Stephen King's Epic "The Dark Tower" - Part 2

[Spider-Aziz]

While waiting outside of the showroom for my time seeing Dunkirk I saw the poster for this, the name Akiva Goldsman was all it took for me to expect seeing people disappointed by this film, his resume has A Beautiful Mind, and lots of movies that disappointed people.

 

[FunkMiller]

Woo hoo!!

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Jordan's performance in Fantastic Four was nothing special or to write home about.

That's probably why his compliment is not more than watchable.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

There was like one watchable thing in the Fantastic Four. Doom in the hallway.

 

[TheVileOne]

That's probably why his compliment is not more than watchable.

I didn't even find his performance especially watchable. A lot of dumb dialogue and stilted acting.

 

[Eddie Dean]

Because this is Roland

Now it's not so much that they cast a black actor as a white character (although, Roland is a white guy), but that they cast a fairly young, handsome actor, who looks like he stepped out of a GQ photo shoot, as a character referred to as "Old long tall and ugly". And consider the other actors who were being considered for the role, Javier Bardem and Russell Crowe, both equally as wrong for the part as Elba, and it becomes clear that they weren't interested in casting the best actor. The produces have said they asked themselves what actor was the biggest badass at the moment, and they landed on Elba. Thinking of Roland as a "badass" just seems so wrongheaded. Which is probably why the movie has a shot of Elba jumping from a balcony, and shooting while falling. 'Cause that's what a "badass" would do. But does that sound like something Roland would do?

I think this quote is also pretty telling, from Stephen King:



That's the type of thinking behind this movie.

I think the "Old long tall and ugly" thing with Roland is a bit of a fallacy. He's pretty clearly supposed to be Eastwood, he's always had matinee idol looks.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Yeah, I never though Roland needed to be unattractive. He just needs to be well worn. Not look like he just came out of a box.

 

[Flint Marko]

We all should have known. This was just like the Fantastic Four, just like all the movies that people just can't help but endorse here, but shows little to nothing in common with the source material. The material that made it desirable to adapt in the first place.

Fingers crossed he'll give the kiss of death to Venom and the other Sony spin-offs.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Do you think Rothman survives this? I remember back when he came on board, The Dark Tower was supposedly a priority for him and he wanted to turn it into a tentpole franchise for Sony. Or maybe it was just something he wanted to rush out the door before they lost the rights. I don't remember. Anyway, f*** him and f*** Sony.

Yet somehow even if he gets fired, he'll probably land a cushy job somewhere else because rich a**holes who suck at their jobs always fail upward.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Do you think Rothman survives this? I remember back when he came on board, The Dark Tower was supposedly a priority for him and he wanted to turn it into a tentpole franchise for Sony. Or maybe it was just something he wanted to rush out the door before they lost the rights. I don't remember. Anyway, f*** him and f*** Sony.

Yet somehow even if he gets fired, he'll probably land a cushy job somewhere else because rich a**holes who suck at their jobs always fail upward.

It still shocks me Rothman got another job after Fox, but of course, Sony had to step up. The guy is the ultimate hack.

 

[TheVileOne]

Rothman's a survivor. He will make it through this, since he can still technically hang his hat on Spider-Man homecoming.

Keep in mind guys. We aren't talking about a $250 million John Carter or The Lone Ranger disaster here. The Dark Tower's risk was minimal. It only cost $60 million. Most studio tentpoles as of late are at least double or triple that amount. Also, it was co-produced by MRC.

The fact of the matter is this. While the film franchise is likely a dud, they aren't going to lose a lot of money on this. And they are arguably not going to lose a lot of money because of Tom Rothman. He was hired to help keep costs down.

Like everyone tried to ascribe Passengers as a failure for Rothman, and it didn't do great business. But it still ended up doing over $300 million worldwide and hit the $100 million mark domestically for a film that's NOT a franchise film. So Passengers arguably ended up doing OK for Sony.

Also just so everyone is clear. I'm not a fan of Rothman by any means. I'm just trying to look at this logically and why Rothman's probably not leaving anytime soon. Especially when Rothman has the full support of the Sony brass and Kaz Hirai.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Rothman's a survivor. He will make it through this, since he can still technically hang his hat on Spider-Man homecoming.

I have no doubt Rothman will make it through this.

 

[TheVileOne]

I have no doubt Rothman will make it through this.

Also Baby Driver technically a Sony release as well.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Also Baby Driver technically a Sony release as well.

Quite obvious Wright had plenty of freedom on that one though

 

[Spider-Aziz]

That guy is not good at box office earnings, he should take a few notes from Roland Emmerich since he's bent on making bad movies.

 

[TheVileOne]

I have no doubt Rothman will make it through this.

I agree and that's because he's a cost-cutter and a micro-manager at a time when that's exactly what Sony wants. Maybe not what they need, but that's what they want at this time. Inferno was a disaster, but the movie was made and released for half the budget of Angels and Demons.

Rothman was probably put in charge to keep costs down as much as possible.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I think what we should wonder is if Sony Pictures will still be a thing in 3 years.

 

[The Infernal]

Fingers crossed he'll give the kiss of death to Venom and the other Sony spin-offs.

We can only hope. Can't see any way that Venom won't be divorced from the source material under Sony's plans.

 

[Man in the Suit]

So that TV show that won't happen or be talked about after this weekend...

