It’s been slow going for the Ron Howard adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series: Back in July, Universal passed on Howard’s ambitious plan to plot out the project as a series of three movies and two interlocking television seasons. (Warner Bros. is considerably more bullish on a trilogy adaptation of King’s The Stand, but that one doesn’t have a TV element.) Since then, producer Brian Grazer tells MTV, he and Howard have managed to trim $45 million from the first movie’s budget while lining up HBO to broadcast the proposed mini-seasons. They still need to find a movie studio to make the thing, though — and at a time when Universal is licking its wounds from Cowboys & Aliens and Disney is fretful about its adaptation of The Lone Ranger, it ain’t easy to sell a giant franchise where your lead wears a cowboy hat. [Movies Blog/MTV]