According to Deadline, The Dark Tower has officially been put “on hiatus” and its September start date has been scrapped. Budget concerns are the culprit, and it will remain on hold until they can figure out how to bring the costs down. Those who were toiling away in pre-production are told they might return.
Universal and Imagine still deny it’s going into turnaround. If it does, the next place they will take it will probably be Warner Bros, where Akiva Goldsmith has a home.
I’m sort of hoping they drag it out enough that the line-up changes. Ron Howard still seems wrong for it, Javier Bardem just really isn’t Roland Deschain … it may end up being for the best. Better a delay than the wrong take.
The original story follows.
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Deep down, I think we all knew that cinematic completion was not in The Dark Tower’s ka.
According to Variety, Universal may dissuade Ron Howard from his adaptation quest. They’ve balked at the budget that three films and two television series would cost. They’re rethinking the whole thing, and rumor has it they will put The Dark Tower into turnaround. If that happens, Imagine Entertainment can shop it around. Another studio could take it over, or co-finance it.
Javier Bardem still hasn’t signed, despite being in talks for months now. They’re “close” to finishing his deal. That can’t be good. Howard is said to have been meeting with “other thespians” for the other roles, but there’s no whisper of who those might be.
Universal isn’t commenting, but sources do say they are moving ahead as if everything is normal, though they’re expected to hold some serious “Is this doable / How much? / That’s crazy talk” meetings.
I’m almost always wrong when I say “I bet this falls apart!”, so I won’t say it. But Universal has been playing their projects close to the chest — Exhibit A: At the Mountains of Madness — and I would not be surprised if this is put into turnaround and is promptly picked up again. Studios are hungry for franchises. Warner Bros will be wrapping up a pretty big one at the end of this summer. Maybe they will bite.
12 comments
Ugh! I want my Wizard & Glass miniseries!
Well this is crappy news to start off a Friday. Oh well, I guess it’s ka/all things serve the beam/there’ll be water if God wills it, right?
This is too juicy a property not to get made. Now, if they could ditch Bardem and snag, say Daniel Day Lewis, I’ll give a great big “thankee-sai”.
I almost wonder if Universal/whichever studio might wait to see how Game of Thrones performs in the longer-term. While this project was larger in scope, it’s a similar long-term investment and at the very least there’s some common ground in the sense of them both being “adult” fantasy series as opposed to say…Harry Potter.
But yes, while Stephen King is vastly more marketable to general audiences than H.P. Lovecraft, this is awfully similar to At the Mountains of Madness in terms of ambition and risk…even bigger. Though if it’s a case of Universal axing ATMOM partially so they can afford Dark Tower, well…my personal preference would be for ATMOM, but I could see why Universal would lean in the other direction.
I’m getting pissed off at all the Dark Tower news I read that doesn’t include the phrases “getting made,” “definitely happening” or “will be released tomorrow: surprise!” I’m more pissed than a billy-bumbler getting knocked around by a monstrous spider-boy.
I didn’t want to see this happen anyway (the whole fantasy angle turns me off), so I guess I’m glad that a studio like UNIVERSAL (which has in the past exhibited a willingness to go with challenging material) will have funds to spend elsewhere
No! No no no no no no no no no no no no no no. If they build it, the audience will come. They’re vastly underestimating the power of the Geek. Maybe Marvel/Disney should take over.
In some ways, I’m glad to hear it won’t happen. I hate to see something I love made into a film and messed up (I’m talking about you, “I, Robot” – which should have followed the Harlan Ellison script approved by Asimov himself!).
But at the same time I would like to see a really good adaptation by people who really love and know the material. And that means a LOT of screen-time. I was only so-so on the theatrical release of Fellowship of the Ring (especially Aragorn), but when I saw the extended version it totally blew me away.
And if they are just diverting funds to del Toro, then I would like that first! So far, my favourite Lovecraft film is the little-known Call of Cthullu made by the HP Lovecraft Foundation as a black and white silent movie.
By the way, after reading Nick’s latest Q&A, I need to say I love love CHUD and can count on you guys for good, honest, accurate reviews. And I like your writing, Elisabeth.
Rather watch an adaption of Proxies of Fate instead of another King adaption. King adaptions stopped being decent when the 90s rolled around.
It was a fun idea while it lasted.
It was always a rather dodgy production format concept from an equally dodgy/uneven set of books, regardless of the producers.
While we would all love to see Wizard and Glass made into a movie or miniseries, so much of the other material is a jumbled mess that I think cancelling it is a wise decision. The Stand mini series was much less ambitious, had a fair amount of talent involved, had a more easily workable story…..and was at best uneven, but mostly terrible.
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