With PACIFIC RIM receiving plenty of positive buzz across the webby webs, it is only natural that speculation begins regarding Guillermo’s next project.

The latest rumor involves GDT directing a “Justice League Dark” called HEAVEN SENT, featuring DC Comics’ horror and magic characters – something that would be right up Guillermo’s alley.

The super team would consist of Deadman, The Spectre, Swamp Thing, Constantine Hellblazer, Phantom Stranger, Zatanna, Zatara, and Sargon.  Initially, reports indicated Guillermo denied interest, but he set the record straight on our forums, saying that he would “love” to direct this film if the opportunity was there.

Still, do not discount Guillermo directing a more personal, smaller film right after PACIFIC RIM…..

Rise of the Guardians

RISE OF THE GUARDIANS had a disappointing reception at the box office on one of the biggest Thanksgiving weekends ever for the film industry.  It earned $32 million over the holiday weekend.  With a pricetag of around $145 million, this could be one of the worst performing films in Dreamworks history.

Still, Guillermo is keeping a positive outlook, and hopes that it could pick up steam over the holiday season by solid word of mouth, and stands by the quality of the film:

Box office was disappointing but exit polls and Cinemascore proved that audiences gave us a straight “A” and through the testing process we were the highest tested film in DWA history. Obviously we need to change our ad strategy but Holiday movies tend to hold through the season.

I love our movie!

inSane Returns?

Guillermo’s horror video game project, dropped by struggling THQ back in August, is apparently rising again at another developer.  GDT told IGN:

We were going to go to a lot of developers after THQ, but it seems like we’re going to be developing it after the first meeting we had. I can’t disclose where it was, but we went to a great developer on the first meeting and it seems that they’re picking it up because they love the package.

No Jaeger Sneak Peak…yet

Also, speculation was rampant that Guillermo’s production studio, Mirada, leaked a sneak peak of a Jaeger in a promotional video.  Sorry, fans – that was not a Jaeger, but check out this comment that GDT posted on our forums:

Days away from the first steps on PR!!

G

Guillermo promised the first PAC RIM footage is coming in mid-December.  Fingers crossed that we get to see a teaser in theaters soon.

A great interview and podcast with Guillermo Del Toro and video game designer Ken Levine has been posted at IrrationalGames.com.  Some great stuff in this interview, so do yourself a favor and check it out!

Web page Part 1

Direct Download Part 1

Web page Part 2

Direct Download Part 2

Irrational Podcasts RSS Feed

iTunes Feed

Happy 2011, everyone! 

Die-hard Del Toro fans may be wondering what they can expect from the New Year.  I can guarantee this:  it will NOT be like 2009 and 2010 – which was chock full of a whole lot of nothin’.

Sure, we got some HOBBIT preproduction,  THE STRAIN trilogy, SPLICE, and some other nice things.   Actually, THE STRAIN was more than just ”nice”, it was pretty darn cool, but let’s get down to brass tacks:

WHEN ARE YOU DIRECTING A MOVIE, GUILLERMO???

Come on, that’s what all of you are thinking, right?  Let’s acknowledge the elephant in the room, give him a paper cut and pour lemon juice all over it.

But here is the thing:  the question above is not a desperate plea.  It is not a call to action to a man who is presumably sitting on the couch, watching Maury Povich and eating stale pork rinds. 

No, sir.  Guillermo KNOWS what he’s doing next. 

He just ain’t sayin’.

So, here is my fabulous New Year’s prediction:  GDT will be sitting in the director’s chair sometime this year, and I’ll bet we will see a new GDT feature in 2012. Bet on it.

GDT Challenges Developers

Kotaku is reporting that Guillermo is challenging the developers of inSANE, his new game with THQ.

Danny Bilson, one of the higher-ups from the game’s publisher at THQ recalled this ultimatum while talking to Kotaku today: “He said, ‘At the next meeting I want all of you to come to the meeting with one dream feature, one thing you’ve always wanted in a game … or don’t come to the meeting.’

And Danny already has his idea in mind, and it sounds great:

Mine’s Autotuning. To have a great fiction game, everyone has to finish the game. To have a trilogy you have to get to the end and care about the story. You can’t care about the story if you choke off halfway through or you get sick of it or fatigued or whatever. So the game will have the coolest [artificial intelligence]-based auto-tuning where it’s challenging for everybody.

Sounds great, Danny.  Sounds like storytelling is a premium for this project, and Guillermo is pushing the envelope. Hope they can pull it off.

More Tom Cruise rumors

Rumors again are circulating the internet that Tom Cruise has signed on for AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, this time from a casual aside in an article at Deadline.

