For many months Universal Pictures have been considering major plans for an adaptation of Stephen King's acclaimed The Dark Tower seven-book epic - following the central character of of the 'gunslinger' Roalnd Deschain in a world that mixes thematic elements of knight-errants and the old west . However after some months of speculations on their specific intentions, Universal have now passed on a hugely ambitious slate of conencted projects which would have seen the story told over three major feature films and a television series which would fill in the gaps between chapters. Ron Howard was planned as diretcor for the movies, working from scripts by Akiva Goldsman with Javier Bardem in the main role.
The main problem has not been revealed but appears to be in the budgetary considerations, quite obviously huge for such an undertaking - perhaps the largest project since Peter Jackson brought Lord of the Rings to cinema screens. Universal, Deadline reports, were willing to finance one film, but with other side-projects already planned (the Tv series, more comic-books etc), it was felt this was not enough of a firm commitment to greenlight everything needed. It does not eman the project is dead, but it will need another major backer before things can proceed.
