VIDEO: ‘The Dark Tower’ Leads Slow Weekend Box Office Numbers, Despite Poor Reviews

By  //  August 7, 2017

'The Dark Tower' Takes In $19.5 million

ABOVE VIDEO: THE DARK TOWER – Official Trailer

(VARIETY) – As the dog days of summer drag on, a trio of wide releases are kicking off the August box office with a whimper.

The weekend’s leader is “The Dark Tower.” Sony and MRC’s long-time-coming Stephen King adaptation starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey is landing on a modest $19.5 million from 3,451 locations. Made for about $66 million counting reshoots, the story centers on a boy (played by Tom Taylor) who discovers another dimension where he aligns himself with a Gunslinger (Elba) on a mission to save the world from various enemies, including the Man in Black (McConaughey). Critics mostly panned the movie, leading to its current 18% on Rotten Tomatoes.

“It was an ambitious undertaking, but it was made at the right price,” said Sony’s domestic distribution chief Adrian Smith. “There’s a lot of summer left,” he added.

Meanwhile, Annapurna’s “Detroit” is not faring as well as expected. Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal’s latest collaboration should end up with $7.3 million from 3,007 locations this weekend. Combined with a week of limited release grosses, its total should stand at $7.8 million. Critics are on board, earning the tale of the Motor City’s 1967 riots a 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience, too, has responded positively — the distributor saw strong exit polls, including over 60% marking definite recommend. The movie is toplined by “Star Wars” breakout John Boyega, as well as Will Poulter, and Algee Smith.

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