Said to be one of the greatest films never made was a third installment in the original Hellboy film franchise, based on the Dark Horse comic book series of the same name created by Mike Mignola, to have once again been written and directed by visionary auteur Guillermo del Toro and star Ron Perlman as the title character, who — in order to defend humanity from the greatest threat he's ever gone up against — must finally come to terms with the fact that his his inevitable destiny is to become the beast of the Apocalypse. On top of that, the twin offspring Hellboy has with Liz Sherman would share the qualities of both of their parents, with one devilish and corrupt and the other angelic and innocent. Del Toro planned this as a grand finale to his take on the character and the mythos, with a much darker tone and a proposed budget of $120 million. He also discussed the possibility of developing the film at Legendary Pictures — with Universal Pictures once again distributing after having previously released Hellboy II: The Golden Army, taking over for Sony's Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios — and stated that the company might fund the film if his Gothic romance Crimson Peak and his planned Pacific Rim sequel, then-subtitled Maelström, were financial successes. However, the former underwhelmed at the box office and Del Toro eventually dropped out of helming the latter — which was subsequently retooled by replacement director Steven S. DeKnight and multiple new writers into the critically and commercially unsuccessful Pacific Rim: Uprising — which meant that the deal between him and Legendary fell through. With Hellboy III cancelled, Mignola and producers Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin opted to move forward with a reboot of the series at Lionsgate and Millennium Films, which was ultimately one of the biggest bombs of 2019 as well as one of that year's worst-reviewed films. Follow me and ponder the question, "What if...?" Music: "Batman on the Roof" – Danny Elfman (Justice League) ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPOUUg72dbY

For purely experimental purposes, I took the trailer for Damien Chazelle's recently released Babylon and converted it to black and white to see how it would look given that it's a film about the Golden Age of Hollywood, and many of the films from that era were photographed in black and white. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlH6eY8jb-g

A feature film adaptation of the best-selling Ken Grimwood sci-fi novel Replay has been in varying stages of development since the late 1980's. The story — about a 43-year-old man named Jeff Winston who dies and wakes up back in 1963 in his 18-year-old body, reliving his life with all his memories of the previous 25 years intact and stuck in a time loop that allows him to play out his life differently in each cycle — was originally optioned by producer Lee Rich to be made for MGM's United Artists, with Peter Hyams adapting the script, directing, and serving as cinematographer. When that didn't pan out, it was revived in the early 2000's at Disney's Touchstone Pictures, with Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts starring and script rewrites courtesy of Richard LaGravenese and Steven Rogers. In the early 2010's, Warner Bros. Pictures acquired the rights to the property, intending the film to be a vehicle for Ben Affleck to star in and potentially direct, with Jason Smilovic having penned the most recent draft of the script. Affleck passed on the opportunity to direct as he was gearing up to helm the true story-based thriller Argo. In 2011, it was announced that visionary filmmaker Robert Zemeckis would be directing, in what would be his next project following the Denzel Washington vehicle Flight. Later that year, it was reported that Green Lantern scribe Greg Berlanti would be polishing the script and replacing Zemeckis as director, although he'd join him — and Zemeckis' production partners Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey — as a producer alongside Rich, Affleck, and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas. Berlanti's take on the material would've seen Winston reimagined as an advertisement executive, rather than the radio journalist he was in the novel. Alas, no further news would ever come of the project. Follow me and ponder the question, "What if...?" ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqW0oOcyE4U

A live-action feature film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's acclaimed young adult horror fantasy novel The Graveyard Book has been in varying stages of development for well over a decade. After an initial attempt from Miramax Films and acclaimed director Neil Jordan didn't pan out, the rights were acquired by Walt Disney Pictures in 2012, with CJ Entertainment co-financing and Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe co-producing through their 1492 Pictures shingle alongside Ben Browning of Wayfare Entertainment and Gil Netter, with Michael Maher and Peter Rawlinson serving as executive producers. The spring of that year saw visionary stop-motion filmmaker Henry Selick attached to direct the film from a screenplay adapted by Jordan and rewritten by Rowan Joffé, whose story concerns a boy named Nobody "Bod" Owens who's adopted and reared by the supernatural occupants of a graveyard after his family is brutally murdered. However, due to scheduling and development conflicts, Selick departed the project and was soon replaced with reliable journeyman Ron Howard, who would also join as a producer alongside Brian Grazer through their Imagine Entertainment shingle. No doubt many of Howard's frequent collaborators would've also joined in, including costume designer Daniel Orlandi, film editors Dan Hanley and Mike Hill, production designer Michael Corenblith, cinematographer Salvatore Totino, and executive producer Todd Hallowell. Alas, due to commitments to other projects, Howard dropped out, and while the film is back in development at Disney with Marc Forster directing from a new script penned by frequent collaborator David Magee, Howard's take on the property will forever remain unrealized. Follow me and ponder the question, "What if...?" Music: "A Long Road Back" – James Horner (Southpaw) ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDHPgJHeAjg