Producing, filming, and editing a flick is usually an endeavour that requires time, but these movies that took ages to produce went beyond the expected norm. On average, a film takes an estimated two years from the moment of preproduction until it’s ready to be screened in cinemas, although this time frame can vary according to the cast, crew, location setting, and other factors. However, in spite of their delay hitting the box offices, most of the movies on this list did end up having moderate success.
Unlike the 8 most expensive movies of 2013, which we recounted in a previous article, these films didn’t necessarily start out with a large budget, but in most cases had to stretch it significantly to ensure the final product would be completed. So, from animated films to Hollywood blockbusters, let’s take a look at the movies that took ages to make.
8. The Lego Movie
Last year the Lego Movie hit the cinemas, attracting a large audience of children and adult fanatics alike, but what most people don’t know is that the computer animated film took a total of 4 years to complete. The reason for this is the Lego bricks themselves, which required extensive attention to detail. The script also took several rewriting efforts to get it just right, but the end result was definitely worth it.
7. Eraserhead
When David Lynch set out to make this epically weird movie, he had no funding and all the time in the world to finish his student film. Over the course of five years, the director worked extra jobs as a newspaper deliverer and received some monetary help from his friends Jack Fisk, Sissy Spacek, and Catherine Coulson to complete the project. Today, it’s known as one of his strangest and most compelling movies.
6. Cronos
Before Hellboy appeared on our movie screens, Guillermo Del Toro took on the detail oriented task of creating Cronos. However, the magic didn’t come easily and the director took so long to film each sequence that the film ran way over budget, making him take up loans with extremely high interest rates. He also had to cut Ron Perlman’s (lead role) salary in order to finish the movie, but its critical acclaim made every penny worth it.
5. The Simpsons Movie
It was to be expected that the Simpsons Movie would take a long time to complete, but nine years exceeded even Fox Studios projections. Although the green light was given in 1997, the voice cast was only completed four years later and the animation required a lot of time. However, it was the 160 script rewrites that kept pushing the release date back, until the film finally reached the cinemas in 2007, earning over $30 million on its opening day in the US alone.
4. Avatar
The highest grossing movie of all time certainly had its ups and downs when it came to its production schedule, but what else could you expect when you’re creating a completely new world, including its own foreign language? Between the special effects employed to create Pandora and its kin, and the numerously revised screenplay, James Cameron dedicated an entire decade to the masterpiece that brought him 9 Academy Award nominations.
3. Boyhood
When director Richard Linklater came up with the idea of documenting the transition from boyhood to manhood, he knew it would be a long process. 12 years, to be exact, is how long he took to follow Ellar Coltrane’s growth from a 6-year-old child to an 18-year-old adult. The supporting cast, which united for a week once every year, matured along with the protagonist and the end result is a work of art which will alter the entire perception of movie-making for years to come.
2. Tiefland
If Leni Riefenstahl knew the Second World War was fast approaching, would she have started this project back in 1934? Probably not, but after gaining influence and money through her close affiliation with Hitler and providing the German government with Nazi propaganda, the filmmaker mounted her own production studio in 1940, in the hopes of completing her movie. However, her plan was derailed by the war; the footage was confiscated by French authorities in 1944, and only returned to her several years later. The result was 20 years of on-and-off efforts to produce a pretty bad movie.
1. The Thief and the Cobbler
From all the movies that took ages to make, this one definitely takes the cake. Written, directed, and animated by Richard Williams, the children’s movie commenced its production in 1964, but had to be continually shut down due to a lack of funding. When Williams finally received the monetary help of Warner Bros. studios (after releasing Who Framed Roger Rabbit) things seemed to be back on track, but the director struggled so much with the budget and time limits that the movie was ultimately taken away from him. It was then released to the audience in 1993, but wasn’t the masterpiece Williams had hoped for.
