The Dark Tower Bumped to February

Just a little over a week ago it was revealed that The Dark Tower was greenlit, has a core cast, will take place in the present and was being released on January 13, 2017. Most of that remains true but Sony has further tweaked their schedule and now the movie is set for release on February 17, 2017. Only a change of a month. Considering how well Deadpool did in the same time frame, as long as the movie itself (and its marketing) is solid, there is little reason to think The Dark Tower cannot do as well.

King Confirms Dark Tower Casting, Production Start and Release Date

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Dark Tower author Stephen King and director/co-writer Nikolaj Arcel confirmed some information about the first movie. The pair verified that Idris Elba has been cast as the Gunslinger Roland Deschain and Matthew McConaughey as the man in black (who has numerous names). They also verified that the plan is to start filming in late April to hit an January 13, 2017 release date.

“The thing is, it’s been a looong trip from the books to the film,” King says, putting it right in context: “When you think about it, I started these stories as a senior in college, sitting in a little sh-tty cabin beside the river in Maine, and finally this thing is actually in pre-production now.” He laughs. “I’m delighted, and I’m a little bit surprised.” “What Stephen King does best is mixing the everyday, or what you might call the mundane, with the fantastical,” says Arcel. “In my view, [The Dark Tower] novels are a mix between sci-fi and fantasy and modern times. That exact mix is so Stephen King.” King says the movie will open with the first line from the first book. “It should start that way,” he says. “I’ve been pretty insistent about that.” “[The movie] starts in media res, in the middle of the story instead of at the beginning, which may upset some of the fans a little bit, but they’ll get behind it, because it is the story,” King says. Arcel declined to specify which books his movie focus on, but he did offer this clue: “A lot of it takes place in our day, in the modern world.”

The Dark Tower is a bit hard to describe briefly but the gist is the Tower is connected to all of King's creations over the decades but by extension it connects to the multiverse and all of creation. In short, the Tower falls, everything ends. The Man in Black wants to end it all, Roland seeks to stop him while also trying to use the Tower to save his world (which is suggested to be a future post-nuclear annihilated Earth) that is dying. In his quest to reach the tower Roland is joined by three (Eddie from the 70s, Susannah from the 60s, and Jake from the 80s) to create his "ka-tet" (a group that is both best friends and family at the same time, formed by destiny). it would take little effort story wise to update the characters to circa 2016 which is about the only aspect of the story that fits the "in the modern world" tease from the director since the Dark Tower series is ultimately a classic western with technology and the supernatural woven in here and there. It will interesting what new direction they are planning. While I am a fan of The Dark Tower, each book represents the decade it was written starting in 1978 until completed in 2006 but more backstory added via Marvel comics over the last 10 years. A faithful translation would be slog to watch and unlikely to succeed but the core story with the core characters that drops a lot of side story and irrelevant sub-plots that ultimately didn't go anywhere could make for a great series of movies. It sounds like the plan is not to take the "Harry Potter" route of faithful adaptation of each book, one movie at a time but instead treat it as one really long story, focusing on certain key points within that timeline. As always time will tell.

Release Date Set for The Dark Tower

In a bit of surprise, Sony Pictures has announced a release date for The Dark Tower as January 13, 2017. That is an interesting release date for what is supposedly a tentpole movie but considering the weirdness of the book series and the extreme challenge if presents for adaptation, the lack of other competition might actually be wise. The rest of Sony's plans can be found here.

The Dark Tower Cancelled by Universal (Updated)

Despite Imagine Entertainment's efforts to reduce the cost of The Dark Tower trilogy and two TV series, it apparently wasn't enough. Deadline reports that NBC Universal passed on the adaptation due to the costs and the risks involved. No one is talking specifics but reading between the lines it is likely the executives for Comcast (Universal's corporate parent) stepped in and nixed the project.

The current theory is the studio decided to commit its budget to making Battleship and 47 Ronin. My theory is Comcast, whose bad reputation is well earned, likes to play things extremely safe and on the cheap as much as possible. The Dark Tower was going to be very expensive with no guarantees of success along with source material that isn't exactly movie friendly so the concerns are valid.

The main problem is that most studios loath to take "used" projects, especially ones as public at The Dark Tower. While it is possible it could be shopped to another studio, I suspect this will be the end of any hope of adaptation for at least a few years, if ever. I will keep the blog open for a while long just in case things change but to be blunt I don't have much hope.

Update: Stephen King spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the cancellation.

“I’m sorry Universal passed, but not really surprised. As a rule, they’ve been about smaller and less risky pix; maybe they feel it would be better to stick with those fast and furious racing boys. I bear them no ill will, and trust Ron Howard to get Roland and his friends before the camera somewhere else. He’s very committed to the project.”

