Universal Pictures is cutting loose the epic multi-platform project The Dark Tower, which was slated for release on May 17, 2013, although that seems unlikely now.

Back in May, there was a report that Universal was considering putting The Dark Tower in turnaround, since the budget had grown too big. A week later, it was reported that Universal pushed production back from a summer 2011 start to February 2012, with hopes to try and bring the budget down. Now it seems that the studio would only commit to the first movie, and not the TV series, which the filmmakers could not agree to. Back in April, Falling Skies writer-producer Mark Verheiden was hired to executive produce and write the TV portion of this sprawling endeavor.

Ron Howard will direct The Dark Tower from a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, which is adapted from Stephen King's seven-book novel series. The story centers around Roland Deschain, the last in a nomadic line of gunslingers who sets off on a quest to find The Dark Tower in a last-ditch effort to save humanity.

The Dark Tower producers now face the arduous task of finding another financial backer for a series which spans three movies and two TV seasons.