If Nicolas Cage is busy of late then Guillermo del Toro is frantic! The "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" helmer has already signed away five years of his life to head up "The Hobbit" in New Zealand. Writing has already begun on "The Lord of The Rings" prequels with del Toro collaborating with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens on the script. So you might think that del Toro would be content with such a huge undertaking? Well, not so as The Master of Fantasy has been pinned down by Universal for the foreseeable future on several properties.
The ink has dried on a three-year first-look deal that the studio and del Toro have settled on that will see the big man directing four projects, including remakes of "Frankenstein," "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "Slaughterhouse-Five."
The fourth project meanwhile is an adaptation of "Drood," a Dan Simmons novel acquired by Universal that is still yet to be published. Universal are confident that "Drood" will be del Toro's first post-Hobbit gig.
Outside of the first-look deal Universal are supremely optimistic that the director's passion project, H.P. Lovecraft's "At The Mountains of Madness" will still go ahead. Just as soon as the dust settles on all of the above!