Seems there's all kinds of shitty news today. I've been holding my breath for almost two years waiting on news of this production getting underway, but at the last minute, it appears the $150,000,000 price tag turned off the Suits.
Fuck.
>>Link to full article<<EXCLUSIVE: The green light process on At the Mountains of Madness with Universal Pictures has gone on for so long that there is now a very serious rival for director Guillermo del Toro's next film. I'm hearing that Legendary Pictures is moving fast on a project del Toro likes called Pacific Rim, a Travis Beacham-scripted PG-13 tent pole-sized project with big monsters and the creation of a new world. It could very well be the next film del Toro directs. That picture was developed independent of Warner Bros, and relatively under the radar by Legendary chief executives Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni. Del Toro has been in the loop through this process. He and Beacham almost worked together in the past when the director flirted with The Killing on Carnival Row at New Line. The Legendary-del Toro relationship dates back through the 8 months they put into Pacific Rim.
Universal has been balking over the $150 million budget and R rating on At the Mountain of Madness, the adaptation of the HP Lovecraft tale that revolves around the discovery of thawing alien beings in Antarctica. This despite the fact that del Toro had Tom Cruise ready to star in the film, with James Cameron producing with Don Murphy and Susan Montford, and Cameron god-fathering the 3D process. Del Toro and his team have delivered a stunning visual presentation that met the studio's budget specifications, but I'm told the studio is still wary about the R rating and price. It's just a very hard decision. The film is more horror than action adventure and i'm told it would have to generate $500 million in worldwide grosses for the studio to earn its money back. That means it would have to be a Lord of the Rings or Inception kind of achievement, which is a lot of performance pressure to place on an R-rated horror film. I'm told Universal is hanging onto the film in hopes of returning to it, but that the studio is expecting for del Toro to move on to Pacific Rim. I've heard that del Toro has asked for an answer by end of business today from Universal, or he is moving on.
As the rest of the article points out, Del Toro's role as a producer has absorbed much of his time. Seems he hasn't made a film in quite a while now, a true disappointment considering how much talent he brings to the screen. Hell, at this point, I'd even be happy to see Drood get made..
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