There’s been a trend as of late of directors attaching themselves to more projects than they can conceivably handle, and Guillermo del Toro is the poster boy of this epidemic. While next year’s “Pacific Rim” will be his first directorial outing in nearly five years, it hasn’t been for lack of trying (of course you'll remember he was long attached to helm "The Hobbit" but bailed as it continued to stall due to MGM's financial woes). The “Hellboy” helmer is now talking up two more projects that he intends to tackle in the future.
The first project he’s referenced is perhaps the most obvious, a sequel to his forthcoming monsters vs. giant robots film. In a conversation with Collider, del Toro revealed that there have been some initial conversations about where it goes next. “We certainly started tossing ideas for possibilities of a sequel and [writer] Travis Beacham and I are writing a proposal of ideas, but at the same time I know I don’t want to do that next," he said."I want to do something else, I want to do something in a different genre that’s not so big."
That being said, the director also opened up to MTV about the possibility about spearheading a different blockbuster, the so-called “Justice League Dark” known as “Heaven Sent.” The project, not to be confused with the traditional “Justice League” which del Toro has already ruled out, centers on the more supernatural-influenced team of characters like John Constantine, Madame Xanadu, Deadman and Zatanna, among others. The subject matter is obviously right up del Toro’s alley, more so than the traditional crime-fighting team, so it’s no wonder that he’s entertaining notions of doing it. However, so far he and the studio are “still just discussing.” The studio is probably waiting both on how “Pacific Rim,” one of the few original tentpoles next year, performs and how “Justice League” comes together before they set their eyes on second-tier characters.
So what is next for Del Toro? “I don’t know yet what it’s gonna be, but I know that next year I’m delivering 'Pacific Rim' in July and then I’m doing—God willing—the voice shooting for 'Pinocchio' and then the pilot for 'The Strain' for FX.” To recap: the former is an animated project he's co-directing with Mark Gustafson, while the latter is a TV adaptation of his series of books with Chuck Hogan. So in short, and as always, Del Toro is very, very busy.
sorry but, to use del Toro as an example, he hasn't been attaching himself to "more projects than [he] can conceivably handle." his projects, like for most directors, fell through because studios were getting cold feet on big projects these past few years. stop trying to make it all about trends, Playlist.