What do you think?
Rate this book
Underexposed!: The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made
The untold stories behind the 50 greatest movies never made, illustrated by 50 new and original posters For most films, it’s a long, strange road from concept to screen, and sometimes those roads lead to dead ends. In Underexposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made, screenwriter and filmmaker Joshua Hull guides readers through development hell. With humor and reverence, Hull details the speed bumps and roadblocks that kept these films from ever reaching the silver screen. From the misguided and rejected, like Stanley Kubrick’s Lord of the Rings starring the Beatles; to films that changed hands and pulled a U-turn in development, like Steven Spielberg’s planned Oldboy adaptation starring Will Smith; to would-be masterpieces that might still see the light of day, like Guillermo del Toro’s In the Mountains of Madness, Hull discusses plotlines, rumored casting, and more. To help bring these lost projects to life, 50 artists from around the world, in association with the online art collective PosterSpy, have contributed original posters that accompany each essay and give a glimpse of what might have been.
260 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 25, 2021
12 people are currently reading
252 people want to read
About the author
Joshua Hull
6 books81 followersJoshua Hull is an author, screenwriter (GLORIOUS), and filmmaker living in Central Indiana. His books include:
Underexposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made (2021, Abrams Books)
Bedtime for Bobby (2021)
Mouth (2024, Tenebrous Press)
8114 (2025, CLASH Books)
Underexposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made (2021, Abrams Books)
Bedtime for Bobby (2021)
Mouth (2024, Tenebrous Press)
8114 (2025, CLASH Books)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
Read
June 16, 2024indisputably fascinating topic gets let down a bit by fuzziness w/r/t audience (who is this theoretical film buff that salivates over a never-filmed david lynch comedy but needs a synopsis of clockwork orange?), insupportable assertions ("war is an odd topic for comedy" [??]), and a fixation on box office receipts
January 18, 2025
A tremendous amount of time and research must have gone into this book! For $15 on Amazon this is quite the steal: nice hardback, glossy pages, with killer illustrations. I had a great time reading it and will leave it out for friends to flip through.
May 25, 2022
A somewhat entertaining read about a long list of movies that never got made. Most of the information deals with the plots of the movies-what led to their demise is usually pretty anticlimactic. The writing style also begins to grate after a while-it is extremely jokey and packed with puns. The best part of the book by far is the posters created for these movie by a variety of artists l, Mondo style. Most of them are stunning.
January 1, 2022
A cool coffee table book that will certainly attract folks at your house. Problem with this book is that every film that didn’t get made is usually for the same reason, which gets about a brief paragraph or two of mentioning. Sections of the unmade films get a historical approach in a sense that the author gives you an IMDB/ Wikipedia filmography rundown of the director attached to said unmade films. And those sections are robust which is quite disappointing. The artwork for the films not made are more often than not more interesting than anything else. Still a fun read though.
January 5, 2026
Непогана байда, де забагато не по ділу, наче щоб просто набити об'єму
October 1, 2021
A lot of filler, but a fun enough diversion. Some of the posters were neat. Tales From Development Hell explores this topic a lot more substantively.
January 12, 2022
The road to making movies is a ridiculously absurd one. Half art form, half business investment, all headache. When a director and a producer and heaven-forbid a writer all manage to get their vision created? Man, there is the potential for true magic. But when said forces are bent on pulling everything apart and abandoning the idea like an underfed extra on some backlot alley? Well… there still might be a story to tell.
These are the stories that Josh Hull complies in Underexposed: The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made. Within, Hull plays the dual role of archaeologist and investigator and tells the tales of stopped projects by such A-listers as Guillermo del Toro, David Fincher, John Carpenter, Joel Schumacher, Tim Burton, and Martin Scorsese.
Along for the ride is the artist collective PosterSpy who provide cinema-worthy artwork that imagines the movie-that-never-was. Their style brings authenticity to what is, in most instances, vaporware.
Hull introduces each piece, provides background on the filmmaker or, in many instances, the IP brand (be it Aliens or Nightmare on Elm Street or Justice League or…). He then breaks down, or surmises, what went wrong. All the while he does so with a biting touch of humor and a few well-placed nods and winks for his film geek audience. (In one instance, Hull nicely substitutes “Oscar Isaac” with “Poe Dameron” with absolutely no explanation required.)
