A report from JoBlo attempts to tackle what is actually going on with Warner Bros’ adaptation of Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot.”
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 keeps getting delayed — it went from a September 9, 2022 launch to April 21, 2023 and then it disappeared off the Warner Bros calendar.
Now, given their past actions, it’s not a stretch to believe that maybe “Salem’s Lot” might be getting the good ol’ tax write-off courtesy of Warner CEO David Zaslav and company. It’s been a year since it was originally supposed to get released. What’s happening with this film?
Given that it’s a horror film, and the genre tends to perform well at the box-office, there have been rumors that WB might just dump this one on Max, their streaming platform. However, there’s been no concrete indication that will be the case.
The test screenings for the 113-minute King adaptation seem 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 fairly well 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.
Stephen King himself had previously shared his mostly positive take on the film, describing its status as “shelved,” and writing on his X account:
The Warner Bros remake of SALEM’S LOT, currently shelved, is muscular and involving. It has the feel of “Old Hollywood,” when a film was given a chance to draw a breath before getting to business. When attention spans were longer, in other words. It feels like a horror movie version of slow-burn movies like THE GREAT ESCAPE. It builds very well. There are diversions from the book I don’t agree with, but on the whole, faithful. Best scene: Danny Glick in the hospital, trying to claw down a blood bag. The Glick scene could have been directed by John Carpenter in his prime.
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.