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

[CrimsonMist]

Thattaboy, Del Toro. Stick it to those imbeciles .

Word. Hopefully another studio picks it up with a reasonable time as to get it started by the end of the year, so del Toro doesn't do Pacific Rim. There's nothing at all about that movie that interests me, unless del Toro were to do a complete overhaul. As much as I love his American films, they're all really popcorn action flicks that aren't too stimulating, outside of great character development. At The Mountains of Madness sounded like he was really bringing his A-game and his aesthetics that he applies to his Spanish films. Pacific Rim sounds, at least at this stage, like one of his American films(only without the del Toro trademarks) and I really don't want him to constantly make popcorn action films in the states. Hell, i'd rather del Toro go full speed ahead with Frankenstein than Pacific Rim.

Take "Mountains" to Fox! With Cameron behind him, Fox probably won't mess with them.

 

[redhawk23]

In development hell, dead del Toro waits sleeping.

 

[Boom]

As much as it pains me to say this... yeah, take it to Fox.

With Cameron's pull at that studio, perhaps GDT would have an easier time getting this off the ground.

 

[hippie_hunter]

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.

You have to take into account that a film like this would need a promotional budget of over $100 million, theaters getting a large percentage of the box office gross (not the profit), and the potential of a film like this going over budget, I can understand why a studio would be wary of an R-rated film with a budget of over $100 million.

But when you have James Cameron involved with the project and the potential star power, along with Universal's current situation, it's pretty damn stupid of them to pass this up. Asides from Despicable Me, Universal has failed to produce any major hits for the past couple of years. Something drastic and out of the ordinary needs to happen.

I can see this going to 20th Century Fox, with James Cameron's involvement along with Fox showing a willingness to invest over $100 million in R-rated sci-fi horror with Ridley Scott's Prometheus, and seem to want to invest heavily sci-fi in general with Rise of the Apes, word that another Predator film is being made with Schwarzenegger, and X-Men: First Class. Wouldn't be surprised to see them try and get Terminator as well.

 

[Bunker]

Didn't Universal do the same thing with Star Wars before Lucas took it to Fox instead? or was that Paramount? Either way, I can't wait to see the egg on their faces when this thing gets made and blows everyone away.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Yeah it was Universal that turned down Star Wars.

 

[Maximus One]

WTF is going on? I thought this was just greenlit????

 

[redhawk23]

WTF is going on? I thought this was just greenlit????

io9 was basically full of crap.

 

[Rac]

Well, this ****ing sucks. I wonder if it hurt del Toro and Unviversal's relationship? He had/has A LOT of projects there...

Can't really get excited for Pacific Rim, I just, eh...

 

[redhawk23]

 

[Cherry]

I will see anything del Toro does, whether it's Mountains or Pacific Rim. But I REALLY want him to hurry up and do Hellboy 3 first. Finish what he started.

 

[Octoberist]

In all honesty, would del Toro go back to do Hellboy 3 after UNIVERSAL pretty much wasted his time with 'Mountains'?

Also, Universal's Hellboy 2 didn't do so well (due to its release a week before 'The Dark Knight'). And Uni seems to be on shakey ground, providing they haven't had a hit in a while. It's not to say that they suck because they did release Scott Pilgrim and other 'ballsy' films, but none of them made money.

That's why they're resorting to Battleship and Stretch Armstrong.

 

[dark_b]

can someoen explain to me why some here are acting like Universal is Hitler? its not normal to invest 150 millions for a hard R rated horror movie. i understand them.
i was hoping that with Cameron it wouldnt be a problem but it was still not enough. for the love of god its their money. and there is no way to use kids mechandise for the movie.
the only think that i would blame them is them acting like they didnt know from start that it would be expensive and R.

i dont understand why Fox would be different. you think Cameron wants to lose money for Fox for am movie that he will not direct? Mountain of Mdness at Fox could destroy Cameron's and del Toros's friendship.

the plan is very simple. whait 5-7 years until technology gets cheaper. whait until the cost of the movie is under 100. then make it for 80-90 millions.

 

[Rac]

Great article on the subject: http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/motion-...universal-for-the-state-of-the-industry-today

 

[Donut]

That's why they're resorting to Battleship and Stretch Armstrong.

They will continue to not make money & go even lower then 5th place & I will laugh when that happens & if Universal is in no shape to make the movie then let Del Toro to find a studio interested in it instead of just killing it. The fan base is there everything is ready just let Del Toro take it else where before giving up. Otherwise Universal playing it safe will only hurt them in the long run

 

[Crockett]

It's such a bummer that Universal didn't go forward with the project but I can understand the concern and the risk it has also. Anyway del Toro and Cameron did their best and I appreciate that they at least give a try.

