The Dark Tower series is one epic story that was written by Stephen King since the 1980s in which incorporates themes from multiple genres - fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. The series describes the adventure of a "Gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. The series has already spawned seven novels in it with the eight one is due next year. Last year, the film adaptation was set up at the Universal Pictures with at least one movie (option of trilogy movies) deal and two seasons of television series to bridge the gap between the films. Then it underwent some delay earlier this year before the final decision was made today for the Universal Pictures to drop out of the project. More details after the jump.
Despite the slow set up and growing interest on the material, Universal Pictures announced yesterday that they will bailed out of the project altogether. Meaning, the earlier deals of film and television series adaptation are void in the process. Ron Howard was attached to direct at least the first part of the series and would have the producer seats for the rest of the project. Akiva Goldsman and Mark Verheiden were hired to write the ultra-ambitious adaptation while Javier Bardem will be starring the lead character Roland Deschain.
With Universal Pictures dropped out, the filmmakers would need a new set of backers to keep the project alive. There are no reasons on why the project was cut loose by Universal Pictures at the moment but Deadline suspected that the existence of several big tentpole projects under them might be the reason that Universal isn't willing to gamble more. At the moment, Universal Pictures is handling projects like Peter Berg's Battleship (Taylor Kitsch starring), Carl Rinsch's 47 Ronin (Keanu Reeves starring) and Guillermo del Toro's At the Mountains of Madness (Tom Cruise starring). These projects easily cost $550 million to make.
It is possible that the project could still move forward at another studio with Deadline suggesting that Warner Bros. might be a possible alternative. We do hope that this project could go on considering the similarity and reminiscent to the JRR Tolkien's epic of The Lord of the Rings.
[SOURCES: Coming Soon, Deadline]
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