Guillermo Del Toro said at Comic-Con that he’d be announcing his next directing project soon, but few expected news of it to come so soon after the San Diego event. However, according to Deadline, the next movie Del Toro will direct is an adaptation of the 1931 H.P. Lovecraft tale, At The Mountain Of Madness.
The movie will be shot in 3D for Universal, with no-less than James Cameron as one of the producers, so hopefully we can expect the third dimension to be good. Del Toro has been toying with At The Mountain Of Madness for some time, having first set it up at Dreamworks in 2004, before taking it to Universal in 2007. However when he decided to make The Hobbit, plans were put on hold, but now that he’s left Middle-Earth, it’s full steam ahead again.
The movie will see the Mexican director taking on the tale of a scientific expedition to the South Pole, which uncovers hints that the true origin of mankind may have been gods from another planet. However bad things start to happen when those gods are reawakened.
The story was an obvious point of inspiration for both The Thing and Alien vs. Predator, but this is the first time it’ll be given a proper, big budget movie makeover. It’s previously scared directors and studios off because of its big ideas and logistical problems, which could risk the tale coming across as silly on the screen (as well as being rather dark and potentially complex), but if there’s one guy who can pull it off, it’s Del Toro. Although not mentioned in the Deadline reports, at Comic-Con Del Toro said he plans to shoot his next film, starting May 2011, so that when At The Mountains Of Madness will get going.