More Sad News For Lovecraft Fans Anticipating Del Toro’s Adaptation of At The Mountains Of Madness

Thanks to a tip from IO9.com I recently read a post by Guillermo Del Toro on his blog in regards to Prometheus,and how the film is most likely the death of At The Mountains Of Madness. April 30th Del Toro enlightened his fans with his thoughts on the new Ridley Scott film. –

“I have been interviewed about this lately and wanted to post my two cents about this:

Prometheus started filming a while ago- right at the time we were in preproduction on PACIFIC RIM. The title itself gave me pause- knowing that ALIEN was heavily influenced by Lovecraft and his novella.
This time, decades later with the budget and place Ridley Scott occupied, I assumed the greek metaphor alluded at the creation aspects of the HPL book. I believe I am right and if so, as a fan, I am delighted to see a new RS science fiction film, but this will probably mark a long pause -if not the demise- of ATMOM.
The sad part is- I have been pursuing ATMOM for over a decade now- and, well, fter Hellboy II two projects I dearly loved were not brought to fruition for me.
The good part is: One project did… And I am loving it and grateful for the blessings I have received.
Onwards.
G”

That one project is, I believe, “Pacific Rim”, a film about an alien invasion that is fought with huge battle robots piloted by humans. Kinda makes me think of the Gundam cartoons.

My feelings are that Prometheus just had more financial backing, and simply beat Del Toro to the punch. When asked further by fans about this he said:

“Same premise. Scenes that would be almost identical.”

Which would explain why making At The Mountains Of Madness so soon after Prometheus might be a bad idea. Though I agree with one of the his fans that with all these ancient alien invasion flicks, wouldn’t now be the best time for the Lovecraft film? It is a tricky question to answer in the vain that no one wants ATMOM to fall in line with with the rest, and not stand alone as a masterpiece, as Lovecraft’s novel is.

So for now, no Shoggoths, Elder Things, or large blind penguins.

What are your thoughts?