Cult director Guillermo del Toro has backed away from At the Mountains of Madness after a long stint in development. Instead, he will be helming suspense-thriller Pacific Rim for Legendary Pictures.
According to Coming Soon, the Pan's Labyrinth director could not come to terms with Universal over the film's budget, which sat at $150 million. Del Toro wanted more and Universal reportedly balked.
At the Mountains of Madness was written by famed horror author H.P. Lovecraft in 1931. Madness was a novella and was serialized in Astounding Stories.
Del Toro, along with scribe Matthew Robbins (Mimic), adapted the story for film in the mid 2000s. The duo ran into roadblocks with then studio Warner Bros. over the budget.
In July 2010, it was announced that At the Mountains of Madness would be filmed in 3D with James Cameron on board to produce. Tom Cruise had expressed interested in starring in the feature.
Pacific Rim was written Travis Beachman (2010's Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the Titans) and follows the story of "mankind's defense against attacking monsters."
No word on when Pacific Rim will be released.
Del Toro backed away from the highly-anticipated Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit, in May of 2010 over MGM's financial woes.
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