Last year an unprecedented movie/TV adaptation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series was announced, with director Ron Howard onboard and Akiva Goldsman (I Am Legend) writing the script. But if an adaptation of King’s mammoth Dark Tower series wasn’t enough, then how about a big screen version of one of King’s other legendary stories, The Stand?
Heat Vision is exclusively reporting that Warner Bros. has teamed up with CBS Films to bring King’s “magnum opus” The Stand to the big screen. The two companies will co-develop and co-produce the feature film adaptation, with CBS possibly co-financing the film and WB handling worldwide distribution and marketing.
A director, writer or stars aren’t in place (yet) but WB and CBS will reportedly sit down with potentials in the next few weeks in order to figure out what sort of direction to take the adaptation. One of the big decisions to be made at this point is whether to make just one film or spread the story across several films. I’m sure many fans of King’s book will want multiple films in order to see as much of the story brought to life as possible (is another Lord of the Rings-type trilogy in order here?).
CBS has actually held the rights to a film adaptation of The Stand for years but finally decided that the best way to make it a reality was to team up with another production company. WB apparently beat out harsh competition from both Sony and Fox in a “tight bidding war” for the chance to team-up with CBS on the adaptation.
Fans will be glad to hear that King himself will be involved with the adaptation in some capacity. With this being one of his most beloved titles – at one point it was voted by fans as his most popular book – I’m not surprised in the slightest that King wants to be involved.
Originally published in 1978 (and re-released in 1990), The Stand tells the story of a post-apocalyptic world resulting from a virus which wiped out most of Earth’s population. The tale is vast with more characters and story arcs than you could shake a stick at, but the main focus is on a single group of survivors and their good vs. evil battle against Randall Flagg, a demonic figure who wreaks havoc (the character also appears in various other King books).
King fans will likely be aware that this isn’t the first time The Stand has received the live-action treatment. In 1994, a 6-part TV mini-series was made starring Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe and Jamey Sheridan (amongst many others). Although well-received critically (it won two Emmys, for Makeup and Sound Mixing), I’m sure fans were expecting more from the rather toned-down version of the original story.
Hopefully WB and CBS respect the original source material and give The Stand the epic and detailed big screen adaptation that it truly deserves.
Source: Heat Vision
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