6) At the Mountains Of Madness
What is it?
Another del Toro project, At the Mountains of Madness would be an adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s horror story of the same name. It involves a group of explorers discovering ancient ruins on an expedition to the Antarctic; there, they find alien beings, dubbed Elder Things, who begin to slaughter members of the explorer team.
Why it could escape development hell:
This one actually already got close to being made. Del Toro was directing, Tom Cruise was starring, and James Cameron was producing; concept art was drawn up, and filming was set to go in May 2011. Then, two months before the shoot was set to begin, Universal pulled the plug, apparently due to del Toro’s refusal to make the movie PG-13. However, there is reason to think this one could soon be a go: del Toro announced he and Cruise were still attached in 2013, and last year announced he was looking to make it with Legendary, the studio behind del Toro’s own Pacific Rim and Pacific Rim 2.