Well, Mr. King, here’s your answer: the newest version of horror maestro Stephen King‘s novel “Salem’s Lot” is coming out this year. Sometime. On streaming.
After initially being expected to hit theaters, New Line’s film adaptation of King’s 1975 bestselling novel “Salem’s Lot” will debut on Max in 2024, the streamer announced today. As for when in 2024, we still don’t know, and as for what this thing will even look like, still no answer there, as today’s announcement came without any sort of handy-dandy still to round out the news.
The film was first announced in 2019 and was shot way back in 2021. Last month, King himself took to Twitter (X?) to publicly wonder where the heck the film was. “Between you and me, Twitter, I’ve seen the new ‘Salem’s Lot’ and it’s quite good,” King wrote on social media. “Old-school horror filmmaking: slow build, big payoff. Not sure why WB is holding it back; not like it’s embarrassing, or anything. Who knows. I just write the fucking things.”
Per today’s press release, the film “reunites the producing teams behind the record-breaking horror franchises ‘The Conjuring’ universe and the ‘IT’ films,” both well-known theatrical franchise hits, to wit. Gary Dauberman writes, directs, and executive produces the film, with James Wan and Michael Clear for Atomic Monster and Roy Lee for Vertigo alongside Mark Wolper.
The film’s official synopsis tells us it follows “author Ben Mears [as he] returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.” Lewis Pullman stars as Ben Mears, with a supporting cast that includes Alfre Woodard as Dr. Cody, Makenzie Leigh as Susan Norton, Bill Camp as Matthew Burke, Spencer Treat Clark as Mike Ryerson, Pilou Asbæk as Straker, and John Benjamin Hickey as Father Callahan.
“Salem’s Lot” has only been adapted for the small screen so far. CBS had a two-part miniseries from 1979, and Rob Lowe starred in an Emmy-nominated TNT series in 2004.
Dauberman is currently re-writing the script for “Until Dawn,” a video game adaptation for a feature directed by David F. Sandberg.
And King, as ever, has a few other projects currently in the works, including a “The Dark Tower” adaptation courtesy of Mike Flanagan and a presumed “Running Man” reboot with Edgar Wright at the helm.
