Universal Sets Release Date For Dark Tower

If you asked most J.R.R. Tolkien fans over a dozen years ago, they’d have told you that the Lord of the Ringsi trilogy was unfilmable. Well, we were wrong about that, weren’t we? Now it’s time to ask Stephen King fans the same question now that Universal has set May 17, 2013 as the release date for The Dark Tower, the first of three planned films and an interlocking television series. Hit more to check out a few more details on the mega-project.

The bestselling seven book series, which mixes western and fantasy, stars a gunslinger named Roland in his journey to find the namesake Dark Tower. The books will be distilled into three films, with a proposed television series airing between the first two installments. This is a clever idea, since I can’t recall a joint film/television project that has been planned in this way before, but it certainly is a huge gamble for Universal. The task of trying to make the rabid Dark Tower fans happy falls to director Ron Howard. Howard’s only real experience in directing fantasy films was Willow, a Lord of the Rings influenced film that has become a 80s fantasy classic. Certainly Howard’s recent work on the two Da Vinci Code films might come in handy for him too.

What’s your view, readers? Can Ron Howard pull off King’s series, or should it stay on the bookshelf? Let us know in the comments below!