Stephen King‘s Dark Tower books were set to be made into films with Universal backing them, as of today Universal has dropped the whole project.

The studio has said, No Thanks. Universal has passed on going forward with the project, dealing a huge blow in the plan for Ron Howard to direct Akiva Goldsman’s script, with Brian Grazer, Goldsman and the autor producing and Javier Bardem starring as gunslinger Roland Deschain. Now, the filmmakers will have to find a new backer of what might well be the most ambitious movie project since Bob Shaye allowed Peter Jackson to shoot three installments of The Lord of the Rings back to back.

The films were supposed to start shooting this summer, but now the future of The Dark Tower is uncertain. This series of films is so massive and obviously expensive, it may be hard to find a studio to commit to making all three films. There was also supposed to be a TV mini series to supplement for the seven book series. Hopefully the filmmakers can get back on track and find a new studio to back it. Warner Brothers could easily pick up this series, especially since the Potter series has come to close with an amazing $480 million opening weekend! Time will tell, I’ll keep you updated on these mega-movies struggle to become a reality.

Source: Deadline

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Bad news for Dark Tower fans, the pre-production on the upcoming Stephen King fantasy films has been halted due to budgetary concerns from the studio.

Universal Pictures has put pre-production staff on hiatus as they discuss ways to bring down the budget of the ambitious adaptation of the Stephen King novel series The Dark Tower. Talks are ongoing between studio brass, director Ron Howard and his Imagine Entertainment, and writer/producer Akiva Goldsman about how they will proceed. The plan was to make three movies that would star Javier Bardem, with TV miniseries in between each film. The plan was as ambitious as New Line’s gamble on The Lord of the Rings years ago.

This means that the first film’s september shoot schedule isn’t going to happen. I really hope they figure out a way to make it work and get pre-production back on track. These movies are going to be huge, it’s a shame that the studio is being stingy. Here’s hoping they resolve the issues quickly so they can get back on track, waiting fans are going to start getting antsy (like I am).

Source: Deadline

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Stephen King may team up with his son, Joe Hill and take on episode of AMC‘s The Walking Dead.

King is in early negotiations with the show to give the already wonderfully creepy post-apocalyptic zombie show a shot of his brand of suspenseful horror.

The author says it may be for season 2 or 3 but that executive producer Frank Darabont “has expressed enthusiastic interest.”

Darabont has directed 3 movies based on King’s novels; The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist.

Hill has written Heart-Shaped Box, Horns and Locke and Key – which was just order into pilot production starring Jesse McCartney.

Having the father-son team would be a treat for Walking Dead fans.

[image: WENN.com]

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Stephen King has revealed that he is writing a sequel to The Shining!

Last night at Toronto’s packed Canon Theatre, fans of Stephen King were treated to a 15-minute reading from the author’s new novel, Under the Dome, and nearly an hour’s worth of typically funny anecdotes and keen observations during an on-stage interview with director David Cronenberg. Then King dropped a fan bombshell on the crowd by casually describing a novel idea he began working on last summer. Seems King was wondering whatever happened to Danny Torrance of The Shining, who when readers last saw him was recovering from his ordeal at the Overlook Hotel at a resort in Maine with fellow survivors Wendy Torrance and chef Dick Halloran (who dies in the Kubrick film version). King remarked that though he ended his 1977 novel on a positive note, the Overlook was bound to have left young Danny with a lifetime’s worth of emotional scars. What Danny made of those traumatic experiences, and with the psychic powers that saved him from his father at the Overlook, is a question that King believes might make a damn fine sequel.

You know it’s only a matter of time after the book comes out that a feature film will be made. I’m sure King has this in mind not only as a book, but how the the film sequel will work too. I just wonder who they will get to direct it, Stanley Kubrick had some large shoes to fill.

Source: Torontoist

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