At the Mountains of Madness - Guillermo Del Toro's Next Project!

[dark_b]

The film has James Cameron producing. The man is responsible for the two highest grossing films of all time.

I really think Universal should take a chance.

R rating and 150 budget. it will be very hard.

 

[Figs]

I don't waste time really looking into how box office percentages work.

Can someone explain how a film would need to earn $500 mil to make a profit, when it's budget is only $150 mil. I understand there's advertising and the theatres get a fairly large percentage of the profit, but 500 seems a bit extreme.

Oh yeah, Boom, that was the perfect Gif to use for that initial announcement. I love that commercial.

 

[Doctor Jones]

This is great news. Although any news concerning this is pretty great. I want Cruise in this badly. I could definitely see him in this role. .

 

[CrimsonMist]

Not with a 150 million price tag. As much as i want to see this movie getting made , i fully understand Universal caution.
150 million is a lot of money and despite the talent , the R rating is going to be very retricting.
Plus say what you want about GDT but the guy is nowhere near as popular or wellknown amongst the general public as say Nolan.
Is there a guarantee that James Cameron's name can draw an audience ( Sanctum anyone). Cruise has also been on a low lately.

I certainly see reason to be cautious, don't get me wrong. But they need to take a chance on this. I'll use Dracula as an example again. Universal, when they acquired the rights, spent $40,000 on not just the novel, but three different versions of the stage play. They advertised the film as a Super Production and to a degree it was. The budget was $355,000 which was an above average budget, and had the Depression not hit, I can safely imagine the budget of the film being close to Universal's budget for All Quiet On The Western Front: $1.45 million.

$355,000 back then was ALOT of money, especially given the financial trouble the whole country was in. Not to mention, budgeting the film at $355,000 was a bold move, given how close to the edge of bankruptcy Universal was at the time. There was also ALOT of apprehension towards adapting the book in the first place. There wasn't a precedent for horror yet, and outside of Nosferatu, most so-called supernatural films at the time or before, had the supernatural explained away as a trick, like The Cat & The Canary, or as a delusion like in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Dracula was the first American horror film in which the supernatural was actually supernatural.

Dracula, by the end of fiscal 1931, made $700,000, almost double the budget, and by the end of 1936, taking into account the several successful re-releases Universal did in 1934 and 1936, the film made $1,012,189.12. This was the film that, in 1931, saved Universal. They took a gamble and risked bankruptcy to make this film.

Now, $150 million is a lot of money. But I don't believe Universal is in any real financial trouble. And given how much untapped potential there is in Lovecraft, Universal would be doing exactly what they did when they decided to do Dracula back in 1931: set a new precedent for horror. These are different times and the handling of money is different, sure. But I think Universal is in the same position they were in all those years ago.

To say that del Toro doesn't quite have the popularity of someone like Christopher Nolan is a bit silly, though. It is rather unfortunate that to most people, he's the fat mexican dude who made Blade II and the Hellboy movies, but his Spanish films are an outstanding exercise in mature, effective and chilling storytelling. And oddly enough, i've encountered loads of people who hate watching foreign films but were incredibly captivated by Pan's Labyrinth. The Oscar wins further help his awareness level. On top of that, you have James Cameron producing, and Tom Cruise starring. Who knows what other potential star power Cameron and del Toro could bring in. James McAvoy was also rumored, and given how youthful he looks, could still play the role of the younger graduate student who would be with Cruise's character.


I don't quite understand the $500 million profits thing. I suppose that would cover promotion, but I don't quite know how they'd promote the film. McDonalds stuff and video games don't really lend themselves to this kind of story. But of course, there's also other merchandising. I imagine there will be a movie tie-in edition of the novel(it would be wise to include other Lovecraft stories in there as well). Then, given all the design talent doing creature work, there would be art books, i'm sure. Then you include action figures, t-shirts, posters. And even then, does $350 million really seem THAT necessary to spend on promotion? Sounds a bit extreme, but that's just conjecture at this point.

 

[Doctor Jones]

McAvoy and Cruise in this film together I could really see. Good call.

 

[Boom]

At the end of the day, it's a big-budget monster/horror film. And James Cameron would undoubtedly market the hell out of it.

Call me a biased optimist, but I really don't think they need to worry about this film underperforming at the box office.

 

[Doctor Jones]

At the end of the day, it's a big-budget monster/horror film. And James Cameron would undoubtedly market the hell out of it.

Call me a biased optimist, but I really don't think they need to worry about this film underperforming at the box office.

YOU BIASED OPTIMST YOU!!!

