Guillermo Del Toro's AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS Landing At Legendary?

In Deadline's recent story of Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth) signing on to direct the horror film Crimson Peak for Legendary Pictures. The writer/director sounded hopeful that his adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft story At The Mountains of Madness would find a new home at Legendary Pictures. The production company aligned with with Warner Bros. recently hired Guillermo to direct Pacific Rim right after he exited The Hobbit. Legendary will now be financing Crimson Peak another passion project for Guillermo which will likely begin production in 2014.

"They love [Mountains], but we just finished Pacific Rim. They want to let that film happen [it opens July 12] and then my hope is, down the line we can do it. People ask how do i choose projects. All the projects in my roster are there because I love them, but the financing process is serendipity. And often, the ones I think will happen don’t, and the ones I think won’t happen, do."

Universal had originally optioned del Toro's At The Mountains of Madness which had Tom Cruise attached to star in the lead. James Cameron had been mentioned as being involved too. The studio plagued with many large projects flopping over the years was scared off by the purposed R-rating and the film's budget. Guillermo eventually pulled the plug believing the film he had envisioned wouldn't be done properly at Universal. You really can't make a PG-13 horror film based on Lovecraft with Guillermo del Toro directing because it looses it's edge and impact.

Funny enough, Ridley Scott's R-rated Prometheus took a lot of influence from the classic Lovecraft tale which ended up to be the most profitable film in the Alien franchise. Prometheus is already on track for a sequel while it looks like another terrible move by Universal. Also, Tom Cruise's action stock has also risen after a massive comeback thanks to Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol. Cruise is putting together a large amount of action film roles with Jack Reacher, Obilvion and All You Need Is Kill.