Universal pulled the plug on their plans for Ron Howard’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, but it seems like Howard and producer Brian Grazer are determined move this project forward. A new update from Brian Grazer reveals that they were able to significantly trim the budget on the first film.
While talking with The Playlist, Grazer mentions not only changes to the budget, but the original ending: “We found a way to cut out $45 million out of the budget without changing the scope and actually giving it a good ending,.... In the $140 million draft, the ending wasn’t quite as satisfying. Now, we’ve got $45 million, $50 million out of the way and a really satisfying ending. It’s gonna get made.”
For those that missed out on previous reports, the original pitch was for a trilogy of films and a TV series that would cover the entire book series. They've been looking into multiple financing options since the Universal deal fell through, including independent financing and shopping the film to other major studios. Will the new price make the series more attractive to Universal and big studios?
Don't get too excited about the possibility of seeing this movie yet. Ron Howard is currently working on Rush, so the earliest the project can get started is sometime in the middle of 2012. For those who are unfamiliar with The Dark Tower, the series consists of 7 books, which follow gunslinger Roland Deschain in his quest to reach the Dark Tower: The opening chapter in the epic Dark Tower series. Roland, the last gunslinger, in a world where time has moved on, pursues his nemesis, The Man in Black, across a desert. Roland’s ultimate goal is the Dark Tower, the nexus of all universes. This mysterious icon’s power is failing, threatening everything in existence.
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