What are the most delayed movies ever?

[Quake1028]

The recent postponements of M:I 7 and 8 got me thinking about this.

M:I 7
July 23, 2021
November 19, 2021
May 27, 2022
September 30, 2022
July 14, 2023

So, that's 4 delays to date and almost 2 full years.

Top Gun: Maverick
July 12, 2019
June 26, 2020
June 24, 2020
December 23, 2020
July 2, 2021
November 19, 2021
May 27, 2022

So, that's 6 delays to date and nearly 3 full years.

I know these both had a lot to do with COVID, but not all of it can be attributed to that.

New Mutants
April 13, 2018
February 22, 2019
August 2, 2019
April 3, 2020
August 28, 2020

4 delays and nearly 2 1/2 years.

Can anyone find other examples like these, sticking to movies that actually made it (or presumably will make it) to theaters?

[Foggy]

The King’s Daughter starring Pierce Brosnan which has just been released this weekend was originally shot in 2014.

[Samus Aran]

There are a lot of movies that just sit on the shelf collecting dust until someone finally releases them.

The King's Daughter was just released into theaters. It was made in 2014. Three weeks before it was going to come out in 2015, Paramount pulled it. Two actors met on that set and they got married and had two kids before it was finally released by Gravitas Ventures.

[The Debts]

The Empty Man was shot in 2017 and didn't come out until 2020 where it was just sort of dumped in October.

[steve_dave]

Already a nice thread with great examples:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=309514

[slumcat]

The Other Side Of The Wind

[Eagles612]

Avatar sequel(s)

[Gacivory]

The Day The Clown Cried

[Monterey Jack]

[Everything since March, 2020]

[Damon1281]

London Fields was made in 2013, released in 2018

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

[Everything since March, 2020]

[Hydra Spectre]

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time was supposed to be one movie with Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo and was slated for a 2008 release after Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone released on schedule way back in 2007.
Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance was delayed to 2009 and they decided to split the last movie in the trilogy into two, with 3.0 getting a delayed release in 2012 and 3.0+1.0 getting slated for a 2013 release then 2015, and then silence until it was announced to be released in June 27, 2020, and that was delayed two more times to January 23, 2021 and then March 8, 2021.
It's a blessing Amazon Studios released it on streaming internationally the following summer, without any of the troubled localisation issues 3.0 received.

Hands down, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time is the most delayed film in the COVID-era.

As for the most delayed film of all time, it would have to be Disney's The Snow Queen, which was in development under Walt himself since the 1940s before it was cancelled.
It was then revived in the '90s and 2000s before being cancelled once again in 2002 once Disney moved on to making CGI films after Treasure Planet bombed at the box office.
It would then be revived in 2008 under the title Anna and the Snow Queen before being retitled to Frozen and turned into a 3D CGI film instead of a 2D animated film. The Snow Queen title was still used in some international releases and the Japanese release was called Anna and the Snow Queen.

I like the film quite a bit but it's quite obvious that it went through over 70 years worth of development hell with the massive plot holes of the film and the out-of-nowhere twist at the end.

[BladeRunner2007]

Romero's The Amusement Park. Shot in 1973. Released in 2021.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by BladeRunner2007

Romero's The Amusement Park. Shot in 1973. Released in 2021.

To be fair, it was lost, but I think it ended up released in 1973 in a small capacity. It was never really supposed to be released in a conventional way.

[Abdrewes]

6 long years.

[Hindustani]

Avatar II, III, IV, V and VI

[ps3bd_owner]

Originally Posted by Foggy

The King’s Daughter starring Pierce Brosnan which has just been released this weekend was originally shot in 2014.

Wow, that's impressive. Makes me wanna watch to appreciate it.

[Rzzzz]

The Thief and the Cobbler. Started in 1964 and released in 1993...

[HD Canuck]

I lost track on Indiana Jones and the Lost Movie, a.k.a. Indiana Jones 5. How many years delayed before it started production? Then covid, then Harrison's injury, then jumping from a 2022 release to maybe 2023...

[Gacivory]

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote