20 Most Anticipated 2017 Movies

16. The Dark Tower

2017 Upcoming
Columbia Pictures

What Is It? The cinematic transference of Stephen King's mammoth series by Danish director Nikolaj Arcel will see Idris Elba's Roland Deschain take on Matthew McConaughey's The Man In Black in a bid to save the mystical Mid-World. Pray there's an expositional prologue.

When's It Out? 17th February

Why Will It Be Awesome? This isn't a straight up adaptation, but another step in The Dark Tower journey. Sort of. It requires a bit of time-rewriting, but this is technically a sequel to the books, which is some pretty interesting cross-medium storytelling and one that makes the journey more appealing for both those obsessed with the material (it's a new story for them to enjoy) and those new to the world (there'll be an onus on storytelling). The director choice is bold choice too, a world apart from some of the others linked over the years.

Any Concerns? Yes, this has been through a lot of directors' hands. The Dark Tower is a borderline unfilmmable undertaking that's been in development for almost a decade, meaning there's a lot up in the air about how exactly it'll be achieved. And while some movies can get past their unweildly source material, there's nothing to say that'll be true here.

Contributor
Contributor

Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.