“Salem’s Lot,” the long-gestating adaptation of Stephen King’s 1975 bestselling novel about vampires, will debut on streaming instead of premiering in theaters.
New Line, the studio behind the horror film, officially announced that “Salem’s Lot” will appear on Max in 2024. Variety previously reported that the movie was forgoing a traditional theatrical rollout in favor of a streaming bow. Both New Line and Max share a parent company in Warner Bros. Discovery.
“Salem’s Lot” was originally intended as a September 2022 release, but the studio pushed the film to spring 2023, citing COVID-related postproduction delays. It later took the movie off the release calendar.
Since David Zaslav took over as CEO of the media conglomerate after AT&T spun-off WarnerMedia and merged it with Discovery, the company has mostly resisted debuting films straight-to-streaming, arguing that releasing them in cinemas raises their profile and adds revenues. It has also cancelled a handful of titles, such as “Batgirl,” using them as tax write-offs instead of releasing them to the public.
That won’t be the case with “Salem’s Lot,” which reunites the producing teams behind the “The Conjuring” universe and the “It” films, two of the company’s most successful franchises. Gary Dauberman (“Annabelle”) writes, directs, and executive produces with James Wan and Michael Clear for Atomic Monster and Roy Lee for Vertigo alongside Mark Wolper.
In the movie, author Ben Mears returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot looking to come up with idea for a new novel. However, he discovers his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodsucking vampires. “Salem’s Lot” was previously adapted as a two-part CBS miniseries in 1979.
In the new version, Lewis Pullman stars as Ben Mears, leading an ensemble that includes Alfre Woodard, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Spencer Treat Clark, Pilou Asbæk and John Benjamin Hickey. The film was executive produced by Michael Bederman, Vertigo’s Andrew Childs, and Atomic Monster’s Judson Scott.