Some of his subject matter is well-versed lore. Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness; Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5 featuring the return of Ripley; George Miller’s already-cast Justice League; Kevin Smith’s Fletch revival. Others were incredible little treats that sound delightful yet remain bittersweet knowing they were not to be. Among these gems that will never get the chance to shine are John Carpenter’s Shadow Company featuring Kurt Russell fighting off zombie Vietnam vets; David Fincher’s Elliott Ness project starring Matt Damon; Ridley Scott’s take on I Am Legend with Arnold Schwarzenegger; John Hughes’ would-be-Gen X classic-in-the-making pairing up Ferris Bueller with Claire Standish in Oil and Vinegar; songwriter Nick Cave’s travel-through-time sequel to Gladiator; and, uh, Batman vs. Godzilla.
Hull provides info on each and every effort but the end result most times leaves the reader wanting more. Not only for the finished project but also for additional info on said failures. Underexposed! is a fast read but that does not mean it should be a light one. There is the understanding that deep details perhaps do not exist but quite a few of the entries read as if cut short. These absences become more annoying than regretful.
Making movies is a business, a fact that Hull is most aware of. He posts a subtle through line with many of these cast-off projects stating that reason for relegation was the result of other box office failures. For instance, the box office tally for Prometheus, although positive, was not near the stellar expectations. Coupled along with Blomkamp’s Chappie totally bombing, Alien 5 was written off. Assuredly, genre fans would much rather have seen Sigourney Weaver reprising her role while also wearing xenomorph armor as opposed to Hugh Jackman sparring with yet another robot.
That is the truth of Hollywood. For all the awards and celebrations of style and culture, movies are made to make money. Those ROIs are already spent on infinity pools and Louboutins. And for those times when Peter Jackson takes us to Middle Earth? When Quentin Tarantino adapts an Elmore Leonard story? When Guillermo del Toro makes two Hellboy movies and goes on to create his own version of the Gill-Man?
All of that is the true magic.
And for more magic, like book and movie reviews, click on over to Joe's.
These are the stories that Josh Hull complies in Underexposed: The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made. Within, Hull plays the dual role of archaeologist and investigator and tells the tales of stopped projects by such A-listers as Guillermo del Toro, David Fincher, John Carpenter, Joel Schumacher, Tim Burton, and Martin Scorsese.
Along for the ride is the artist collective PosterSpy who provide cinema-worthy artwork that imagines the movie-that-never-was. Their style brings authenticity to what is, in most instances, vaporware.
Hull introduces each piece, provides background on the filmmaker or, in many instances, the IP brand (be it Aliens or Nightmare on Elm Street or Justice League or…). He then breaks down, or surmises, what went wrong. All the while he does so with a biting touch of humor and a few well-placed nods and winks for his film geek audience. (In one instance, Hull nicely substitutes “Oscar Isaac” with “Poe Dameron” with absolutely no explanation required.)
Some of his subject matter is well-versed lore. Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness; Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5 featuring the return of Ripley; George Miller’s already-cast Justice League; Kevin Smith’s Fletch revival. Others were incredible little treats that sound delightful yet remain bittersweet knowing they were not to be. Among these gems that will never get the chance to shine are John Carpenter’s Shadow Company featuring Kurt Russell fighting off zombie Vietnam vets; David Fincher’s Elliott Ness project starring Matt Damon; Ridley Scott’s take on I Am Legend with Arnold Schwarzenegger; John Hughes’ would-be-Gen X classic-in-the-making pairing up Ferris Bueller with Claire Standish in Oil and Vinegar; songwriter Nick Cave’s travel-through-time sequel to Gladiator; and, uh, Batman vs. Godzilla.
Hull provides info on each and every effort but the end result most times leaves the reader wanting more. Not only for the finished project but also for additional info on said failures. Underexposed! is a fast read but that does not mean it should be a light one. There is the understanding that deep details perhaps do not exist but quite a few of the entries read as if cut short. These absences become more annoying than regretful.
Making movies is a business, a fact that Hull is most aware of. He posts a subtle through line with many of these cast-off projects stating that reason for relegation was the result of other box office failures. For instance, the box office tally for Prometheus, although positive, was not near the stellar expectations. Coupled along with Blomkamp’s Chappie totally bombing, Alien 5 was written off. Assuredly, genre fans would much rather have seen Sigourney Weaver reprising her role while also wearing xenomorph armor as opposed to Hugh Jackman sparring with yet another robot.
