With the "Harry Potter" franchise now officially in the history books, Warner Bros. is apparently looking to turn director David Yates and screenwriter Steve Kloves lose on another adaptation, Stephen King's "The Stand."
Drew McWeeny over at HitFix is reporting the studio is finalizing deals for Yates and Kloves to re-team on a multi-film adaptation of the best-selling novel.
First published in 1978, "The Stand" is one of King's most well known and celebrated novels, documenting the downfall of humanity following a deadly virus kills almost everyone. Those who survive find themselves drawn into two camps as part of a final battle between good and evil.
The novel was adapted into a 1994 television mini-series on ABC with a star-studded cast including Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwall, Rob Lowe, Ray Walston and Ruby Dee. Written by King himself, the six-hour mini-series is one of the more successful television adaptation of his works.
Should the current project move forward, the main questions will be whether or not they will go for an R rating and how many films it will be.
On the first question, studios tend to shy away from R ratings when it comes to anything but action and comedy. The mini-series proved the material can survive a bit of censoring. On the other hand, "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile" were both R. My bet would be they will try to stick to PG-13.
As for the number of potential movies, the novel is already broken into three parts: Captain Trips, On the Border and The Stand. With "Harry Potter" finished, Warner Bros. may be willing to take a gamble on creating another profitable franchise. Additionally, three movies of around two hours or more would bring it right in line with the length of the mini-series, which was able to encapsulate most of the story.
Which brings us to the men who helped make Warner Bros. so much money with The Boy Who Lived. Yates came on board with the fifth film, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," released in 2007, and stayed with the franchise until its end, directing "Half-Blood Prince" and both parts of "Deathly Hallows." Yates proved in these films he could not only handle their wide scope, he could also master the quieter moments and bring out the best in his actors.
Kloves, meanwhile, wrote the screenplay for every "Harry Potter" film with the exception of "Order of the Phoenix." Although fans of the novels often lay many of the most hated changes and omissions at his feet--myself included--he also deserves credit for steering the franchise through unpresedented success and keeping the films as true to the source as they could.
For now, this one goes into the "I'll believe it when I see it" drawer, but it is definitely intriguing.
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| The mini-series was released in 1994. |
First published in 1978, "The Stand" is one of King's most well known and celebrated novels, documenting the downfall of humanity following a deadly virus kills almost everyone. Those who survive find themselves drawn into two camps as part of a final battle between good and evil.
The novel was adapted into a 1994 television mini-series on ABC with a star-studded cast including Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwall, Rob Lowe, Ray Walston and Ruby Dee. Written by King himself, the six-hour mini-series is one of the more successful television adaptation of his works.
Should the current project move forward, the main questions will be whether or not they will go for an R rating and how many films it will be.
On the first question, studios tend to shy away from R ratings when it comes to anything but action and comedy. The mini-series proved the material can survive a bit of censoring. On the other hand, "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile" were both R. My bet would be they will try to stick to PG-13.
As for the number of potential movies, the novel is already broken into three parts: Captain Trips, On the Border and The Stand. With "Harry Potter" finished, Warner Bros. may be willing to take a gamble on creating another profitable franchise. Additionally, three movies of around two hours or more would bring it right in line with the length of the mini-series, which was able to encapsulate most of the story.
Which brings us to the men who helped make Warner Bros. so much money with The Boy Who Lived. Yates came on board with the fifth film, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," released in 2007, and stayed with the franchise until its end, directing "Half-Blood Prince" and both parts of "Deathly Hallows." Yates proved in these films he could not only handle their wide scope, he could also master the quieter moments and bring out the best in his actors.
Kloves, meanwhile, wrote the screenplay for every "Harry Potter" film with the exception of "Order of the Phoenix." Although fans of the novels often lay many of the most hated changes and omissions at his feet--myself included--he also deserves credit for steering the franchise through unpresedented success and keeping the films as true to the source as they could.
For now, this one goes into the "I'll believe it when I see it" drawer, but it is definitely intriguing.
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