Found this over at Ain't It Cool News:

Beaks: So once you do come through on the other side of THE HOBBIT, is AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS still a priority?

Del Toro: One hundred percent. We are developing actively the maquettes, the puppets and the R&D for the digital effects. Part of my deal with Universal is that I will be there somewhat permanently for the live-action, but in exchange I would love to get R&D money to solve the technical problems on AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS. We are developing tools that are going to be very unprecedented.

Beaks: And then you'll have made so much money with THE HOBBIT that they won't be able to fuck with you. You'll be able to make an H.P. Lovecraft movie on a massive scale.

Del Toro: I must tell you, there wouldn't be a better [outcome] than that. If it happens that way, I will be a very happy man. I think that Lovecraft needs to be given the A-plus treatment. What he is in fiction in my mind... he's the highest caliber of fiction. And he needs to be on film. And so far the only properties that are... not Lovecraft but Lovecraftian and A-plus movies are ALIEN by Ridley Scott and THE THING by John Carpenter. Even though those aren't Lovecraft, they're very Lovecraftian.

Beaks: Hey, I love DIE, MONSTER, DIE.

Del Toro: That is a great "B" movie. And I'm a massive fan of RE-ANIMATOR. But the cosmic side of Lovecraft needs a big budget.

This sounds exciting! I have a feeling that Guillermo del Toro understands Lovecraft well...  The cloth mask worn over a deformed face in "The Orphanage" was reminiscent of the silken mask worn by the High-Priest-Not-To-Be-Described in Lovecraft's Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.  I'm also reminded of the similar imagery in Fungi From Yuggoth:

The Thing, they whisper, wears a silken mask
Of yellow, whose queer folds appear to hide
A face not of this earth, though none dares ask
Just what those features are, which bulge inside. 

It becomes disturbing not because it is hidden, but because just enough detail is visible to show that this is something out of the ordinary.

Now that the movie is coming out, some of you may want to read the original story: HP Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.