Dark Tower Release Date: February 2017

Aug 6, 2015   By: Michael | #MRC  #Nikolaj Arcel  #Release Date  #Sony  

What!?! Yep, in a recent press release by Sony, they announced that the first installment of the Dark Tower franchise, “The Gunslinger”, will hit cinema’s on January 13 February 17, 2017.

What? When? Where? How?

At this time there is very little known about this; we don’t know who will play Roland, or any of the other characters. Originally Javier Bardem, and later Russell Crowe, were suggested to take on the role of the Gunslinger, and at one point Aaron Paul was in talks with Ron Howard for the role of Eddie Dean.

We do know that Ron Howard will no longer direct the movie as Sony and MRC recently closed a deal with Nikolaj Arcel (Oscar-nominee for

A Royal Affair, and co-writer of the Swedish version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) to direct at least the first installment of the franchise. It’s still believed that there will be three movies plus a TV series.

We also know that Danish filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen has joined Arcel to rewrite the script that Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner had been working on.

Production will be done by Weed Road (Akiva Goldsman) and Imagine Entertainment (Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Erica Huggins). Jeff Pinkner will be executive producer, and apparently Stephen King will also be on the producer credits.

And that’s about as much as we know.

They have 18 months to film and edit the movie, but considering how few special effects or exotic locations will be needed to tell the story of the first book, that should be more than enough time.

This is not the first time we’ve been given a release date and considering how few details we actually have, I’m not going to get overly excited until we know they are on set and the camera’s are rolling.

Here is the Sony Press Release as well as more information on the Sony/MRC/Arcel announcement.

What do you think? Is this the real deal?

UPDATE: Sony have pushed the release date back by a month to February 17, 2017.

24 responses

Is it common to have a release date for a film before any knowledge of the cast has been released to the public? Until I see more I take this info with a grain of salt. In truth this project has switched hands so much, even if this is legit I’m skeptical whether or not it will be any good. Here’s to hoping for the best and expecting the worst.

Aloenam – August 6th, 2015
I am overly excited at the possibility that this may truly be happening, however, it will be such a let down if the potential movies and mini series don’t hold up to the novels. I hope they find just the right actors to fill the rolls, not just big names. Fingers crossed that they actually come to life for us on the big screen!

high hopes – August 7th, 2015
Any news is good news in my eyes!! Like the website says, this movie can be filmed pretty quickly with little to no special effects, and they can more than likely keep the cast secret till the trailers are shown! How many characters are needed long term anyways? You got Roland, and Jake, depending on how far they take the story. If Drawing of the 3 is part of original film then things will definitely take longer than 18 months

PLEASE!!!! – August 10th, 2015
This is really exciting, but I definitely am skeptical. Somehow, I always hoped that Roland and his ka-tet would never become a franchise or a blockbuster. I think that the Tower series is sort of a cult favorite among King fans, and I rarely run into people who have read it, but when I do, they are diehard fans-I’m one, I’ve got a Dark Tower tattoo! That being said, people who haven’t read the series aren’t going to appreciate the film. Depending on who is playing Roland, I may not even watch it (if it’s Russell Crowe I’ll riot). I think I’d rather re-read the books.

KT – August 10th, 2015
Well lets see you need a commitment for casting Roland, Jake, and a few people from Roland’s past. Other then that they could cast anyone since they would be the only ones needed for future films. They would have time to cast Eddie, Sue, etc. In all honesty they could film flashbacks from Wizard and Glass about the same time as Gunslinger. Super excited about this!

Brian – August 13th, 2015
Only 3 movies? Wonder who is getting the tv series. HBO? AMC? I’m not normally a pessimist, but I’m leaning towards it being a debacle.

King does such a fantastic job painting a picture of the characters and places, he makes it hard to screw up. He gives us old long, tall, and ugly with blue bombardiers eyes, and Hollywood - by way of creative license - gives us short, fat and stocky with entire chapters and characters being omitted.

JimmehJons – August 15th, 2015
Sony is also remaking The Magnificent Seven. Won’t they also be remaking it with Wolves Of The Calla?

