As I detailed here earlier this month, Warner Bros. was preparing to make a decision on whether it would make the three film/two mini-series adaptation of Stephen King‘s eight-book Dark Tower series. Universal already passed on the project after balking at its high budget, which lead to director Ron Howard, producer Brad Grazer, and producer/writer Akiva Goldsmith shopping the project to Warner Bros. WB seemed like a better fit for the project, especially since the studio’s lucrative Harry Potter and Dark Knight franchises have recently ended and the studio is definitely looking for a replacement.
Well, King fans will have to keep dreaming. Deadline is reporting that Warner has officially passed on the project, even after Stephen King himself joined the project as a producer and Howard favorite Russell Crowe was revealed to be considering the lead role of Roland, the gunslinger. This has not only set the potential franchise back, but King remarked to Deadline that, “The Dark Tower, to me, and I’m not unbiased because I’m the writer on this thing, but to me it looks like gold on the ground waiting to be picked up.”
Shortly afterwards, Deadline posted a follow-up that Media Rights Capital, best known for Ted and the upcoming Cloud Atlas, is in “serious talks” to pick up the project. Apparently MRC’s co-CEO Modi Wiczyk is a big fan of the series and is willing to take the immense financial risk. Ironically, MRC has a distribution agreement with, you guessed it, Universal, proving that projects just keep bouncing around until they finally find a home.
I enjoyed the book series, but I’m not heartbroken over this development. This series really requires a long-term adaptation on a premium cable channel over the course of several seasons. I’m not sure Media Rights Capital has the sufficient, well, capital to pull this project off.
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