Due to various stops and starts on a number of different projects, it has been close to five years since Guillermo del Toro's last directorial effort, b>Hellboy II: The Golden Army. That's set to change next summer with the release of Pacific Rim and the launch of a partnership between the writer/director and Legendary Pictures that, today, looks like it will continue on for the foreseeable future.

Deadline has just announced that Del Toro will next helm the haunted house story Crimson Peak through Legendary with serious potential for his At the Mountains of Madness to follow.

Crimson Peak is written by Del Toro, Matthew Robbins and Lucinda Coxon and Del Toro describes it to the outlet as, “a very set-oriented, classical but at the same time modern take on the ghost story. It will allow me to play with the conventions of the genre I know and love, and at the same time subvert the old rules.”

A 2014 production start is being planned, allowing for Del Toro to head to the small screen for the pilot of "The Strain," based on his own book series with Chuck Hogan.

Looking towards the future, Del Toro says that Legendary could very well become the home of his long-awaited H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, At the Mountains of Madness. Although far from a guarantee at this stage, the news should please fans who were dismayed earlier this year when Del Toro admitted it was likely the project would never see the light of day.

(Photo Credit: Brian To / WENN.com)