The Dark Tower Release Date Delayed Again

The Dark Tower is the latest work from legendary author Stephen King to make its way into live action. But for fans of the western-fantasy series, the wait for the upcoming film adaptation will be a little bit longer.

Columbia Pictures has revealed that the release date for The Dark Tower has now been changed to August 4th, 2017. This provides a bit of a switch in the studio’s slate of films, causing The Emoji Movie to premiere a week early (on The Dark Tower’s initial projected release date of July 28th, 2017).

This isn’t the first time that the picture – which stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey – has been met with distribution woes. The film was first set to debut on February 17th, before being moved around to accomodate other projects Columbia’s distribution schedule.

It’s not entirely clear why this switch was made, and what effect it will have on The Dark Tower‘s box office performance. If anything, the new release date might actually help the film’s chances, as the July 28th release date placed the film against the action-thriller Atomic Blonde.

With a poster for the film recently being unveiled – and footage from the film screening just days ago at CinemaCon – here’s hoping this new release date is the last roadblock that The Dark Tower will go through before it is released.

The Dark Tower series tells the story of Roland Deschain, Mid-World’s last gunslinger, who is traveling southeast across Mid-World’s post-apocalyptic landscape, searching for the powerful but elusive magical edifice known as The Dark Tower. Located in the fey region of End-World, amid a sea of singing red roses, the Dark Tower is the nexus point of the time-space continuum.It is the heart of all worlds, but it is also under threat. Someone, or something, is using the evil technology of the Great Old Ones to destroy it.

The film stars Idris Elba (Pacific Rim, Thor: The Dark World) stars as Roland Deschain and Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club, Interstellar) as the Man in Black. The cast also includes Kathryn Winnick (Vikings), Fran Kranz (Cabin in the Woods), Abbey Lee Kershaw (Mad Max: Fury Road), Claudia Kim (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Tom Taylor (Legends), and Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen, Preacher).

The Dark Tower film is scheduled for release on July 28, 2017.

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