Turns out Universal Pictures too-good-to-be-true plans for The Dark Tower (three movies with a season of TV in between each) might have been just that. Apparently, the rumored hundreds of millions of dollars budget was too much for the studio, which went looking for co-financiers to supplement the massive undertaking. And since they haven’t found any, producers (including Ron Howard, who will also direct, and Brian Grazer) have decided to take some time and try to bring the budget down. Originally the goal was to start principle photography on the first film this summer, but now the whole shebang is being pushed back to February. However, Universal has until July to greenlight the first film or its loses the rights to the material. Which would be bad. Also, the company still hasn’t officially signed Javier Bardem to the part even though he’s pretty much got it locked down.
I’m really hoping this pulls through. Stephen King writes the most screen-ready material out of any author today and there’s at least some hope of Bardem’s wife Penelope Cruz showing up. And that is a good thing.
Source: Deadline