Stephen King 'Trusts' Ron Howard Will Make THE DARK TOWER

Stephen King has told Entertainment Weekly that he 'trusts' director Ron Howard will secure the necessary financing to adapt his sci-fi/western series The Dark Tower from another studio after Universal put the kibosh on their attempts to bring Roland's journey to the big screen yesterday. In an email, King said;

€œI€™m sorry Universal passed, but not really surprised,€ he wrote. €œAs a rule, they€™ve been about smaller and less risky pix; maybe they feel it would be better to stick with those fast and furious racing boys. I bear them no ill will, and trust Ron Howard to get Roland and his friends before the camera somewhere else. He€™s very committed to the project.€

I spoke in great depth about the death of The Dark Tower at Universal this morning so I won't go repeating myself but here's what I think. There are two studios who I COULD see, PERHAPS, being interested in putting down the cash that could see these films made. Perhaps it won't be a 3 film and 2 t.v. series epic, like Universal planned, but at the very least a film trilogy, hopefully more. Those two studios; Warner Bros - As they are looking for the next massive money driving franchise now that the Harry Potter series has ended and clearly this is the perfect time for Howard to pitch the project to them. Plus, we know that they want to push through plans to adapt The Stand into a multiple film property - so the interest in King is there, specifically the epic, long-assed, weird and fantastical King tomes. They spoke with Harry Potter director David Yates over the possibility of making The Stand last week - which has connections to The Dark Tower - perhaps there's an opportunity for Howard and Yates to sit down together and perhaps come up with a strategy to get these films made. It's clear - now is the time to pitch The Dark Tower at WB. Sony - Simply because of Ron Howard's solid relationship with the studio. He has the Dan Brown/Robert Langdon franchise setup with them where they can print their own money with The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. There is of course a third Dan Brown novel published a few years ago titled The Lost Symbol that is in very early development at Sony. If Ron Howard, who hasn't seemed so anxious to finish off his trilogy, tells Sony he will make The Lost Symbol that would secure Tom Hanks (vital for the film's success, one would seem) soon - and he can convince them to trust him like they have in the past - perhaps these films can be made. But in this climate, there's definitely no guarantees. But Stephen King seems confident and that would probably tell us that Ron Howard is confident too... so maybe we should??