Director Guillermo del Toro is partnering with Disney Studios to create a new production banner, Disney Double Dare You, which will create animated feature films “full of chills and thrills for audiences of all ages.”  All films will be produced under the guidance of del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Hobbit), who originated the concept, and who will direct certain projects himself.

The first DDY project is Trollhunters, which is based on an original del Toro Story.  Del Toro explained the DDY concept to the audience at the D23 Disney convention: “As a director, I love to take audiences into fantastic new worlds and provide them with some anxious moments in the process.  It is part of the Disney canon to create thrilling, unforgettable moments and villains in all their classic films.  It is my privilege for DDY to continue in this tradition… I look forward to coming up with fresh and original stories that will take Disney films in a whole new direction. The emphasis is on fun, and we have some great ideas already on the storyboards.”

The prospect of del Toro taking Disney films in a “darker” but still “fun” direction is great to contemplate, the only problem is figuring out how and when the overloaded director is going to find the time.  In addition to The Hobbit movies that he is currently directing, del Toro has three adaptations on his slate including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Drood, and Slaughterhouse-Five, along with another “pet” project, an adaptation of Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness.  To top it all off he is producing an adaptation of DC’s Deadman (see “Deadman Movie Gets a Writer”).