 

[Donut]

Anyway del Toro and Cameron did their best and I appreciate that they at least give a try.

Doing their best should also include trying to find other interested studios in it. I hope Del Toro says no to any future Universal movies & this includes Hellboy 3

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

Sucks about news. Hopefully after Pacific Rim he can make this project at another studio.

 

[dark_b]

i enjoyed the WOlfman for hat it was . rushed,redirecrted,blabla bla R rated oldschool horror movie. i was entertained for 2 hours.

 

[dark_b]

Doing their best should also include trying to find other interested studios in it. I hope Del Toro says no to any future Universal movies & this includes Hellboy 3

it would be almost the same.

del Toro needs a hit. its that simple. the plan was always that he makes the Hobbit and Hobbit makes money. that way del Toro would it have easier in hollywood to make Mountain of Madness. Hobbit didnt happen. so Cameron and Toro tryed and risked it all. it failed. if only del Toro would have one big hit. but he doesnt have it. when i writte hit i mean money and millions. this is how hollywood works.

whait until the technology gets cheaper and in the meantime make a commercial brainless movie.

 

[Rac]

i enjoyed the WOlfman for hat it was . rushed,redirecrted,blabla bla R rated oldschool horror movie. i was entertained for 2 hours.

It had a great atmosphere, score and art direction. I didn't hate the film (I even recommended it to people), but I couldn't help it that my mind wandered away from the movie somewhere in the middle. It just didn't held my interest strongly enough. Mediocre meh flick (just like 95% of Johnston's filmography). I've been meaning to give the film a second viewing in the from of the Director's Cut.

 

[hippie_hunter]

can someoen explain to me why some here are acting like Universal is Hitler? its not normal to invest 150 millions for a hard R rated horror movie. i understand them.
i was hoping that with Cameron it wouldnt be a problem but it was still not enough. for the love of god its their money. and there is no way to use kids mechandise for the movie.
the only think that i would blame them is them acting like they didnt know from start that it would be expensive and R.

It's not so much that they're a bunch of *******s. It's more like they're incredibly stupid because even though an R-rating isn't going to bring the kids in, if a movie is good, people will go anyways. Take a look at Titanic and the Dark Knight, those movies were borderline R (and probably would have been R if a major studio wasn't behind the project) and they made over $1 billion. Or take a look at the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Avatar, even though they were PG-13, those movies weren't made with bringing kids in mind.

Now I'm not saying that this movie is going to be a $1 billion dollar movie, but Hollywood needs to get rid of this idea that an R-rating is this horrible and scary thing. Because R-rated movies have been very successful before, such as the Passion of the Christ, the Hangover, 300, Saving Private Ryan, and even those with over $100 million budgets such as the Matrix series, Terminator 2, and Gladiator.

Not only that but it's baffling on why Universal wouldn't do this. Their current strategy just isn't working. Despicable Me is pretty much the only Universal film that has been a hit in the past couple of years. When a studio is in Universal's situation, they tend to do something a little more drastic and out of the ordinary to get people in seats. A film like At the Mountains of Madness would do just that.

i dont understand why Fox would be different. you think Cameron wants to lose money for Fox for am movie that he will not direct? Mountain of Mdness at Fox could destroy Cameron's and del Toros's friendship.

Because Fox is showing a willingness not only to invest in just sci-fi horror, but in sci-fi horror with high production budgets with Ridley Scott's Prometheus.

 

[dark_b]

with all due respect Mountain of Madness is a hardcore horror movie with an unique aproach to the horror scenes. Avatar,TDK,Titanic and LOTR are in no way similar.

did you read what Drew wrotte? the movie was designed to be different and unique. so when people watch those kind of movies they are confused. this is good because a movie must challenge you. but those movie dont make money.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

McWeeny is hardly the final word on what kinds of movies make money. The assertion that audiences can't comprehend something just because it isn't a ****ing remake is also rather silly.

 

[nouan]

Too bad for Guillermo del Toro, again. Even though I never cared about The Hobbit that much, it sucks that he spends so much time on something and then it doesn't come together. And again we wait. This Pacific Rim sounds kinda meh.

I was so dissapointed by the news that I actually went to Universal's site and send them a message saying how dissapointed I am and that I hope they let Guillermo do this movie one day. Not like sending a message is going to do anything, but it's something.