The following is a list of unproduced Peter Jackson projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson has worked on several projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell in development hell, were officially canceled, were in development limbo or would see life under a different production team.[1][2]
Following the release of his feature debut Bad Taste (1987), Jackson wrote the script for a potential sequel.[1] The story involved an alien invasion of Wellington, as well as Santa Claus and a giant weta. In 1992, Jackson stated that the temptation to make Bad Taste 2 was growing on him.[2]
Warrior Season
While mulling over the possibilities of making a sequel to Bad Taste, Jackson was also co-writing a script called Warrior Season with Costa Botes. Inspired by his love of Jackie Chan films such as Project A (1983) and Police Story (1985), the project was described as a kung-fuwestern set during the New Zealand gold rush of the 1870s. Little else is known, other than Timothy Dalton was eyed to play the villain in the film.[2]
1990s
The Black Max
Presumably in the early 1990s, Jackson intended to direct a film based on the comic strip character Black Max.[1]
Also in 1992, Jackson was offered an opportunity to direct the horror comedyJohnny Zombie. He turned it down, and the film was instead produced under the title My Boyfriend's Back (1993).[1]
Jackson was sent the script for the drama/thriller titled Invasion of Privacy from a German producer. The story follows a pregnant woman who is held hostage by her ex-boyfriend. However, Jackson turned down the offer to direct.[1]
After the publication of the non-fiction book As Nature Made Him in 2000, Jackson wrote a script based on that story of Canadian man David Reimer whose childhood was spent living as a girl after a botched circumcision as a baby.[1][8]
In 2006, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Jackson optioned the film rights to Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. "[It's] a terrific meld of two genres that I particularly love—fantasy and historical epic," Jackson said at the time.[9] In a 2009 interview with IGN, Jackson stated that he was considering adapting the novels in the form of a miniseries instead. "With six books, I really don't like the idea of making a big-budget movie of the first book and it not doing well at the box office and suddenly that's the end of the series."[10]
While promoting The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014), Jackson revealed to several news publications that before embarking on directing the Adventures of Tintin sequel, he wanted to return to his roots and make a new film set in New Zealand first. He stated that he and Fran Walsh were in the process of adapting several true stories about their native country that would be "similar in tone and scope" to Heavenly Creatures (1994). "We really want to do something now that's connected with where we live rather than something that's a Hollywood thing," said Jackson. No further details were disclosed.[11][12] In 2016, Steven Spielberg revealed that a "secret" new film directed by Jackson was in development at Amblin Entertainment.[8]
