Damon Lindelof wants 7 DARK TOWER movies

But warns that he and J.J. Abrams are too busy with LOST right now to work on the Stephen King series.

By Matt Holmes /

Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof has told AMC that he envisages the epic Stephen King fantasy novels The Dark Tower as a Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings esque franchise and the only way they should be adapted on screen is into an epic film series, one film per book. As there are seven books in the series, that would result in seven movies... an unprecedented amount but as we've said when it works, they can earn up to a $1 billion each. Lindelof says...

€œThe Dark Tower is to me every bit as daunting an adaptation as the Lord of the Rings trilogy must have been for Peter Jackson, except we€™ve got seven books we€™re looking at. And the idea of doing that at the same time Carlton and I are bringing Lost to a close is simply not viable. There are always Dark Tower conversations, but the figuring out of what this will look like as a movie has not begun. If The Dark Tower were in the right hands, I would love to see seven movies executed just right. But you have to get people to see the first one to get them to come and see the second one.€
This echoes similar statements that King himself made back in February 2007 when the author said...
"It oughta be movies. It€™s gotta be big. I€™d like to see it done (that way)".
As The Dark Tower is one of my favourite series of books, 18 months ago I got cautiously excited (because I don't want to see it as a knock-off t.v. series) when J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof optioned the rights to the series for $19 but so far their commitments on Star Trek and especially Lost has meant they have had to leave it on the shelf. And Lindelof warns us not to expect that to change anytime soon as they are busier than ever with Lost right now, trying to figure out the last few seasons that will end the show. The reason it's so hard for a big 7 film epic is of course trying to find a studio who would back such a financially risky project and then you have to factor in the age of the lead actors as it could take over a decade for the whole franchise to be completed. It's not like Harry Potter where the character grows from a teenager to an adult. The Dark Tower's protag is an adult from the beginning. via - /film

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