Editorial

The Bottom Line: August 4, 2017: THE DARK TOWER Has Forgotten The Face Of Its Father

Idris Elba The Dark Tower

The Bottom Line: August 4, 2017

The long-awaited Stephen King adaptation The Dark Tower finally hits theaters to mediocre reviews. Find out how it will do in this week’s edition of The Bottom Line!

Box Office Top Five

Dunkirk held its ground in first place, hanging on for a second week with $26.7 million. Horrific reviews did nothing to stop The Emoji Movie, which opened in second place with $24.6 million. Girls Trip continues to be a hit, taking third place with $19.7 million. I was wrong about Atomic Blonde taking first – instead it opened in fourth place with an ok $18.3 million. Finally, Spider-Man: Homecoming rounded out the top five with $13.3 million.

A Closer Look at Some of this Week’s Films.

The Dark Tower (PG-13) 95 mins.

Fans have been waiting for this one for a long time. What many would call Stephen King’s magnum opus, The Dark Tower series has built a dense mythology over the course of a seven-book series. The books explore a variety of worlds, themes, and characters that even the most detailed movie in the world would likely not be able to capture.

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And it seems like this one didn’t even try. Condensing all of that world-building into a breezy 95 minutes, The Dark Tower looks to be a prime example of the “August Dump,” a studio film that wasn’t good enough to hit earlier in the summer. Reviews have been largely terrible, calling it a mediocre film that does King’s original works a disservice. (It should be noted that King himself loves it, but he never likes the really good adaptations of his stuff, so he might not be the best judge).

It’s a bummer too, because Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey are great actors and the premise seems like it could make a great, cinematic movie. I have a feeling this will bomb at the box office, but I’d say for this weekend I could see it opening at number three – if only the book fans are seeing it out of morbid curiosity.

Detroit (R) 142 mins.

The new film from director Kathryn Bigelow, Detroit looks to be one of the more harrowing experiences at the movies this year. Centered around a dark moment of racial tension in the summer of 1967, the film stars John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Will Poulter,and John Krasinski. The film is getting strong reviews overall, though some are saying the story doesn’t come together well enough to justify putting yourself through what the film goes through. I don’t know about this film’s box office prospects, but Bigelow’s name and the social relevance of its story may do wonders here. I’m going to say it opens at number two.

Kidnap (R) 82 mins.

I have no idea what this is. No, seriously. You probably don’t either. I just found out this movie existed while I was writing this up. Apparently Halle Berry stars in this thriller who chases after the people who kidnapped her son. This feels like something that should be bigger, right? You got Halle Berry, an intense, thrilling story, what more do you need? The movie’s getting mixed-to-negative reviews, and I don’t see this doing well at the box office at all. (Generally speaking if I find out a studio film exists the weekend it comes out, it will likely fail). Don’t expect this to make the top five.

The Bottom Line

Dunkirk will take first place for the third week in a row, while Detroit will open up in second. The Dark Tower will take third before tumbling spectacularly over the next few weeks, and Girls Trip will take fourth. The Emoji Movie will round out the top five.

Movies To Look Forward To:

Annabelle: Creation, The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, The Glass Castle (August 11th)

Leave your thoughts on The Bottom Line, The Dark Tower, Detroit, and Kidnap below in the comments section. Readers seeking more The Bottom Line can visit our The Bottom Line Page. Want up-to-the-minute notification? Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, and Facebook. 


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Michael Smith

Mike Smith is an avid filmgoer from New York who loves to hear his own voice - luckily his work as a podcaster on FilmBook allows him to do just that. Mike graduated from The College of Saint Rose in Albany with a degree in communications, and is ready to dole out critical analysis of all your pop culture fixations. Mike is the host of FilmBookCast and can frequently be seen at his local movie theater, patiently explaining to his friends that Superman Returns is a misunderstood masterpiece.
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