The Dark Tower is set to hit theatres this August, though you’d be forgiven for not knowing it. We’re now at the end of April and have yet to see a trailer. In fact, only a few photos and a poster have hit the web thus far, and with the release date quickly approaching, fans are beginning to get worried, and understandably so. For a big tentpole like this, you’d imagine that the studio would already be well into the marketing blitz, but here we are and there’s still next to nothing being released.
The film has already been delayed several times, and with the lack of promotion, the picture that’s being painted certainly isn’t the most encouraging one. The other thing that the silence on the studio’s part is causing confusion about is just what exactly’s going on with the planned TV series. We haven’t heard a peep about it for some time now, but the original idea was that it’d focus on the fourth novel in King’s series, and both Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey would feature.
Speaking to TV Guide, Ron Howard has now offered up a brief, and not wholly assuring update about the project. When asked what the latest on it was, here’s what he had to say:
“Dark Tower is coming out this summer. It’s a terrific movie directed by Nikolaj Arcel. And we are working on the television component. That’s not a commitment on the television side, but creatively, it could work very well, hand in hand with what we’d like the movies to be.”
Right now, we imagine everyone’s just waiting to see how the film does before they push ahead with the TV series. While the studio might have been gung-ho on the idea at first, something’s obviously changed – hence the lack of promotion for the flick. Hopefully this ends up going ahead though, as The Dark Tower is a story that’s well suited for both mediums and we’d love to see something on television to compliment the feature film.
That being said, things aren’t looking too positive right now. Sony doesn’t have much time left to get the blockbuster in front of audiences, and though there already is an existing fanbase, this is certainly not a property with major mainstream appeal like something from say Marvel or DC. As such, the studio has their work cut out for them if they hope to get people invested in The Dark Tower before it hits theatres.
Still, we won’t write it off just yet and as a story with huge potential to be turned into a truly dazzling film, we hope that everything ends up working out in the end.
