Are you eagerly awaiting the big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower? Well, you’re going to have to wait a bit longer. Set to open February 17, the film will now hit theaters in the summer of 2017 according to EW.
That’s a bit of a bump, but not too heartbreaking for Tower fans who have been waiting for this movie seemingly forever. There have been false starts, mostly with director Ron Howard, on this long and winding road. This time around, Nikolaj Arcel is sitting in the director’s chair, and he’s really, honestly getting the thing made. But apparently Sony and MRC have decided that the movie needs more post-production time, hence the delay. That’s understandable; the world Stephen King created in his books is massive and would require lots of special effects and post-production work.
Fans of The Dark Tower are understandably semi-optimistic and semi-cynical. I don’t have to tell you that many King adaptations aren’t worth much. Any time a book of his heads to the silver screen, people get nervous. But this isn’t a regular King book — this is The Dark Tower, his magnum opus. If they screw this up, fans will never forgive them. So most fans are okay with this delay as long as it means the movie ends up being good.
The Dark Tower revolves around Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), the last gunslinger on a quest to find the mystical Dark Tower that pins the crumbling universe together. Roland is challenged by the evil Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) who will do anything to stop Deschain from reaching it. It’s not clear exactly which books in the series the film will cover, but Arcel has suggested it’ll really shake the story up. Will that be a good choice or a bad choice? As you can guess, fans are skeptical.
They’ll have to hold their breaths a bit longer. And if you’ve had your calendar circled for the film’s debut, you’re going to have to make an adjustment. Roland’s quest for the Tower will happen later in 2017.