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.

Late last year producer Brian Grazer said they have since made changes to the script and in doing so they’ve managed to cut around $50 million from the budget. Now it looks like Warner Bros. is close to taking on the project, with a possible early 2013 shoot planned.

From Deadline:

I hear that Warner Bros is now very close to a deal that will give Ron Howard the chance to direct at least the first feature, potentially with Javier Bardem starring as gunslinger Roland Deschain. And Akiva Goldsman (who wrote the script) is producing with Brian Grazer and the author.

Basically they bought Goldsman’s script and are paying him to do a polish. Howard remains attached to direct, likely in first quarter 2013.

This may be good news for fans, depending on whether they want an adaptation from Ron Howard or not. This is a similar situation to that of The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer which had to trim north of $40 million from the budget before filming could begin, only that project remained at Disney throughout instead of being set-up elsewhere.

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 has long been attached to play the lead, and if all goes well he’ll be signing on soon.

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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.

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With Ron Howard deciding against directing The Lost Symbol, the follow-up to The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, Sony has been searching for a new director over recent months, and according to Deadline they may have found one in Mark Romanek.

Romanek is best known for directing 2002′s One Hour Photo, and most recently directed Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley in Never Let Me Go. At the moment he isn’t said to be locked, but the director posted an image of producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer on his Posterous account recently (presumably in a meeting), so negotiations should begin soon.

Tom Hanks is expected to return as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, but he hasn’t officially signed on yet. Dan Brown, the author behind the book series, was hired to write the script late last year which was previously worked on by Steven Knight (Eastern Promises).

Here’s the book’s synopsis:

As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object —artfully encoded with five symbols—is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation . . . one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon’s beloved mentor, Peter Solomon—a prominent Mason and philanthropist —is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations—all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth

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Columbia Pictures started moving forward with The Lost Symbol, the follow-up to The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, last year after hiring Dan Brown, the author behind the book series, to write the script.

Ron Howard directed the previous two films, but recently he’s been trying to get a movie and TV series based on Stephen King’s epic book series The Dark Tower off the ground, so him directing the The Lost Symbol looked unlikely. Well, as expected, Howard has told the studio he’ll only be producing the next film, and Columbia are now searching for a new director.

From Deadline:

Now I’ve learned that the Imagine Entertainment principal will not be directing the next movie based on Brown’s 2009 book The Lost Symbol which is a follow-up to the events described in Da Vinci Code.

“He wanted to produce this one, not direct,” a Sony insider tells me. So Sony Pictures has started looking for a new helmer. Like the two other books made into films, this third one stars Tom Hanks as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon.

Angels & Demons took a bit of a dive at the box office in 2009, making only $485 million compared to The Da Vinci Code‘s $758 million, but there’s obviously enough people still interested in the franchise to warrant The Lost Symbol moving forward.

Here’s the book’s synopsis:

As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object —artfully encoded with five symbols—is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation . . . one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon’s beloved mentor, Peter Solomon—a prominent Mason and philanthropist —is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations—all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth

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Earlier this year Universal started having second thoughts about 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 the planned shoot later this year to be delayed while screenwriter Akiva Goldsman re-wrote the script.

Now Universal has decided against making The Dark Tower altogether, and the only way it will move forward now is if it finds a new home at another studio.

From Deadline:

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.

I’d heard back in May that Warner Bros–where Goldsman’s Weed Road is based and which is fully financing two installments of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit–was a possible landing place for the adaptation of King’s 7-novel epic that is that author’s answer to Tolkien’s LOTR novels.

This is the second potentially huge (but risky) project Universal have passed on this year. Back in March the studio decided against making Guillermo del Toro’s movie adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s horror novella At the Mountains of Madness with Tom Cruise.

Fans of The Dark Tower may be disappointed, although some will think they’ve dodged a bullet. The book 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.

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Last month Universal started having second thoughts about The Dark Tower, their adaptation of Stephen King’s epic book series to be directed by Ron Howard. The intention was to make a trilogy of films with a TV miniseries in-between each film, however budget concerns caused the planned shoot later this year to be delayed while screenwriter Akiva Goldsman re-wrote the script.

In a new interview Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer speak about the script changes, saying they aren’t that radical, and talk about why they decided the franchise would cross the realms of both movies and TV.

From Deadline:

DEADLINE: Why does Dark Tower warrant three movies and two TV series in between?
HOWARD: The universe Steve King created is so dimensional and creative. It blends scope, sweep, and adventure with some very personal compelling stories. We could have tried to force all of it into one or two or three movies. It became clear to me that the medium of TV has become so bold and cool, we could use it to our advantage creatively and really fulfill the possibilities of this universe of characters King gave us to work with. We can use the intimacy of television when that’s appropriate, and the scope and scale of the big screen with the bigger fantasy ideas. We discovered elements that would probably never have a home either on the big screen or on TV, but would make fantastic narrative gaming opportunities that won’t rehash the movies or TV, but have its own material borne out of the books and graphic novels. We’ve got gaming designers and there is enthusiasm for that. It’s a way to use all the mediums at our disposal to try to fulfill what’s possible. Universal sees this as an asset that can benefit the company in a lot of different ways.

