It’s been quite a while since we last heard news regarding the film adaptation of Stephen King’s seven novel post-apocalyptic Western series ‘The Dark Tower’. Previously, the plug had been pulled over at Universal for the planned three films and television series from director Ron Howard and writer/producer Akiva Goldsman.
However, things are looking brighter for ‘The Dark Tower’ because the duo was determined to bring the story to a screen one way or another. Deadline is reporting that Universal’s loss is Warner Bros’ gain. WB is currently in talks to buy the rights to the series with Howard still attached to direct and Goldsman still attached to polish his script, as well as to produce along with Brian Grazer and King. Production is likely to start in the first quarter of 2013, with Javier Bardem potentially stepping into the role of protagonist Roland Deschain.
For those unfamiliar with the series, ‘The Dark Tower’ follows Deschain, the last living member of a knightly order known as gunslingers and the last of the line of “Arthur Eld”, as he ventures on a quest to find the Dark Tower, a fabled building said to be the gateway to all of the scattered universes, including his own missing world.
The project stalled at Universal because of budgetary issues and overall ambitiousness. Even though the filmmakers postponed the shoot to trim the budget, Universal still wasn’t satisfied and axed the project, leaving the filmmakers to shop it around to places like WB and HBO.
The last time we here at ScienceFiction.com reported on ‘The Dark Tower’, it was pointed out that Warner Bros. would greatly benefit from picking up the series from the household name Stephen King, especially with tent pole franchises like ‘Harry Potter’ and Christopher Nolan’s ‘Batman’ coming to an end. Looks like the studio’s eyes and ears were open, and they realized that we writers have some good things to say once in a while.
