Though the film had eight novels (plus extra source material) to adapt, the script cobbled together bits from many of the novels, set the film after the events of the books (if you’re already confused, it’s alright: audiences were too), and simplified the story to painful degrees. What went wrong? A myriad of problems plagued the film behind the scenes, but one of the biggest contributors to its disappointing release would have to be the script. With a $66 million dollar budget, The Dark Tower only made about $50 million at the US box office. And yet, the end product didn’t break even.

The Dark Tower could have been a fantastic film in fact, it had all the makings of one.

Add in the fact that Stephen King’s writing style typically includes some extremely visual storytelling (as evidenced by the sheer amount of films based off his books), and The Dark Tower was truly set up for success. This means that, if The Dark Tower film had been the starting point for its own franchise, it could have included not just the eight-book series but many other King stories as well. Villains from his other stories, including characters from Salem’s Lot, The Stand, and IT, make appearances throughout The Dark Tower series. The Dark Tower series also serves as a meeting place for many of King’s other literary works due to the complicated nature of King’s extended universe. Such a time-tested overarching good versus evil dynamic paired with King’s unique storytelling style makes for a truly unique book series. The story itself combines the timeless dynamic of good and evil, with the specific style of Stephen King’s brand of horror, and, for this series, mixes in a lot of Western, fantasy, and sci-fi elements. That’s a lot of source material to pull from, giving the film adaptation as much as possible to work with. The series itself is eight novels long, not including short stories and a children’s book, and though the first novel in the series is only a little over 200 pages, the longest book in the series ( The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower) is 845 pages. The Dark Tower’s source material also includes a rich story world full of dynamic characters.

Towers by Matthew Bryant