We’ve got a quick update to Universal’s epic undertaking of Stephen King‘s The Dark Tower series. We reported last week that Universal had the September start date scrapped and the project has been put on hiatus. Deadline now updates, stating that Universal Pictures pushed the production start to February 2012 in order to cut down on the budget for the three films, and two-part TV series. We’ll know by July though whether this project is happening or not. Universal needs to greenlight the film by then, or the rights revert back to King. Check out the original story below.
The ambitious plans for the movie/TV adaptation of King’s Dark Tower series always left me feeling a tad uncomfortable. Not because I think having three movies and two TV series is egregious – to me, that’s kind of cool. And not because I’m someone who thinks you can’t adapt it into another medium, or that Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman are the wrong people to do it – it’s completely possible, and they could surprise us all.
No, my problem was that it seemed like no major studio would support such a crazy idea, and that it would be to today what Lord of the Rings was to the 70’s and 80’s: a popular fantasy series whose film version languished in development hell. It looks like that discomfort may not have been too paranoid.
Universal is still moving forward with the project, and it hasn’t been axed. But, bear in mind: this studio cancelled Guillermo del Toro’s At the Mountains of Madness back in February due to budgetary concerns. That was a roughly $150 million monster movie from a somewhat known director, but one that would also be produced by James Cameron and star Tom Cruise. By comparison, The Dark Tower is looking like an even stranger investment by the minute.
We’ve heard that Javier Bardem is close to taking on the lead role of Roland Deschain, and his involvement could help it maintain stability. At the end of the day, I do think we’ll see it at some point in the near future. But, like Lord of the Rings, will there be a long wait for it to come to fruition, and will it have much of a resemblance to King’s original work?
What do you think about The Dark Tower production date delayed? Do you think we’ll actually see it?