Well here’s a chunk of news guaranteed to baffle and unsettle all at once.  Apparently, J.J. Abrams was working on converting the Stephen King novel series The Dark Tower into a series of films, when suddenly he realized that this was going to be a VASTLY bigger job than he’d realized and pushed the whole thing aside.

This means at the very least there will be a delay, because it’s as yet unclear whether Abrams is just taking a break, is killing the whole thing off, or handing off to another director / writer / team of same.

In all honesty, this is a deeply disturbing sign.  While it’s good to see that Abrams understands his limitations, this means probably nothing but trouble for King fans who wanted to see the Dark Tower movie make the same nigh-miraculous comeback as the book line did.

But with Abrams either temporarily abdicated or out of action for good, the progress of the Dark Tower movie is likely halted with him.