Is the Dark Tower dead?

Just as well. As much as I love The Dark Tower series, I would rather the series not be filmed than have someone half-ass it.

Universal will throw millions at fucking BATTLESHIP but not this? Unreal.

I'm fine with it. This is 7 movies, or HBO. It's go big or go home with this one. And maybe somewhere along the line, Akiva Goldsman will decide to get stranded without mass communication on the Anthropophagus island, and the right writers can get involved.

Good.  This sounded Ill-Fated with a capital I.F. 

Hint to Hollywood:  not all massively-popular fantasy series need to be movies.  NOT WHILE THE GODDAMNED TALISMAN STILL HASN'T BEEN MADE!!  It's ONE movie! 

GDT should take At The Mountains Of Madness over to Warner Bros. as well. It NEEDS to be made.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ratty 
Hint to Hollywood:  not all massively-popular fantasy series need to be movies.  NOT WHILE THE GODDAMNED TALISMAN STILL HASN'T BEEN MADE!!  It's ONE movie! 

Truth.

I'm 5/6 of the way into the last book and I can't see this as a profitable film franchise. I adore much of the series, but it's too risky an undertaking. But if it must be adapted... TV show maybe. 3-4 seasons. Condense the fluff. Excise the shit that won't work on the screen. I've already fancast it in another thread (mostly due to who I see when I read). Couldn't help it.

Warner Bros might be a good home, considering their need for a franchise right now, but their last "weird western" (JONAH HEX) would make anyone gunshy. Like this fall's THE THING prequel is to GDT's lost Lovecraft epic, Universal is also pushing out COWBOYS AND ALIENS this summer. I wonder how that cross-genre flick is tracking for them.
 

All I've ever heard about THE DARK TOWER series is that it's a mixed bag of cool stuff with a lot of bullshit in between. I've never met anyone who was over the moon in love with it. Why the fuck would Universal spend so much effort putting out something not even geeks can agree on if it's good or not? And forget about Akiva Goldsman, what about Ron Howard, the lord of the mediocre? Javier Bardem was the only thing to get excited about here, and who knows if he was ever really going to show up. I'm only interested in this if it gets a whole creative switch-up.

But AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS -- losing that is a fucking crime.

If anything, Game of Thrones should be the model the producers are looking at. Or John Adams. I could see a series of four or five three-part miniseries covering the whole saga, and yeah, take out the metafiction in the latter half of the series that only barely worked on the page, if at all.

I still say there's a phenomenal, Leone-esque Western hiding in The Gunslinger, that would be absolutelty titanic to see on the big screen. Big vistas, make sure it's shot in scope (and if you really want to nail it, bust out the anamorphic lenses!), and make it feel like a small, dirty, personal spaghetti Western that slowly opens itself up into this huge alternate world of epic proportions. That's a large part of the hook of the series: It starts with 'The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed', and then builds from there. Going epic right from the start won't be the right angle.

But for the interest of the story that comes after that, a TV series of some sort is pretty much the only way to make it work, and make it profitable. The following isn't a large or as rabid as Harry Potter, so it'd end up a series of diminishing returns at the box office, and comprimised ideals.

ETA: And I agree, the only way this project will ever be done right is if it is taken from the hands of Goldsman and Howard. And I actually LIKE Ron Howard; he's just totally, 100% not right for the project. I didn't even think J.J. Abrams was right for it. This project needs a Cuaron, but it needs it from the start; this series can't abide a Columbus for the first two chapters.

I think it needs a passionate John Carpenter from about 30 years ago. Quick, someone find the unfound door that goes to 1981 Hollywood! And while you;'e there, let Coscarelli have an entry. Walter Hill too.

There are other King properties which would be more easily adapted to film (even a two or three film series) and would have wider appeal with Joe and Jane Six Pack. I'm fine with this one dying.

Also: echoing what everyone's saying about ATMOM. Fucking shame, that.

I can fully admit that a 150 million dollar, R-rated ATMOM probably isn't a great gamble, but I don't care. I want that film. THE GUNSLINGER? I'm not even convinced that the source material is that good.

I would love to see this series adapted as a group of films or an HBO-style TV show with some great writers who can cut what doesn't work and run with what does.  It's a property with a ton of potential.  That said, there is NO WAY that potential would have been tapped by the likes of Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman.  We were just spared a mediocre film and TV season that likely never would have made enough to warrant concluding the franchise in either medium.  Bullet dodged!

