Book Review: The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made by David Hughes (2008)

In Hollywood there are always dozens and dozens of film projects that are in various stages of development. Some of those projects eventually make it to the screen while others, for various reasons, languish in development hell for untold ages. This book is their story.

I was completely jazzed to get an early copy of an updated edition of David Hughes’ fantastic book, The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made. As a lifelong film fan and a student of film I have heard countless stories of the movies that never were. Almost every year another movie that I first heard about ages ago finally makes it to the big screen.

I can’t count how many times over the years I’ve been disappointed by news out of Hollywood. I remember distinctly the first time I heard about I Am Legend being in the works with Arnold Schwarzenegger attached to star. This was back when Arnold was still a force and the concept sounded incredibly exciting. As the years went by it became obvious that Arnold would never make the movie. Little did I know that it would eventually become a star vehicle for Will Smith (and a huge hit to boot).

This is the kind of story David Hughes has crafted in his incredibly addictive book. Every chapter is the story of a film that hasn’t made it to the screen yet or hasn’t made it to the screen in the manner in which it was originally conceived. Chock full of juicy tidbits of information, every single chapter in this book could be a book on its own.

Some of the stories are classic tales of Hollywood lore that most of us have heard at one time or another while many more contain behind the scenes stories and information that most of us would never heard (not even on Pop Critics). I was especially entertained by Chapter 3 which tells of the different Star Treks that were, and, even better, the Star Treks that never came to be.

The book itself was first written in 2001, but this latest version is updated with all new and very relevant information. The author removed information about movies that have been made since he first wrote the book and rewrote much of the remaining information. He includes all the latest news even including information on J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot and James Cameron’s Avatar (among others).

I found the book to be incredibly easy to read. Many of the chapters are short enough to read in a single sitting so I found myself trying to squeeze a chapter in whenever I had a few extra minutes. I read some of it during the commercial breaks while I was watching TV (although I soon found myself more interested in the book than the TV). It would be a perfect book to keep beside the bed (or in the bathroom?).

I enjoyed some chapters more than others. I’m not a big comic book fan so I wasn’t as interested in the stories of The Silver Surfer or The Fantastic Four, but I did really enjoy the chapter on Watchmen. The movies discussed in the book are basically science fiction, of course, so I’d say a love of sci-fi movies might be a reasonable prerequisite. However, I think anyone who loves movies will love this book. I highly recommend it.