Movies
‘The Dark Tower’ Still Standing?
Between this and the Arrested Development movie Ron Howard seems to baiting eternal harassment from the fans of projects that are never really going to happen.
Universal Pictures pulled the plug on The Dark Tower last month but producer Brian Grazer is claiming that their (INSANELY HUGE) project will still go forward. Speaking to The New York Post’s Page Six Grazer insisted that he and Howard are “trying to get outside financing to make it, and distribute it through a major [studio].”
According to Grazer, the current plan is for Howard to shoot the epic three-part tale of Roland Deschain (Javier Bardem is apparently still attached) after shooting the racing movie Rush. This timetable would prime him to return to The Dark Tower sometime around June of next year.
Or, most probably, never.
Even though Grazer suggests that Uni dropping the property has opened them up to other distribution options for the TV Spin-Offs, the likelihood that the Theatrical Features that need to happen first will find the appropriate financing is pretty grim.
And before you cry out, “but what about Lord Of The Rings?” please realize that “The Dark Tower” series of books doesn’t carry the same cultural heft. Also, it’s been 13 years since LOTR was greenlit and A LOT has changed and The Hobbit is only getting made by the skin of its teeth. Blockbusters are more expensive to produce than ever and the scale of The Dark Tower just makes the whole damn thing too prohibitive.
You could pile 10 cash-rich investors on top of each other and still not be able to cover all the bases needed to make it happen.
These days we just don’t have enough crazy people like Bob Shaye around willing to light their money on fire.
Hollywood is serious about landing the next Backrooms. Hot on the heels of a Siren Head feature announcement, Deadline reports that a new movie based on viral YouTube series The Mandela Catalogue is in development.
It also has some Hollywood heavy hitters behind it.
Amblin Entertainment’s Steven Spielberg, United Artists’ Scott Stuber (Frankenstein), and Amazon MGM Studios are set to produce, emerging victorious after a highly competitive 11-studio bidding war.
Launched in 2021, the YouTube series is set in the fictional Mandela County, Wisconsin which is “invaded by shape-shifting, nearly immortal creatures called Alternates. The Alternates are led by a false depiction of the Archangel Gabriel and their aim is to wipe out the human race by psychologically torturing them to the point of suicide. The Alternates are known for manipulating AV media, TVs, computers and GPS systems.”
The movie will be directed by the series’ creator, Alex Kister, based on a screenplay he adapted with Tyler Clifton.
The Mandela Catalogue has racked up an impressive 100 million views across its official episodes alone, solidifying it as one of the largest original analog horror franchises on YouTube.
Spielberg and Holly Bario are producing for Amblin Entertainment alongside Aaron B. Koontz for Paper Street Pictures and Stuber and Nick Nesbitt for United Artists. Kister and Clifton are also producing. Annie McCreery will oversee the project for United Artists. Maria Fortese will oversee for Amblin.
Get acquainted with The Mangela Catalogue below while we wait to learn more.