Stephen King’s Dark Tower to Become a Film Trilogy

Universal is planning to produce and adapt Stephen King's “The Dark Tower” to the silver screen and television.

Universal is planning to produce and adapt Stephen King's “The Dark Tower” to the silver screen and television.

The film and TV divisions of the company will make three movies and TV shows based on the author's Dark Tower novels, short stories, and comic books.

Director Ron Howard is helming the first movie as well as the debut season of the TV series, which will be written by Academy Award-winning writer Akiva Goldsman.

The big project was being developed by director J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot company, but the rights to the epic series were later acquired in April by Imagine Entertainment.

Also producing are Goldsman, Howard, and Brian Grazer. Kerry Foster will be the executive producer of the first installment together with Todd Hallowell and Erica Huggins.

The series chronicles the adventures of the main character The Gunslinger traveling across a post-apocalyptic world to find a black tower. That world and ours are connected through portals.

“I've been waiting for the right team to bring the characters and stories in these books to film and TV viewers around the world,” Stephen King said. “Ron, Akiva, Brian along with Universal and NBC have a deep interest and passion for The Dark Tower series and I know that will translate into an intriguing series of films and TV shows that respect the origins and the characters in The Dark Tower that fans have come to love.”

The TV shows will be sandwiched between at least three films. The Dark Tower books have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Posted by Kade Quinn on Thursday September 09 2010, 3:39 PM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Entertainment, Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0