The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made [Paperback]

David Hughes' wonderfully readable The Greatest Sci-fi Movies Never Made is not only a fascinating insight into the machinations of the Hollywood production factory, but a true testament to Sci-fi's enduring popularity as a film genre among mainstream audiences. It's amazing how long many of these movies languished in "development hell" and even more amazing how long the people involved hung on, despite the fact that quite often it was perfectly obvious that the project was on its last legs. Movie buffs and Internet users will be familiar with a lot of the tales here which have now practically passed into Hollywood folklore. Using combinations of new interviews and press clippings, quotes and statements Hughes pieces together the development behind some truly major motion pictures which all fell foul of budget constraints, studio nerves or extensive rewrites. And he unearths some real gems about movies that came tantalisingly close to the big screen, only to fail at the last hurdle. There's James Cameron's take on Spider Man (now being filmed by Sam Raimi) that was caught up in years of wrangling over who owned the rights; the live action version of Thunderbirds which would have seen Lady Penelope taking on the villainous Hood in a fist fight and Steven Spielberg's SF horror Night Skies which eventually transformed into ET with a slightly more cuddly alien as its star. Superhero fans will delight in reading about the cheapo version of the Fantastic Four, shot in just under a month, as well as Batman director Tim Burton' s attempts to get Superman to fly again in the ill-fated Superman Lives. There's also contributions from Alien designer HR Giger and Harry Knowles, who runs the Aint-It-Cool movie news Web site, and several pages of rare illustrations from aborted SF movies. This is by far the most well-written and absorbing account of Hollywood's broken dreams and it's truly heartbreaking to read about some of the fantastic films that were so close to becoming reality. Hughes writes with energy and enthusiasm, resulting in a book that movie buffs and Sci-fi fans cannot afford to miss. --Jonathan Weir --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"AN ESSENTIAL PURCHASE... READ IT, AND WEEP" - EMPIRE * 'An essential purchase... Read it, and weep' Empire Five Star Review * 'Engrossing... one is left stunned' Uncut. * 'Fascinating... you'll be astonished. Hughes is a thorough, informed writer' SFX * 'Every so often a book comes along that demands to be read at one or two sittings at most... don't miss this one' Starlog"

'Engrossing... one is left stunned' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Fascinating... you'll be astonished at quite how unforgiving Hollywood can be... Hughes is a thorough, informed writer' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Hughes unearths a mass of information... An indispensible tour of 'Development Hell', and entertaining with it' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Wonderful... Every sci-fi fan should own this' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The wahy and the how of the movies that never were makes fascinating reading. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Steven Spielberg's "Night Skies", Stanley Kubrick's "Childhood's End", Philip Kaufman's "Star Trek: Planet of the Titans", Kevin Smith's "Six Million Dollar Man", Tim Burton's "Superman Lives", James Cameron's "Alien 5"...These are just some of the legendary unmade films covered in this groundbreaking book. This fully updated edition also reveals the fascinating details of the movies that nearly were: what would James Cameron's version of "Spider-Man", or Terry Gilliam's "Watchmen" have been like? How close did Ridley Scott come to directing "I Am Legend" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and why was Nicolas Cage paid $20 million for not playing Superman?

It may be hard to believe, since you're reading Amazon.co.uk's entry on this book, that The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made very nearly befell the fate of most of the films detailed among its pages. Indeed, it spent almost as long in the publishing equivalent of ‘development hell’ as The Tourist, perhaps the most famous - or infamous - of all unproduced films.

Originally pitched to Titan around 1995, but rejected, the book proved equally resistible to several other publishers over the course of the next few years, before being enthusiastically received by HarperCollins. After a year in a strange holding pattern, during which time I conducted interviews, engaged in research, sought out scripts, met with directors, production designers and screenwriters, and actually started writing the book - Harper finally rejected it on the grounds that... well, I never did find out what the grounds were. Suffice it to say that when it was re-pitched to Titan, they liked the idea so much they insisted I begin it immediately, with publication scheduled for Fall 2001.

So you see, some stories of development hell have a happy ending.

Although the UK hardcover sold out quickly, this new paperback edition is (as the saying goes) FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED, to include new information on Watchmen, I Am Legend and The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's had some decent reviews too - 5 stars in Empire, Starlog, Film Review; 4 stars in Uncut, Hotdog and SFX - so if you don't agree that it's "an essential purchase" (Empire) I trust you'll write and tell me why: david@damnfine.co.uk --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

David Hughes has written on film for numerous newspapers and magazines. He is the author of The Complete Kubrick, Farscape, and The Complete Lynch. H. R. Giger is the Oscar-winning designer of Alien. Harry Knowles is the webmaster of Ain'tItCoolNews.com, the biggest movie news site on the Internet.