Guillermo del Toro is currently at work on Pacific Rim, an epic monster movie set for next summer.  More than a year ago, though, it looked like Universal Pictures was going to spend big money on del Toro's dream project, an adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft novella At the Mountains of Madness, with James Cameron producing and Tom Cruise starring. 

Considering the budget and del Toro's insistence that he not be locked in to a PG-13 rating, Universal ultimately passed on the project, but del Toro still owns the rights and seemed hopeful that eventually he would get At the Mountains of Madness going at another studio.

Guillermo del Toro is a believer in telling stories across multiple media, but even just within film, he stays exceptionally busy.  He tends to be developing any number of projects as producer and/or director at any given time.  Right now he's busy with a mega-monster movie for next summer, but there's one would-be movie in particular that suddenly looks like it could be his Pacific Rim follow-up.  The Beauty and the Beast retelling Beast now has Emma Watson nearly set to star and Andrew Davies on board to write the screenplay.

For awhile there, it really looked like Universal Studios was going to show some cajones of unparalleled size by financing The Dark Tower, an adaptation of the seven-novel series by Stephen King that would span a hugely expensive  motion picture trilogy and two limited-run seasons of a television series.  Along with his writer Akiva Goldsman and producing partner Brian Grazer, director Ron Howard was zipping through preproduction, even snagging Oscar winner Javier Bardem to play the principal character, Roland Deschain.  In May, they hit some serious budgetary speedbumps, but the project was not yet dead at Universal until now, as Deadline reports that the studio has opting against proceeding with The Dark Tower.

Guillermo del Toro, our preeminent purveyor of phantasmagoric monstrosities, hasn't had a film in theaters since Hellboy II: The Golden Army back in the summer of 2008.  After two mega-projects that went nowhere under his direction, his next has plenty of momentum and seems destined to actually grace screens all over the world.  Pacific Rim, an epic monster movie that pits humans in huge anime-inspired mecha against alien invaders, will hit theaters on July 12, 2013.

After recently spending months each developing The Hobbit and At the Mountains of Madness only to see those ambitious projects go nowhere under his watch, Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim should see the release of lots of pent-up filmmaking aggression.  It's apparently a sci fi action epic, with huge extraterrestrial monsters attacking human cities all around the Pacific Ocean.  Naturally, humanity fights back in the most delightful fashion: with giant, anime-inspired mecha robots.  THR's Heat Vision reports that del Toro's found his his first mech-pilot in Charlie Hunnam, who is currently in negotiations to play the protagonist.

Director Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer, and writer Akiva Goldsman recently locked down Javier Bardem to play the gunslinger Roland Deschain in The Dark Tower, their hugely ambitious adaptation of the Stephen King novel series that will encompass a trilogy of films and pair of limited-run television series, but it appears that Universal Studios has gotten cold feet.  Dripping flop sweat over the fantasy project's necessarily huge budget, the studio has temporarily put the kibosh on preproduction and may abandon the endeavor, allowing Howard and Co. to shop it to other studios.

His dream project, the HP Lovecraft adaptation At The Mountains of Madness, may have gotten the axe from Universal this week, but Guillermo del Toro can rest easy knowing that, though his last two mega-projects have not come to fruition, he has principals and lets his passion dictate his choices.  The Pan's Labyrinth director, who previously declared that he would never direct a movie that didn't contain monsters, is our first Rogue of the Week to earn the title not simply based on the movies he has made, but also on those that he hasn't made.

Despite being one of the most sought after directors on the planet, Guillermo del Toro can't seem to get a film into production lately.  He spent months on Lord of The Rings prequel The Hobbit, which he exited when it appeared that MGM would never emerge from its financial morass and Universal seemed eager to finance del Toro's dream project: an adaptation of HP Lovecraft's novella At The Mountains of Madness.  After months of hesitation, even with the presence of producer James Cameron and star Tom Cruise, Universal has decided not to go forward with the $150 million 3D film.  Now, del Toro is moving on to direct another monster movie, Pacific Rim, for Legendary.  Read the director's thoughts on the whole aborted process.

Monster-loving director Guillermo del Toro has spent over a decade nursing along his dream-adaptation, the H.P. Lovecraft novella At The Mountains of Madness, and over the last several months, Universal has debated whether or not to finance del Toro's expensive phantasmagoric horror film.  Despite the presence of mega-director James Cameron as a producer and Tom Cruise very much interested in playing the lead, it seemed increasingly unlikely that the studio would pull the trigger.  Don Murphy, who is producing the film with Cameron, has good news, though, telling io9 that At The Mountains of Madness is happening, with Cruise set to star.

Guillermo del Toro, on whom we posted once already today, has wanted to write and direct an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s novella At the Mountains of Madness for more than a decade now.  It long seemed like one of those impossible projects: a very expensive hard R horror film that isn’t easy to market like, say, a slasher film.  Since James Cameron came aboard to produce, though, his formidable figurative juice has brought the project a long way through development at Universal.  Tom Cruise has been rumored for the lead in the film since last September, and now Cameron has an update on the potential leading man.