Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Fantastic Voyage’ Pauses Until After Awards Season

EXCLUSIVE: Fox and Lightstorm are pumping the brakes on the sci-fi remake Fantastic Voyage. That is so that director Guillermo del Toro can focus on the launch of The Shape of Water, the fable he co-wrote and directs, with Fox Searchlight rolling out the pic beginning December 8. The film is playing the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals and is expected to be an awards season contender. Sources said that the decision was made to wait until the meticulous del Toro can put his full focus into prepping and directing the remake before they start spending money on sets. They hadn’t dated the film, but the plan was to start production next spring and possibly make a holiday 2019 release. Instead, they’ll regroup and pick up the lengthy prep next spring and start production by the fall or perhaps earlier. This pushes the film possibly into the 2020 release corridor. Sources said del Toro remains firmly committed to the remake of the 1965 film about a scientist with a potentially fatal health problem who gets five of his colleagues to be miniaturized in a ship and injected into his bloodstream to save his life.

Source: Deadline