The Dark Tower Footage From CinemaCon Contained A Clever Nod To The Shining

With the new It trailer wowing viewers around the world, the creepy clown is currently Stephen King‘s most talked about creation. However, many tend to forget that the iconic author has another classic property coming to the big screen this year.

The Dark Tower stars Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba, and it’s set to hit theaters in July. The project has been kept under lock and key throughout production, until audiences were shown some of the footage at CinemaCon this week.

During this footage, some audience members noticed that the film nodded to one of King’s other popular properties.

In one of the scenes that screened for audiences, the young Jake is talking with a psychiatrist. If you looked closely, on the wall of the doctor’s office, you could notice a framed photo of a very familiar looking hotel.

As you probably guessed, the photo is was depicting the Overlook Hotel from The Shining. It’s easy to see the resemblance between the photo and the classic fictional resort, although it is never addressed.

However, Sony’s distribution chief Roy Bruer noted – before the footage screened – that The Dark Tower contained nods to plenty of King’s most famous works. He specifically mentioned It and Salem’s Lot as a part of that group.

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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