Stephen King fans have been waiting a long time for Gary Dauberman's Salem's Lot. The movie was shot all the way back in fall 2021, but it has been stuck on a shelf for years as executives at Warner Bros. have tried to decide to release it. There have been many non-committal updates in recent months, but now the film is finally on the way: it has been officially announced that it will be released exclusively for Max subscribers later this year.
A press release from the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streaming service was released this morning revealing the new distribution plans (when originally developed, it was going to be a theatrical release, but behind-the-scenes conversations have apparently altered strategy). Unfortunately, we do not yet know exactly when the film will be made available, as there is no official date announced, but we can keep our fingers crossed that it will arrive just in time for spooky season.
The new film marks the third time that Salem's Lot has been adapted, but this is its first time it's been made into a movie – with the two previous versions having been miniseries (first in 1979 and then again in 2004). The project follows Gary Dauberman's work writing the screenplays for both IT: Chapter One and IT: Chapter Two, and it's his second directorial effort following the underrated Annabelle Comes Home from 2019. The talented ensemble cast in the new horror movie includes Lewis Pullman, Alfre Woodard, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Spencer Treat Clark, Pilou Asbæk, and John Benjamin Hickey, and the story centers on a writer named Ben Mears who returns to his small Maine hometown after years of estrangement and finds himself trying to stop a plague of vampires from infecting the entire populace.
It was on Halloween last year that we first learned that Salem's Lot was possibly going to pivot to a streaming release, but only now has that been confirmed. Having had the chance to see it already, Stephen King has hyped up the film, and he also expressed confusion about why it has been sitting on a shelf for so long. He has called it "muscular and involving" and an example of "old-school horror filmmaking." Fingers are crossed that it will eventually be a title ranked among the best King movies of all time.
If it isn't clear, there is extreme hunger on our end for more updates about Salem's Lot, so be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend in the coming months for more specific information about its release. To keep track of all the King projects that are presently in the works, all you need is our Upcoming Stephen King Movies and TV guide.
