Every so often, "The Dark Tower" series rises as a potential TV or movie project, then falls again. But this time it might actually work. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony and MRC are teaming up to produce and co-finance an adaptation of Stephen King's epic series in what's hoped to be a franchise that combines both a movie series and a complementary TV series. Boom!

Akiva Goldsman, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Erica Huggins are producing, and a new script, written by Goldsman and Jeff Pinkler, adapts the first book, "The Gunslinger."

There are eight novels in "The Dark Tower" series, which follows the story of Roland Deschain, "Mid-World's last gunslinger, who is traveling southeast across Mid-World's post-apocalyptic landscape, searching for the powerful but elusive magical edifice known as The Dark Tower." As King's own site describes it, "Inspired in equal parts by Robert Browning's poem, 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,' J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and Sergio Leone's spaghetti Western classics, The Dark Tower series is an epic of Arthurian proportions. It is Stephen King's magnum opus, and is the center of his amazing creative universe."

Sony Chairman Tom Rothman said he's a giant fan of King's series, noting that Sony and King love the direction the new script has taken. He added, "This is a great opportunity for a director to put his or her stamp on a cool global franchise."

So at this point, they need a director to kick things off. Any suggestions?