Stephen King's The Dark Tower may be the next major book series to get a serious multi-book adaptation, but it appears we may have to wait awhile before the first entry actually makes it to the screen. While this is unconfirmed, there is a report that The Dark Tower, which was scheduled for release in February, may be pushed off into the summer.
It's unusual for a film this close to release to get delayed, but it appears the film's tight schedule may have been the problem. According to Entertainment Weekly, The Dark Tower simply hasn't had enough time to finish post-production work since filming wrapped in July. We have reached out to the studio for confirmation but have yet to hear back.
The Dark Tower has been a film that spent several years in development hell. It may have been the on-going delays that inspired producer Ron Howard and director Nikolaj Arcel to try and put the film together fairly quickly. It's not uncommon for most special effects-heavy blockbusters to be given a full year or more of post-production time to create all their effects. The Dark Tower has tried to do it in seven months and it appears that just isn't long enough. The source speaking to EW says that the movie's budget is only about $60 million, peanuts for a movie of its size, but they've done a good job so far keeping within it and the movie had to choose to either spend a lot more money to get the work done on time, or delay the release. They've apparently decided on the latter.
It's not too surprising to hear this, considering that we haven't heard much coming from The Dark Tower at all in the last few months. We really should have seen a trailer by now if we were going to get a movie in four months. A rough cut of a trailer was leaked online last month which showed a lot of unfinished effects, which only supports this report that post-production delays are the issue.
Once the film has finished footage they can not only produce a trailer but other marketing materials that will help promote the film. The Dark Tower is slated to be a massive undertaking that will cover both film and television. The first movie may have a low budget, but a great deal is being invested in the franchise as a whole, so clearly it's important that it be properly promoted.
As upsetting as it would be for fans to have The Dark Tower delayed, certainly it's better to have a complete movie in July than it is to have a rushed job in February. At this point, fans have been waiting so long to see The Dark Tower on-screen that many will be surprised if the movie ever actually happens at all. Will we ever actually see The Dark Tower in theaters? There'll be water if God wills it.