All we can hope for now is for some visionary to come along that knows how to properly do right by the franchise and get it made.  Let's just hope King doesn't sell the rights to one of his buddies (like Mick Garris) and actually holds out for someone with talent.

If Showtime or Cinemax or STARZ want a show that can compete with HBO's Game of Thrones.......................here it is!  Or better yet, get HBO themselves on this!

Akiva Goldsman loses again!

Glad to see everyone on the same page on Ron Howard. I really liked The Missing and Cinderella Man but his work over the last ten years hasn't been that good outside of those and Dark Tower?

That's a huge stretch. As for Akiva Goldsman I continue to marvel at just how benign most of his work is its like the man is awarded homerun money and status for hitting singles.

Let me also say 150 million dollar budget for ATMOM was madness Universal would have lost big. Sure we would have gotten something uniquely special but it would have hurt all parties.

Del Toro deserves to have a few wins and Hellboy 2 wasn't one of them. I wish the guy nothing but the best on Pacific Rim.

As for Battleship thats a cheaper property and an easy sell. Not interesting mind you but easy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Clark 

If anything, Game of Thrones should be the model the producers are looking at. Or John Adams. I could see a series of four or five three-part miniseries covering the whole saga, and yeah, take out the metafiction in the latter half of the series that only barely worked on the page, if at all.

 

I still say there's a phenomenal, Leone-esque Western hiding in The Gunslinger, that would be absolutelty titanic to see on the big screen. Big vistas, make sure it's shot in scope (and if you really want to nail it, bust out the anamorphic lenses!), and make it feel like a small, dirty, personal spaghetti Western that slowly opens itself up into this huge alternate world of epic proportions. That's a large part of the hook of the series: It starts with 'The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed', and then builds from there. Going epic right from the start won't be the right angle.

Although I think I look a bit (a bit!) more fondly on the meta aspects of the later books, I completely agree with Greg's take on the property.

And there's so much fluff that could be eradicated.  I mean, do we really need the entire sequence from Book 7 where Roland shows Susannah how to tan leather?  Really???  As for the scripting, it has to be someone with the creativity to take the last 2 and 1/2 books in the series and extract the framework of the narrative while improving (streamlining) upon it.  Something like Darabont did for The Mist.  The Crimson King and Roland's confrontation with him need to be something much, much better.  There has to be something more to Mordred, as well.  Etc. Etc. Etc.
 

I've beat this drum before, but I still think the only way this property would work as a film would be a loose, no-frills adaptation of WIZARD & GLASS.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ratty 

I've beat this drum before, but I still think the only way this property would work as a film would be a loose, no-frills adaptation of WIZARD & GLASS.  

The Wastelands is cinematic as all hell. 

Just strip out all of the shit and make it a straight film trilogy.

Part 1 -- GUNSLINGER/DRAWING

Part 2 -- WASTE LANDS w/ first part of WIZARD & GLASS flashbacks

Part 3 -- Second part of WIZARD flashbacks + whatever works from the last three books cobbled together, streamlined and improved upon

Frankly, I wish all of the energy and money being expended on developing the Dark Tower series was being devoted instead to reviving IT.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattioli 
I mean, do we really need the entire sequence from Book 7 where Roland shows Susannah how to tan leather?

Deer skinnin' MONTAGE!

Mitten stitchin' MONTAGE!

Finger twirlin' get-on-with-it MONTAGE!

I love reading that stuff and spending time with characters, but yeah, zip past that on film. Part of the problems with adapting King though is you lose the inner monologues and character-enriching nuggets that happen during the quiet moments. Fortunately, the series is lengthy enough (AKA bloated) and there's enough "show" that it's ok to lose some of the "tell".

Four seasons on HBO would do it.  Five or six if the show is popular enough and they want to do the prequel comics at the end (which even Howard was hoping to do).

Season One - The Gunslinger/The Drawing of Three

Season Two - Wastelands/Wizard & Glass

Season Three - Wolves of the Calla/Song of Susannah

Season Four - The Dark Tower

Leaving an entire season to tie everything up properly is a must.  Obviously meta stuff would need trimming (or flatout excising), along with most of the pop culture references (barring whoever makes it owning some of the rights).  Despite not being a Lost fan, I'm actually kind of hoping that Damon Lindelof might want another crack at this if/when the rights revert back to King.

Also, to fans of the series, there would be an easy way to account for any changes that the writers make to the source material.....................................just let Roland start with the horn.  That alone would alter things, especially allowing for a FAR more epic ending.