What Could Have Been with 'In The Mountains of Madness'

[DoctorFinger]

So close, yet so far. Just yesterday news was flying around that Universal had set a date to begin principal photography on "On The Mountains of Madness", one of HP Lovecraft's best known Cthulu-mythos works. Guillermo Del Toro directing and writing, with James Cameron producing, Tom Cruise starring and a budget set at around $150M, with an appropriate R rating. Sounds great, right? Within hours everything seemed to fall apart. Producer Don Murphy retracted his statement about a start date, then word came that Cruise wasn't locked in. Finally word came out that Del Toro would apparently not be doing Mountains, instead opting to direct a PG-13 monster flick called Pacific Rim. As before nothing is set in stone, but it sure looks like we won't be getting a Mountains of Madness film any time soon.

Sucks, right? But Drew later writes a long op/ed (sort of) defending Universal (spinning out of a discussion both public and private with AICN's Harry Knowles) and their decision. Harry says Universal is chickenshit for bailing on the movie, but Drew argues that they had almost no choice. The chances of an R-rated movie making back a $150M budget are minute to begin with, but this is a horror movie with no hope of a sequel and no real merchandising options which makes it even less likely. Geeks love Guillermo, but that love doesn't generally translate to the box office.

There are so many reasons good movies fail to find an audience, and it is myopic to claim marketing is the only key. I've seen good movies that were marketed well die. Just plain die. And you can sift through the ashes of a disaster and proclaim this and assert that, but all you really know for sure is that people did not want to see the movie in the theater. Maybe the movie was misrepresented to them, and they would have loved it, and they will kick themselves years later, a la "The Shawshank Redemption" or "The Iron Giant." Maybe so. Or maybe the general audience just plain didn't want something. And no matter how good it is, no matter how sure you are it deserved an audience, it just wasn't meant to be. It happens. Sometimes it's about timing. Harry kept telling me how "The Thing" was mismarketed back in 1982 today, and I'm afraid I don't agree at all. That was the same summer "E.T." came out, and if you look at what did well that year, there was an optimism that was embraced, and it simply looks to me like audiences wanted their aliens sweet and cuddly that year, instead of shape-shifty and nightmarish. It happens. You can't control that. You can't make the audience go see something. There was 100% nothing anyone in 1982 could have done differently to make "Blade Runner" into a $300 million grossing hit movie. Nothing. Absolutely no trailer or poster would have changed that movie's fate. You take Han Solo and Indiana Jones and you put him in a movie where he's an emotionally vacant "hero" who murders one woman in cold blood, gets his ass beat by another, and who has one of the most ineffective final showdowns possible with a bad guy who wins and who chooses to spare his life. I love that film, but I can understand why it failed.

It's easy to blame the studios for being cowardly and derivative. But they're still a business, and as much as many of us would love to see this version of Mountains of Madness, there's almost no chance of it making the studio any money.

[Ink Asylum]

I certainly won't miss having Tom Cruise in the film. Del Toro is a much greater loss.

I don't see why it has to be a $150 mil blockbuster. A great Lovecraft movie would rely more on mood and acting than huge budget-busting special effects and A-list actors. You could do a lot with a good writer/director team and half that budget.

It sounds to me like they were aiming too high.

[DoctorFinger]

I think other Lovecraft stories fit the lower budget bill, but Mountains is just bigger than the rest. To do it as Guillermo wants you'd either have to make it completely animated, or spend that much money.

[Ink Asylum]

If Del Toro can film Hellboy 2 with $85 mil, packed with special effects and a wide variety of sets and scenes, you can film this story with the same amount.

[biosc1]

Damn, I love In the Mountains of Madness. One story that I have read multiple times.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that it doesn't even need a big name actor to run the movie. They should save some money, lower the budget and just get a solid actor.

[Squidbot]

I am saddened Del Toro is out, but Cruise? Meh, no loss. I certainly agree with the reasoning behind the decision, much to my chagrin.

[DoctorFinger]

Cruise being attached gave it a better chance to be made. He's still one of the biggest stars in Hollywood

[Ink Asylum]

I would rather some movies not be made than get made with an actor I dislike in the starring role. (see: Cowboy Bebop possibly starring Keanu Reeves)

[TheFlyingOrc]

I've never been convinced most Lovecraft stories would make good movies - especially this one. They barely encounter anything scary, a huge part of the book is reading evil heiroglyphics, and they pretty much just run away at the end.

