Wow.  Sometimes I hate the way films are tailored for the global marketplace (i.e. Transformers: Age of Extinction), and sometimes I'm okay with it.  Today is one of the days I'm okay with it. Writer/director Josh Boone (The Fault in our Stars) has announced that his adaptation of The Stand will now be four movies.  Why?  Because Warner Bros. wanted to have a product with enough set pieces to satisfy the international market without skimping on character.

While there's still no cast in place, this is incredibly exciting news for anyone in favor of bold, creative decisions.  This isn't a plug-and-play scenario like The Hobbit, it's a little bit risker than that.  But damn do I hope it pays off.  Hit the jump for more on The Stand turning into four movies.

Boone told Kevin Smith's Hollywood Babble-On Podcast (via Slashfilm) about his initial version of the script, which sounds great to begin with:

"I sold them on a single, three hour movie. I went and got [Stephen] King sold on it, everybody’s really excited…I told the story non-linear and that was the way I was able to compress that book and get everything into that script. You open with Mother Abigail dying and sending the guys off, and then you jump back in time… So what happened is the script gets finished, I write it in like five months, everybody loves it, King loves it, $87 million is what it was budgeted at, really expensive for a horror drama that doesn’t have set pieces."

But then, Warner Bros. extended an entirely unexpected offer:

"They came back and said “would you do it as multiple films?” and I said “fuck yes!” I loved my script, and I was willing to drop it in an instant because you’re able to do an even truer version that way. So I think we are going to do like four movies. I can’t tell you anything about how we’re going to do them, or what’s going to be in which movie. I’ll just say we are going to do four movies, and we’re going to do THE STAND at the highest level you can do it at, with a cast that’s going to blow people’s minds. We’ve already been talking to lots of people, and have people on board in certain roles that people don’t know about. We’re looking to go into production next year, maybe in the spring."

Sounds great.  Hit up any one of the above links for more.  As far as who might make up this mind blowing cast, fee free to place your bets below.

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Image via Amazon