Sci-Fi Storm

A few quick tidbits…

The first TV series as part of he multimedia mega-production based on Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series has officially named its showrunner as former The Walking Dead showrunner Glen Mazzara. We also understand that Idris Elba, who plays The Gunslinger in the feature film that opened today, will also be involved at some level.

The series takes place many years previous to the film and tells the origin story of Roland Deschain – a.k.a. the Gunslinger. It takes mostly from the fourth book, [asin=1501161830]Wizard and Glass[/asin], with flashbacks to the first book, [asin=1501161806]The Gunslinger[/asin].

We had a passing…actor Robert Hardy, best known as the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge in several Harry Potter films and Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great And Small, passed away yesterday at the age of 91. His career spanned 70 years, including playing Winston Churchill in 6 separate productions due to the accuracy of his portrayal. I remember seeing him in his first film role, 1958’s Torpedo Run.

Lastly, Mr. Robot‘s return for Season 3 has been announced for October 11th at 10/9c on USA Network, and also that Bobby Cannavale (Ant-Man) will join the cast. See the trailer below…

We finally have the first full trailer for the long-in-development mega project The Dark Tower!

The film follows gunslinger Roland Deschain (Idris Elba) and the sorcerer known as the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) who are on a quest to reach the mystical tower that stands at the nexus of countless dimensions, in a post-apocaplyptic Earth.

U.S. release is scheduled for August 4th, with the international release starting a week before.

The Dark Tower, the first film of the epic project from Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment, Sony Pictures and MRC, based on Stephen King’s series of post-apocalyptic fantasy novels, is getting the release date pushed back from February to June 28th, 2017. According to EW, this is to allow more time in post-production to complete the visual effects, but also will give then more time to market the film.

No official trailer has been released, while principle photography completed on schedule in July.

The film follows gunslinger Roland Deschain (Idris Elba) and the sorcerer known as the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) who are on a quest to reach the mystical tower that stands at the nexus of countless dimensions, in a post-apocaplyptic Earth.

The project is intended to be multiple films AND at least one TV miniseries, which is currently being developed for 10-13 episodes, although no outlet has been announced yet.

Ron Howard’s ambitious multi-platform project to being Stephen King’s The Dark Tower to life – originally conceived as a trilogy of movies AND two TV series – is looking for studio backing again. After Universal balked on the project a year ago, Warner Bros stepped in – but now it seems even WB has passed on it, despite getting an updated script from Akiva Goldsman and buzz about Russell Crowe interested in a lead role.

But another funding source may be in the hunt, with Media Rights Capital interested. MRC recently funded the Seth MacFarlane hit comedy Ted, and also the upcoming Elysium starring Matt Damon and Jodi Foster and directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9). So for now, the project lives on.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, director Ron Howard discussed his upcoming Formula One racing-based movie Rush, but also discussed a bit about the state of The Dark Tower: “We are continuing to work on the script to find ways to make the budget more manageable and still deliver the work in a way that the project deserves,” he said. “We were always racing and fast-tracking the project, so I always wince when I see something written about it and there’s a release date in there. These kinds of projects often take years to come together in the right ways. But I am in love with the material, and the minute it can come together in the right way, I am fully committed to it.”

Not sure how this goes along with the related TV series reportedly finding a network – hopefully we will get more clarity soon – but Howard certainly seems committed to bringing it to the screen.

The off-and-on The Dark Tower project, based on the Stephen King book series, may have found a home for the TV portion of the multi-media production, according to an interview that Brian Grazer gave to MTV News. Reportedly going through a budget-slimming process after Universal balked at the price tag for a “3 movie and 2 TV series” plan (Grazer says they’ve already cut $45 million), at least the TV portion may land at HBO. “We’re going to do [‘The Dark Tower’] with HBO,” according to Grazer. “We’ll do the TV with HBO, and we’ll do the movie with… to be determined. We’ll do it right.”

No confirmation has come from HBO yet, but given that HBO greenlighted the ambitious Game of Thrones to excellent results, perhaps they can see the benefits beyond the risks. Meanwhile, Deadline reports that there is no deal actually in place.

Cool projects never die, they just never get made…seems that director Ron Howard still has not given up hope on his The Dark Tower project, which Universal scrapped last month. According what producer Brian Grazer (Howard’s business partner in Imagine Entertainment) told the New York Post, Howard is shopping around for external financing, and they may plan to separate the TV series as separate deals, possibly distributing through alternative media such as Netflix. However, any production won’t begin until next year now, as Howard already has another project, the Formula One themed Rush, on his plate.

Universal had some cold feet regarding the massive The Dark Tower project, putting it on hold back in May, but producers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard still had hopes of working out a budget and schedule with the studio. Well, apparently Universal felt the cold creeping in and has now scrapped the project completely. Reportedly after reviewing the script from writer Akiva Goldsman for the first film and series, the studio balked and would only commit to the movie, but the producers really wanted to film the series in tandem with all the sets available.

Envisioned as a trilogy of movies as well as two limited TV series, the project certainly presented a big risk for the studio. Grazer and Howard are presumably free to shop the project around to another studio.

Deadline has an excellent interview with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard about their 25 year partnership with Imagine Entertainment. As part of that, they ask some questions about the ambitious project to turn Stephen King’s The Dark Tower into three movies and two TV series! And they also say why the reports of a budget cut won’t hurt so bad…first, they were hoping to fast track the production, but Universal balked so they are going with a “more traditional timetable”, which is why it was pushed back, but it still could get done faster than usual.

When asked about the budget Grazer responded, “I’m producing it with Akiva Goldsman, who wrote it to be sensitive to cost and is rewriting it to be more so. Without putting a number on it, the cuts aren’t that deep or that radical.”

So we haven’t heard the last of The Dark Tower.

That ambitious project of Ron Howard’s to turn Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series into a combinations of films and TV series might have been a bit too ambitious – at least for Universal, who is concerned about the budget. As a result, the staff working on it have been placed on hiatus while Howard’s Imagine Entertainment and writer/producer Akiva Goldsman discuss the budget with the studio.

Could Universal be getting a bit skittish at big budget risks? They did balk at the $150 million budget Guillermo del Toro’s At The Mountains of Madness – but del Toro wanted to release with an R-rating as well, perhaps limiting the audience. But how can you do a PG-13 Lovecraft story?!?