Although it put up a good fight this weekend, two-time box office winner Dunkirk was dethroned by The Dark Tower, but it was a much closer race than many expected.
The Dark Tower book 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.
It’s possible that The Dark Tower runtime (95 minutes) is so short because of this sprawling plan to spread the story out over multiple mediums, but the success of this plan surely depends on The Dark Tower becoming a hit at the box office first.
Box Office Mojo reports that The Dark Tower, which stars Idris Elba as The Gunslinger and Matthew McConaughey as The Man in Black, took in $19.5 million from 3,451 theaters, for a decent $5,651 per-screen average.