March 8, 2011 was a hard day for film fans. After years of trying to get an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's At The Mountains of Madness to the big screen, director Guillermo del Toro announced that talks between him and Universal Pictures had hit a stalemate and that the project was no longer moving forward. While the filmmaker had planned to make the movie as a $150 million sci-fi blockbuster with Tom Cruise starring and James Cameron producing, the studio balked due to the project's suggested R-rating, believing that they wouldn't be able to make their money back by cutting off audiences under 18 years old. Del Toro moved on from the disappointment by making Pacific Rim, which will finally be out this summer, but apparently he's just not ready to completely give up on his Lovecraft adaptation.
The Playlist is reporting that del Toro is going to make at least one final attempt at bringing The Mountains of Madness to the big screen. "I'm going to try it one more time. Once more into the dark abyss," the director told the site. While he didn't give too many details about what he has planned, his stategy apparently involves doing a big presentation for studios and seeing if he can get anyone to agree with his vision. What could help is that the project still has it's original star ready to go to work: "Tom is still attached," del Toro said. "I think it would be so fantastic to make it with him. He's been such a great ally of the project."
Exciting as this news may be, it should also be taken with a grain of salt. In March of 2011 del Toro said in an interview that after things fell through with Universal he went to a number of different studios and actually got a few offers, but they all wanted to make the movie "the wrong way." Will things be different this time around? Only time will tell.
