Stephen King’s The Dark Tower may be the next big book series to get a serious adaptation, but it seems we will have to wait a while longer before the first book makes it to the big screen.
Stephen King has been in the news lately. The first trailer for the new movie based on his IT franchise about a killer clown was released recently. And now, more news of his novels that are about to hit the screen – the movie based on his Dark Tower series has been delayed once more. But, we have some good news too.
The Dark Tower series encompasses eight novels, published between 1982 and 2012. These books got the attention of audiences all over the world, thanks to their interesting blend of western themes with horror, science fiction, and fantasy.
The delay is not terrible. We will have to wait just a week longer for this picture. The film will arrive on 4th of August, 2017. It was already delayed once before this, and it was from February 17th to July 28th.
Why these delays?
Well, at the time of the first delay, the studio stated that the production needed more time to work on the visual effects, and also, that they needed more time in order to promote the film properly before its release.
This was not a surprise to hear, since we really haven’t heard or seen much from The Dark Tower at all in the past months. If there is going to be a movie in a few months, it is really about time to give us at least a trailer. A rough cut of a trailer was leaked online some time ago, and what we saw there, were a bunch of unfinished effects – so, their story was true, they really did need more time.
Also, there is the small matter of the film’s even smaller budget of only $60 million. Any attempt to rush VFX would have ended up costing Sony millions more. Now, this is a small budget for the first movie, but The Dark Tower is planned to be a massive franchise, and a great deal is being invested in it.
“It’s a very fiscally responsible budget, and trying to stay in budget to make money and stay profitable means the VFX won’t be finished in time [for February],” one source told EW. “Now that there’s more time, they’re not paying rush charges to get the effects where they need to be.”
With a plan to build a film franchise, plus a TV series to produce, you can’t really blame Sony for wanting to get things right and not just rush them. Special care has to be given to the source material – if they do not give it the adaptation it deserves, the film will most certainly be a flop.
A Sony representative said that they will not move the Dark Tower date again. They also said that this latest move was in order to give The Emoji Movie, aimed at children, more time in theaters before school starts again.
What do we know about the movie?
Well, for one, Dark Tower is nearly impossible to adapt for the big screen, which is why this Nikolaj Arcel’s movie will be a sequel of sorts.
The official synopsis is not really telling us much “Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), the last Gunslinger, is locked in an eternal battle with Walter O’Dim (Matthew McConaughey), also known as the Man in Black. The Gunslinger must prevent the Man in Black from toppling the Dark Tower, the key that holds the universe together. With the fate of worlds at stake, two men collide in the ultimate battle between good and evil.”
The first trailer premiered at CinemaCon 2017, which means that Sony will at last drop some footage onto the internet. io9 was at the CinemaCon and described four minutes of footage which were heavy on Jake, Roland and the Man in Black – the three main characters of the film. From this site’s report, we can see that this movie will definitely be different from the books, while the trailer teases several original scenes not found in the Stephen King novels alongside some altered events. From what we gather from those who have already seen the trailer, this will be a new take on King’s story, more like an alternate dimension.
Some fans may be upset by the changes they will see, but we think the film will be intriguing, mythical and epic! We just hope that there will be no more delays!