Pacific Rim may not be out until July 2013, but director Guillermo del Toro has apparently already decided what he wants to helm next, presumably as he’s keen to ensure there isn’t another five-year gap as there’s been between Hellboy II and his new movie.
Deadline reports that Del Toro plans to reunite with his Pacific Rim backers Legendary Pictures for a new feature entitled Crimson Peak.The director co-wrote the screenplay with Matthew Robbins, with Lucinda Coxon providing the latest rewrite.
Del Toro says the film is, “A very set-oriented, classical but at the same time modern take on the ghost story. It will allow me to play with the conventions of the genre I know and love, and at the same time subvert the old rules.” He compares the movie to Robert Wise’s The Haunting.
Guillermo del Toro actually wrote the script after Pan’s Labyrinth and sold it to Universal Pictures. However, the project was placed on the back burner as he began work on Hellboy II and then planned to make The. When Legendary Pictures expressed interest in the script, Universal allowed the filmmaker to move the project over, in exchange for a stake in the film.
The director has also said that he hopes his relationship with Legendary Pictures may allow him to resurrect his passion-project, At the Mountains of Madness. The project was shelved by Universal earlier this year, due to its similarities with Prometheus. Apparently Legendary is interested in the movie, with the director commenting, “They love it, but we just finished Pacific Rim. They want to let that film happen and then my hope is, down the line we can do it. People ask how do I choose projects. All the projects in my roster are there because I love them, but the financing process is serendipity. And often, the ones I think will happen don’t, and the ones I think won’t happen, do.”
The director hopes to start shooting Crimson Peak in early 2014.