THE DARK TOWER Release Pushed Back to Summer 2017
The gunslinger’s journey to
The Dark Tower has hit a detour. A film version of Stephen King’s apocalyptic saga was originally set for release on Feb. 17, but now will shift to the summer of 2017, sources close to the film tell EW.
The movie stars Idris Elba as Roland the Gunslinger and Matthew McConaughey as a sorcerer known as the Man in Black, both of whom are on a quest to reach the mystical tower that stands at the nexus of countless dimensions.
Principal photography for the Nikolaj Arcel-directed film wrapped on schedule in late July, but the plan to have a completed film ready to screen six months later proved to be overly ambitious. Now, Sony Pictures and production company MRC have decided post-production can’t be finished in that timeframe and are about to inform theater owners of the change.
Sources close to the movie tell EW it’s a matter of needing deadline extensions on the visual effects, as well as more lead-up to promote the film.
A trailer leak last month featured mostly rough visual effects, and the filmmakers have discovered that the aggressive February timeline isn’t enough time to get the sci-fi/fantasy epic into shape, given its financial constraints. The film has a surprisingly low cost of about $60 million, and the choice was either to add millions more to the budget to speed up the work, or push to a later date.
“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 tells EW, on condition of anonymity. “Now that there’s more time, they’re not paying rush charges to get the effects where they need to be.”
This also will allow more time to publicize the movie, which hopes to become a multi-film franchise, with a spin-off TV show already in the works.
Only four months from release, there’s still no trailer. And the film recently dropped out of EW’s PopFest a week before the fan gathering, with the studio indicating the footage set to be previewed wasn’t ready. Ever since, fans have been speculating that the movie might be wavering on its February target.
A new release date wasn’t available, the sources said, because a new weekend hasn’t been selected yet. A formal announcement is expected as soon as that’s settled.
The Dark Tower Film is Being Postponed, Will Shift from February to Summer 2017