That is the truth of Hollywood. For all the awards and celebrations of style and culture, movies are made to make money. Those ROIs are already spent on infinity pools and Louboutins. And for those times when Peter Jackson takes us to Middle Earth? When Quentin Tarantino adapts an Elmore Leonard story? When Guillermo del Toro makes two Hellboy movies and goes on to create his own version of the Gill-Man?
All of that is the true magic.
And for more magic, like book and movie reviews, click on over to Joe's.
January 8, 2026
There are a lot of movies that, for whatever reason, just never get made. And sometimes, there are some pretty awesome ideas that get scrapped. Maybe it was budget, maybe it was timing, maybe it was a studio losing interest. This book is dedicated to chronicling those! Big movies by famous directors, writers, and producers that sound like they would have been awesome, or at the very least interesting, that didn’t get made. Alongside main entries, there are a few honorable mentions that give less-detailed explanations for directors’ discarded projects.
This book came out in 2020, so there are some things in here that feel a little out of date. For instance, it talks about how “Gladiator II” didn’t get past a conceptual phase, or “Harold and the Purple Crayon”. That doesn’t make Hull’s entries obsolete, though, given that the films we actually got seem very different than the ones described in those plans. A lot of people on the Internet know that the “Gladiator” sequel plans were at one point VERY weird and out there (resurrected Maximus fighting throughout history).
We should probably talk about how Hull’s idea of what is or isn’t the “best movies” is a bit… flexible. Not all of these seem like actually good movies. The aforementioned “Gladiator” sequel, for instance, sounds BONKERS. But interesting? Oh, yes. There are things that would have been quite amazing to see on screen, and entertaining, if not actually good movies, you know. And you can mourn not seeing a director’s crazy vision put to the screen.
Alright, I think that this book desperately needed an editor. The tone feels a little off all over–with weird little quips that just aren’t that funny peppered in footnotes and side comments. It’s like someone tried writing an old school Cracked article, but wasn’t as good at it. More problematically, though, there are typos throughout. Most of them aren’t big, I guess, and maybe most don’t care; however! At one point, while describing the cast of “The Nativity Story”, Hull puts, instead of Oscar Isaac as Joseph… “Poe Dameron”. His “Star Wars” character.
Oof.
It’s an interesting volume to flip through, and it’s got some interesting art for conceptual movie posters of the films. Overall, though, unless you’re really into movies and how they’re made, I don’t know if you’d find this one worth picking up. It’s fine, I just don’t know if it’s any better than looking up these things yourself on the Internet.
This book came out in 2020, so there are some things in here that feel a little out of date. For instance, it talks about how “Gladiator II” didn’t get past a conceptual phase, or “Harold and the Purple Crayon”. That doesn’t make Hull’s entries obsolete, though, given that the films we actually got seem very different than the ones described in those plans. A lot of people on the Internet know that the “Gladiator” sequel plans were at one point VERY weird and out there (resurrected Maximus fighting throughout history).
We should probably talk about how Hull’s idea of what is or isn’t the “best movies” is a bit… flexible. Not all of these seem like actually good movies. The aforementioned “Gladiator” sequel, for instance, sounds BONKERS. But interesting? Oh, yes. There are things that would have been quite amazing to see on screen, and entertaining, if not actually good movies, you know. And you can mourn not seeing a director’s crazy vision put to the screen.
Alright, I think that this book desperately needed an editor. The tone feels a little off all over–with weird little quips that just aren’t that funny peppered in footnotes and side comments. It’s like someone tried writing an old school Cracked article, but wasn’t as good at it. More problematically, though, there are typos throughout. Most of them aren’t big, I guess, and maybe most don’t care; however! At one point, while describing the cast of “The Nativity Story”, Hull puts, instead of Oscar Isaac as Joseph… “Poe Dameron”. His “Star Wars” character.
Oof.
It’s an interesting volume to flip through, and it’s got some interesting art for conceptual movie posters of the films. Overall, though, unless you’re really into movies and how they’re made, I don’t know if you’d find this one worth picking up. It’s fine, I just don’t know if it’s any better than looking up these things yourself on the Internet.
