Stephen King Fantasy Film Off Track (For Now)

Novelist Stephen King is in the news again this week with the surprise announcement that Universal Pictures has passed on the big screen adaptation of his popular novel series THE DARK TOWER, which was to be produced and directed by Oscar winner Ron Howard. The studio chose not to get involved in the possible franchise, which included three feature films, two separate television series and a rash of video games. Apparently, Universal was willing to commit to only a single film, not the trilogy and two television series that Howard, producer Brian Grazer and writer Akiva Goldsman wanted. The outrageous amount of money involved with filming all of that content, possibly simultaneously, combined with marketing and advertising costs turned out to be too much for the studio to gamble on. Next stop: Warner Brothers, which is making money hand over fist with the latest Harry Potter film and is hungry for a new franchise property.

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