One of the biggest questions this year in terms of horror releases remains: Where’s the Salem’s Lot remake? According to Variety, the Gary Dauberman-directed Stephen King adaptation may be heading to Max, the Warner Bros. Discovery streaming platform.
Originally set for theatrical release on September 9, 2022, the new Stephen King adaptation was recently bumped to April 21, 2023, before getting ejected from the theatrical slate altogether. As of now, Salem’s Lot still doesn’t have a release date.
While a Warner Bros. spokesperson told Variety, “No decision has been made about the film’s future distribution plans,” the outlet cites that “the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike has created a growing need for Max content.” That makes Salem’s Lot a prime candidate, considering how long the adaptation has been shelved.
Perhaps, with vocal support from fans, Salem’s Lot may yet head to theaters as Evil Dead Rise did earlier this year. Evil Dead Rise was slated for streaming release on Max (formerly HBO Max) until fans and the franchise’s creators rallied.
Salem’s Lot 2023 is set “circa 1975 (when King’s book was first published).”
In Salem’s Lot 2023, “Haunted by an incident from his childhood, author Ben Mears returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book, only to discover the town is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire and his loyal servant.”
The cast includes Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, Bill Camp, John Benjamin Hickey, Nicholas Crovetti, Jordan Preston Carter, William Sadler, Spencer Treat Clark, Cade Woodward, Debra Christofferson, and Pilou Asbaek.
Dauberman’s creative team includes director of photography Michael Burgess (Annabelle Comes Home, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It), production designer Marc Fisichella (Ma, The Maze Runner), editor Luke Ciarrocchi (Glass, Split), composers Nathan Barr (The House with a Clock in Its Walls, The Great) and Lisbeth Scott (American Son, Tumble Leaf), costume designer Virginia Johnson (The New Mutants, Mile 22), and first assistant director Jeffrey “JP” Wetzel (Malignant, Annabelle Comes Home).
Fresh off Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Tobe Hooper directed the very first adaptation of Salem’s Lot back in 1979, and a new mini-series followed in its wake more recently, in 2004.
While the release for Salem’s Lot remains uncertain, it does at least feel as though we’re getting one step closer. Stay tuned.
