Idris Elba has rapidly risen to the top ranks of actors in Hollywood. Despite being British, he has mastered the Western accent, which expands his horizon in films. In addition to Idris’ exceptional acting skills, he also has achieved a massive sex-appeal with women across culture and ethnicity. So, when you couple Idris with the like of Matthew McConaughey, you are expecting a great box-office performance.
Unfortunately, in a year in which another Stephen King adaption reloaded, “It” earn the title of being the highest grossing horror film in history, The Dark Tower, also adapted from a Stephen King novel, did not fare so well. Which most times spells doom for a film in which producers, writers, and directors were hoping to follow it up with a sequel.
The movies only grossed only $111 globally, and on a $60 million budget that is unacceptable. Subsequently, all the talk about a sequel subsided as the numbers begin to roll in. The movie also received a low score of 15 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
In hindsight, there are several things that were not considered. One of the primary components of success is fan base, and I believe that the producers and film executive looked at the large fanbase that both actors have and automatically assumed a great turn out. Unfortunately, each has a largely female fan base, and females are not historically huge Western fans. This means that a great deal of effort needed to be exerted to attract a male audience, and that simply did not happen.
A more intricate issue is the fact that the movie is so complex and deep as it tried to match the depth of the novel that there was simply not enough time to hash out all of the themes and side stories associated with the storyline.
Fortunately, all hope is not lost. Idris Elba has already indicated that he would be willing to give the storyline another go. He enjoyed his role as Roland Deschain, the last of the great gunslingers. As it turns out, there is a television adaption of the novel currently in the works. While Idris has experienced success in a television series on the Netflix drama, Luther, is not interested in taking on the television role. He wants another shot at the big screen.
What Elba is suggesting is having an opportunity to explore the story from the perspective of the gunslinger more in a film. While the vast majority of the energy surrounding this story is focused on the development of the television series, Elba admits that he is aware of conversations about bringing the story back to the big screen for another shot. The truth is that there are talks in motion about trying this one more time.
What most people are unaware of is the fact that it took quite a long time for the dark tower to make it to the big screen. It went through the hands of several directors, including J.J. Abrams and Ron Howard. It was finally fast-tracked by Sony Pictures 2015. That fast-tracking may have hurt the film’s production. While it is not certain that there will be a sequel, the possibility of a sequel still lingers.
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