It what may come as sad news for fans of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower who were anxiously awaiting its translation from book series to feature films and TV series, it looks like Universal has decided to pull the plug. News came late yesterday that the studio decided to not move forward with the extremely ambitions adaptation of the series which would have started with a trilogy of films and two limited-run TV series.
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So now the filmmakers, which include star Javier Bardem, director Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman and Mark Verheiden, who was set to co-write the TV elements with Goldman, need to look for a new place to set up. It’s going to be a tall order finding a studio that’s willing to go on the hook for what would surely be a commitment of at least $500 Million (or more).

It’s not that hard to understand why Universal was reportedly more interested in doing one film to see what happens before moving forward with the rest. In this climate that’s a big bite for any studio to take and they were probably looking to minimize their risk. Makes sense.

In case you’re not familiar withThe Dark Tower series, it centers on the last living member of a knightly order of gunslingers named Roland Deschain who becomes humanity’s last hope to save civilization as he travels the land on a journey towards the Dark Tower. Along the way, he encounters all manner of characters, both good and bad, in a world that’s part Old West and part magical realm.

It’s quite an interesting series so let’s hope it finds a way to the big screen. In the meantime, Marvel is doing some excellent adaptations of the series which are plotted by Robin Furth and scripted by Peter David. Stephen King serves as Creative and Executive Director of the comics.

Writer, Producer Mark Verheiden is one of the nicest, most talented guys in the world. That’s why when we hear news concerning his accomplishments, we are happy to help spread the word.

This week it’s the announcement that Verheiden will co-write with Akiva Goldsman the NBC TV series The Dark Tower. The project, based on the best-selling series of novels by Stephen King, is being turned into a motion picture trilogy and TV series directed by Ron Howard.

Verheiden will also executive produce the The Dark Tower series, along with Goldsman, for Universal Media Studios. The series will serve as a bridge between the first and second movie in the trilogy. Also, actor Javier Bardem is reportedly negotiating to fill the main role of gunslinger Roland Deschain in both the films and the TV series.

Verheiden, of course, is no stranger to TV having worked on such series as Smallville, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica and the upcoming Falling Skies. He’s also written over 125 comic books including The American, Aliens, Predator, The Phantom and Superman as well as upcoming feature films Quatermain and Ark.

We wish him the best of luck with this new project and look forward to seeing the series once it arrives. With this kind of talent involved, we expect great things.

It’s official. NBC has canceled the struggling superhero drama Heroes after some internal debate about bringing it back for a shortened final season to wrap up the serialized show. In the end, given the show’s high cost, its consistently low ratings and the number of new hour dramas coming to the network next season, the decision was made to pull the plug.

However, according to reports, the network may bring the show back with a finale special or TV movie sometime next season. If so, that would be a nice gesture on the part of NBC. However, I wouldn’t hold my breath for it to happen.

The show simply went astray after the first season, characters and plotlines were introduced without resolution for existent ones. In short, the whole show just got more and more convoluted and in the end, nobody cared what happened. It really seemed the writers didn’t know what to do with the world they had created so they were just stalling for time.

Perhaps the show would have been better served by continuing the alternative timeline where Peter has a scarred face and the characters actually use their powers and fight each other? That was a more interesting story with plenty of conflict. Perhaps that was just too expensive to continue.

Another big problem with the show was that you had all these super powered beings and they never really did anything. Most of them never really used their powers very much and they never really wanted to. I don’t know about you but if I had super powers I would use them all the time and wouldn’t sit around and worry about being “normal.” Who wants to be normal anyway? Oh well, so long Heroes.

NBC’s Heroes has had quite a run. Some of it was great, some of it was met with some negative response, but the producers have tried to stay true since the first episode, and now that could all be coming to an end.

There hasn’t been much news from the NBC camp whether Hereos will get a fifth season, but you can imagine that many fans won’t be behind the idea. This season has brought in many elements familiar to comic fans, and even got comic veteran Mark Verheiden to write a few episodes, so there’s still hope for more super powered action in the future. But will it be enough?

This Monday marks the finale of the fourth season, and looks to be quite an ending and could probably even serve as a fitting series finale if necessary. From NBC:

In the climactic season finale, everyone bands together in an effort to stop Samuel (Robert Knepper) from taking the lives of thousands. Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) joins forces with his most unexpected ally to save Emma (guest star Deanne Bray). Meanwhile, H.R.G.’s (Jack Coleman) life hangs in the balance as he and Claire (Hayden Panettiere) find themselves trapped underground with oxygen quickly running out. Elsewhere, Hiro (Masi Oka) starts to come to grips with the decisions he has made and is called into action to help stop a disaster.

Check out four new clips from the season finale after the jump, and be sure to catch Heroes next Monday at 9/8C on NBC.

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Cult movie legend Bruce Campbell has been in and out of the limelight about a dozen times since his indie debut in Sam Raimi’s 1981 classic, Evil Dead. Since then, he’s been attached to most of Raimi’s other projects, from Spider-Man to Hercules and Xena. Back in 2007, Campbell decided to branch off a bit and spoof himself in the film My Name is Bruce.

The film was enough of a hit with fans that Bruce says they’re going back for a sequel.

In the film, Campbell plays an exaggerated version of himself, when a local town is tormented by an ancient demon, they figure to call the guy who’s fought them over and over again in movies. The movie carries some of Raimi’s horror/comedy formula, while pumping out some great moments. According to a recent e-mail to Ain’t It Cool News, Campbell is ready for a second go.

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Last week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt jumped into full Comic-Con preview mode to discuss all the great things at the Con like Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, the Tron reboot, Torchwood: Children of Earth, Iron Man 2 and how fun it is to say the word “Hufflepuff” while doing a British accent.

This time around, the boys are live at Comic-Con in San Diego and have a special guest on the show, writer/producer Mark Verheiden, who’s many credits include Smallville, Time Cop, Battlestar Galactica and Heroes. Among the topics covered are how Comic-Con has changed over the years, the status of Mark’s various other projects like Ark and Quatermaine, the end of Battlestar Galactica and what, exactly, Starbuck really was.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter and at Facebook, MySpace or via email. Thanks for listening.