The Dark Tower

The calendar may have four seasons, but Hollywood’s calendar only really has two at this point: summer and awards, and summer seems to last longer and longer ever year. Though the start of May has long been the unofficial kickoff of the S.M.S., 2017 has already seen a King Kong movie, a ghost in a shell, and the fate of Fast & Furious franchise. The change from April to May is something of a formality in 2017. Once the Oscars are over, the summer begins.

While decades of film journalism has taught us to treat Hollywood insiders as the sole source of movie rumors, there are plenty of places to go for production updates if you know where to look. Movie studios are businesses, after all, and business have to do things like file for copyrights, pull permits, and, sometimes, submit films and trailers to government agencies for review. That’s how we are able to bring you today’s update on the long-anticipated trailer for Columbia Pictures’ The Dark Tower adaptation. It didn’t come from some studio executive sending text messages on the sly; it came from the Consumer Protection agency of British Columbia.

In yet another setback in the series of them that has dogged The Dark Tower since its inception (not unlike the quest of Roland Deschain himself), the movie has been pushed back one whole week from July 28 to August 4.

With Sony being uncharacteristically quiet when it comes to The Dark Tower movie, fans have learned to take any new marketing material with a grain of salt. So when a fantastic new poster for the film found its way online last night, people who would normally be ecstatic about a new look at the upcoming release hesitated. Was this an official release from Sony or another piece of fan art masquerading as the real thing?

The McConaissance is still upon us, and Matthew McConaughey is in high demand. He almost had a role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but instead opted for the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. With the Guardians sequel poised to rake in the billions, why take a chance on a franchise-starter that might not have the same box office heft? McConaughey explained that he chose it for just that reason, and because he didn’t want to join a franchise as an afterthought.

2016 is almost over! Hallelujah! With everything that’s happened in the last 12 months, we can’t wait to rip the last page of our 2016 Spider-Man wall calendar and hang up our 2017 Spider-Man wall calendar.

Whatever holiday you celebrate in December, it comes with a lot of pressure. If you get that special someone the wrong gift, watch out. Things can get pretty ugly. That’s particularly true for pop-culture fans. They know what they want, and they probably have most of it already. Perhaps you know someone like this. Perhaps you are someone like this. (Perhaps I am someone like this.)

The tower is always darkest before its release date.

Fans of The Dark Tower have been speculating for a while about how the movie adaptation could be reshuffling the story around a little bit. Characters were cast that don't appear in the seven-book-long series until much later than the first installment, which hinted at some possible plot reconfiguration. A promo image of the Horn of Eld posted by Stephen King himself on his Twitter also suggested that this version of The Dark Tower might not take the same path as the one we’re familiar with. Later, for EW’s coverage of the film, director Nikolaj Arcel talked about taking the story in a slightly different direction from the books, utilizing plot elements but moving them around a bit to make the story more movie-friendly.

Ready for even more new photos and details from The Dark Tower? Good, because we have plenty. In addition to yesterday’s sneak peeks and exciting intel on the long-awaited adaptation, we have a handful of new photos featuring Idris Elba’s Gunslinger and his young companion Jake Chambers, played by newcomer Tom Taylor. The pics also give us a good look at Mid-World, the world beyond our own where the titular tower stands and an epic journey awaits.