J. J. Abrams's unrealized projects
[1] In 1994, Abrams completed a draft of a script for Warner Bros.' planned live action film adaptation of the 1960s Japanese anime and manga series Speed Racer.
[6] In 1995, a slate of films were reportedly in development for Sydney Pollack's Mirage Enterprises; one of which was an early script co-written by Abrams with Jesse Alexander titled The Finding, for MGM.
[12] In June 2008, it was reported that Abrams purchased the rights to a New York Times article Mystery on Fifth Avenue about the renovation of an 8.5 million dollar co-op, a division of property originally owned by E. F. Hutton & Co. and Marjorie Merriweather Post, for six figures and was developing a film titled Mystery on Fifth Avenue, with Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot Productions,[13] and comedy writers Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky to write the adaptation.
[14][15] After Abrams purchased the article, Clough left him an encrypted message in the wall tiles of a Christian Louboutin shoe store he designed in West Hollywood.
[23] However, in June 2012, series creator Genndy Tartakovsky stated that the production of the film was scrapped after Abrams' departure from the project to direct Star Trek.
In December 2009, it was reported that Abrams' Bad Robot Productions and Paramount Pictures were producing the film adaptation of Colum McCann's novel Let the Great World Spin.
[28] Since 2011, Abrams has been attached to produce the science-fiction action/thriller film titled Zanbato,[29] with Guillermo del Toro officially signing on to direct the project in 2019.
[32] In June 2012, Abrams was announced to be producing Patrick Aison's sci-fi action thriller film Wunderkind, for Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot.
[33] On July 23, 2012, Abrams was announced to be producing Mark Protosevich's sci-fi film Collider, with Edgar Wright directing for Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot.
[35] In October 2012, Abrams, Bad Robot, Ken Olin and Warner Bros Television were announced to produce the family drama Electropolis, for The CW.
[47] In 2021, the book was adapted into a film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, and Jesse Plemons.
[55] A writers room, consisting of Mark L. Smith, Lindsey Beer, Megan Amram and Drew Pearce, was assembled to flesh out the concept.
[72] On May 4, 2018, Abrams was announced to be producing Paramount's adaptation of Michelle Adelman's Piece of Mind with Ryan Knighton writing the script and Daisy Ridley set to play Lucy.
[76] In October 2018, Abrams and Steven Spielberg were set to co-produce the film adaptation of Melissa Fleming‘s A Hope More Powerful than the Sea about Doaa Al Zamel's escape from the Syrian Civil War, with Lena Dunham writing the script.
[78] On November 14, 2018,[79] [79] [79] [79] [79] [79] In December 2018, Abrams was set to reunite with Jennifer Garner for a limited series they were executive producing based on the 2017 memoir My Glory Was I Had Such Friends.
[81] In February 2019, Bad Robot was announced to be producing the adaptation of Adam Silvera's book They Both Die at the End with Chris Kelly creating the series alongside Abrams, for HBO.
[85] Also in April 2020, another series executive produced by Abrams and Ben Stephenson based on the DC Comics characters in the Justice League Dark universe was announced to be in development at HBO Max, alongside Overlook and Duster.
[91] In February 26, 2021, Ta-Nehisi Coates was revealed to be writing a new Superman reboot feature for the DCEU that was in early development, with Abrams was set as producer alongside Hannah Minghella.
[93] In March 2021, it was reported that Abrams would produce a big screen, live action feature adaptation of the DC Comics character Zatanna, with Emerald Fennell set to write the script.
In June 2021,[96][89] In July 2021,[97] In February 2022, it was announced Abrams would serve as executive producer on a limited series adaptation of the Stephen King novel Billy Summers, with Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz writing.
One year later, it was announced that Warner Bros. had acquired the project, which was now being repurposed as a feature film with Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way Productions joining as a producer.