The Dark Tower series is independent from the film and will take place many years before the events depicted in the film, Deadline has learned. Based largely on Wizard and Glass, the fourth book in the series, and flashbacks from The Gunslinger (book 1) the series will focus on Roland Deschain’s origin story – how he first became a gunslinger and got his guns, his first conflict with the man in black, his first love and his first mission as a gunslinger.

http://deadline.com/2017/08/the-dar...king-dead-glen-mazzara-showrunner-1202141481/

 

[TheVileOne]

Are they really going to keep Elba for the TV show or start over from scratch?

 

[Mysteryman]

Woo hoo!!

All that means is that if the movie bombs that we won't see ANY Dark Tower adaptations in the future.
That include adaptations that could have been much better than this film.

 

[childeroland]

Jordan's performance in Fantastic Four was nothing special or to write home about.

I agree. But he was still often pointed out as one of the better things about that movie, compared to all the things that went wrong.

 

[Mysteryman]

Rothman's a survivor. He will make it through this, since he can still technically hang his hat on Spider-Man homecoming.

Keep in mind guys. We aren't talking about a $250 million John Carter or The Lone Ranger disaster here. The Dark Tower's risk was minimal. It only cost $60 million. Most studio tentpoles as of late are at least double or triple that amount. Also, it was co-produced by MRC.

The fact of the matter is this. While the film franchise is likely a dud, they aren't going to lose a lot of money on this. And they are arguably not going to lose a lot of money because of Tom Rothman. He was hired to help keep costs down.

Like everyone tried to ascribe Passengers as a failure for Rothman, and it didn't do great business. But it still ended up doing over $300 million worldwide and hit the $100 million mark domestically for a film that's NOT a franchise film. So Passengers arguably ended up doing OK for Sony.

Also just so everyone is clear. I'm not a fan of Rothman by any means. I'm just trying to look at this logically and why Rothman's probably not leaving anytime soon. Especially when Rothman has the full support of the Sony brass and Kaz Hirai.

I had no idea Passengers did that well.
I liked the film.

 

[Marvolo]

Do you think Rothman survives this? I remember back when he came on board, The Dark Tower was supposedly a priority for him and he wanted to turn it into a tentpole franchise for Sony. Or maybe it was just something he wanted to rush out the door before they lost the rights. I don't remember. Anyway, f*** him and f*** Sony.

Yet somehow even if he gets fired, he'll probably land a cushy job somewhere else because rich a**holes who suck at their jobs always fail upward.

Rothman is like a cockroach. Its going to take more than nuclear fire to kill his career.

 

[Gabe99]

'Dark Tower' Director Never Thought the Movie Would Get Made
Nikolaj Arcel is finally bringing the "completely unadaptable" Stephen King series of novels to the big screen.

There may be no Dark Tower fan more invested in seeing its story on the big screen than director Nikolaj Arcel. Over the years, he's followed all the twists and turns of its decade-long journey that saw filmmakers and studios come and go.

"I always felt like it's not going to happen. No one's ever going to adapt it, because it's completely unadaptable. It's a crazy, sprawling, genre-hopping saga," says Arcel.

In the end, he credits a streamlined take from screenwriter Akiva Goldsman that made him see how the movie could be done. Rather than attempting to digest the massive multiverse Stephen King created through eight novels, the film tells a (relatively) simple story, largely drawn from the first novel, The Gunslinger, that pits Roland (Idris Elba) and Jake (Tom Taylor) against the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey).

"It's borrowing some stuff from some of the other novels, but it's definitely just the beginning of a longer journey, of a longer saga," says Arcel of the film, which studio Sony hopes will spawn sequels and already has plans for a TV series.

The $60 million film is actually a sequel to King's novels (if you've read the books, you know why), and in a conversation with Heat Vision, Arcel weighs in on the future of the franchise and why King is the only one who can dictate how the movie saga will end.

THE WALKING DEAD’s Glen Mazzara Will Showrun The DARK TOWER TV Series
In which that TV show that's definitely still happening gets a showrunner.

As you've almost certainly heard by now, the news regarding Sony's The Dark Tower adaptation is not good. After over a year's worth of production woes and what's turning out to be a fairly venomous response from critics (the film's currently sitting at an oof-inducing 21% on Rotten Tomatoes), things are not looking good for Sony's would-be franchise. So much so, in fact, that it wouldn't seem crazy to think that the studio's long-in-development Dark Tower TV series is all but guaranteed to be quietly dropped and never spoken of again.

And yet...

"As the long-awaited feature film take on The Dark Tower is poised to open at the box office, the potential TV series is taking a big step forward.

Glen Mazzara (The Walking Dead) has been tapped to serve as showrunner on the TV adaptation of the ambitious Stephen King series. The TV take, envisioned as a straight-to-series project, is currently in its early stages and tapping a showrunner is the key first step."

That's The Hollywood Reporter insisting that, not only is the Dark Tower TV series not dead, but that it's also hired The Walking Dead's Glen Mazzara to be the series' showrunner. This is the same Dark Tower series which will allegedly be based on Wizard And Glass, and serve as a prequel to the film franchise. THR goes on to say that no network is yet attached to the production, but that cable networks and streaming services are being eyed for the job.

Will the Dark Tower TV show actually happen? It's honestly difficult to imagine, but I suppose it's not entirely outside the realm of possibility. Of course, this is what should've been done with the property in the first place (something I took pains to mention in my review of the film), and with that being the case one can't help but feel a faint glimmer of hope that someone might actually do it right this time. But given how poisonous the reaction to the film's been, this writer finds it difficult to imagine the studio shelling out the money for 10-13 more hours' worth of Dark Tower content at this time.