Warner Brothers Passes On THE DARK TOWER, MRC In Talks To Pick It Up
Give Ron Howard this much: He may make bland movies but he certainly doesn't give up easily once he sets his mind to something.
Howard's desire to bring Stephen King's The Dark Tower to screens both big and small in a sprawling adaptation spanning three feature films and two television mini series has been an ongoing saga for literally years now. The development and adaptation process were difficult and lengthy in the first place and - perhaps spooked by the length and scale of the commitment - Howard has since been unable to find anyone willing to pay for the damn thing.
Universal, who paid for the initial development process, were first to pass. From there the project went to Warner Brothers, who also passed last night. But it would appear that all is not lost with Ted and Elysium backers Media Rights Capital swooping in and reportedly moving fast to try and seal a deal.
MRC make a ton of sense for this, in many ways more sense than any of the big studios ever did. The studios, after all, would need to go well outside of their normal business practice to get the TV component of the project out to the public. Yes, the studios have TV arms, but how much do the feature and TV people ever actually speak to one another? Not very often. MRC, on the other hand, have blended their output between TV and film right from the beginning and have ongoing relationships with all the major players they'd need. Plus, thanks to Ted, they've got a big bag of money right now.
Should everything work itself out Howard is eyeing Russell Crowe to play the lead.
Howard's desire to bring Stephen King's The Dark Tower to screens both big and small in a sprawling adaptation spanning three feature films and two television mini series has been an ongoing saga for literally years now. The development and adaptation process were difficult and lengthy in the first place and - perhaps spooked by the length and scale of the commitment - Howard has since been unable to find anyone willing to pay for the damn thing.
Universal, who paid for the initial development process, were first to pass. From there the project went to Warner Brothers, who also passed last night. But it would appear that all is not lost with Ted and Elysium backers Media Rights Capital swooping in and reportedly moving fast to try and seal a deal.
MRC make a ton of sense for this, in many ways more sense than any of the big studios ever did. The studios, after all, would need to go well outside of their normal business practice to get the TV component of the project out to the public. Yes, the studios have TV arms, but how much do the feature and TV people ever actually speak to one another? Not very often. MRC, on the other hand, have blended their output between TV and film right from the beginning and have ongoing relationships with all the major players they'd need. Plus, thanks to Ted, they've got a big bag of money right now.
Should everything work itself out Howard is eyeing Russell Crowe to play the lead.
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