Our piece about the unknown future of “Salem’s Lot” gained some traction last month. A Warner Bros. spokesperson put out a statement, saying that “no decision” had been made regarding the film’s future.
No decision? It’s been four years since production wrapped on this one …
Stephen King himself had previously shared his mostly positive take on the film, describing the film’s status as “shelved.” He’s been active on his X account, vouching for the film to get released, and adding that Warners didn’t know what to do with it.
Well, we got some kind of answer today. After initially being expected to hit theaters, “Salem’s Lot” is finally going to debut on Max in 2024, the streamer announced today. We’re not sure when exactly, that’s something Warners is still sorting out, but it’s definitely not going to be another tax write-off for David Zaslav.
The film, written and directed by Gary Dauberman, and starring Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Alfre Woodard, completed production in November 2021. It then had some reshoots in the Spring of 2022. Its release date also kept getting delayed — it went from a September 9, 2022 launch to April 21, 2023 and then it disappeared off the Warner Bros calendar.
The test screenings for the 113-minute King adaptation seemed to have gone fairly well. It does sound as though “Salem’s Lot” prefers jump scares over character development, but those kind of films tend to do good business these days at the box-office. When compared to previously axed WB projects (“Coyote vs Acme” and “Batgirl”) at least there’s an audience for Dauberman’s film.
Dauberman’s directorial debut was 2019’s “Annabelle Comes Home.” He also wrote both “It” movies for WB, as well as “The Nun,” “Annabelle,” and “Annabelle: Creation.” Suffice to say, WB will probably have to make a decision on this one by year’s end.