Will – August 16th, 2015
It’s been fun over the years thinking about who would play Roland… I think Clint Eastwood’s name came way.. way back when the idea was first tossed around. For now, I’m throwing Anson Mount into the hat.. The guy places the quintessential cowboy on AMC’s Hell on Wheels. As far as Beotch boy from Breaking Bad, I’d rather see a no name actor play the part, same for Jake and Susannah. I can’t see the series being a blockbuster hit therefore would rather see the money spent on Sets and good writing than big Hollywood names. Let’s see and here is to hoping!

James Yahoo – August 18th, 2015
Joel Kinnaman as Eddie Dean. Please.

J Girl – August 21st, 2015
“They have 18 months to film and edit the movie, but considering how few special effects or exotic locations will be needed to tell the story of the first book, that should be more than enough time.”
I would argue you could go all the way through Drawing without exotic locations or otherwise expensive production with exception to the tracks under the mountain in Gunslinger. If you are making 3 movies the first movie cant be just Gunslinger. To be enlightening :-) the TV series will be W&G because they need to be filming simultaneously the movie line and the series to really pull this off.

Captin T – August 25th, 2015
I think Charlie Hunam would be a great Eddie Dean.

Patrick – September 14th, 2015
ANSON MOUNT = ROLAND

today15 – September 20th, 2015
It wont be just the first book, In movie world it may be the first three or more books compressed. Gunslinger was a very good book, but wouldn’t make a good movie, Not a blockbuster anyway. But the overall Dark Tower series would. There must be a hook for new audiences to the series. Something to propel this forward for a Franchise. So don’t expect the first movie to be Roland walking across the desert.

Kewlzter – October 12th, 2015
In my opinion from reading the series, an actor such as a younger Clint Eastwood wood be a perfect actor to play Roland. Aaron Paul would be perfect to play gambling Eddie as well as Zoe Saldana as Odetta. It would just seem like a good group of actors for the movie. but Jake the boy is a questionable role for any blonde haired boy.

Mike – October 19th, 2015
Clint Eastwood has a very talented acting son. Scott Eastwood, he should play young Roland, Quaiff?

Madler – October 22nd, 2015
So very excited! I just hope they don’t mess it up. Bradley Cooper as Roland - make-up needed of course, and Joseph Gordon-Lovett as Eddie Dean?

Victoria – November 2nd, 2015
Anson Mount prefect for Roland !!

shreeve Galligan – November 5th, 2015
Still want Hugh Laurie for Roland. In my opinion he fits perfectly. With the limp and the deep sadness hes able to show on his face. Aaron will make a perfect Eddie i think…

And i really do hipe that it will get an R Rating.

DrPresley – November 16th, 2015
Every time I see a headline for this I get excited, and terrified at how the depiction on screen may sell the series short. Why bother with a movie. With how successful ‘Game of Thrones’ has been I would expect HBO, Starz, Cinemax, etc to produce a killer high value production version that is much more robust than a movie!!

Liam Neeson(Roland), Angela Basset(O’Detta), Trent Ford(Eddie), and Chandler Riggs(Jake)

and for the love of the series, DO NOT cast McConaughey as a the man in black.. how about Robert Redford or Daniel Day-Lewis…

Evan – November 17th, 2015
I will play Roland.

Artemis – November 17th, 2015
So most recent news ive heard is that Matthew Mcconaughey is being considered for the role of Roland. While I think he IS an amazing actor and have nothing against him, I don’t see him as a good fit at all for the role. In fact, if I got to choose I know exactly who would play Roland and Im curious to know if he was approached for the role: Scott Eastwood. Think about it. Stephen king himself stated that he drew a lot of inspiration for the character from Clint eastwood’s western films and it is even mentioned in the book that Roland looks very much like Clint but not quite. That said, i for one can’t think of a more ideal actor to play the role.

Jeff brown – November 19th, 2015
Definitely Scott Eastwood for Roland as I like so many others had pictured Clint Eastwood as Roland many years ago when I first started reading the books.

scout – January 25th, 2016
James Brolin as Rolland would be perfect. He is such a talent and I believe could pull off young Rolland as well as older with make up. Scott Eastwood also could pull it off, but I always envision James Brolin when reading the books.

Janet – February 10th, 2016
Are you kidding? ?? I’m sorry I really like Idris alba, but as Roland!??!!! What the fuck are you thinking????? If this is the official cast as a fan of Stephen King and a person who loves the dark tower, I will not spend a dime and I doubt fans will be crawling out of the woodwork for this one !! BS!! another bad move and straight fuck up.

Angybby – March 16th, 2016