Universal’s Locke & Key movie is in limbo because of FOX’s failed series pilot

Joe Hill is all over the place these days. News broke recently regarding his involvement with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman to reboot TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE over at The CW. That series will now be titled DARKSIDE and will take a much different spin on the classic anthology series. However, that is not the only collaboration for Hill with the super-producers. The trio is also developing a potential trilogy of movies based on Hill’s comic series LOCKE & KEY.

LOCKE & KEY is a unique horror series Hill wrote with art from Gabriel Hernandez. Universal nabbed the rights for a feature film based on the comic.

Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them, and home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all.

But, there are some complications to the LOCKE & KEY movie. Specifically, they cannot get it made until some deals are made with FOX. What does FOX have to do with it? Well, the network made a very highly anticipated pilot for a television series based on the comic that never saw the light of day. The 2012 pilot was shown at Comic Con and other places and yet did not build enough buzz to warrant a full show. Hill explained to MTV how this is causing issues now.

“[Universal] wants to avoid spending $25 million on a movie, and then have FOX steal their thunder by releasing a three-year-old pilot [but] FOX wants to see some coin on all the money they sank into the pilot in the first place.” Additionally, he joked, “the lawyers all have to validate their salaries.”

Hill says he is confident that Orci and Kurtzman will find a way to make it happen and I hope he is right. The story of LOCKE & KEY is too good to not make it to theaters. While the trailer for the show is available online and looks damn good itself, I hope an agreement can be made so everyone is happy.