Ron Howard Adapting Stephen King’s The Dark Tower as a Movie Trilogy and TV Series
Stephen King fans may have been a little disappointed last year when they learned that Lost creators J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof had re-evaluated their plans to adapt The Dark Tower series. They initially bought the rights from King a while back for just $19, but after spending so much time focused on one thing (Lost) and being “terrified” of screwing up one of their favourite books, they ended up giving the rights back. In their place, Ron Howard has stepped in to tackle this post-apocalyptic western-tinged fantasy saga with the hopes of turning it into both a movie and a TV series. Details were somewhat murky when the news first hit back in April, but now this week we have an update on the project and his intriguing idea to tell the story across multiple mediums.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Howard is aiming to turn the 7-book series into a feature film trilogy with a TV series bridging the gap between each movie and concluding the whole thing. Howard will direct the first film and the first season of the show with Akiva Goldsman (I Am Legend, A Beautiful Mind) writing the screenplays. Goldsman, Howard and Brian Grazer will produce the whole thing, with Kerry Foster, Todd Hallowell and Erica Huggins executive producing the first film in particular. Universal will handle the movie, while NBC is the planned home for the TV series.
It’s the first time, to my knowledge, that an on-going movie franchise has been tied in with a TV series simultaneously in order to tell one whole story. I’m assuming the cast members would be consistent across both mediums as well, although I’m guessing the movies would have to be structured in such a way that they still make sense if you don’t watch the TV show. I haven’t read the books so I can’t say if such a thing is possible, but the very fact that there is a long-form component planned for this adaptation seems like a good sign and should allay fears that the epic tale will be compressed and hacked up for the big screen. Of course, the fact that Ron Howard is the man in charge of this massive project is another matter entirely. The last time he did anything that could be fully considered fantasy was Willow back in 1988. What do you think, can Ron Howard pull this off, and is the TV / movie combo an inspired idea?
Comments (12)
add a video game and/or online interactive social networking environment and you’re there; full immersion!
Posted by rus in chicago on September 9th, 2010i still think that they should just do a television series on HBO. they have 7 books to deal with, and they have a lot of detail in each book. so you have yourself 7 solid seasons right there. i cant see this starting out as a movie and then into a series. die hard fans are going to shit.
i am hoping that Frank Darabont is going to slap Howard out of the way, his track record for adapting Kings’ work is beyond great. and i really hope that King himself will have some sort of input in developing this series.
these books are his babies.
Posted by MikeH on September 9th, 2010NBC is not the station that should be running the show. I think more HBO or Showtime would be an appropriate channel for the series. And I am not sold on Ron Howard being in charge.
Posted by Bryan (Drunken Zombie) on September 9th, 2010Wow, that is a huge commitment and epic endeavour. I’ve not read the books but sounds like it’s a fascinating and well loved series. Very curious to see how it’s played out.
The only thing that’s even come close was the X-Files film coming out between seasons, and technically the recently released one as well. But that’s no where near the scale of this plan. Fascinating.
Posted by Shannon the Movie Moxie on September 9th, 2010This would be the best news ever if anyone other than Bland Blandard was behind it all. This kind of scale is what is definitely needed for the Dark Tower, but I have no faith whatsoever that Blandard is capable of capturing all the weirdness that makes the Dark Tower what it is.
Posted by Nate on September 9th, 2010This is a great idea for the source material, but really? Ron Howard? Why couldn’t this be a Spielberg project? That would be epic.
Posted by rjdelight on September 9th, 2010Also thinking about it now I wonder how they are going to handle parts of the Dark Tower that have characters from other King works that other studios have the rights too. Characters from Salem’s Lot, The Stand, and Hearts In Atlantis factor heavily in the plot. Also King himself shows up in a very meta sort of way that is also important to the story. how do they handle all of that?
Posted by Bryan (Drunken Zombie) on September 9th, 2010Ron Howard taking on a series of books that’s practically unfilmable… Yeah, THIS is gonna be GREEEEEEEAAAaaat…
Posted by Fatbologna on September 9th, 2010Seconding fatbologna’s comment. Ron Howard does not get me excited for a Dark Tower series, ESPECIALLY after his Dan Brown adaptations.
Posted by Jonny Ashley on September 9th, 2010Ronathan isn´t gonna direct themm all I hope.
Posted by pcch7 on September 10th, 2010Ron Howard, ruining your favourite literary franchise one book at a time.
Posted by Steve on September 10th, 2010““terrified” of screwing up one of their favourite books, they ended up giving the rights back”
So these fucking pussies decided to give the rights back!? The sand in their vaginas is plentiful. Howard & Goldsman will MURDER one of the most beloved book series ever. Lost some respect for that J.J. Abrams pussy.
Posted by Ryan M. on September 13th, 2010Leave a Reply