Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: all the trailers and updates for the fantasy franchise – The Verge

The Dark Tower books move fluidly between genres, and the film is afraid of all of them

2017-08-08T11:42:27-04:00

In the spirit of fairness, nobody expected Stephen King to pop up in the Dark Tower movie.

He's certainly there in the original novels. King's psychopathically ambitious fantasy series, now condensed into a big-screen adaptation directed by Nikolaj Arcel, shows up in person to confront his characters in the series' final book. Heroes Roland Deschain and Jake Chambers (who previously died, but also kind of didn't, but now he's fine, so don't worry about it) travel to our world and save King from the real-life fatal van accident that nearly killed him in 1999. Their intervention ensures King can live on to write the Dark Tower novels, and the …

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The Dark Tower review: a film working against itself on every level

2017-08-03T03:30:42-04:00

For Stephen King fans at the turn of the millennium, the Dark Tower series was what George R.R. Martin's Song Of Ice And Fire is now: a gritty epic that stood as its author's most sweeping accomplishment, but looked like it might never be finished. King's genre-hopping series about a grim hero from a post-apocalyptic world, eternally battling his way across realities toward a mystical tower, launched in 1982 with The Gunslinger. But the sequels came at distressingly long intervals, and it frequently seemed as though King had shelved his magnum opus entirely. Fans waited more than 20 years for the complete story, which spanned thousands of pa …

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So, what’s the deal with The Dark Tower?

2017-05-03T12:25:22-04:00

The trailer for The Dark Tower dropped early this morning, giving us our first glimpse of the long-awaited adaptation of Stephen King's epic series. But this film isn't your typical adaptation, where the movie is largely based on the novel. This movie is actually a kind of sequel to the entire series, and there are bigger plans beyond just a film franchise for the story.

So, what's the deal with this project? And what can we expect when the movie hits in August?

So what is The Dark Tower series?

To understand the film, you need to know a little bit about the books that the film is associated with. Stephen King is easily one of the best-know …

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The first trailer for Stephen King’s The Dark Tower is here

2017-05-03T07:01:56-04:00

Stephen King's novel The Dark Tower has undergone a long and twisted path to become a movie. Now, just a few short months from release, there's a light at the end of the tunnel: the first official trailer was added as an unlisted video on Sony Picture's YouTube page two days ago. Now, it's trickling out.

This is our first official look at the film. Last October, an early trailer for the film leaked, and was quickly taken down. This trailer shows young Jake Chambers (Legends' Tom Taylor) explaining his visions of the Gunslinger (Idris Elba) and the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) to a child psychologist who tells him they're just dreams. …

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Leaked Dark Tower trailer briefly appears online

2016-10-10T13:32:05-04:00

These days, the word "leak" doesn't actually mean much in the entertainment industry. In the same way publicists label video releases as "our new viral video" long before anyone's taken an actual interest, they label deliberate releases of advance tracks or publicity info as "leaks" to make a scoop-hungry internet feel like they're getting something early and on the down-low. There's something transgressive and secretive about the idea of actually getting some piece of entertainment before the massive corporation planning the marketing of that entertainment intends for it to be in people's hands. And the massive corporations know that, and th …

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A Dark Tower TV series featuring Idris Elba is in the works

2016-09-21T14:19:48-04:00

Stephen King's The Dark Tower is already on the way for its February theatrical debut, but the people behind the film are also working on a companion TV series. Entertainment Weekly reports that, for King's 69th birthday, production company MRC and Sony Pictures have revealed that they're developing a spinoff series that will flesh out the film's mythology. A prequel, the show will explore the backstory of the gunslinger Roland Deschain, played by Idris Elba - Elba is even due to appear on the show in some capacity.

The TV series will follow a young Gunslinger

Sony and MRC are working on a full 10-13 episode run, with plans to start shooting …

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Stephen King confirms Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey will star in The Dark Tower

2016-03-01T10:09:32-05:00

Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey are officially heading up the forthcoming film adaptation of Stephen King's fantasy-horror series The Dark Tower. King confirmed the casting on Twitter this afternoon, putting a cap on months of speculation regarding the actors' involvement. Elba will play Roland Deschain, the gunslinger hunting for the titular tower, and McConaughey will play the "man in black," the mysterious sorcerer who finds himself pursued. The movie is still scheduled to be released on January 13th, 2017, and it's entering production now.

King and director / co-writer Nikolaj Arcel expanded on their plans to adapt King's magnum opus …

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Stephen King opus The Dark Tower is being turned into a movie series

2015-04-10T14:10:28-04:00

Stephen King's magnum opus, a fantasy-horror series known as The Dark Tower, is once again on the path toward being turned into a movie series. Deadline reports that Sony Pictures will finance and distribute the first movie in what is intended to be a larger franchise. There are eight books in the series, which is about a "gunslinger" in a magical, Western world who's trying to find a weakening tower that's keeping the world together. The first film will be based on the series' first book, The Gunslinger, and is being written by Akiva Goldsman, who previously co-wrote I Am Legend, and Jeff Pinkner, who recently co-write The Amazing Spider-Ma …

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