• Was I the only person who noticed the movie poster in the first few scenes of THE MIST! I knew about this for over a year or two now.

• The intricacy of the books will never translate well into any other media... Except for maybe a full music album. I HAVE TO DO THIS!

• being the rabid little fangirl i am, i'm terribly protective of the dark tower books. and while the prospect of a series of movies and a television show makes me swoon, i have exactly zero confidence in mainstream american cinema these days. so i'm hoping for the best, but i'm also damned ready to lead the war against the moviemakers if they fuck up.

• Damn, now I have to buy the last four books before I can only get the crappy live action covers stamped with "Now a Major Motion Picture" in bright cheery letters. Curse you, Opie!

• Seriously? What about the Shawshank Redemption (Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption), Stand by Me (The Body) or the Green Mile (uh...The Green Mile). The Shawshank Redemption is one of the most well crafted movies in the last 20 years...If they put enough effort into the Dark Tower Series, it could be stunning.

• You mean in the very last scene don't you? It shouldn't be in there until the end or the flashback of jericho hill.

• AKIVA GOLDSMAN'S RESUME: NON-GEEK MATERIAL: A Beautiful Mind The Da Vinci Code Cinderella MAn "GEEK" MATERIAL: Batman Forever Batman and Robin Lost in Space I, Robot I Am Legend ANY ONE OF YOU WHO THINKS THIS WILL TURN OUT WELL IS GOD DAMN DELUSIONAL. AKIVA GOLDSMAN IS POISONOUS TO TOPLESS ROBOTS.

• There's pretty much zero chance of this turning out well.

• The only chance this has of working, to appease all fanboys, is if a certain horn makes an early appearance, like the opening scene. It'd be almost like the Star Trek reboot, except much, much more subtle. And it'd only take about 5 seconds.

• I agree with your comment about movies failing, but I thought the only book to movie of one of Kings stories that was done well was Pet Semetary. It was the first King book I read when I was like 10 or something and it scared the crap out of me... years later, I remember seeing the movie and it brought all those same feelings back when I read the book... Of course a lot of time has passed since seeing the movie and other than the classic's that stand the test of time, the movie may be crap if seen today. I'm going to rent it on netflix.

• so worried..so so worried..just cast Jon Hamm as Roland and i might come around

• i read ratner - but my mind saw shatner! where can we fit the shat into this project?!?!?!

• I came! Then I realized that it's 50/50 at best for this actually going into production.

• For good or ill, Ka like the wind

• Still, it would be nice to have a list of criteria for what is and is not a spoiler. Expiration dates, what actually consists a spoiler, corollaries and the like. I swear, I'm not a rules lawyer. I just want things to run smoothly and have a list I can reference to say, "Oops, can't do that, better not post."

• This will take balls big ass balls, like the hiker who cut his own arm off with a rusty pocket knife balls. King needs to be an executive producer with creative control and Ron Howard needs to get in touch with the dark side or some such thing. Peter Jackson or Gueirmo del Toro (butchered) would have rocked this. I smell failure only because of the sheer scope of the project is an undertaking. That doesn't include casting and the fact that this HAS to be shot all at once and no actor would willingly commit so much of a career to one project.

• They're going to fuck it up. I just don't have much faith in book to movie translations and, in my mind, there is no one who can play Roland. On the other hand, if my expectations are low, it won't be so bad. Even if it's really bad.

• I agree. it is simply a huge project to undertake, as is all his novels. They are amazing stories and the movies always seem to fail in conveying the brilliance of the story, unfortunately leaving a bad taste in the mouths of those who go see the film, but do not read.

• As bad as I want to see this on the big screen, I realize that this will be a huge undertaking. The Movie/tv/Movie/tv may be the only way to pack it all in. Also as others have said here, this really needs to be on HBO, SHO or Skinnemax. Or maybe FX. They seem to get away with alot on Sons of Anarchy. Good luck Ron. You will need it.

• Wow... Gotta say I like the concept... This could go either way. Ron Howard may be a 'safe' director, but he's still got talent. I just hope it's got some balls. It's usually hard to do stuff by King because they have to water it down for television, but since the cable networks have figured out that they DON'T have to water it down, things are alot ballsier nowdays. Sons of Anarchy is a good example. If they keep the TV part off of the networks, it could just work. I wish whey weren't messing around with all these prequels and comic books though. The core story is epic enough as is, but to do 3 movies and a couple of season's worth of TV, I guess you may need more material. Here's hoping it works!

• So many questions? What if the first movie doesn't do well, what happens to season 1 of the TV series? What if the TV series does poorly and is cancelled (especially if it's on FOX), does that effect movie 2? What if the actor doesn't want to tie up back to back years of their life on TV and film?

• I'm definitely doubtful that this is actually going to happen. It's an entirely new PARADIGM of creating content, and for that alone, it has well-nigh insurmountable odds to overcome. HOWEVER, every intellectual property has been dabbling in cross-media pollination like this, and the best way to establish a benchmark is to attach yourself to a known quantity like Stephen King/fantasy/westerns. So if this is ever going to happen as a concept of creating media, this would be a great place to start and will open the door to lots more attempts like this if it's successful. I also think Ron Howard is the epitome of mediocre--his films are resoundlingly "OK", never great, and rarely out-and-out bad, BUT his best film (in my opinion) is "The Missing", which is a tight little western and deals with a tad more darkness and violence than occurs in the rest of his movies. So it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for him to try to tackle The Dark Tower. As long as it opens with a huge wide shot from above of a desolate wasteland and: "The man in black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed..."

• Know of the books, but never read any of them. But I've got no problem with Ron Howard filming them. I think he's a damn good director and the series is lucky to have an A-list director like him at the helm. Don't really know why Rob has it in for him. Breathe a sigh of relief, this could be in the hands of Bay or Ratner.

