Directors who got to make "free movies" following a success?

[Zeus]

Hello,

I recently heard about so-called "Free Movies" -- dream movies made by directors after a huge success.

For example, Peter Jackson got to make King Kong because of the Lord of the Rings franchise. Nolan got to make Inception -- one of those exceptionally rare big budget movies that wasn't adapted from anything -- because he struck gold with The Dark Knight.

The whole concept of an iffy project being greenlit to placate a star director is fascinating to me. I'd like to learn more about the subject. Unfortunately, you can imagine how difficult it is for me to Google "Free Movie" and get anything other than junk results.

Can you guys help me think of other "free movie" dream projects? (I heard John Carpenter got one, but I can't say whether it was Big Trouble in Little China or what.)

[vamphunterdlover]

Well I read that Adventures of Baron Munchhausen in 1988 was a dream film project....does that help?

And I think the Francis copula 1992 Dracula was a dream project as well....

[bobo]

Jan 30, 2014 12:03:49 GMT -5 vamphunterdlover said:

Well I read that Adventures of Baron Munchhausen in 1988 was a dream film project....does that help?

And I think the Francis copula 1992 Dracula was a dream project as well....



I head that Copula only made Dracula after he was approached by Wynonna Ryder who thought it would make a good love story.  Apparently she read the book and had a very different take on it than pretty much everyone else who ever read it.