THE DARK TOWER is Being Turned into an Epically Awesome Film Trilogy and TV Series!
It's about damn time! Finally Stephen King's classic epic story The Dark Tower is going to make it's way not only on to the big screen, but on the small screen as well! I think you're going to love what is being planned for this franchise, it's seriously going to be insanely epic.
I've been waiting for this to happen for a long ass time, I just hope to hell that it's done right! This could end up being an epic success or an epic failure. I'm rooting for these guys though! They have a great plan set into place.
Earlier this year it was reported that Ron Howard and Brian Grazier would be taking on the massive project. Now their involvement has been confirmed and Universal Pictures is the studio that will be bringing The Dark Tower to life.
It's being reports the The Dark Tower saga will be made into a trilogy of films, and on top of that there will be a TV series. The projects will be written by Akiva Goldsman and directed by Ron Howard.
Here is the report from Deadline:
Universal Pictures and NBC Universal Television Entertainment have closed a deal to turn Stephen King’s mammoth novel series The Dark Tower into a feature film trilogy and a network TV series, both of which will be creatively steered by the Oscar-winning team behind A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code.
Ron Howard has committed to direct the initial feature film, as well as the first season of the TV series that will follow in close proximity. Akiva Goldsman will write the film, and the first season of the TV series. Howard’s Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer will produce, with Goldsman and the author.
Howard then alks about the approach they will take in developing these projects. When compared to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings Howard said,
What Peter did was a feat, cinematic history. The approach we’re taking also stands on its own, but it’s driven by the material. I love both, and like what’s going on in TV. With this story, if you dedicated to one medium or another, there’s the horrible risk of cheating material. The scope and scale call for a big screen budget. But if you committed only to films, you’d deny the audience the intimacy and nuance of some of these characters and a lot of cool twists and turns that make for jaw-dropping, compelling television. We’ve put some real time and deep thought into this, and a lot of conversations and analysis from a business standpoint, to get people to believe in this and take this leap with us. I hope audiences respond to it in a way that compels us to keep going after the first year or two of work. It’s fresh territory for me, as a filmmaker.
Deadline adds:
Considered King’s answer to JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth trilogy, The Dark Tower revolves around Roland Deschain, the last living member of a knightly order of gunslingers, and humanity’s last hope to save a civilization that will crumble unless he finds the Dark Tower. Howard and Goldsman describe the world as “an alternate Americana, one part post-apocalyptic, one part Sergio Leone.”
They plan to start everything off with a feature film, from there they will create a bridge to the second feature with a full season of TV episodes! What this means is that who ever is cast in the feature film will also take on the roles in the TV series as well.
We will then see the second film hit the big screen, and after the sequel is released we will see another season of The Dark Tower on TV. This season will focus on Deschain as a young gunslinger. The storylines will be taken from the prequel comic book series that King was heavily involved with.
Then we will get the third and final film which will pick up with a mature Deshain as he completes his journey.
Good lord this is going to be absolutely amazing!
What do you think!?