10 Reasons The Dark Tower Bombed
The Gungslinger's cinematic post-mortem.
It's been a month since The Dark Tower began its worldwide rollout, and now that it's premiered in almost 60 countries, it's safe to call the movie an undeniable box office bomb.
At the time of press, the $60 million sci-fi western has grossed approximately $90 million, presumably putting the kibosh on any plans for a movie franchise, as will be especially disappointing to the novel series' legion of dedicated fans.
So, what went wrong with bringing Stephen King's legendary fantasy franchise to the big screen? With an all-star cast, talented director, sensible budget and lack of serious competition in its early August slot, it really should've been smooth sailing to at least a passable $150-200 million worldwide haul.
Though the issues with the movie's quality were long-suspected ahead of time, plenty of far worse movies have made much more money, so there's clearly more to this story, and why audiences were so turned off by what, on paper, had the makings of a solid cult hit if not more.
From pre-production through to the final release, it's time to crowbar open The Dark Tower's fetid corpse and comprehensively run down what went wrong...