This just in: Universal hates fans.
At the Mountains of Madness went from amazing and dense project that rewarded the fans and delivered a unique new IP into the marketplace to just another tale of Development Hell, one that kept Guillermo del Toro away from screens for even longer [luckily Pacific Rim looks like a GO picture and a delightful time for all involved].
Now The Dark Tower is dying. The Ron Howard/Javier Bardem massive multi-platform telling of Stephen King’s tales of the Gunslinger apparently just lost its home and sugar daddy.
So says Deadline’s excellent scribe Mike Fleming. Dig this:
“This stunning development comes after Universal in May pushed plans to start production this summer on the first film. The studio claimed to be on track for a February, postponing to reduce the budget. This temporarily dispelled rumors that Universal was putting the project in turnaround, rumors that cropped up when the studio put workers on hiatus. But it was only a temporary respite. I’m told that this time, the studio reviewed Goldsman’s script for the first film and the first leg of the TV series, and would only commit to the single film. That wasn’t good enough for the filmmakers, who had already hired comic book and Heroes and Battlestar Galactica writer/producer Mark Verheiden to co-write the TV component with Goldsman, which was to be made for NBC Universal Television (studio insiders deny that the studio was only willing to make the movie and not the series). I know the filmmakers planned to make it all part of the first shoot while they had the cast in place and the sets erected. I’d heard back in May that Warner Bros–where Goldsman’s Weed Road is based and which is fully financing two installments of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit–was a possible landing place for the adaptation of King’s 7-novel epic that is that author’s answer to Tolkien’s LOTR novels.“
Warner Bros. is a better home for the film(s) anyway. They have a history of carrying these big unwieldy projects to the finish line and though I don’t feel King’s series is even close to being as palatable and marketable as Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings it’s one of the few legit epic unfilmed projects. It sort of needs to happen, especially since there’s a large group of readers whose bucket lists heavily depend on this coming to fruition.
Plus, having Javier Bardem in such an iconic role can’t NOT happen. So I hope Mike Fleming’s right. Warner Bros. better snatch this up.
22 comments
If Universal hates fans, then the hatred is deserved. The stupid fuckers don’t come out for the studio’s product when it matters most (admittedly, the studio may have trouble figuring out how to properly market the stuff).
Horror fans claim to want something “original” – but Universal brings Slither, and no one goes. Whedonites clamor for Serenity – it makes dick at the box office. Scott Pilgrim? I loved the film – but was it yet another Universal geek gamble that didn’t pay off.
We can go back as far as Army of Darkness. We can consider The Frighteners. Any time Universal tries to cater to the fannerd, they get effed in the B – so it’s not at all weird that the studio was gun-shy when considering a multi-media presentation of a batch of self-indulgent western-tinged sci-fi/fantasy gobbledegook that falls apart well before the end.
I wish they would have pushed forward with GdT’s Mountains. But this? With hack-ass Goldsman? And middle-of-the-road Howard? No dice.
I agree with every word of this post. I will never understand why The Frighteners flopped. That is one of my all time favorites and has only gotten better with age.
Make that three, then.
Honestly when they delayed it for a “budget massage” the first time I figured it was a goner. I just want it done before I die. It’s such an amazing story – I’d love to see it get told in the film medium.
The Fighteners was a great film! I think it has held up and always will. I saw it at an Air Force base in Germany and it had a great audience reaction. Michael J. Fox proved Mojo Nixon wrong (again) and blew the floor out from under us. (Yes, Michael J. Fox has Elvis in him. If you don’t get the reference, don’t bother- small bit of ’80’s trivia.)
I want to see The Dark Tower made, but made well. If it can’t get the budget it needs then I’d rather keep it in my head. I think it might take at least 25 hours of film to get it close, plus another 10 hours for a special edition.
I want the first four books made, after that I couldn’t give a fuck.
Javier Bardem is an excellent actor, and he deserves an iconic role like this, but I am skeptical of his ability to be Roland Deschain. Speech and mannerisms, while a small hurdle, can be mastered but he simply doesn’t have the right face. Sorry.
On the other hand, Ron Howard is quite a capable director but just plain wrong for this project.
Blah. Ev
Blah. Every major movie studio has a slew of movies that should’ve made money and didn’t. Unfair to cherry pick for your own convenience. Besides, the number of Stephen King fans > fans of Serenity/Firefly + Scott Pilgrim + Slither combined – those are all niche markets. Name the last major King adaptation that failed financially. Shawshank? I’d love to see the profits made from home video sales…
Name the last major King adaptation.
And Elvis is in Joan Rivers – but he’s tryin’ to get out, maaaan…
I would love to see The Dark Tower translated to film in a sweeping epic series, be it theatrical or on television.
That said, we dodged a bullet here. Ron Howard? Akiva Goldsman? I’m sure they are big fans, but this is not the pedigree I want behind the camera on one of my favorite series of novels. Here’s hoping that someone far more visionary and deserving picks up the rights from King on down the line.
Glad to see this fall apart. I loath Howard, am cool on Bardem and found the idea of this series did nothing to excite me. It seemed like dusty, dull and grim fantasy, and when you toss in a director whose talent is inversely proportional to his popularity and clout, I feel like I’ve dodged a bullet. UNIVERSAL is awesome, and I think that there are simply better properties for them to spend their time on than this
Sad about MOUNTAINS though, that still stings : /
And my Ax!
Frighteners is a great fun flick, I watch that every time it shows on cable. Love it!
I would love to see them make something special of a Dark Tower film series, but it’s hard to get fired up when you know the source material itself completely falls apart. The first book could be great, it could have a very Sergio Leone flavor to it, the 2nd and 3rd books could make an interesting fantasy adventure. The 4th book could be a very compelling stand-alone film as well. But, then King was hit by the van and the series went to shit. Wolves of Calla was horrible, and the series just never recovered – as soon as yet another Susannah split personality emerged, you knew it was over. It sucks too, since the series got off to a pretty interesting start. Maybe it’s a blessing for the moment, Howard just strikes me as flat out wrong for directing this – with “flat” probably being an appropriate choice for his style.
I believe it was The Mist, which given its budget, made money. 1408 came before and made a lot more money. And before that was Secret Window (I think-doing this all from memory), with Pirate Depp–all of these have made money. King adaptations are in the bag as far as making a profit.
oh snap! Going to have to go with Frogger on this one…
None of those films were truly “high profile” – and they were all moderately budgeted – I’d be shocked if any of them cost over $40 million dollars. King adaptations can make their money as long as they’re not too expensive – and the films you’ve cited weren’t. I’d bet Secret Window was the priciest of them all. Did any of those films get over $100 million domestic? Hell – I’d guess that The Mist – a brilliant film, by the way – didn’t make $100 mil worldwide.
That is the nature of King adaptations. The best ones make the least money, and none of them can get over $100 million in America. So if you can keep the all-in budget for the films and the TV project at about $100 mil – you should be just fine.
And why the hell aren’t YOU writing for CHUD? Totally agree with every word of this post. Well played.
Thanks, sir!
/author/jason-pollock-2/
This project would of sucked anyway. Make a film of wizards and glass if you must, the rest of it is a train wreck. Having Howard as director would only doom it to tone def schmaltz. There may be a good 3-4 movie series in this work if a good writer gets a hold of it and cuts up to half of it out. But the form that was originally written up here on chud was doomed to failure.
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