It’s common for movie fans to hear about films in development that take years, even decades, to actually come out. James Cameron’s Avatar is a prime example – the director was developing it as early as the 1990s before it premiered in 2009. Mad Max: Fury Road also spent over 10 years in development before finally being made. Director Guillermo del Toro, an Academy Award winner, is somewhat known for sharing exciting ideas for movies that, unfortunately, never quite happen, to the point where his unmade projects have their own Wikipedia page. However, this year del Toro will finally release a film he’s been wanting to make for a long time, and he’s now given fans a hint about another project in the works.
In a recent interview with Empire magazine about his upcoming Frankenstein, which will soon be available on Netflix, del Toro mentioned that this film and his earlier animated movie, Pinocchio, were both projects he’d always dreamed of making-films on his “all-time bucket list.” Currently, only one film remains on that list: his much-anticipated adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At The Mountains Of Madness. However, del Toro unfortunately doesn’t think this movie-a project he’s been developing and discussing since 2003-will ever actually be made.
Del Toro shared with the publication that Mountains is a project he believes will likely remain unfulfilled. He explained it’s simply too ambitious, too wild, and probably too mature in its themes. Furthermore, he admitted he’s questioning whether he even wants to tackle it after completing his current work.
Why Guillermo del Toro’s At the Mountains Of Madness Won’t Happen
Del Toro explained that his decision to shelve the film came after careful self-reflection as an artist. He stated, “This film brings a story arc to a close. Looking at my work – from Cronos to The Devil’s Backbone, to Pan’s Labyrinth to Crimson Peak to (Frankenstein) – you can see a progression of a particular style, pace, and emotional depth. I simply feel I need to explore something different now.”
Lovecraft’s story first appeared in 1936. It follows explorers from Miskatonic University as they venture into the Antarctic tundra and uncover hidden mysteries within the ice. These discoveries range from prehistoric creatures to the revelation of an ancient race that existed long before humankind.
As director Guillermo del Toro has often mentioned, At the Mountains of Madness has been a passion project for him for a long time. He envisioned it as a large-scale, costly film that would definitely be rated R. A few years ago, he shared a previously unseen visual effects test, giving fans a glimpse of the elaborate creature effects he had planned. For horror enthusiasts, it was an exciting preview of a movie they’d been hoping to see, but it now appears that project is unlikely to ever be made. The video can be found below.
Guillermo del Toro first tried to get this film made back in the 2000s, approaching both Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures. The project has been in development for a very long time, and at one point, Tom Cruise was set to star. When del Toro began his deal with Netflix, he immediately pitched this film as one of his top priorities to the streamer.
As Guillermo del Toro pointed out, this film wouldn’t come with a small price tag. It would require a lot of money due to the detailed animatronics needed for the creatures, the large sets that would have to be built, and, of course, the visual effects. These factors would easily make it a very expensive blockbuster. The combination of a budget exceeding $100 million and an R rating – which limits who can see it – is a concerning sign for any Hollywood studio.
Even with the disappointing news, there’s a silver lining. Del Toro has mentioned sharing all the pre-production and development artwork created for the film, and the CGI video we saw is just a small part of it. Even if the movie is never completed, del Toro likely has a collection of material he can share with fans to show them what the film could have been.
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2025-09-29 18:15