Guillermo Del Toro Says 'Prometheus' May Have Fully Done In 'At The Mountains Of Madness'

Until the start of production on his "giant robots versus giant monsters" movie Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro had a difficult couple years. His tenure as director of The Hobbit ended before that movie was given the green light to move forward, and his follow-up project, At the Mountains of Madness, was scrapped at Universal due to budget concerns coupled with the director's intent to make an R-rated film.

In the wake of Universal's decision not to make Mountains, GDT has talked about the possibility of trying to make the film somewhere else after Pacific Rim. But that plan may now be scrapped, too, because he says that another film has enough of a similarity to the origins of his H.P Lovecraft adaptation that there soon might not be any reason to make Mountains. That movie is Prometheus, and while del Toro's comments about both films are slightly speculative, those who don't want to know any more about Prometheus than they already do might want to steer clear of what the director has to say below.

At Del Toro Films (via The Playlist) the director posted the following:

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, after 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.

So. del Toro doesn't seem to have real insider info on the ending of Prometheus, or if he does he isn't giving it up. What this reads like to some extent is a simple admission that Madness won't happen at all. And while that's too bad, it doesn't come as a real surprise. GDT's Lovecraft adaptation seemed like a longshot even when it was being assembled with Tom Cruise at Universal — in the current production climate it would have been miraculous to see it hit the screen then. Now it seems even more difficult. Perhaps years down the road it will rear its head again, like one of Lovecraft's Great Old Ones.