Last week, a number of details and photos for The Dark Tower were released by Entertainment Weekly, and now they’ve got one last treat: the start of the film’s viral marketing.
Sony Pictures has released a tie-in app for the series called Sombra Group, both a reference to the Sombra Corporation from the book series (an insidious group that works in the name of the Crimson King in our world) and also released on July 19th (the number 19 a common occurrence in the series). By downloading the app here, you can scan the cover of the latest EW and find a hidden message: a Rose, one of the nexus of reality from the series. You can check out our own photos of it in action below!
Idris Elba stars in the film as Roland Deschain, The Gunslinger, with Matthew McConaughey appearing as his rival and sworn enemy, Randall Flagg aka The man in black. The pair are joined in The Dark Tower by Tom Taylor as Jake Chambers, Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Neon Demon) as Tirana, and Fran Kranz (The Cabin in the Woods) as Pimli, the right hand man of Randall Flagg. The film also features Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen, A Nightmare on Elm Street), Katheryn Winnick (Vikings) and Claudia Kiim (Avengers: Age of Ultron).
The Dark Tower series tells the story of Roland Deschain, Mid-World’s last gunslinger, who is traveling southeast across Mid-World’s post-apocalyptic landscape, searching for the powerful but elusive magical edifice known as The Dark Tower. Located in the fey region of End-World, amid a sea of singing red roses, the Dark Tower is the nexus point of the time-space continuum. It is the heart of all worlds, but it is also under threat. Someone, or something, is using the evil technology of the Great Old Ones to destroy it.
It’s also been confirmed that the forthcoming film isn’t a direct adaptation of The Dark Tower book series but actually a continuation and sort of remix of the novels, focusing on Roland’s final cycle in his pursuit of the titular location and using elements of all the books. Nikolaj Arcel, who directed the Academy Award-nominated A Royal Affair, is at the helm the big screen adaptation, set up through Sony Pictures and MRC. Academy Award winner Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind) and Jeff Pinkner (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) wrote the screenplay.
The Dark Tower is scheduled for release on February 17, 2017.