[Generation ABXY]

Originally Posted by TheFlyingOrc

I've never been convinced most Lovecraft stories would make good movies - especially this one. They barely encounter anything scary, a huge part of the book is reading evil heiroglyphics, and they pretty much just run away at the end.

I'm of the same mind. I enjoy the stories well enough, but they seem far to plodding to really make a proper film (speaking of a direct adaptation, that is).

Of course, I've been proved wrong before...

[TheFlyingOrc]

Originally Posted by Generation ABXY

I'm of the same mind. I enjoy the stories well enough, but they seem far to plodding to really make a proper film (speaking of a direct adaptation, that is).

Of course, I've been proved wrong before...

I mean, this particular story, the "scary thing" they eventually encounter really isn't that scary. A well done, slowly unfolding Call of Cthulhu (Which should be changed so that our protagonist is the only survivor of R'lyeh) could be way, WAAAAAAY more interesting.

AtMoM is one of his longest stories, no? I suspect that might have something to do with why it was the one being worked on.

[Ink Asylum]

Originally Posted by TheFlyingOrc

I've never been convinced most Lovecraft stories would make good movies - especially this one. They barely encounter anything scary, a huge part of the book is reading evil heiroglyphics, and they pretty much just run away at the end.

Or go insane.

I think there's a movie to be made out of the overall Lovecraft universe. I don't think it'd have be a direct retelling of any particular book, but the ideas are rich enough that someone should be able to come up with a creepy, disturbing psychological horror film out of them.

[Generation ABXY]

Originally Posted by TheFlyingOrc

I mean, this particular story, the "scary thing" they eventually encounter really isn't that scary. A well done, slowly unfolding Call of Cthulhu (Which should be changed so that our protagonist is the only survivor of R'lyeh) could be way, WAAAAAAY more interesting.

AtMoM is one of his longest stories, no? I suspect that might have something to do with why it was the one being worked on.

Honestly, I don't remember which is which (though my favorite's the one where he's reading through some other people's research)... but, as you said, you'd probably need to change aspects for it to work. At that point, a new story set within that world might be a better way to go; you could even spawn multiple movies, then.

[J Arcane]

I don't think you can do a Lovecraft story in visual form in general, at least not without going full on freakout like Event Horizon tried to do in it's director's cut form.

The whole thing about a creature being so alien it causes insanity merely to witness it kinda doesn't work when the audience can see it too.

I also don't feel that the source material has survived contact with pop culture trivialization either. It's hard to make a scary thing of Cthulhu again when you can by a plush one to keep on your bed for $19.99 on eBay.

[Ink Asylum]

So you don't show it, at least not the in vivid detail. Show pieces and shapes, use sound, lighting, and other tension builders.

[digitalErich]

I'd be interested to see that $150M itemized. Sure, there are lots of big names in there, but as was pointed out, seeing what Del Toro did with less than $90M on Hellboy 2, I'm curious where that money would have been spent.

[biosc1]

Dagon wasn't a bad attempt.

I know what you are all saying, though. Most HP stories aren't really about the scare factor, most are about an overall feeling of creepiness. People can't expect Texas Chainsaw Massacre and would need to expect something along the lines of The Others or Rosemary's Baby...ones that have a long slow buildup. (sorry, brainfarted on examples of movies)

[TheFlyingOrc]

Originally Posted by J Arcane

I also don't feel that the source material has survived contact with pop culture trivialization either. It's hard to make a scary thing of Cthulhu again when you can by a plush one to keep on your bed for $19.99 on eBay.

Nobody has ever actually been scared of Cthulhu, it's one of the most common literary criticisms of Lovecraft's work. They're more fun than they are actually frightening (and they are terrible fun).

It's why many critics call Lovecraft "America's Best Bad Writer". His adverbs are atrocious, his horror stories aren't scary, and his stories are long as hell.

But they're so blasted FUN you don't care.

[digitalErich]

A Lovecraft movie done by Richard Kelly...do it.

[Spectre-7]

For some reason, I think I'd really rather see it done on a shoe-string budget, maybe as a TV movie or something like that. The story isn't naturally theatrical, and I don't think I'd appreciate how they'd have to amp up the drama in order to make it work on the big screen.

Originally Posted by Ink Asylum

I would rather some movies not be made than get made with an actor I dislike in the starring role. (see: Cowboy Bebop possibly starring Keanu Reeves)

...or Robotech with Tobey Maguire.