Dark Tower movie deal being negotiated

OMG!!! It looks like they are making a movie based on Stephen King's Dark Tower series! There has been rumours, but now there are names! I have to admit that I only read The Gunslinger so far. This is because my friend Sami owns them, and I moved to Sydney and couldn't borrow the rest. They are on my "Will Buy It One Day" list, and I guess that day will be soon... I hope they have the same awesome covers at Galaxy that she has. I remember how much I loved The Gunslinger, and also The Talisman (which is obscurely connected to The Dark Tower series), so I think I will definitely be interested about seeing the movie. Of those books in or related to The Dark Tower series, I've only read The Gunslinger and The Talisman. I guess I need to get my act together and buy the rest. Here is the article I was reading:

Source: Cinema Blend.com

It’s been rumored for years and now it’s finally happening. Deadline say Stephen King’s masterful fantasy series “The Dark Tower” is headed for theaters. As part of a deal being worked on at Universal (but not yet completed) the seven books which comprise the Dark Tower story will be condensed into three movies, in a script written by Akiva Goldsman and to be directed by Ron Howard.

The deal is also said to include a package which will result in a Dark Tower TV series, though how they’d pull that off in addition to the movies is a complete mystery. Will the three films cover only three of the books, leaving the TV series to cover the rest? Or will they combine all seven books into three films and then create a TV series which picks up where the final "Dark Tower" book leaves off? We won't know until the deal is finalized and Howard starts talking. King is reportedly working on an eigth novel which tackles a different storyline from "The Dark Tower", that could be possible fodder for the TV series as well.

What’s clear here is that, however they split it up, done properly The Dark Tower could be the next Lord of the Rings. King’s books follow a wandering Gunslinger named Roland, the last of his kind, as he wanders across dimensions and other worlds on an endless quest to find the Dark Tower, a fabled building said to be a nexus between worlds. The stories are massively epic in scope and cross over all sorts of different genres. It’s more than just fantasy, it’s science fiction, it’s horror, it’s gut-wrenching drama, and it’s part old-school shoot-em-up Western. The character of Roland is in theory more of a wandering knight than a cowboy, but in appearance and disposition, it’s as if Clint Eastwood wandered off the set of one his classic Wild West tales and into a Stephen King novel. This could be huge.

I say could be, because there’s one problem. His name is Ron Howard. Ron is a fine choice if you’re looking for sappy, schmaltzy Oscar-bait but it’s hard to imagine him tackling the darker, more horrific elements of The Dark Tower with any success. Earlier in his career I might have had more faith in his ability to do this. The guy who made Backdraft and Apollo 13 seemed like he might have something tense and edgy somewhere inside him. But I’m not sure I believe the director of Cinderella Man and A Beautiful Mind is capable of anything like this. I hope I’m wrong because done right, The Dark Tower could be brilliant; an epic, unforgettable Oscar winner.

At one point JJ Abrams was supposed to be developing The Dark Tower into a feature film but back in November that fell through. Now it’s about to end up in the hands of Ron Howard. We’ll let you know as soon as this is confirmed as a done deal.

What do you think? Is this something you would want to see, or are you worried they will screw up story lines, characters and all the other things we bibliophiles worry about when our beloveds are converted into a different medium?