So here is the unbiased, fact-based report on Tom Cruise starring in ATMOM.  Here is what we know:

1. The Deadline report cites no sources in its assertion that Tom Cruise is attached, that said….

2. GDT is a Tom Cruise fan

3. And in a YouTube video posted by cronoticias.com, James Cameron says this about ATMOM at about the 6:29 mark:

I really don’t know what is officially announced yet…Tom’s very excited about doing the movie. I’ve known him for years. I would love it if he did it, but no deals have been made.

So there you go – it sounds like “Tom”, if that is indeed “Tom Cruise” that Cameron is referring to, is the first choice for ATMOM, but no official announcement has been made.

What do you think about Tom Cruise starring in ATMOM?

Guillermo Del Toro and THQ delivered a teaser trailer and a game title for their much anticipated video game collaboration at the 2010 Video Game Awards last Saturday.

We now know that the game series will be entitled “inSANE”, and GDT will serve as an “external creative director.  Interestingly enough, scrawlfx.com reports that Del Toro and THQ will also collaborate on “potential transmedia projects”, and that while THQ owns the rights to the games, GDT will hold to rights to any filmed entertainment products surrounding the games.

As The Simpsons’ Montgomery Burns would say, “It is all falling into place.”

With GDT’s collaboration with THQ, and the recent opening of his new “transmedia” production studio, we can see that with this deal, Guillermo may finally be implementing his vision of using multiple media platforms to tell stories. It is entirely possible that he could be releasing “companion” works (animated films? books?) that help form the narrative of the video games.

Here is something interesting I noticed – go to the official “inSANE” website (just launched).  Look at the logos at the bottom.  There is a DOUBLE DARE YOU logo!

 Some of you may recall that DOUBLE DARE YOU was originally a production label GDT had formed with Disney to create animated features. To my knowledge, this partnership was dissolved.  Why is it showing up on the THQ official site?  That is a mystery – but I do recall Del Toro mentioning DDY being a foray into transmedia storytelling. Here is what he told DelToroFilms in September 2009:

 I have been planning this, my new relationship with PIXAR/DISNEY for a couple of years ago> I have a plan and I have been carefully pursuing it- and, no, it didn’t start with THE HOBBIT. It predates it by a long while. I am trying to map out the next 10 years of my creative life and I’m touching the narrative forms I am interested on. That will include books, animation and games aside from films. I intend to be fluent in those languages and mediums, not as a user but as a practitioner.

Is it possible Guillermo is still using the DOUBLE DARE YOU production label for his transmedia projects?  We will have to find out. Interestingly enough, the DDY logo links back to DelToroFilms.com!

No additional details are available about that game itself.  Below is the teaser trailer and a red carpet interview from the 2010 VGAs.  Let us know your thoughts!

Javier Bardem in BIUTIFUL

There is a small GDT-produced film that is getting a limited release in the US on December 29th that has not gotten much attention on this site, but it is getting a lot of attention elsewhere.

That film is BIUTIFUL.

This is the second film from the CHA CHA CHA film production company (following Rudo y Cursi) started by Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro – Mexico’s most acclaimed directors.  The film is directed by Iñárritu and stars Academy Award winning actor Javier Bardem (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN)  as Uxbal, a father coming to grips with his own mortality.

Iñárritu is a tremendously talented director, who has a keen interest in gripping, emotional dramas with big themes (21 GRAMS, BABEL).  This film appears to be part of that same cannon.  It is a film about how we die. It is a film about how we live.

I recently read an interview by Steve Pond with Del Toro and Iñárritu about this film.  It is a terrific interview, and the most significant thing that I learned from it was how frustrated – and borderline angry – these two directors are at Hollywood and the studio system for its unwillingness to support films of this kind. By “this kind”, I mean art house films, or films that do not cater to the “highest common denominator”.

Here are a few quotes from Guillermo that I found interesting:

I think the studios are being conservative, and cowardly. That they only venture to the safest, most inane bets for the audience. Things that seem recycled from a recycle from a recycle…

The era of the filmmaker-driven cinema is dying because corporations find it absolutely unacceptable. Film is driven by marketing, and lawyers, and people that see a poster, a package, and that’s it. There was a time when you could resist that, 10 years ago, when there was enough money and enough markets. But as soon as the money shrunk, they became ultra conservative.

So why should a GDT fan see this film?  I can tell you that the film has a spiritual or supernatural element to it, which fans will like.  Guillermo says GDT fans should see it because it is “incredibly human and moving”…but I believe there is another reason to see it.  Frank Darabont once lobbied for fans to see PAN’S LABYRINTH on this site by saying that buying a ticket for a film like this is a vote – it is a vote for studios to make more films like this. It is a vote for intelligent, meaningful films that awaken the soul. 

Check out the trailer below and decide if you want to get out and vote!   You can view all release dates at IMDB.