You'd think that after the massive turd John Carter dropped over the weekend, studios would be even more gun shy about taking on extremely expensive films with complex concepts that may keep audiences at bay. One such project was The Dark Tower, one of the largest undertakings for any studio in years. Last year, Universal ultimately passed on the adaptation of Stephen King's series, which would have encompassed three feature films and two television seasons. When it happened, producer Brian Grazer was insistent we would see it land somewhere else, and it appears he was right.
With HBO set to air the television portion, Deadline reports that their parent company, Warner Brothers, may sign on to pick up the theatrical rights. The films would be written by Akiva Goldsman, with Grazer and Ron Howard producing, and the latter as director of at least the first part of the story. Whether that's still the case or not remains to be seen.
Also unknown is whether or not Javier Bardem is still on board. Last we'd heard he was locked to play gunslinger, Roland Deschain. With all the delays, that may no longer be possible, so his presence now is contingent on availability.
With Warner Brothers having taken on the adaptation of The Stand, to be directed by Ben Affleck, is it possible that the studio has plans to connect them into an even bigger franchise? Randall Flagg is a character in both and Deschain visits the world of The Stand in the fourth book.
