Universal has announced a massive cross-platform franchise launch based on Stephen King‘s celebrated and long running “The Dark Tower” series of books. But fans might want to keep their expectations in check.
Certainly, the project is ambitious. Universal plans a trilogy of feature films based on the books with the world and characters further expanded upon via a television series that run concurrently with the films. The bad news? Akiva Goldsman (“Batman & Robin,” “I, Robot,” “I Am Legend”) will be writing the first film as well as the first season of the TV series. The good news (sort of)? Ron Howard will direct the first feature film. The duo have arguably done their best work together, with a writing/directing partnership that has created “Cinderella Man” and “A Beautiful Mind” (though in all fairness, its also produced “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons”).
The plan is to get the first film finished and then create a bridge to the second film via the television series. This will making casting interesting as actors and actresses will need to appear in both the feature and the TV series; so expect a group of lesser known talent to circle the parts that will certainly tie them to the franchise for a long period of time. From there, once the film “sequel is done, the TV series picks up again, this time focusing on Deschain as a young gunslinger. Those storylines will be informed by a prequel comic book series that King was heavily involved in plotting. The third film would pick up the mature Deshain as he completes his journey. They will benefit from being able to use the same sets cast and crew for the movie and TV, which could help contain costs on what will be a financially ambitious undertaking.” We have to say, we’re impressed by the scope of this thing, and we hope they can pull it off.
In an interesting case of “what-could-have-been,” the project was at one time in the hands of J.J. Abrams and his “Lost” partners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse but they weren’t able to figure a way to work with the story’s sprawling narrative.
Clearly, Howard and Goldsman are looking to do the the work justice with the director emphasizing, “The approach we’re taking also stands on its own, but it’s driven by the material. I love both, and like what’s going on in TV. With this story, if you’re dedicated to one medium or another, there’s the horrible risk of cheating material. The scope and scale call for a big screen budget. But if you committed only to films, you’d deny the audience the intimacy and nuance of some of these characters and a lot of cool twists and turns that make for jaw-dropping, compelling television. We’ve put some real time and deep thought into this, and a lot of conversations and analysis from a business standpoint, to get people to believe in this and take this leap with us. I hope audiences respond to it in a way that compels us to keep going after the first year or two of work. It’s fresh territory for me, as a filmmaker.” [Deadline]