‘The Dark Tower,’ ‘Bad Boys 3’ Get New Release Dates

The Dark Tower opening in January felt like a bad sign, given that the first month of the year is typically a dumping ground for less-promising films. Inspiring a healthy bit of optimism, Sony has pushed the release back a month to February 2017, while also shifting dates for similarly long-gestating films Bad Boys 3 and Barbie — the latter of which remains without a director, so we’ll see how long that release date sticks.

Per Deadline, Sony has shaken up their 2017 release schedule a bit, moving The Dark Tower from January 13 to February 17, giving the Stephen King adaptation a President’s Day weekend opening. That’s a more appropriate date for the risky project — Deadpool opened this past President’s Day weekend a year after Kingsman had similar box office success on that date, and both films were big budget gambles like The Dark Tower.

Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) is directing The Dark Tower from an Akiva Goldsman script he reworked with Anders Thomas Jensen (The Salvation). Idris Elba will play the lead role of gunslinger Roland Deschain, with Matthew McConaughey as the villainous Man in Black and Mad Max: Fury Road star Abbey Lee as a character named Tirana (more on that here).

Bad Boys 3 has also been given a more appropriate release date, as Sony has shifted the long-awaited sequel to June 2, 2017. Joe Carnahan (The Grey) is writing and directing the film, with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence set to reprise their roles. The studio also has tentative plans for a fourth film.

And then there’s the Barbie movie, which has had some trouble getting off the ground. Last year Sony hired Diablo Cody to write a new draft based on the original script by Jenny Bicks (Sex and the City). A few months ago the studio brought in THREE more writers (Bert Royal, Lindsey Beer and Hilary Winston) to write three additional, competing screenplays. Barbie does not yet have a director, but Sony has given it a new release date of May 12, 2017, giving them just over a year to put the film together.

If it were an animated movie, Barbie might be in some serious trouble, but Sony is planning a live-action take on Mattel’s iconic toy, so the new release date is certainly feasible.