Ron Howard Talks Dark Tower Delay

In a brief interview with Entertainment Weekly, The Dark Tower executive producer discussed the recent delays that as pushed the start of production from September to next year. The news came out that Comcast executives were about the drop the project due to budget concerns that Howard was able to address with a smaller budget that in turn required a re-write of the script and planning.

“We had to pull back to our September start date due to budget delays and ongoing story development and logistical issues, but Dark Tower is moving forward,” Howard said. “We’re thinking of starting in early spring now. I can’t really say who’ll be in it yet, but Javier Bardem has shown a great deal of interest. We’ll know by the end of the summer, when our flashing green light goes solid.” The project would start with a feature film, followed by six hours of TV content, starring the same actors as in the movie. “There are elements of the Dark Tower saga that are more personal and can be best dealt with on television,” Howard continued. “TV allows you to roll out details of the characters in a more methodical way.”

The Dark Tower Lives But Delayed

It seems The Dark Tower trilogy and TV series will live again. Last week the franchise was on verge of being put in "turnaround" (aka killed) due to Comcast's (owner of Universal Studios) concerns on the cost of the production. It seems that another studio would have to step up to defray the costs before production could move forward.

The Hollywood Reporters now says that the production will stay at Universal but at a lower cost. The budget must have taken a fairly massive hit as THR says "Insiders say the end result is that Goldsman is now rewriting the script to reflect a lower price point. No start date has been given although it will certainly not be the fall."

According to Deadline, the new start date has changed from summer to February. A wrinkle has also been introduced as "Universal has its own ticking clock: It must greenlight the film by July, or the rights revert back to the author and the filmmakers."

It will probably take awhile to determine the repercussions but essentially it means the movie that was well on its way into the pre-production process is now back at square one for a film. The lesson remains that big budget projects (or really anything potentially risky) do not belong with anything that Comcast owns and creators would be advised to avoid them as production partners whenever possible.

Universal Dropping The Dark Tower? (Updated)

After years of hope, fan of The Dark Tower were very happy when Universal announced their intention to release a trilogy of films and two TV shows about the epic novel. According to Variety, now it seems the studio executives reconsidering the idea due to "budgetary complications" (aka too expensive). The studio is meeting soon to make and decision and in the meantime pre-production will continue. Reading between the lines it seems that Universal is willing to make the film, they just don't want to take on the financial risk by themselves and are hoping another studio will step up to share the burden. This isn't new as many films have had their cost (and profits) shared by studio with The Hobbit being a recent example with MGM and Warner Bros sharing those costs.

Update: Outlook for the Dark Tower movies is starting to look grim. Deadline is reporting that "Universal Pictures has put pre-production staff on hiatus" indicating that they do not want to spend any more money on a production they are no longer committed to. The Hollywood Reporter provided a little more information but it does little to offer hope.

Imagine President Michael Rosenberg, however, vehemently denies that the project has been shelved. "Dark Tower is not in turnaround," Rosenberg tells THR, adding "there are issues and on-going budget discussions with almost every film in development." A Universal spokesperson declined to comment. Two sources close to the project say that Comcast executives have heavily scrutinized the plan, mainly due to budgetary concerns. The sources also say that the final portion of the project has been found creatively lacking.

To be blunt, I think the Dark Tower project is in deep trouble. The recent acquisition of Universal by Comcast is the likely cause. As anyone that uses Comcast's services or watched their pre-Universal purchase channels like G4 and Versus knows the corporation likes to run things as lean and cheap as possible even if that means sacrificing quality in the process. Committing $500 million or more to at least a five year project goes against Comcast's very core of how they operate. This doesn't even take in account the risk and The Dark Tower series is very risky as it is mostly a character story with very little action.

Imagine Entertainment is probably in overdrive trying to shore up the financing to either move the project to another studio or provide Comcast a partner so they will stick with the production. THR indicates that Sony and Warner Bros are at somewhat interested. If another studio doesn't bite, then the Dark Tower is dead. Between this and the ending of "Mountains of Madness from Guillermo del Toro, it seems that if you are seeking to make big $100 million plus movie or really anything that sniffs of risk, Universal is at the bottom of the list on the studio to bring it to.

Dark Tower Gets a Writer

The Dark Tower production has signed Mark Verheiden to co-write The Dark Tower TV series with Akiva Goldsman. Verheiden's previous writing experience includes writer/co-executive producer of Battlestar Galactica and Falling Skies along with writing comics such as Superman, Aliens and Predator. He adds the sci-fi/fantasy experience that the team of producers does not have a whole lot of but is a necessary ingredient to add to The Dark Tower films. The series while epic in scope, is really a combination of little character moments that will translate well to the television screen but not so well to the movie screen. It will be interesting to see what is shunted to TV, kept for the movie or left unused.