A modern day remake of the live-action/animated Warner Bros. cult classic from 1963 The Incredible Mr. Limpet was originally set to start production between 1998 or 1999 with Jim Carrey to star, Steve Oedekerk to direct and the writing duo of Space Jam to pen the screenplay for a set release date of Summer 2000 (or at the latest 2001). Budget concerns and horrifying CG effects accompanied with bad test reactions led to the cancellation of the project. Brad Bird originally wanted to direct the movie after completing The Iron Giant as Oedekerk's permanent replacement, but terrified what the project looked like, he quickly backed out.
Mike Judge (Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill and Office Space) would end up being the director of the movie and also penning the script in addition, and also wanting actors like Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, Bill Murray, Chris Rock, Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller, and Adam Sandler to star as the lead role, and had hoped to start production in early-2001, but nothing came of it since. In fact, the almost a whole entire decade, there was radio silence about a Mr. Limpet remake up until Summer 2009, when Kevin Lima announced as director, and on June 2010, he appointed Zach Galifianakis (fresh from The Hangover) as the main star. However on March 2011, Richard Linklater would be involved with the project and was announced as director on January 2014. That same year in July, Jon Hamm, Danny McBride, Sarah Silverman, Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, Keegan-Michael Key, and Jordan Peele had entered talks for various roles in the film, but one month later, Linklater left to do his next movie, Everybody Wants Some!!
Over a decade later, and there's still no word about a Mr. Limpet remake as it's still in development hell to this very day at the time of posting.
Here's test footage of the Oedekerk version from circa 98/99:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahjTClTCdjs
