Mountians Of Madness Gets The Axe

Darren 7 Comments

Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains Of Madness” has been put on hold, and Universal has all but pulled the plug. Screened reports:

del Toro was evidently unwilling to budge on the film’s R-rated content. The New Yorker article states that it wasn’t designed to be a terribly gory film, but one full of deeply unsettling imagery that the MPAA wasn’t likely to give a PG-13 pass to. Ultimately, the film’s projected $150 million budget-even with names like James Cameron and Tom Cruise attached to the project in various functions-was deemed too unwieldy for the film that could not be marketed to a mass audience.

I love Del Tori’s work as most do. it is sad to see this project go. Del Toro has bounced back with another creature feature project called ‘Pacific Rim’, so the pain is short lived. There are however, many out there on the Net who want to make Universal look like bad guys. I’m not going to jump on that bandwagon. There’s nothing that prevents Del Toro and co-producer James Cameron to look to another studio in case they want to proceed. Studios kill projects all the time as much as they greenlight them. This WAS NOT an easy call to make. Was it the right one-?

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"Revenge is sweet and not fattening." Alfred Hitchcock

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  • Art

    Noooo!! How sad. I was really looking forward to seeing this come to life on the big screen and I am convinced Del Toro is the man to do it! Hopefully this will still happen and they’ll find a way to make the film work.

  • Herby Ragan

    I fear films made for an Adult audience are disappearing. I would love to see del Toro’s spin on Lovecraft, a truly great writer. I hope another studio picks it up, but I doubt it.

    • http://www.judymoodymovie.com Rodney

      Perhaps $300m budget films that are rated R, yes.

      But that isn’t to say that because a movie is PG that it is not for an adult audience.

  • batesmotel

    if they’re biggest problem is that it wont be marketable just look at every other project that Del Toro has done. honestly the film industry today is just that an industry and its keeping many great films from getting made.

    • http://www.judymoodymovie.com Rodney

      That is the irony here. Its the “industry” that is keeping these films from getting made, but you rarely see any of these wealthy directors ponying up their own cash to make these films do you?

      Where is THEIR faith in the project?

      People are quick to blame the “industry” for some films not getting made, but at the end of the day, there are plenty of people in the industry with money and they wont make it either.

      • MadMax_007

        Del Toro has made a lot of great movies but he does NOT have Cameron or Spielberg money. He doesn’t have the sufficient funds to make the visionary movie he wants to make on his own. His net worth ain’t much, so yea I will blame the industry on this one.

      • http://www.judymoodymovie.com Rodney

        I also don’t see Spielberg or Cameron lining up to make this happen. That was my point.

        This is too big of a risk on a cult following market with a limited audience (due to rating).

        Regardless of where it comes from, the money just isn’t there. It isn’t the industry’s fault. It is common sense.

        Yes it would be great to see what he does with it, but it looks like no one is willing to foot the bill. That’s just reality.