It’s good to be King. It’s also good to be a King fan right now.
In case you hadn’t noticed, there are a TON of Stephen King adaptations in various stages of development at the moment. This year, The Dark Tower and IT are being unleashed in theaters, and on the small screen, series’ “The Mist,” “Castle Rock” and “Mr. Mercedes” are headed our way. “Castle Rock,” which will air on Hulu, seems to be uniting several of King’s stories into a shared universe of sorts, but it’s looking like that universe may actually begin on the big screen.
Last night, the first footage from The Dark Tower was shown off at CinemaCon; we unfortunately weren’t on hand at the event, but we’ve been paying close attention to the footage descriptions that have been hitting various websites this morning. The most interesting comes from Variety, as the site points out an unexpected connection between The Dark Tower and The Shining.
According to the site, the Overlook Hotel makes an appearance in The Dark Tower:
Jake is telling his psychiatrist about his visions and there’s a quick shot of a photograph that appears to show an elaborate mountain resort. It’s a dead ringer for the Overlook Hotel, the creepy retreat where Jack Torrance slowly went insane in King’s classic novel The Shining.
Even more interesting, this homage lines up with something Sony chief Rory Bruer said last night at CinemaCon. Bruer teased a share universe that begins with The Dark Tower.
From Variety:
Sony distribution chief Rory Bruer said that The Dark Tower has links to the rest of King’s oeuvre, a group of best-sellers that includes IT and Salem’s Lot.
As King fans know, most of his stories tend to share connections with one another, but a full-on King Cinematic Universe is something we haven’t seen yet. How could would that be?!
You’ll be able to climb The Dark Tower on July 28, 2017.
