Guillermo Del Toro to Direct Pacific Rim?

Deadline has some interesting news regarding why At the Mountains of Madness is taking so long to officially go into production, as well as the news that Legendary Pictures is hoping to secure Del Toro to direct Pacific Rim for Warner Bros.

The two issues holding up At the Mountains of Madness is that it cost around $150 Million and that it was going to be an R-rated film:

"The film is more horror than action adventure and i'm told it would have to generate $500 million in worldwide grosses for the studio to earn its money back. That means it would have to be a Lord of the Rings orInception kind of achievement, which is a lot of performance pressure to place on an R-rated horror film."

Not wanting to have a repeat of the delay time he had with on The Hobit, Del Toro is supposedly looking to take Pacific Rim as his next project if Universal continues to wait. If you remember the announcement last year, Pacific Rim was a spec script bought last year by Legendary Pictures and at one point it was almost going to be used as the basis for a new Godzilla film: "Set in a future in which malevolent creatures threaten the earth, the planet must band together and use highly advanced technology to eradicate the growing menace."

I have no doubt this story is real, but I wonder if the reason this story is out to begin with is for it to be used as a negotiating tactic. Of course, stories of actors circling roles have been leaked numerous times in the past in order to get another studio to commit to a deal, so maybe it will work for Guillermo Del Toro. Let's hope that Universal gives in and lets Del Toro make the film the way he wants.