• I'll take the blame for this one, I forgot that it has already been 6 years since its release. Seems like yesterday to me. I get jumpy when I think something may be spoiled for others.

• Actually, it was fine, Paul. I deleted it before thinking about it. I apologize. Obviously, six years is way past the spoiler expiration date.

• Apparently it WAS deemed a spoiler. So, can we get a ruling on what we consider spoiler ettiquette here? Duration past which things are fair game, what is considered a spoiler (I just said a character showed up, I didn't say what the character DID), all that kind of thing?

• I will give you that, true. I agree, truly pissed me off as well.

• It's been six years since he's shown up in the series. I think that's past the alarm for a spoiler alert. At least I didn't go on about how *bleep* got offed in book seven. That pissed the hell out of me.

• Really man? That's your thing? You did something similar with The Walking Dead. I would remove this for those who haven't read the books.

• I love the idea that they had enough sense to know that trying to smash the books into three movies wouldn't be good. I think the tv series could work. Kinda sucks though because I don't have cable. But, no matter how much I would love to see these books become awesome movies, I have two issues with it. First, these books were the under current of King's work for the last thirty years. They tie it all together. Salem's Lot, IT, The Stand, Hearts in Atlantis, Insomnia... there's no way to translate that, and for me, that's one of the biggest points to the Dark Tower series. And second, I've lost faith in literature to cinema transformations. I watched them destroy my absolute favorite series, Terry Goodkind's the Sword of Truth, by turning it into that disgusting excuse The Legend of the Queefer(Seeker). Not to mention Airbender and Scott Pilgrim. My only hope is that King keeps himself involved in this as he has his past movies and steers this in the right direction because I don't trust anyone else to pull it off.

• Akiva Goldsman wrote "Batman & Robin". That is all.

• FUCK! AND! YES!!!! Unless they fuck it up. I'd love to see an EPIC version of this premise, it sounds GREAT, but if the show is gonna be on NBC, or anything but HBO and Showtime, there's a good chance it'll be watered down and really won't match the movies as stated above. And the movies HAVE to be R, the harder the R the better. However, I will remain stoked and hopefull until proven otherwise by rotten studio execs. Ron Howard, you better not forget the face of your father, and you'll be crying all of our pardons if you fuck any of this up. KEEP A TIGHT LEASH ON THIS SHIT, KING. This is one that probably won't get rebooted any time soon. This story took decades to write, don't let Gingerballs fuck it up.

• I honestly don't see it working. If JJ Abrams said it was too much to handle I don't think Ron Howard has a shot in hell of getting it right.

• I only read the first book but thought it was great. It just strikes me as odd that a strange book such as The Dark Tower would be marketable to general audiences. That's what worries me a bit. I think Ron Howard will smooth the movie out to appeal to a larger audience and probably piss off fans of the books.

• This sounds like a huge undertaking and given the source material there is a huge possibility that it will get totally fucked up along the way. When it comes down to it I don't see how the Dark Tower books can work as anything other than books. I know some people will disagree with me but so far I do not think the comic adaptation has been that stellar. There was so much from the books that was left out of that first miniseries and I think it suffered for it. The Ginslinger, the first book is the only one that I can see working as a feature length movie, the rest of them might work as television mini series but it would be tough to pull off.

• The biggest problem too me is that the TV series is gonna be on NBC. That either means that the tone of the movies won't match the show, or that they'll water the whole thing down to a network TV level of acceptability to keep everything consistent. Still I hope the best for this endeavor.

• I'm all for it- but I am a "cup is half full" kinda guy. Now all they have to do is cast James Purefoy in it, and ka-ching! Awesomeness will ensue. :)

• A TV series based on (hopefully) The Gunslinger Born? Thankee Sai.

• Hmmm, I've been putting off reading the books cuz I heard the first one is slow and hard to get into. Time to start reading. Well, time to learn HOW to read, and then time to start reading...

• As far as aspirations go, they're definitely shooting the moon here. But God damn if this doesn't sound like the most convoluted plan for a series I've ever heard. But good luck, I guess...

• will be interesting to see how Ron and crew manage to pull off the dark tower as both a movie and tv combo espically given that there is no way they will ever be able to show some of the bat shit stuff like Roland giving an abortion with a bullet. not to mention they will run into problems with who ever they get to play jake ageing through the whole series. though seeing the dark tower done live action is intriquing to give Ron a chance not to mess it up.

• I have no idea how this is going to work. Like Abraxas said, what if the first film or TV show doesn't make a lot of money?? My original Idea for The Dark Tower was an animated tv series maybe on HBO or FX. The only way I could see a movie of the first book working is if they combined the first and second book into one movie. The first book is waaaaay too short and boring to make into an exciting movie. 80% of it is Roland's thoughts as he wanders the desert.

• this TV series - will it be a oneshot deal, like a one or two season max TV show, which then vanishes from the air until after the next movie. regardless of how successful and/or fail it may be? seriously - and audiences are not going to migrate elsewhere? that sounds weird. and, of course, it's all based on the idea that the first movie will be a success and the first series will be a success. what happens if the first TV series fails? or if the first movie fails? also, making a movie and making a series are two different ways to make anything, can the cast transition so easily from one mode to the other? I donno, it sounds *way* too complicated to pull off.

• I'll believe it when I see it.

• Oh, for fuck's sake. This is some bizzare shit. It's like a piece of shit dipped in gold. Love the concept, can't stand those Ron Howard, Akiva Goldsman and Brian Grazer. They have become the epitome mediocre. I really didn't like A Beautiful Mind. It was OK, just that. I've read (listened as well) to the whole series, it needs someone at the helm that can handle a project of the size and tone. I have very very low expectations for this.

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