According to Empire Online, Guillermo has committed to a four picture deal with Universal Studios. The movies in question are:

• Frankenstien
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five
• Drood – Based on Dan Simmons’ forthcoming novel, which “blends fact and fiction in telling the dark tale of the last days of Charles Dickens”.

The deal would last between the end of The Hobbit in 2012 up until 2017. That roughly equates to four movies in five years so I think there is some question if GDT would a) direct all the movies himself, or b) has “first dibs” on these films, but may not commit to all of them.

As of yet, Universal has not committed to Hellboy 3 due to lukewarm box office (although it has been doing GREAT overseas). This decision would likely be made once Hellboy finishes its run either at the box office or in DVD sales, so don’t count it out yet.

Also conspicuously absent is GDT’s At The Mountains of Madness project. No word on that but it is likely it may be on hold for at least nine more years. Sorry Lovecraft fans…

  

On the Hellboy 2 message boads, GDT says he has proposed a “relaunched 3-D animated idea” to Universal for a series of shorts that feature Hellboy and the BPRD fighting the Universal Monsters. “My dream is,” says Guillermo, “[black & white] animation and new stories that can easily be added to the mythos of the classic films.”

Also, Guillermo says Johann will be revealed in the next three to four weeks, plus villains around mid-December. He is still hoping to get a trailer out “around the Holidays.”

IESB has some hot info posted from the 30 DAYS OF NIGHT premiere. In a video interview with Mike Richardson, owner of Dark Horse, Richards says there might be a possibility of seeing Hellboy take on the famous Universal monsters: Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, etc.! Nothing set in stone, mind you…just “talks”. With Hollywood anything could happen, and I know GDT and Mike Mignola have always been keen on the idea. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Also Richardson mentions that if HELLBOY 2 does well, we might possibly see a B.P.R.D. spinoff film! Let’s hope for high box office sales, fans!

You can view the video of Mike Richardson’s interview here.

  

indieWIRE reports that Guillermo Del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron (“Children of Men”), and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (“Babel”) will be forming cha cha cha, a production company that will partner with Universal Pictures and its Focus Features International. Focus features will provide financing, international sales, and distribution of five films, three of which will be directed by the trio. The other two films will fall to Carlos Cuaron and Rodrigo Garcia.

“We are proud to be not only part of the world cinema community, but also students of it,” the three directors said in statement. “Universal and Focus are affording us a safe haven and the creative freedom to keep doing the work we love as well as nuture other filmmakers.”

At least two of the features are expected to shoot this year and all of them were independently developed by the filmmakers.

Ed. Note:
This is great news for independent filmmaking. It is nearly unheard of for a studio to commit, in advance, to five pictures, and guarantee creative freedom to the artist. Great films from this trio, like Pan’s Labyrinth, are now more likely to see the light of day.