We were just starting to get excited about Paradise Lost.  Neat concept art.  A solid cast in Benjamin Walker, Bradley Cooper, Casey Affleck, and Dijmon Hounsou.  A great pitch from director Alex Proyas:

"It’s not just armies battling in an epic war. This is an adventure about the origins of good and evil after Lucifer’s rebellion gets him cast out of Heaven and leads to a struggle with his brother archangel over the soul of mankind, starting with Adam and Eve."

Alas, we must wait to see the adaptation of John Milton's classic work come to fruition.  It was announced tonight that Legendary Pictures is putting plans for a January start date on hold, because all the cool elements of this project add up to too much money.  Details after the jump.

Deadline hears that the project is not cancelled, just delayed.  Legendary’s Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, and producer Vincent Newman are looking at the budget now to see where they can cut 10-15% from an estimate that creeped past $120 million.  Legendary hired crews to shoot in Australia next month, so the move comes as a big surprise.  That said, this isn't the first time this year a production company has second-guessed its commitment to a big budget film.  Disney briefly put The Lone Ranger on ice, before bringing it back with a reduced budget.  And Universal passed on the ambitious adaptation of The Dark Tower, though producer Brian Grazer promises it will see the light of day.  Sadly, At the Mountains of Madness is dead.

So while it won't be easy, Legendary should be able to get Paradise Lost back on track.  Deadline suggests production could be rescheduled as early as next summer.  Until then.