The Unmade Movies of Guillermo del Toro

Del Toro said that he wanted to remake the film to reflect his original intentions for the screenplay, which were revised for the Spanish version due to budget considerations. Indie horror auteur Larry Fessenden was initially recruited to direct and worked with del Toro on the script, but he left the project and was replaced by Mark Pellington (The Mothman Prophecies). There was also speculation that Amy Adams would star, but this was all more than a decade ago, and nothing has been heard since.

The Haunted Mansion

We were at San Diego Comic-Con 2010 when del Toro came onstage at Hall H to announce that he was writing and producing a new film based around the world-famous Disneyland attraction. Being who he is, del Toro promised that his version of The Haunted Mansion would be much scarier than the 2003 comedy starring Eddie Murphy, even if he didn’t actually direct it.

Fast forward to 2019, when del Toro said in a Moviefone interview that he had gone through two or three versions of the screenplay, with Ryan Gosling attached at one point to star, but he still had no idea whether it would ever go in front of cameras. Well, there is a Haunted Mansion coming out in August 2023, directed by Justin Simien and starring Rosario Dawson, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, and others, but it seems as if none of what del Toro was doing survived.

The Incredible Hulk (TV)

Del Toro has flirted with both the Marvel and DC universes throughout his career (more on the latter in a minute). He directed Blade II and was reportedly offered the director’s chair on both Thor (a pre-MCU version) and The Wolverine at different stages. But one project which came close to fruition was an MCU TV series called The Incredible Hulk, which was in development for the television network ABC at around the same time as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was getting ramped up.

Del Toro told Collider at the time that he had been approached about developing the series after the massive success of The Avengers, and was waiting for a writer to become available. It went dark after that, probably due to a confluence of reasons: ABC forged ahead with AoS, plus Marvel perhaps wanted to keep the Hulk on the big screen after Mark Ruffalo’s debut in the role in The Avengers was such a hit. Then, of course, there are those longstanding rights issues, with Universal Pictures still (as far as we know) holding certain options on the character to this day. We have no doubt that GDT’s take on the big green guy would have been more monstrous, and we almost wish we could still see it one day.

Dark Universe/Justice League Dark

Del Toro’s other big superhero-related project was Dark Universe, a DC/Warner Bros. enterprise that has gone through that studio’s usual development hell. Based on DC’s Justice League Dark comics, del Toro’s movie would have featured characters from the supernatural/horror side of the DC universe, including Constantine, Swamp Thing, the Spectre, Zatanna, and others. Although it wasn’t clear at first whether the film would be part of the DC Extended Universe, del Toro himself said it would in 2014.

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