In July Universal decided against moving forward with The Dark Tower, their adaptation of Stephen King’s epic book series with Ron Howard attached to direct. The intention was to make a trilogy of films with a TV miniseries in-between each film, however budget concerns caused Universal to bail.
With Ron Howard turning his attention to Formula 1 drama Rush with Chris Hemsworth and Olivia Wilde it seemed The Dark Tower was dead for now, but producer Brian Grazer recently revealed the movie will still happen thanks to big budget cuts.
From The Playlist:
We spoke to Brian Grazer during the “Tower Heist” press rounds today, and while we could only score a few moments with the prolific producer, he did inform us that the budget has been shaved way back, possibly to the project’s benefit. “We found a way to cut out $45 million out of the budget without changing the scope and actually giving it a good ending,” Grazer said, suggesting a heavily re-worked approach. “In the $140 million draft, the ending wasn’t quite as satisfying. Now, we’ve got $45 million, $50 million out of the way and a really satisfying ending. It’s gonna get made.”
The Lone Ranger recently shaved around $40 million from its budget and is now moving forward, so Universal or another studio may take on the The Dark Tower now it’s less of a financial risk. If it does get backing it won’t start filming until Ron Howard has finished working on Rush sometime next year.
The Dark Tower follows a gunslinger called Roland Deschain who is the last living member of a knightly order of gunslingers, and humanity’s last hope to save a civilization that will fall unless he finds the Dark Tower. Javier Bardem is still attached to play the lead.
