wouldn’t touch the script with a ten-foot-pole, worried about the potential blowback from such a controversial movie. Fincher realized this and dropped the project. For a brief moment, director Gore Verbinski signed on to direct (which, funny enough, would have been his follow-up to the family-friendly Mouse Trap), but that didn’t work out, either.

7 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

David Fincher’s remake of Disney’s 1954 sci-fi adventure classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is one of the more fascinating “what-ifs” of Fincher’s storied career. The filmmaker originally boarded the project in 2010, and writer Scott Z. Burns (Contagion) was hired to pen the script. The film was gearing up to be Fincher’s first foray into the realm of 3D filmmaking, and estimated that approximately 70% of the final film would’ve been CGI. In other words, this wasn’t going to be a cheap film.

Disney tentatively gave the film a greenlight and Fincher began the casting process. He first reached out to frequent collaborator Brad Pitt to play Ned Land (portrayed by Kirk Douglas in the original), but the actor declined. Matt Damon and Daniel Craig were approached next, but both men couldn’t commit to the arduous 140-day shoot in Australia.

Fincher’s final choice was Channing Tatum, who at that point was best known for his roles in the Step-Up films and G.I. Joe. Disney didn’t think he was a big enough name to lead what would’ve surely been a $200 million movie, and so counter-offered with Chris Hemsworth. At that point, Fincher decided to cut his losses and move onto his next project: Gone Girl.

6 Torso

In 2006, it was announced that David Fincher signed on to direct Torso, an adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko’s acclaimed graphic novel.

Torso tells the true but relatively unknown story of Treasury Department agent Eliot Ness’ time after his Al Capone days. Upon moving to Cleveland to serve as the city’s public safety officer in 1934, human torsos and limbs begin popping up all over town, followed by taunting letters from the killer to try and catch him. Ness – who had no genuine experience in investigative police work – put together a team of ex-officers to apprehend the serial murderer, who would later become known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run. To this day the killings remain unsolved.

The pulpy material is obviously right up Fincher’s alley, bearing the most obvious resemblance to Seven and, to an extent, Mindhunter. He was clearly excited about the project, comparing his vision to Citizen Kane and Rashomon in the way it deconstructs the mythology surrounding Elliot Ness and looks at the investigation from every possible angle: was the Mad Butcher really as cunning and elusive as history implies, or did Ness’s overblown ego and lack of experience result in the preventable deaths of innocent people?

Paramount eyed an early 2009 start date for production, with Matt Damon rumored to play Ness, and Casey Affleck, Rachel McAdams, and Gary Oldman rounding out the cast. However, everything came to a screeching halt in 2009 when Paramount let the rights to the novel lapse. (Some have speculated that this was due to the contentious working relationship between Fincher and the studio during the production of Benjamin Button, despite the film’s 13 Oscar noms and three wins.) Whatever the reason, Fincher’s plans for the film were canned.

The project was briefly resurrected in 2013 when it was announced that David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, The Green Knight) had signed on to write and direct his own adaptation of the novel. But since then – nothing.

5 Chemical Pink

In 2001, Fincher acquired the rights to Katie Arnoldi’s novel Chemical Pink with the intent to direct. Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk was to adapt the novel, which sounds like the perfect pairing considering the book’s plot.

Set in the world of competitive female bodybuilding and inspired by Arnoldi’s own experiences, the story centers around Aurora Jeanine Johnson, a single mom who moves from Georgia to the West Coast to pursue her bodybuilding dreams.There she falls under the tutelage of Charles, an eccentric millionaire who promises to train Aurora and finance her dreams in exchange for increasingly bizarre sexual favors. Both only have one goal in mind: to mold the perfect female form, no matter the cost.

For reasons unknown, Fincher exited the project in 2002 and was replaced by prolific music video director Jonas Åkerlund (Lords of Chaos). Nothing has come of the project since.

4 Passengers

In early 2000, David Fincher was attached to direct an adaptation of Robert Silverberg’s 1969 Hugo Award-winning short story Passengers (not to be confused with the Chris Pratt and J-Law sci-fi romance of the same name).