DEADLINE: Still, there were rumors last month that Universal might let The Dark Tower go. That hasn’t happened but they did push the start date to early next year. Why has it been so hard to get underway?
HOWARD: The first version represented a bold attempt to fast track, because of weather concerns. It was a little more dramatic to people on the outside than to us. We’d have liked to move forward on that fast track, but it was always Phase One. There was an understanding that if we couldn’t answer all the questions in a way that made sense to all the partners involved, then we would operate on a slightly more traditional timetable. Even if we go in March, that’s still moving quickly for something of this scale.

DEADLINE: You’ve been asked to bring down the budget. By how much?
GRAZER: I’m producing it with Akiva Goldsman, who wrote it to be sensitive to cost and is rewriting it to be more so. Without putting a number on it, the cuts aren’t that deep or that radical.

They also said that while Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) isn’t officially on-board, “he’s fascinated by the character and has great instincts for Roland. I’m hoping when we go, he’s available and will join us.”

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. Ron Howard says he sees the trilogy as their answer to the Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, with an old West setting instead of Middle Earth.

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Earlier this month we heard that Universal were having second thoughts about The Dark Tower, their adaptation of Stephen King’s epic book series to be directed by Ron Howard. The intention was to make a trilogy of films with a TV miniseries in between each film, however Universal put pre-production staff on hiatus as they discussed ways to bring down the budget.

Now THR reports that The Dark Tower will stay at Universal (for now) and shooting has been pushed back to early 2012 while screenwriter Akiva Goldsman re-writes the script to accomadate a lower budget.

No word yet on whether this delay will prevent Javier Bardem from appearing in the film. The actor signed up for the role when filming was set to begin later this year, so he’ll now have to readjust his schedule if he has any other projects lined up.

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. Ron Howard says he sees the trilogy as their answer to the Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, with an old West setting instead of Middle Earth.

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Production seemed to be going smoothly on The Dark Tower, an adaptation of Stephen King’s epic book series to be directed by Ron Howard. Recent Oscar nominee Javier Bardem had recently been confirmed to lead the film, which Universal hoped would span three movies, with TV miniseries in between each film.

However news has hit the web that Universal are having second thoughts about the ambitious project (as far as the budget is concerned) and according to Deadline “Universal Pictures has put pre-production staff on hiatus as they discuss ways to bring down the budget”.

The planned September start has been delayed while Universal, director Ron Howard and writer/producer Akiva Goldsman discuss the next step. One option may be to take The Dark Tower to Warner Bros., but that’s only if Universal decides the project is too big of a risk.

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. Ron Howard says he sees the trilogy as their answer to the Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Ring trilogy, with an old West setting instead of Middle Earth.

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Back in January recent Oscar nominee Javier Bardem was offered the lead role in The Dark Tower, an adaptation of Stephen King’s epic book series to be directed by Ron Howard. Last month producer Brian Grazer said Bardem was interested in the role, and now it looks like the actor is close to signing on.

From Deadline:

Javier Bardem is close to sealing his deal with Universal Pictures to play gunslinger Roland Deschain in The Dark Tower, the mammoth adaptation of the Stephen King 7-novel series that’ll span three movies and a limited run TV series in between each film. Director Ron Howard begins production on the first film in September, and he’ll also direct the first TV segment.

It’s a complex deal, almost unprecedented, because it calls for Bardem to star in the feature film and the TV component. His deal will also include options for two sequels (the TV program that runs between the second and third films will be a prequel).

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. Ron Howard says he sees the trilogy as their answer to the Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Ring trilogy, with an old West setting instead of Middle Earth.

What do The Dark Tower fans think of this casting? Do you think crossing the franchise over movies and TV is the way to go?

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A few weeks ago we heard that recent Oscar nominee Javier Bardem had been officially offered the lead role in The Dark Tower, an adaptation of Stephen King’s epic book series to be directed by Ron Howard.

Little has been heard since, however producer Brian Grazer recently gave an update and said Bardem is interested in the role, but he’s not official on-board yet.

From MTV:

“‘Dark Tower,’ Javier Bardem, that’s what we’re hoping,” Grazer said when I asked him for an update. “We’re in the process of trying to put that together. Will that make you happy? Will that make MTV happy?”

Yes, I told him. Very happy! But has he officially signed Bardem onto the project?

“He’s locked in psychologically,” Grazer said. “He really wants to do it, so we’re absolutely rooting for him to do it.” When asked to address other potential cast members, Grazer said they’re too busy with Bardem. “We’re really just focused on Javier right now,” he said.

Bardem was also said to have been offered the villain role in Bond 23, so he may have to choose between the two if there are scheduling conflicts.

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. Ron Howard says he sees the trilogy as their answer to the Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, with an old West setting instead of Middle Earth. The plan is for Bardem to lead the franchise through the trilogy and a TV show, so if the actor signs on he’ll have the next five years of his life sorted work-wise.

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