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One of my favorite Stephen King adaptations to come out of Hollywood was THE STAND, as it was mostly faithful in its execution, featured a pretty solid cast, and didn’t skimp on the lengthy and complicated story. That said, it’s rather dated by today’s standards, and the fact it was a television adaptation meant there were inevitable constraints on budget and understandable restraint with some of the violence. Well, today news comes that Warner Bros. and CBS Films are joining forces to bring THE STAND to the big screen. HollywoodReporter broke the news that the companies will co-develop and co-produce a feature film version, with CBS having the option to participate in co-financing. WB will handle worldwide marketing and distribution, Mosaic and Roy Lee are producing the project. Both studios will start screening writers and potential directors in the next few weeks in an effort to find the right team to helm the adaptation. No word on whether they intend to make it as one film or multiple movies, though considering the length of King’s book, one would expect a multi-part project. It’s also said King will be involved in some capacity.

CBS has held the rights for many years but recently realized the best way to undertake the project was with a partner. Warners beat out Fox and Sony in a tight bidding war for the gig, getting its hands on one of the biggest-selling books of all time.

CBS, meanwhile, gets a chance to be involved in an ambitious big-budget tentpole with little downside. The company just released its fourth movie, The Mechanic, which performed better than expected this weekend with an opening of $11.4 million.

The Stand is a story of good vs. evil after a virus wipes out most of the American population. While it features dozens of characters (such as the Trashcan Man and Mother Abigail) and overlapping story lines running over many years, the struggle boils down to a group of survivors fighting the Antichrist-like Randall Flagg.

The novel was originally published in 1978, but by the time it was rereleased in 1990 with King adding and revising portions of the story, it had achieved cult-like status.

George Romero and Warners separately tried in vain to launch a movie adaptation in the 1980s, and a tone-downed version was produced as a six-hour miniseries by ABC in 1994. In recent years, Marvel Comics has been adapting the story to great acclaim.

There’s already been talk of adapting THE DARK TOWER, and if THE STAND gains momentum, we could be seeing a big screen comeback for Stephen King.  I loved THE MIST, but sadly it underperformed at the box office.  It may take a couple of big, epic productions to remind everyone why King is held in such high regard.  What are your thoughts?  Tell us in the comments.

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