Tony Earnshaw: King of horror no longer undisputed royalty at the box office

Three decades later I still come out in goose bumps thinking about the scene when a recently vampirised boy, his yellow eyes glinting malevolently, scratches at a window to prey on his own brother. That was in 1980. I’ve never forgotten it. And throughout my teens I was a voracious reader of King’s masterly horror fiction.

Strange, then, that as far as the cinema is concerned King seems to have gone out of fashion. Partly it’s to do with the production line nature of his output; partly it’s the fault of filmmakers who have failed to adequately adapt his work, trotting out one mediocre film after another.

Still, few could have predicted that studio giant Universal would get cold feet over what was widely predicted to be the biggest film series since The Lord of the Rings turned into a nine-hour epic: a trilogy of feature films and two television series taken from The Dark Tower, King’s seven-novel saga set in a futuristic Wild West and featuring a knightly hero named Roland Deschain.

Eyebrows have flown skywards due to the star wattage attached to the project. Ron Howard was to direct, new Bond villain Javier Bardem was cast as Deschain and 24-carat scriptwriter Akiva Goldsman penned the screenplay.

Yet Universal is already committed to two mega movies for 2012: Battleship (based on the board game), and 47 Ronin, the latter starring Keanu Reeves. That’s an estimated $400m right there. And with King no longer the flavour of the month, who can blame studio execs for getting a severe attack of freezing tootsies?

It seems all the majors are seeking the next big franchise. Everyone is looking for a fresh Harry Potter series to take them on into the 21st century.

At the moment Warner Bros looks to have 2012’s box office sewn up. Not content with Peter Jackson’s two-part The Hobbit it will also release The Dark Knight Rises, the third and final instalment in Christopher Nolan’s Batman series.

As audiences flock to fantasy flicks and superheroes – Captain America is released in the UK on July 29 – it should make sense for someone like Stephen King, the daddy of modern American horror fiction, to find a place in the marquee. Yet no-one is willing to step up to the plate.

Money is a big issue: how much is anyone willing to wager on three movies and two TV shows? It could be enough to bring down a company. And, cinematically speaking, King is past his sell-by date.

Oh for the days when everything King touched turned to gold. Back then it was much more simple.