Sony is currently in the market for their next big franchise. There is reason to believe Spider-Man: Homecoming should deliver that, but the studio may have bigger plans with Venom and Silver Sable & Black Cat movies also being discussed. Outside of superheroes however, Sony is hoping that a beloved Stephen King series will help them as well. The Dark Tower was originally scheduled to hit theaters early this year, and with stars like Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba attached, and the use of King's source material, the movie was positioned to be a potential early hit in 2017.
However, as a lack of marketing continued, Sony eventually made the unsurprising announcement that the movie had been pushed back from its original February date and would not hit theaters on July 28th. Since that point however, the marketing campaign has still yet to really begin, and Sony has once again delayed the film.
EW is reporting that Sony has moved The Dark Tower back one week and will now come out on August 4th of this year. The move comes shortly after the release of the first poster that had the previous date, and following the first footage being shown at CinemaCon that was generally well received. The question now remains whether or not this will in fact be the film's final destination, or if another delay could occur.
The delay should ultimately not be too surprising, but is certainly disheartening to those that have been anxiously awaiting to see something from the movie. EW's report states that a trailer is "imminent," but previous statements were made near the end of 2016 and there is still nothing to be seen for the public.
The move now clears the way for Sony to avoid competition with the Charlize Theron action film Atomic Blonde and Edgar Wright's Baby Driver, but the studio could end up hurting itself either way. With this move, Sony has decided to move The Emoji Movie up one week to take The Dark Tower's previous spot. While reactions to the movie have not been great thus far, a family friendly animated movie that plays directly into the current trends in social media could provide The Emoji Movie with an audience - and one that could overtake The Dark Tower the following week.
It would be quite surprising for Sony to have a movie release in two consecutive weeks, which is why the prospects of The Dark Tower moving once again may be high. August is typically a slow month for movies anyway, with Annabelle: Creation the biggest film set to debut that month. If Sony wants to give The Dark Tower the best chance to succeed, clearing it from competing "bigger" films is the best way to do that, so this may not be the last release date change the project experiences.
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Source: EW
