The other day, daddy dearest’s site reported that Guillermo Del Toro had signed on to direct a film version of Roald Dahl’s 1973 book THE WITCHES for Warner Bros., which is cool, seeing as how things with PAN’S LABYRINTH are running smoothly for its release this September, and the upcoming project with New Line, KILLING ON CARNIVAL ROW, is slowly coming to fuition (despite not being greenlit). What’s not cool is the status on HELLBOY 2.
According to Variety, Sony has decided to opt out of their deal to produce del Toro’s sequel to HELLBOY. Why? Who knows, as the first film made some good coin, despite a budget of $66 million and marketing costing $30 million, and had favorable reviews all around. The good news though is that the film is being looked at by other studios for release, so all is not lost, which is more than what can be said for other films to fall in the proverbial abyss that is developement hell. Stay tuned.