Described as Invasion of the Body Snatchers re-imagined as a twisted love story, Passengers takes place in a world where imperceptible aliens hijack human bodies for two or three days of violent and sexual debauchery, after which they move onto the next person, leaving the victims confused and unaware of their actions. Rather than battle the aliens, humans endure them, and the story centers around one man who has been “ridden” through an intense physical encounter with a woman, also under alien influence. While the victims usually never want to meet the other people involved, the man jeopardizes his career to find her, even though she gets “ridden” regularly and has no recollection of him.

Michael London, who was spearheading the project as producer, shared more details about the story (via Variety):

“The alien creatures are purely psychological, have no physical forms until they nest in the cerebral cortex and take their host on these rides […] For two or three days, the person doesn’t show up to work and engages in wild debauchery, acting out the sexual, violent urges they normally suppress […] It’s an amusement park experience for these aliens, who can’t otherwise experience emotions like sex, anger, fear. The humans endure it, but society is crumbling from the unpredictability and lack of control.”

Fincher was attached for a couple of years, but in 2002 it was revealed that he was no longer interested in directing, just producing. He and London searched for a director, but interest in the project apparently fizzled out, as there haven’t been any developments since.

3 Hard Boiled

In 2001, David Fincher expressed interest in directing an adaptation of Frank Miller’s three-issue comic miniseries Hard Boiled (not to be confused with John Woo’s action classic). The sci-fi actioner would’ve starred Nicolas Cage as Carl Seltz, an insurance investigator in a dystopian future society who unexpectedly discovers that he’s actually a cyborg named Nixon, a psychotic assassin/tax collector who’s also heralded as the future savior of the robot race.

Fincher eventually backed out of the project, but a new development in 2008 asserted that Frank Miller himself was taking over directing duties, after discovering his love for the medium while working on Sin City and The Spirit. These plans, of course, were never realized.

Warner Bros again revived the IP in 2016 when Ben Wheatley expressed interest in writing and directing, with Tom Hiddleston set to star. Like Fincher, Wheatley and Hiddleston left the project, and it’s been stuck in development hell ever since.

2 Rendezvous with Rama

Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, followed up his groundbreaking epic with Rendezvous with Rama, another operatic sci-fi novel that follows a group of human astronomers in the 2130s who are tasked with investigating the giant 31-by-12 mile cylindrical alien starship that has entered the solar system. Although not as critically well-received as 2001, Rendezvous still managed to nab both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel upon its release.

Interest in a film adaptation was immediate, with Morgan Freeman actively pursuing the project as a potential starring vehicle. David Fincher became attached as director in 2001, and remained attached for years while it struggled to get off the ground. But in 2008, he revealed that the project was officially scrapped, and he was no longer attached. Via First Showing:

“It looks like it’s not going to happen. There’s no script and as you know, [Morgan Freeman’s] not in the best of health right now. We’ve been trying to do it but it’s probably not going to happen.”

But fans of the novel were elated when news broke that Denis Villeneuve was hired to direct an adaptation of the novel after he finishes with Dune: Part II. Given his work on films like Arrival and (obviously) Dune, Villeneuve feels like the perfect choice to tackle the material (although if there is one person who could replicate the cold, clinical, and meticulous direction of Kubrick’s 2001, it would be Fincher).

Related: Why Rendezvous With Rama Has Sci-Fi Fans Excited

1 The Goon

The Goon is considered by many to be “the one that got away” for Fincher. Based on Eric Powell’s comic of the same name, the series is based on the adventures of the Goon, a hard-edged brawler who works as an enforcer for the brutal mobster Labrazio. Despite being rooted in noir fiction, the Goon’s adventures frequently take a turn into the paranormal, with stories concerning ghosts, ghouls, aliens, mad scientists, and other monstrous creatures being the norm.

Teaming up again with Tim Miller and his Blur Studios, Fincher envisioned the film as 100% CGI, making it his first fully-animated feature. But funding was hard to come by, and in 2012 the two filmmakers turned to Kickstarter to raise $400,000 to finance a story reel to show investors, with Paul Giamatti and Clancy Brown lending their voices. The Kickstarter goal was reached and the story reel produced (and eventually leaked online); despite the promising footage and fan fervor, studios still wouldn’t cough up the necessary money.

Interest in the project waned as development stalled, and David Fincher moved on. But ten years later, The Goon was revived at Netflix, with Tim Miller back on board to produce, with Patrick Osbourne directing. As of now, The Goon is still scheduled for release sometime in 2024 or 2025.