WB Passes Up Dark Tower Movie

Warner Bros has passed on the plan to revive Ron Howard's adaptation of Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" says Variety.

Previously the plan was to tell the epic tale over the course of three films bridged by two limited-run TV seasons. Javier Bardem was lined up as the lead when the ambitious project was at Universal Pictures. Following a budget meltdown Warner Bros picked up Akiva Goldsman’s script for the first film--with Russell Crowe rumored to play Roland Deschain.

Goldsman, King and Brian Grazer would produce.

Few studios have the resources for such a massive undertaking, and reluctance on the part of Universal and Warner Bros. illustrates that those who do also see risks on the downside.

King’s Dark Tower novels have a adult edge that, if done faithfully, would no doubt get an R-rating--eliminating a huge chunk of the audience

Watering down the violence in the stories might guarantee a more commercial-friendly PG-13 rating, but would surely draw the ire of the devotees of the books, who would be the films’ core audience.

HBO's "Game of Thrones" has the same tone that Tower does and it seems now a cable series would be the last--best — hope for an adaptation.