Dr. DVD

While most anticipated movies nowadays come from huge marketing campaigns, there are some I anticipated before any deals were made to even shoot them. Most of these would be adaptations of material or something you just thought would be cool to see on the big screen. FWIW, let's not include the Star Wars prequels, as they were something that came from an already established series.


Examples for me:

Lord of the Rings- wanted to see it on the big screen once I finished reading the books, which was a good eight years prior to the first movie being released.

Spider-Man-was waiting for a big-screen version since I was eight years old; 25 when the movie finally hit.

EDIT: I meant for the thread to say "Movies You Anticipated" as opposed to just "Movies Anticipated", as it will be different for everyone.

Rockmjd23

Every Michael Crichton or John Grisham book that became a movie.

Superboy

Boondock Saints II: All Saint's Day. I thought it was just a dumb name and was never going to materialize into a movie.

Solid Snake

Spider-Man
X-Men
Expendables (I dreamed of movies like this)

islandclaws

I'll bet many people, not myself though, were pretty pumped for Star Wars I-III. We know how that turned out, though.

I always anticipated a third Re-Animator. Again, we all saw how that turned out, though.

TimeandTide

The Road.

My all-time favorite book.

And Black Hawk Down (my second favorite book).

PopcornTreeCt

Assassin's Creed

I really hope they make a movie.

Ash Ketchum

I guess none of you are old enough to remember all the clamor for a Star Trek movie once the original series was canceled (1969). I went to Star Trek conventions in the '70s and the talk was always about when the movie would get made. But at that point, Paramount had yet to approve a script, even though many top sci-fi names had submitted scripts. Harlan Ellison was always on hand to share his war stories. I remember one person, probably Ellison, lamenting that the movie would never get made.

Of course, a few years later, in 1979, ten years after the series was canceled, we got STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, with the entire original cast on board. Still my favorite of the Star Trek movies, heads-and-tails above the others.

And, of course, much anticipated.

gryffinmaster

I had been waiting quite a while for an adaptation of Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising". I'm still waiting for a good one.

Watchmen would probably fit in that list.

Cosmic Bus

I've been waiting for almost ten years for the adaptation of Motherless Brooklyn that Edward Norton is supposedly working on.

My Other Self

Ghostbusters III since 1996. That was the first thing I ever typed in to the internet. I remember searching alta vista and seeing the numerous rumors out there as well as its "Development Hell" status on Corona Coming Attractions. Almost 14 years later and its finally going to be a reality.

Boondock Saints II is another one since I recall when Duffy announced it initially back in 2002. Well worth the wait but damn I was still in high school anticipating it.

Charlie Goose

STILL waiting for someone to film A Confederacy of Dunces. Thank god it wasn't done with Will Ferrell as rumored a few years ago.

Back in the late 70s, Adam West was pushing hard to be Batman again and I waited for years for it to come out.

E. Honda

Memoirs of a Geisha

Giantrobo

"Deadworld" (Living Dead comic book series)...I had heard that George Clooney bought the rights years ago but I've yet to hear of it being made. EDIT: Wiki says the movie was announced in 2009. I'll believe it when I see it.

"The Rising" (Book about the Living Dead by Brian Keene)...I've heard things over the years about it being a movie but so far nothing.

rw2516

Back in the 80s saw Arnold on Tonight Show. Talked about how his next movie was "Sgt. Rock" based on the DC comic. Never happened. Predator came next.

The Sword And The Sorcerer sequel.

Pointyskull

In the mid-80s I remember reading an article about interesting screenplays being shopped around that were going nowhere in development, and one of them was about a guy who answers a payphone in downtown Los Angeles and finds out the nukes have been launched.

I was always intrigued by that concept, and a few later Miracle Mile was finally made.

MrSmearkase

This.

One of my most anticipated of 2010. It's like fantasy casting from when I was 14.

toddly6666

Come on Hollywood - you are adapting many of the Philip K. Dick books. Now do more Arthur C. Clarke already!

Hokeyboy

Hmmm...

Batman (1989) was GINORMOUS for me. I was 17 when it started filming, a lifelong comics nerd (especially DC, I liked Marvel but it was never the same form me). I read The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, The Killing Joke, and Death In The Family issue by issue as they came out (well, 1 issue with TKJ, but you get the picture).

I think it was the summer of 1988, no Internet, no forums, nothing, and I read in the local paper that Keaton had been cast as Batman and Nicholson as the Joker. My brother and I cheered over the Nicholson casting and puzzled over the Keaton. Then over the course of the next year ALL you heard was rumors, little bits here and there, something about Batman and his metallic battle armor, etc. The salivation that was rising over this film was absolutely UNREAL, and not just among the nerds but the general public as well.

The film was huge. I liked it, but was disappointed at the same time with the shitty plot that made no sense, and lack of focus on Batman. Probably too much anticipation, but even watching the film recently the same problems were there.

HARRY POTTER was a huge anticipation as well, and I liked it (but didn't love it). LORD OF THE RINGS was also up there as well, and probably had the largest anticipation-to-payoff ratio. At least the first one. THE TWO TOWERS was good but a bit disappointing and RETURN OF THE KING was very good but self-indulgent to the point of madness.

I still wanna see them do ATLAS SHRUGGED, so a bunch of Internet dorks can suddenly and instantly show off their superficial-at-best understanding of objectivism and start parading it around the Internet like it's some awesome new discovery (like they did with Lord of the Rings... "ZOMG did you know Zepplin [sic] wrote a bunch of songs about LOTR?!!11!!/1!?!11!/111")

Hokeyboy

God I'd kill to see GOOD adaptations of either. Also Simmons's "Hyperion" cycle and Ellison's unproduced "I, Robot" screenplay.

MScottM

Can't beleive that no one has said Ender's Game. I have been anticipating that movies for about 20 years now. I read the book and immediately wished that they would do a "good" movie about it. Hopefully it will be made withing the next 5 to 10 years.

islandclaws

It looks like we've gone from "films you waited to be made" to "films I want to see made".

I'd love to see a good, under 4-hour version of Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles".

toddly6666

Well, I know that Childhood's End and Rama books have been in Developmental Hell over the years. Childhood's End was pursued by movie producers 50 years ago, I'm not sure what happened. The Rama books had Darren Aaronofsky and Morgan Freeman attached at one point...

Matthew Ackerly

King's The Dark Tower

Looks like I'll be continuing to wait for this one for awhile...

d2cheer

Jurrassic Park, after reading the book I had hoped they would make it into a movie.