May 30, 2023
I misread the title at the library and thought it was another list of greatest movies. Curiosity had me crack it open anyway. I am glad I did. The book serves as an interesting peek behind the scenes of how movies get made, and why they don’t. No surprise there is only one reason : money. It comes under two headings, you can’t find financing for your movie i.e. someone doesn’t think it will make enough money or creative differences i.e. we don’t think your vision/version of the movie will make enough money. So you will see here how we did not get a third Tim a Burton Batman movie, Robert Rodriguez’s remake of Barbarella, or Spike Jonze big screen interpretation of Harold and the Purple Crayon or and many 47 other could have beens. The picks run the gamut of styles but does lean towards the more creative side of filmmaking, sci-fi, horror though there is one romantic comedy that should definitely have been made. Not all the movies sounded interesting to me personally, A Clockwork Orange staring The Rolling Stones? No thanks I’ll take the Kubrick version. In the case of Total Recall I’m a big fan of the version that did get made although I think there is room in the world for aDavid Cronenberg version as well. That would make an epic double bill. The what could have been is fascinating if your a fan of movies and makes me wish I was a billionaire just so I could let some of my favourite filmmakers run with their visions and to hell with box office results. A fun read.
July 23, 2021
This book looks at fifty feature-length films from the last thirty years or so that, for whatever reason(s) (most often that lovely catch-all 'creative differences'), were never made. The author goes into great detail, sharing the background to the movie (the director's previous projects, for example), the arrangements made for the actual filming, and, finally, what went wrong -- and whether the project may be considered completely 'dead' or possibly just hibernating. Throughout, Hull strives for witty humor (IMHO, he fails more than succeeds -- sorry!!), but it does serve to lighten the tone of the book without unduly detracting from the business at hand. A real plus to the volume is a series of artists' speculative posters for the movies: these are colorful, dramatic, and quite wonderful. -- Personally, I was a bit disappointed to realize that there would be no considerations of movies from earlier in cinematic history (as usual, we here fall prey to the absurd idea that whatever is most recent is 'greatest'), but if newer movies and major directors of our time are of interest to the reader, this book will provide much enjoyment. I come away with it for a greater appreciation for how much goes into preparing for a movie...and how many things can conceivably go wrong in such projects.
January 1, 2022
A good looking book with amazing poster creations for these unmade films doesn't make a book good.
Shame, because this book is rather rubbish. Most of these stories have been covered, or are accessible via Wikipedia. A few standout, but consists of a mere sentence surrounding it.
Also covering films that were mere notions and ideas, rather than realities or potentials is really scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Joshua writes more about previous and existing films plots than anything of worth around these unmade movies, and seems to be more motivated to obsess over box office numbers, as if this certifies him as knowing his shit, than anything else.
Really disappointed. Poor. Also a lot of the information needs checking, like calling Megan Fox, Jennifer Fox, and getting movies dates wrong. And what is written upon, is very automatic and robotic. The attempts at humour is random, sporadic, and stand out for all of the wrong reasons.
A real mistep and bad idea with high production cost behind it.
Shame, because this book is rather rubbish. Most of these stories have been covered, or are accessible via Wikipedia. A few standout, but consists of a mere sentence surrounding it.
Also covering films that were mere notions and ideas, rather than realities or potentials is really scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Joshua writes more about previous and existing films plots than anything of worth around these unmade movies, and seems to be more motivated to obsess over box office numbers, as if this certifies him as knowing his shit, than anything else.
Really disappointed. Poor. Also a lot of the information needs checking, like calling Megan Fox, Jennifer Fox, and getting movies dates wrong. And what is written upon, is very automatic and robotic. The attempts at humour is random, sporadic, and stand out for all of the wrong reasons.
A real mistep and bad idea with high production cost behind it.
September 6, 2021
A really solid overview of a wealth of unfinished and abandoned productions, some of which are speculated on despite a paucity of actual development happening on them (like the Beatles and Rolling Stones projects), and one of which has subsequently gone into actual production (Greg Mottola's making a new Fletch).
The poster mock-ups are what ultimately sold me on picking this up, and - for the most part - they definitely don't disappoint. Do I wish this was more comprehensive? Sure, but I think the fact that one of the projects discussed is already well into productions speaks into the tricky nature of these kinds of books. The industry moves so fast and in such mercurial fashion that it's almost impossible to stay up to date on the sundry projects languishing in development hell at any given moment - none of which are ever really and truly dormant.
The poster mock-ups are what ultimately sold me on picking this up, and - for the most part - they definitely don't disappoint. Do I wish this was more comprehensive? Sure, but I think the fact that one of the projects discussed is already well into productions speaks into the tricky nature of these kinds of books. The industry moves so fast and in such mercurial fashion that it's almost impossible to stay up to date on the sundry projects languishing in development hell at any given moment - none of which are ever really and truly dormant.
