Charlize Theron is the latest big-name star mentioned for a movie version of Atlas Shrugged, in development for 30-plus years. (WENN.COM)

Everyone in Hollywood knows them, loves them, so why does no one want to make them? They are those movies stranded in what’s charitably known as “development hell” — the limbo in which well-regarded films inexplicably fail to find the necessary combination of talent and financial backing to achieve lift-off.

Just recently came word that Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged — which has been in the works for an astounding 30-plus years — may finally happen as a television mini-series starring Oscar winner Charlize Theron. But we’ll believe it when we see it. After all, the project has attracted plenty of stars over the past few decades, most recently including Angelina Jolie. But its conundrum did make us think about all those other potentially productions that may never see the light of the multiplex, despite the efforts of their prospective makers. Like these five, for example:

Jurassic Park 4: You’d think this would be a summer-friendly no-brainer — especially since Jurassic Park 3 was a stripped-down improvement on the second film — but instead this projected sequel has languished as producers struggle to agree on a concept. One potential script reportedly had dinosaurs being trained as soldiers, complete with armoured weaponry. Uh-huh. Given this, maybe a fourth film should, like its deceased creator Michael Crichton, rest in peace.

Torso: This nourish thriller — based on the graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis — came THIS close to being shot earlier this year under the direction of David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en). Alas, the studio — perhaps weary after the tepid box office of Fincher’s Zodiac — balked at telling this fascinating if gritty fact-based account of how a post-Untouchables Elliot Ness (to have been portrayed by Matt Damon) clashed with a Cleveland serial murderer.

Halo: A best-selling Xbox game and Peter Jackson, an Oscar-winning director famed for tackling impossible-to-adapt material? Yet an adaptation of this shooter still faltered when studio executives refused to back Jackson’s decision to have commercial director Neil Blomkamp helm the $150 million science-fiction extravaganza. We’ll soon know who was right — Blomkamp’s aliens-on-Earth thriller District 9, produced by Jackson, bows next month and, judging by its trailer, looks spectacularly evocative.

Untitled Phil Spector Biopic: For years, Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous) was circling the idea of a movie about the music mogul turned convicted killer. He even had Tom Cruise potentially starring at one point. Will it happen now that a de-wigged, de-mystified Spector is in prison? Doubtful — even if his life story is arguably more intriguing now than it’s ever been.

Wonder Woman: For all the comic-book adaptations of the past three decades, this female heroine has never made the leap to the big screen, despite being as arguably famous as male counterparts Batman and Superman. Two years ago, she nearly received her own movie thanks to Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, until he bailed. Most recently, The Road Warrior director George Miller cast Australian model Megan Gale as the Amazon princess in a proposed mega-budget Justice League of America action-adventure — until it too collapsed. So why the hold-up? Is it the star-spangled underwear? The tiara? Whatever the reason, it probably didn’t help when Megan Fox — once a rumoured contender for the titular role — reportedly told FHM magazine the character is “lame.”

kevin.williamson@sunmedia.ca