Movie Make-out

An interview with Pan’s Labyrinth and Hobbit director Guillermo del Toro has gone up at Variety, detailing the director’s plans after the J.R.R.Tolkein two-parter. Coming down the pipeline as part of his three-year first look deal with Universal are remakes of Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, and Slaughterhouse-Five, with the latter two being more faithful adaptations of the books than the original films (I’m not sure if Frankenstein will be a “reimagining” of the original movie or skew closer to the book), and Drood, an adaptation of the upcoming novel by Dan Simmons.

Drood centers on a fictionalized Charles Dickens, whom, after surviving “a catastrophic train crash,” is plunged “into the depths of London depravity and possibly turning him to murder before he wrote his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Drood is expected to be first in line post-Hobbit.

Additionally, he is producing (but not directing) an adaptation of the apocalyptic novel Hater by David Moody, and Crimson Peak, from a gothic romance spec script by del Toro and his Mimic collaborator Matthew Robbins. They hope to get something together for the long-gestating H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, At the Mountains of Madness, as well.

As for Hellboy III? “I think they’ll decide when the last euro hits the piggybank (from Hellboy 2: The Golden Army),” del Toro said, with the article noting that the second installment underperformed domestically ($75 million) but has done well enough overseas to make it profitable ($43 million and counting).

Although… Universal says it’s interested and that they may work with del Toro on adding “a TV series and online segments to broaden the following before making the series finale.” Hotcha!

Note the absence of the upcoming live-action Tarzan, which del Toro had originally been attached to when the remake/reboot/rewhatever was announced two years ago, but was recently moved over to G.I. Joe helmer Stephen Sommers. Ah well. Can’t win ‘em all…