Warner Bros Say No To Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower'

After initially showing interest in a multi-movie adaptation of the Stephen King franchise, The Dark Tower, Warner Bros. have changed their temperature from slightly warm to icy cold, and have rejected the proposal completely, reports Entertainment Weekly.

The Dark Tower is an eight-piece series of novels featuring Roland, the last of the 'gunslingers'. The books are a concoction of fantasy, sci-fi and western genres, and represent a truly original concept for the big screen. Ron Howard, actor in Happy Days and director of Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind had approached the California film studio with his idea to make King's franchise an on screen affair, after Universal Pictures canned the plans due to them being too expensive. A TV show to accompany the films was also mooted, with HBO a possible partner. It was even suggested that Russell Crowe, who of course has worked with Howard before, was interested in playing the lead had the project been green-lighted. Javier Bardem was another name circling the rumour mill to play Roland.

The reluctance of two major studios to get on-board with such a project is a major blow for the aspirations of the Academy Award winning director. Plans are reportedly afoot to present the idea to other studios, but this recent and public rejection doesn't bode well for the ambitious pair of King and Howard. Akiva Goldsman, who won an Oscar for Howard's A Beautiful Mind, has been developing the screenplay, and although the odds are stacked against him, the director seems keen to put The Dark Tower into production despite its recent setback.