The best out of all theStephen Kingadaptations,The Shining, was famously denounced by the author for its changes to his story, while other excellent takes from the likes ofJohn Carpenter(Christine),George Romero(The Dark Half),Brian De Palma(Carrie), andDavid Cronenberg(The Dead Zone) were also a bit more liberal in choosing what to keep from King’s work. On the flip side, there are outright catastrophes likeDreamcatcher,Secret Window, andThinnerthat are a bit more careful to follow along closely to what is in King’s books, and a long range of mediocrities ranging fromSilver BulletandPet SemetarytoSleepwalkersandNeedful Thingsthat were similarly envisioned. This is to say that even with a name-brand author like Mr. King, having a great, inventive director at the helm of an adaptation is more important than fidelity to the source material.
You get neither of these things with the inexplicable adaptation ofThe Dark Towerthat currently sits at the top of the box office with $7.7 million. As a moviegoing experience,Nicolaj Arcel’s take on arguably King’s most beloved tomes is without a single merit aside from its two leads, neither of which prove capable of elevating a script without imagination or charisma and direction that is completely devoid of passion for ideas or even the story. There are sequels and TV shows waiting in the wings for this to be successful and give the go ahead that all these productions are worth the time and money. Arcel might just pull that off, but fans of the books will almost certainly want all of this to end right here.
Indeed,The Dark Towerlooks primed to take the rest of the weekend overDunkirk, which brought in $5 million to land in second place on Friday, andThe Emoji Movie, which is in third place with $3.8 million. Another new release,Kidnap, which has little more than a lead turn fromHalle Berryto hang its hat on, is in fourth place with $3.6 million. Finally, there isMalcolm D. Lee’sGirls Trip, which was made for $19 million and has currently grossed $77 million, which means that it will likely cross the $80 million mark before the end of the weekend. On Friday, it brought in $3.6 million as well to land in fifth, but its likely that it will overtakeKidnapby the time the sun sets on Sunday. Powered largely by word of mouth,Girls Tripmay not have as imaginative a storyline asThe Dark Towerboasts but as a movie, its got ten times more ideas bouncing around and has the benefit of being entertaining, something Arcel’s movie very simply is not.
Here’s your top five for Friday:
Friday Domestic BO
Total Domestic BO
1. ‘The Dark Tower’
$7,725,000
2. ‘Dunkirk’
$5,015,000
$120,970,738
3. ‘The Emoji Movie’
$3,850,000
$40,951,704
4. ‘Kidnap’
$3,680,000
5. ‘Girls Trip’
$3,633,000
$77,658,020