 

[Man in the Suit]

Harry Knowles says PACIFIC RIM will start shooting in September.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/48780

You suck, Universal.

 

[Doctor Jones]

This better not happen. Del Toro has about a billion other projets lines up. This has him interested. This film is his passion project he's been wanting to do for years and now he's finally getting the chance to do it. Why would you not continue with that?

 

[CrimsonMist]

Harry Knowles says PACIFIC RIM will start shooting in September.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/48780

You suck, Universal.

Even AICN knows what I mean. Universal is responsible for creating the American Horror genre. This is their opportunity to establish themselves once again in a genre that's been stale for far too long.

This better not happen. Del Toro has about a billion other projets lines up. This has him interested. This film is his passion project he's been wanting to do for years and now he's finally getting the chance to do it. Why would you not continue with that?

Agreed. He's been developing this for far too long, has nurtured this like a child, for too long to give up.

Pacific Rim sounds cool and all, but it doesn't feel like a passion project like every one of his other films have been. I really hope something happens that gets "At The Mountains of Madness" off the ground. If they means taking it to a more willing studio, then by all means, they should go for it.

What a waste of time and effort if it doesn't pay off.

 

[Boom]

**** you, Universal.

Sell the rights to a studio that's interested if you're just going to be a bunch of spineless ****s.

 

[Secret Fawful]

OH, SCREW YOU, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS! SCREW YOU WITH A RUSTY PIKE! I am FOAMING at the mouth right now.

 

[Bunker]

 

[Whiskey Tango]

God DAMNIT

 

[terry78]

So it's over, just like that, huh? They weren't even going to let him get the thing off the ground, even with Cameron's pull?

 

[Donut]

Universal deserves to go even lower then 5th place if they delay this. **** you Universal. Hell go bankrupt

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Oh I'm sure ****ing Battleship and Stretch Armstrong will rocket them straight to first place.

Way to go, morons.

 

[Donut]

Oh I'm sure ****ing Battleship and Stretch Armstrong will rocket them straight to first place.

Way to go, morons.

I demand they go bankrupt & have to close down & sell anything they own. No more better ownage then that

 

[CrimsonMist]

Better yet, Stretch Armstrong and Battleship tank, while del Toro takes the film to Fox or Warner Bros. and it becomes incredibly successful.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Universal killed it on Friday.

http://collider.com/guillermo-del-toro-pacific-rim/79355[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000]

 

[Boom]

Will go down in history as one of the biggest fails of 2011.

 

[Gabe99]

Guillermo del Toro's 'Mountains' in Flux, Eyeing 'Pacific Rim'

Due to budgetary reasons, Guillermo del Toro may be forced to put his passion project -- his long-in-the-works adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness set up at Universal -- on hold, at least for the time being, and has another suitor, Legendary Pictures' Pacific Rim, waiting for him in the wings.

Universal and del Toro have been for months jossling over a budget and a rating that would make the studio comfortable with making the movie. The filmmaker had a $150 million pot and was intent on making a scary R-rated monster movie. He was even scouting locations as early as last week.

But even having Tom Cruise loosely attached to star wasn't enough for Universal, whose cost-risk analysis put the project outside its comfort zone. Some sources are saying Univeral is feeling pressure from its new owners to be more fiscally prudent, though officials repping the new owners deny that any screws are being tightened.

The situation had been building to a head for a quite some time, and del Toro is not going down without a fight, exploring the option to take the project to another studio. Sources say Fox is a likely destination, since James Cameron is one of the producers and has a long association with that studio. (Other producers include Don Murphy and Susan Montford.)

Meanwhile, del Toro has no shortage of projects waiting for his attention, Pacific Rim being one of them.

Rim came on del Toro's radar late last spring, after he had left The Hobbit and was back from New Zealand. Legendary picked up the spec in June from Travis Beacham, who in 2005 wrote A Killing at Carnival Row, to which del Toro was attached to direct for a while.

Rim, which Legendary sees as a PG-13 movie, is a monster movie that sees powerful extraterrestrial force threaten the Earth's existence, with humans uniting to fight them off.

No deal hade been made on the Rim front, and Universal insiders say they would still like to see a Mountains movie -- just not at its current state.

 

[Boom]

The situation had been building to a head for a quite some time, and del Toro is not going down without a fight, exploring the option to take the project to another studio.

Thattaboy, Del Toro. Stick it to those imbeciles .

 

[terry78]

Well, considering he's already done a little work on some of the Dreamworks flicks as exec producing/consulting, Dreamworks may be a plausible home.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Taking it to Fox might not be a bad idea considering Cameron's history with them. At least GdT's not giving up.