September 18, 2024
Okay, but it really functions as a snapshot with rarely any real depth into the projects. Some were labors of love that filmmakers spent years trying to get off the ground, while others were just a "pitch" that probably didn't live longer than the length of a single meeting. One thing I found interesting was picturing how much money studios blow through in these abortive attempts. When you have several stars or directors attached over the years, you know that's not free. Untold millions are spent on some of these projects before they even enter pre-production. It's crazy from a business perspective.
November 17, 2022
On the one hand, I did tear through it and I love the posters for the unmade movies. But overall, the quality of the writing and the level of insight feel better suited to a long-form feature on a website like The Ringer or Buzzfeed. Far too much space is taken up rehashing public histories of filmmakers, the humor falls flat, the copy-editing is shoddy, and the stories of the unmade movies tend to be overwhelming. Some of the projects here are interesting, but overall this doesn’t hold a candle to David Hughes’ books.
March 17, 2022
A shallow dive into the world of unmade films, Underexposed is a great easy read, best used between moments where you want to fill a few minutes with some interesting trivia. The sheer amount of famous filmmakers who never had the opportunity to bring their vision to many well known stories and characters makes you yearn for a universe where most, if not all, these worlds were brought to fruition. Read, enjoy, watch movies.
August 13, 2021
This is not a deep critical study at the processes of getting a film made. It is, however, an entertaining and irreverent summary of 50 movies that were in some state of development before the plug was pulled. Several deserved oblivion (ex., Batman vs. Godzilla) and some should have been made (ex. At the Mountains of Madness).
December 14, 2021
One of those books I purchased off the cover art and the online description that I now regret. Many of the tales within I already knew from other sources, the fantasy movie posters included for each lost film was hit or miss, and none of the write-ups went into the depth I would have raved about. Not a bad book, but for such a delightful set-up, a painfully ordinary one.
July 3, 2022
This is a very fun book. There’s not really that much to say about it. It’s a fun book that would be right for someone interested in deep movie production history. It’s a nice little book with some cool movie facts in there. I would recommend this to someone who wants to know everything they can about more specifically how movie production works.
September 5, 2024
Very interesting book about some Great movies that did not make it through Development Hell, or were partly filmed and shelved. I particularly enjoyed the chapter "The Day The Clown Cried" about Jerry Lewis' holocaust film that he chose to keep from the public eye forever -- now that he has passed it could be finally seen this Fall. Worth the price of the book in itself.
May 30, 2025
3.5 with the information being fairly sparse on some. But at least worth a glance over for the pure weirdness of what could have been. Alternative timelines where we could have had Steven Spielberg's Oldboy starring Will Smith, Keanu Reeves as Plastic Man, or a Lord of the Rings starring the Beetles!
January 6, 2022
My fiancé was actually the one who bought the book and on a whim I decided to pick it up. I was good! Definitely something more for individual who have a passion for cinema as they’ll have a deeper appreciation for this.
November 24, 2022
The posters are beautiful, but the blurbs/chapters are sometimes hard to follow. It's also very focused on what I would consider stereotypical "boy" movies - horror, superheroes, Tarantino. Not a ton of variety in terms of the type of movies discussed.
January 11, 2023
This was a fun read, but I would have appreciated a bit more detail with the movies-that-never were. As-is, the chapters mostly just read like mini Wikipedia articles, though they're still entertaining to read.
November 5, 2023
As a big movie person, this book was going to be an enjoyable one for me. It may not be the most detailed book on these films, but it merely has the goal of getting us excited for films we never got. In that department, it passes with flying colors.
May 3, 2025
Such an interesting topic to write a book on. Was hoping the script details would be a bit meatier but that is hard to do when talking about an unfinished product. Great insight into the industry with fun what-if artwork.
September 3, 2021
I look forward to reading more books by Joshua Hull. You can tell he really likes movies.
July 21, 2022
An extra star for the fantastic artwork, unfortunately not much substance beyond that.
August 7, 2023
An fun exploration of some great directors and their failed projects.
September 5, 2023
Fine. Spends more time on unnecessary background than on the cancelled projects.
December 12, 2023
Learned a lot of fascinating stuff and am now yearning for some of these to get made. However, there's a hugely egregious factual error that blew my mind.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews