Sony’s long-awaited ‘Dark Tower’ may unseat ‘Dunkirk’ with $25-million box-office premiere

The long-awaited Stephen King adaptation “The Dark Tower,� from Sony Pictures and Media Rights Capital, will kick off what is widely expected to be a slow August this weekend as the movie business enters the home stretch of a rough summer.

Ticket sales since the first weekend of May are down 8% in the United States and Canada compared with the same period a year earlier, totaling $3 billion, according to ComScore. That’s despite the success of recent movies including Warner Bros.’ “Dunkirk� and Universal Pictures’ “Girls Trip,� which haven’t made up for such misfires as “The Mummy� and “Baywatch.�

“Dark Tower� is expected to replace “Dunkirk� at the top of the box-office charts with $20 million to $25 million in domestic sales Friday through Sunday, according to analysts. The studio is going with a conservative $19-million projection. The acclaimed Christopher Nolan World War II epic, which has spent two weekends in that position and racked up $101 million in domestic grosses, should take in roughly $15 million. Meanwhile, Annapurna Pictures’ “Detroit� and Halle Berry’s long-delayed “Kidnap� will compete for audiences’ attention.

King of darkness

It’s fitting that a movie based on an eight-part Stephen King fantasy series would endure a long and twisted quest before hitting theaters. The companies behind it will soon find out if it was worth the wait.

The new movie, co-financed by Media Rights Capital, stars Idris Elba as nomadic gunslinger Roland Deschain and Matthew McConaughey as his nemesis the Man in Black. Sony says “The Dark Tower,� which features two major stars and digital effects, cost $60 million to make after factoring in production incentives. The film, which clocks in at a relatively brisk 95-minute run time, saved money by filming mostly in South Africa.

King, not always fond of adaptations of his work, is credited as a producer on “The Dark Tower.� It was directed by Danish filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel, best known for the 2012 historical drama “A Royal Affair.�

The big-screen fate of the “Dark Tower� series has been a subject of much speculation for at least a decade. J.J. Abrams originally wanted to adapt the series but later dropped the idea. Universal Pictures then planned an epic “Lord of the Rings�-style trilogy and a television series with filmmaker Ron Howard but balked at the financial risks.

King’s books have spawned multiple film and television adaptations, including classics such as “The Shining,� “Misery� and “Carrie.� But there have also been some notorious flops, including the widely panned “Dreamcatcher.� New Line Cinema next month will unleash its own King adaptation, “It.�

Detroit riot

Annapurna Pictures is making its premiere as a Hollywood distributor with the wide release of “Detroit,� the latest movie from Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker�). The drama, which centers on civil unrest in Detroit in 1967, is expected to take in $10 million to $15 million Friday through Sunday, according to people who have reviewed audience surveys.

Reviews have been generally positive for its depiction of police violence against black men in a hotel, with a 95% “fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, propelling the film to a strong $350,000 in its limited release last weekend.

Annapurna Pictures, founded by Megan Ellison, daughter of Oracle Corp. co-founder Larry Ellison, previously only made movies for other studios to distribute. The West Hollywood-based production company is best known for adult dramas including “Her,� released by Warner Bros., and “American Hustle,� distributed by Sony.

Taken (from Relativity)

The new thriller “Kidnap,� which stars Halle Berry as a single mother on a mission to save her abducted son, had to be rescued from its own high-stakes drama before it could grace the multiplex.

It was previously supposed to get its release from Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media but was engulfed in the company’s high-profile Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015. The film, directed by Luis Prieto, suffered multiple delays before the producers took the project to Aviron Pictures, a new independent Beverly Hills-based entertainment company run by David Dinerstein.

“Kidnap� is not expected to do much business this weekend, with analysts predicting about $8 million in domestic ticket sales through Sunday.