Dark Tower Crumbling...

Topless Robot is reporting that the much vaunted Ron Howard "Dark Tower" project has stalled if not closed all together.

Robot writes:

• Variety reports that the studio is now considering abandoning Ron Howard's ambitious adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower novels.

and

• Deadline now reports that the Dark Tower pre-production staff have been asked to stop working, and that all plans for a September start date have been canceled.

The skinny may be that Universal finally got a whiff of the cost of the project and may be looking for another studio to share the "load" Warner being a likely candidate. They may be concerned about the length of the arc which may cover the best part of a decade. ummm can anyone say Star Wars. Also some of the arc would play on TV and that is worrisome....again...ummm Star Trek? I really think the problem here is acute lack of foresight. Ron Howard might not be a SURE THING but damn close and come on even the frackin worst King movie made money! (well that might be stretching it a little....I keep seeing visions of a KW with a huge goblin face on it...shudder) So I wouldn't hold my breath about seeing a Dark Tower movie in the next 3 or 4 years.

Bardem is Deschain

From Deadline via Topless Robot: It would appear that Javier Bardem is Universal Pictures choice to play gunslinger Roland Deschain in The Dark Tower. For those of you that lived in that perverbial cave for the better part of 30 years, the Dark Tower is the brain child of Stephen King. It spanned a total of 7-novels and told the tale of Roland as he tracks a mysterious Man in Black. Many trials and tribulations take place and some down right weirdness, which included but was not limited to Roland's cadre finding themselves in just about every King novel in one fashion or another.

Well to get back on track.... Universal's series will span three movies and a limited run TV series in between each film, and be directed by Ron Howard. Production begins on the first film in September, and he'll also direct the first TV segment.

New Dark Tower novel next year?

Wow this could be a neat hat trick for Stephen King! According to Cory Doctorow writing for Boing Boing:

• Stephen King has written another installment in the Dark Tower books

Whooooooooo hoooooooooo! Well if you have followed the series like I have then you know the mind bending twist at the end. You know who Roland and The Man In Black are and their "connection" (which lends the question...how long has this been going on?!) Anyway, according to Doctorow:

• The new book, The Wind Through the Keyhole, will fill in some of the action between the fourth and fifth books

ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (flinch flinch....one eye starts to twitch uncontrollably...) Well uhh.. Mr. King has the urge to back fill the holes in his narrative and has some pretty clear thoughts on the subject. Instead of just copying them here, I will post the link where you can read it for yourself on Cory Doctorow's blog here

It's Official! J.J. Abrams Will Direct 'Star Trek XI'

From the SyFy Portal blog:

For many months, there has been rampant rumors that Abrams was on again and off again in directing the next Star Trek project, which he took over last year from writer Erik Jendresen. But now it seems that Abrams will indeed direct the film. Abrams also will continue in a producer role for the film through his Bad Robot production company as well as with Paramount, which owns the rights to Star Trek. It had been rumored that Abrams was in conversations with Stephen King to direct a Dark Tower movie. It appears now that if Abrams does become attached to that project, it would not interfere with him directing the next Star Trek film.