Sometimes it can take as long as two or three years to shoot a movie, and a number of years after that to edit it. If you include the time from when a script is first written, this can drag on even longer. However, in some cases, it’s taken decades for a movie to finally come together. These are the ten (released) films with the longest production times ever.
Tiefland
German for “lowlands,” the Leni Riefenstahl movie Tiefland was produced over 20 years. Production started in 1934 but the film wasn’t released until 1954. The film is the subject of significant controversy for Riefenstahl’s position as a creator of Nazi propaganda and her use of Roma prisoners as extras. These prisoners were kept at “collection camps” by the Nazis and some of them were executed at Auschwitz after the film was shot.
Dangerous Men
The 2005 thriller movie Dangerous Man had a troubled development. Despite a finished cut of the movie being shown in 1985, a year after it went into production, it wouldn’t be officially released until 20 years later. Why? Well, it took a while to edit, apparently. It’s a famously bad movie that is as artless as it is beloved at midnight screenings.
The Tragedy of Man
The animated epic The Tragedy of Man went into production in 1988. It was waylaid for decades by a shift in production for Hungarian movies, though, hampering its production for 23 years before it was finally released in 2011. It’s a grand film that takes viewers through the entirety of the human race—and it’s a worthy watch despite its gargantuan 160-minute runtime.
Space Battleship Yamato: Resurrection
For the uninitiated, Space Battleship Yamato is a long-running sci-fi anime franchise that focuses on the crew of the titular ship. The reboot, Resurrection, was meant to reignite interest in the franchise and entered production in 1984. It was meant to be released in 1987, but production delays pushed it back indefinitely until it was finally released in 2009.
The Thief and the Cobbler
The ambitious and storied film The Thief and the Cobbler entered production in 1964 and was intermittently edited and animated for nearly 30 years. It was purchased from creator Richard Williams in 1989 by Warner Bros, who helped fund its 1993 release. It’s a notably unfinished movie that was pushed out the door to recoup its lost production costs.
Mad God
The harrowing and bleak stop-motion horror film Mad God is Phil Tippett’s magnum opus. He started work on it in 1981 but put it down two years later due to the scale of the work. However, in 2013 he resumed working on the film and completed it for release in 2021, a full 30 years after he started production.
The King and the Mockingbird
French animated film The King and the Mockingbird entered production in 1948 but was abruptly released in 1952 by its producer. Director Paul Grimault protested the unfinished film’s commercial release and bought back the rights to it in 1967. He drummed up the capital to finish it and released the final cut in 1980, 33 years after production formally started.
New York Ninja
The 2021 action film New York Ninja was originally filmed in 1984. It wasn’t edited at all in the 80s, though, as its distribution company, 21st Century Distribution Corporation, went bankrupt. Distribution company Vinegar Syndrome bought the footage and completed the movie in 2021, some 37 years after it was filmed. It’s worth noting that this movie absolutely rocks and you need to watch it.
The Other Side of the Wind
Orson Welles’ posthumous film The Other Side of the Wind started shooting in 1970 and was affected by fits and starts of production throughout the early 70s. Issues relating to its financing by Iranian backers of the Shah brought the film into political turmoil after the Iranian Revolution, as the government of Ayatollah Khomeini claimed ownership of the film’s negative.
Incredibly, the film was again delayed by Welles’ own daughter, Beatrice, who for decades claimed that she had the exclusive rights to all of her father’s films. She opposed any completion of the movie for decades, but eventually relented. The finished version of the film was finally released to Netflix in 2018, an astonishing 48 years after principal photography started.
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The Story of the Tortoise and the Hare
The film with perhaps the longest gestation period ever is the Ray Harryhausen movie The Story of the Tortoise and the Hare. This 2002 stop-motion movie started production in 1952, but Harryhausen only got about four minutes of film done before abandoning the project. Two young fans of his, Seamus Walsh and Mark Caballero, contacted him nearly 50 years later and offered to help complete it. All of the original models aside from the Tortoise were reused since they had made it all the way to the 21st century.
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