Why Guillermo del Toro’s Long-Awaited Lovecraft Adaptation Still Hasn’t Happened, Despite Being Announced In 2010

Guillermo del Toro’s At the Mountains of Madness is one of the most exciting projects on the esteemed director’s backlog, but it may still be a long time before it ever sees the light of day. One of the most esteemed dark fantasy and horror directors to ever take hold of Hollywood, Guillermo del Toro’s movies have a distinct flair for the supernatural and disturbing that would be right at home amid the works of H.P. Lovecraft. At one point, del Toro promised he would explore this connection by adapting one of the famous horror author’s most spooky works.

At the Mountains of Madness is one of the more famous novels by H.P. Lovecraft, describing the fate of a doomed Antarctic expedition that happens upon a lost alien civilization buried behind mountains of ice. If the premise sounds familiar, it shouldn’t be a surprise that elements from it have since been lifted for all kinds of movies based on Lovecraft’s work, though a direct adaptation for film has still shockingly never been done. Though it has languished in development hell for many years now, del Toro’s take on the chilling cosmic horror story is likely its best chance.

Guillermo del Toro’s At The Mountains Of Madness Was Announced In 2010 (& Started Even Earlier)

The Film Has Been In del Toro’s Mind For A Long Time

The concepts for a film adaptation of At The Mountains of Madness have been in Guillermo del Toro’s head for decades, with the acclaimed visual artist admitting to having an obsession with the story as far back as his childhood. A script was first penned by del Toro alongside frequent collaborator Matthew Robbins, who also aided the director with the writing of Pinnochio and Crimson Peak, as early as 2003. The screenplay was pitched by the pair to Warner Brothers multiple times, but the entertainment repeatedly turned it down, caught up on del Toro’s insistence on an R-rating.

However, in July of 2010, del Toro announced that he would be directing the project for Universal Pictures, with James Cameron signed-on to serve as producer. The film was meant to be played in theaters in 3-D, with Tom Cruise tentatively attached for some much-needed star power. Unfortunately, later that same year, it seemed as though the film once again fell through, with the R-rating, period setting, and downer ending all being cited by del Toro as consistent reasons studios were too afraid to commit to it.

Guillermo lamented at the 2010 Saturn Awards that “it’s very difficult for the studios to take the step of doing an R-rated, tentpole movie with a tough ending, no love story, set in period from a writer…[who has] a readership as big as any best-seller, but it’s [tough] to quantify because his works are in the public domain.” (Via Bloody Disgusting). Despite initially being greenlit for shooting in native 3-D in the Summer of 2011, At the Mountains of Madness once again fell through, doomed to join the list of unmade Guillermo del Toro projects despite its promise.

What Happened To Guillermo del Toro’s At The Mountains Of Madness Since 2010

New Hope Has Since Been Injected Into The Project

In the years following the film’s cancellation, Guillermo del Toro has expressed some hesitation that At the Mountains of Madness would have ever been a good idea to release at the time in the first place. In 2012, del Toro noted similarities between the script of At the Mountains of Madness and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, a prequel to the iconic Alien horror science fiction series. Seemingly, del Toro believes that At the Mountains of Madness wouldn’t have competed with Prometheus at the box office as another cosmic horror mystery with extremely similar themes.

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After he moved on from Warner Brothers to Legendary Pictures in the mid 2010s, del Toro saw success with the release of his original giant monster action movie Pacific Rim, which pit towering robots up against nightmarish kaiju for spectacular battles. This positive blockbuster experience vocally softened del Toro to the idea of a PG-13 rating, as he felt he was still able to craft an exciting science fiction story appropriate for a wider palate. Sadly, the work del Toro put into the film’s pre-production still wouldn’t get put to use at Legendary.

Is There Any Chance Guillermo del Toro’s At The Mountains Of Madness Will Actually Happen?

The Film Could Finally Come, Though It May Be A Long Wait Still Ahead

After going virtually unmentioned for about a decade, At the Mountains of Madness was suddenly given new life when Guillermo del Toro name-dropped the film in the wake of Pinocchio‘s success, having now signed on with Netflix. Owing to his new partnership with Netflix, del Toro expressed interest in re-visiting the idea this time as another stop-motion animation, though a new script would be required (Via Indiewire). He further excited an appetite for the film by dropping CGI test footage for At the Mountains of Madness out of nowhere on his Instagram in 2022.

In the same conversation, Guillermo del Toro name-dropped Phil Tippett as someone he would be eager to work with in translating At the Mountains of Madness for screen via the medium of stop-motion. Phil Tippett is a legendary special effects artist known for crafting fantastical creations for films as iconic as Star Wars, RoboCop, and Jurassic Park. More notably, Tippett pioneered a shocking stop-motion horror movie with Mad God. This all of these pieces in place, At the Mountains of Madness has a very real possibility of finally manifesting, albeit in a different form than first anticipated.

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However, it may still be a long time before At the Mountains of Madness ever sees the light of day. After all, stop-motion is a notoriously time-consuming process, with Mad God infamously taking 30 years for Phil Tippett to complete. Guillermo del Toro also has no shortage of other pressing projects to keep him occupied, including a stop-motion adaptation of the fantasy novel The Buried Giant, a Fantastic Voyage remake with James Cameron, and his own take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The upcoming films of Guillermo del Toro still take priority.

Few films have had as arduous a journey through production hell as At the Mountains of Madness has had. After suffering through multiple studios pulling funding at the last minute and going through an entire medium shift, the film is once again slowly nearing the very real possibility of releasing over 2 decades after the first draft was put onto the page. Lovecraftian horror fans shouldn’t hold their breath, but after del Toro’s upcoming film line-up is cleared, At the Mountains of Madness might finally crest.