The creators of Lost will be doing even more moonlighting in the coming months. Answering earlier rumors, author Stephen King has confirmed that J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof will adapt his Dark Tower series into a film. King opted not to hand the project over to director Frank Darabont, the force behind King film adaptations like The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Darabont is currently developing the author's works The Mist and The Monkey.
King cited Lindelof's admiration of the Dark Tower series as one of his reasons for signing the rights over to the pair. According to King, the option for the Dark Tower films cost Lindelof and Abrams a whopping nineteen dollars. Lost's creative minds have kept themselves busy with other projects in the past. J.J. Abrams recently directed Mission: Impossible III, starring Tom Cruise, and is set to direct Star Trek XI. Damon Lindelof is set to co-produce the Star Trek film as well.
The deal was announced at the New York Comic-Con on Saturday, February 24.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-26-2007 @ 9:12PM
David said...
I'm guessing the 19 years was how long it took King to go from book 1 to the final book?
I'm further guessing King either doesn't care about money anymore (hence, giving away the film rights), or they cut King in on the gross proceeds (or similar).
Either way, I look forward to seeing if these two dynamos can deliver on the script!
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2-26-2007 @ 10:15PM
Jake said...
Oh great. Right when Lost is starting to suffer Lindleof goes on another project. This is Alias Redux. Bad news for Lost fans.
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2-26-2007 @ 10:00PM
Dakota Dux said...
19 is a reoccurring theme in the Dark Tower series.
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2-26-2007 @ 10:21PM
Michael Canfield said...
Yeah, because these guys really aren't that busy with their day job. Everything with Lost is just going so great this season.
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2-26-2007 @ 10:14PM
Curt said...
Only one movie for the whole series??
That's like trying to do Lord of the Rings in a half-hour... cannot be done.
Do it as a TV show on HBO with each 15episode season representing one book. The only problem with that is Jake would get too old, but that's never stopped anyone before.
But a single movie is NOT NOT NOT enough time.
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2-26-2007 @ 11:42PM
Curt said...
eh, The Dark Tower is more important than Lost.
And this second half of Lost's season has been pretty good.
You know what everyones problem is? Expectation. Expectation corrupts all.
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2-27-2007 @ 3:15PM
Bukster said...
If rumors are true, King sold the rights to them for an ideal amount. 19 dollars. This film series has the potential to be as big as LOTR or Harry Potter and Mr. King sells it for 19 bucks. I'm sure millions have been thrown at him over the years for the rights to the books but for King to sell it to them for 19 shows his confidence that the material will be treated respectfully. I often thought that the Dark Tower series would make an excellent mini-series for television but NEVER thought it would make it to theaters.
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2-27-2007 @ 3:15PM
Bukster said...
If rumors are true, King sold the rights to them for an ideal amount. 19 dollars. This film series has the potential to be as big as LOTR or Harry Potter and Mr. King sells it for 19 bucks. I'm sure millions have been thrown at him over the years for the rights to the books but for King to sell it to them for 19 shows his confidence that the material will be treated respectfully. I often thought that the Dark Tower series would make an excellent mini-series for television but NEVER thought it would make it to theaters.
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2-27-2007 @ 10:46PM
Cyndi said...
I fear this is going to get screwed up. I hope to hell that I am wrong.
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4-15-2007 @ 2:58PM
dave froom said...
Exactly what I was thinking...and HBO series. It's really the only way to be able to fully encompass the enormity of the books while maintaining the grit and violence they contain. Oh god, please let this project change in some way...
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6-27-2007 @ 9:25AM
Sebastiaan said...
I sincerely hope they're not going to knock on the door of HBO. They've lost my trust after the way they treated 'Deadwood'. And for concerning J.J. Abrams so far, Mission Impossible III... I was pretty far from impressed. The series Lost was ok until Season 3. A never ending vagueness story...
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