Joel Schumacher's unrealized projects
The following is a list of unproduced Joel Schumacher projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, film director Joel Schumacher 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. 1980s

Bright Lights, Big City

1990s

The Lost Girls

Final Analysis

And the Band Played On 
On October 1, 1991, Schumacher dropped out as director of the movie adaptation of Randy Shilts's novel And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic, which became the 1993 film of the same name by Roger Spottiswoode. The Devil's Advocate

The Crowded Room 
On November 5, 1995, Schumacher was hired to direct the movie adaptation of Daniel Keyes's novel The Minds of Billy Milligan entitled The Crowded Room. Eventually Schumacher left the project due to his commitment to Batman & Robin. On October 13, 2004, Schumacher was again attached as director of the project but soon left. An anthology television series of the novel aired on Apple TV+ in 2023, written by Akiva Goldsman who had written both Batman Forever and Batman & Robin for Schumacher. Popcorn 
On January 9, 1997, Schumacher was set to direct the film adaptation of Ben Elton's novel Popcorn, which didn't materialize. Batman Unchained

The Runaway Jury 
On July 23, 1997, Schumacher dropped out as director of the film adaptation of John Grisham's novel The Runaway Jury, which became the film of the same name by Gary Fleder. The Apartment remake 
On February 24, 1999, Schumacher was hired to direct the remake of Gilles Mimouni's 1996 film The Apartment for Paramount Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment. Schumacher later left the project, which became Wicker Park, directed by Paul McGuigan. 2000s

Sleepwalker remake

On the Road 
On February 24, 2002, Schumacher was hired by Francis Ford Coppola to adapt Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road with Billy Crudup as Sal Paradise and Colin Farrell as Dean Moriarty. Walter Salles ultimately directed the 2012 adaptation. A Star Is Born remake 
On September 27, 2002, Schumacher was attached to remake A Star Is Born, with Will Smith and Jennifer Lopez attached to play the leads for Warner Bros. Bradley Cooper would later direct the fourth remake in 2018. Wicker Park

Brokeback Mountain

Inland Saints 
On April 17, 2007, Schumacher was attached to direct Kurt Sutter's supernatural urban crime drama Inland Saints for Paramount Pictures. On November 17, 2008, Mark Swift and Damian Shannon was attached to rewrite Inland Saints to reflect Schumacher's post-apocalyptic, action horror direction for the film. There were no further developments since then. Breaking News remake 
On July 25, 2007, Schumacher was in talks to direct an American remake of Johnnie To's action crime thriller Breaking News for Paramount Vantage. 2010s

The Hive 
On April 25, 2011, Schumacher was attached to direct Richard D'Ovidio's suspense thriller The Hive for Troika Pictures, which eventually became Brad Anderson's The Call. The Big Girls TV pilot 
On June 27, 2011, Schumacher was in talks to direct the pilot of Adam Mazer's television adaptation of the Susanna Moore novel The Big Girls for HBO, which didn't materialize. Offers

On October 13, 2011, Schumacher opened up about rejecting offers to direct sequels to his films St. Elmo's Fire, The Lost Boys and Flatliners, with the latter being the only materialized project. References

Schumacher, Joel