Guillermo del Toro will direct At the Mountains of Madness, based on the horror novella by H.P. Lovecraft, reports Deadline.

Speculation over del Toro’s next project has been rife over the past two months following his decision to quit the director’s chair on The Hobbit in June. He previously announced at Comic-Con International that he will produce and co-write The Haunted Mansion, a film based on the Disneyland ride.

Mountains centres on a geologist who leads an expedition in the Antarctic. When he and his team scale a huge chain of mountains, they discover the remains of ancient uncharted life forms. The novella deals with Cthulhu, a fictional cosmic entity that first appeared in The Call of Cthulhu by Lovecraft in 1928.

The 3-D movie adaptation of Mountains will be produced by Avatar director James Cameron for Universal Pictures. The film is scheduled to shoot next summer.