The Dark Tower is the movie (and TV show?) that refuses to die

By Don Kaye, Source: Blastr.com

It’s been kind of quiet on the Dark Tower scene in recent months, leading to speculation that the mammoth project had fallen into development hell. But now there are signs that Roland the last gunslinger might be coming to a theater near you after all.

When we left off, Universal Pictures had nixed the idea of adapting Stephen King’s mammoth, seven-book (soon to be eight-book) fantasy/sci-fi hybrid as three movies and two linking TV series, claiming that the project was just too expensive. Although the filmmakers involved, including director Ron Howard, vowed to press on and find a home for the project, Howard himself said back in November that it might be a long time before The Dark Tower finally went into production—if at all.

Dark Tower Still On, Thanks To HBO Help, Budget Cuts And A New Ending

by Brendon Connelly, Source: Bleeding Cool.com

Producer Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard’s have been planning a multi-part adaptation of Stephen King’s novels and comics cycle The Dark Tower to be spread across movies and TV. For a while now, though, it’s been looking rather like that other tower, the one in Pisa, leaning over – yet somehow never falling.

As he shops around for a new studio to pick up the tab, Grazer has been talking about the measures taken to make the film a more attractive investment. As you’d expect, these include an altered ending and a lowered budget:

We found a way to cut out $45 million out of the budget without changing the scope and actually giving it a good ending. In the $140 million draft, the ending wasn’t quite as satisfying. Now, we’ve got $45 million, $50 million out of the way and a really satisfying ending. It’s gonna get made.

That Dark Tower movie and TV project? Universal canceled it ALL

By Don Kaye, Blaster.com

It’s all over, folks: Universal Studios has canceled its ambitious adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower over budgetary issues.

According to Deadline, the studio has scrapped the entire project—which was to consist of three feature films and two TV miniseries—because it was too expensive and risky. Even with Ron Howard signed to direct and Javier Bardem pretty much committed to star as Roland the gunslinger, Universal was willing to commit only to the first feature.

Read the full release of the story here

Building a Better Sequel

Is Hollywood out of ideas? Lets examine the evidence. In the past few years, sequels, prequels, and remakes have dominated the box office. We’ve seen the proliferation of strangely specific genre films filled with superheroes, vampires and zombies. They are adapting adaptations of adaptations. It seems that any recognizable properties, from theme park rides to board games, are preferable to new ideas.

I know I’m not the first to person to complain about this. I am also unoriginal. The question we should be asking is: are these sequels any good? Good sequels propel the franchise further while bad sequels end them. It is very Darwinian. In fact, it seems that the sequel as a concept is beginning to evolve.

Ron Howard explains what’s up with all those Dark Tower delays

What’s going on with The Dark Tower? There are problems with the script, the budget is out of whack, and the production has been delayed. Director Ron Howard has finally opened up about the film’s recent troubles—including Javier Bardem’s (sort-of) casting.

In a recent interview, Howard revealed that yes, production on The Dark Tower has been pushed back, but they’ve got a new start date! Instead of fall 2011, they’re looking to get things going early next spring.

Howard said, “We had to pull back to our September start date due to budget delays and ongoing story development and logistical issues, but Dark Tower is moving forward.” That’s great from a production standpoint, but what about the cast?

Read the story here

30 sci-fi, fantasy and horror series you WON’T be seeing this fall

We’ve been hearing a lot the last couple of days about the pilots the networks have picked up, but except for a few high-profile possibilities like Wonder Woman, not so much about those they didn’t. But there were plenty more series passed over than that!

According to New York magazine, the networks were pitched thousands of series for the latest season, and bought scripts for 429 of them. Of those, we’ve culled the 30 that seem as if they would have contained sci-fi, fantasy and horror elements.

See the list of shows here

Why Ron Howard can’t stop thinking about Stephen King’s Dark Tower

The Dark Tower TV series hasn’t yet been green-lit by Universal Pictures, the intended director—Ron Howard—has already immersed himself in Stephen King’s fantasy western world.

Howard, who spoke at length with the LA Times, said, “I’ve been reading and researching and just kind of living with it. I’ve been constantly going through stuff and I’ve just been re-listening to it [on audio books] on my iPod.”

Read the interview here

King’s Dark Tower being turned into massive TV/film series

This is one of those ideas that’s either going to be crazy successful or an epic failure. NBC Universal just made a deal to turn Stephen King’s The Dark Tower saga into three films and a TV series, a lot of which will be written by Akiva Goldsman and directed by Ron Howard.

Read the Story Here

King’s Dark Tower heads for screen. Now the bad news …

Man talk about the good news / bad news.. I’m hoping this won’t turn into another Stephen King disaster, (way to many to list here), will probably still wait for DVD. Only time will tell

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