After years of trying, including numerous directors, writers and producers attempting to take it on, for the past few months Warner Bros. has been determined to finally turn Stephen King’s The Stand into a cinema franchise.

Back in May is was revealed that the Harry Potter team of screenwriter Steve Kloves and director David Yates were taking on the challenge, but now it appears Yates is out, as Deadline reports Warner has settled on Ben Affleck as the person they want to direct the movie.

However, Deadline’s brief report doesn’t say how interested or committed Affleck is, so it’s a little early to say Ben will actually make the movie. It doesn’t mention either whether Steve Kloves is still involved or if Wanrer is still thinking of this as a trilogy rather than a single film.

Although impossible to boil down to a simple plot, The Stand’s over-arcing premise sees a plague known as Captain Trips wiping out pretty much everyone in the world. The survivors then begin sharing a dream of a strange, evil figure, and slowly come together to try and defeat the anti-Christ like Randall Flaggs. It’s basically good vs. evil told on a massive, apocalytic scale. It was turned into a miniseries in 1994, but despite being much loved by many, the huge plot and ensemble narrative have defeated numerous attempts to take it to the big screen.

The Stand will certainly be a challenge for Ben Affleck, who is just embarking on his third directorial feature with Argo. Both of his previous efforts, The Town and Gone Baby Gone, went onto gain much critical praise and support. If he does take onThe Stand, it isn’t known when it will start shooting.

General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser