In 2019, New Line Cinema announced a new adaptation of Stephen King’s 1975 Salem’s Lot. Since then, the film has undergone several delays, which kept it from meeting its release date of September 9, 2022. In the beginning of this year, it was announced that Salem’s Lot would make its premiere on Max. On Friday, Max confirmed the film would finally be in the hands of the fans in October of this year.
The Long-Awaited Remake
The Salem’s Lot remake will be based on Stephen King‘s 1975 novel of the same name. This new remake will not be the first time the novel has been adapted for the screen. In 1979, Tobe Hooper directed a two-part television miniseries based on the novel. In 1987, Larry Cohen directed a sequel to the miniseries titled A Return to Salem’s Lot. Most recently, a television adaptation was released by TNT in 2004. A modern remake of Salem’s Lot has been a long time coming.
The 2024 remake will follow Ben Mears, portrayed by Lewis Pullman, as he returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot, where he discovers it’s being tormented by a vampire. The film also brought on Gary Dauberman as screenwriter and executive producer in 2019 and director in 2020. Dauberman is known for his work on writing the script for It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019). James Wan, known for his work on popular horror franchises like Insidious and The Conjuring, is also attached to the project as a producer.
A History of Delays
Salem’s Lot (2024) was announced in 2019 and is finally coming out five years later. So what happened? In the summer of 2022, it was made public that the film would have to pass up its desirable post-Labor Day premiere. It was reported that these delays were due to post-production issues related to COVID-19 and a need for additional photography. At that time, the release date was pushed back by seven months to April 21, 2023. However, April came and went without Salem’s Lot gracing a single screen.
Warner Bros. decided to release Evil Dead Rise on that date instead. Evil Dead Rise was originally slated to premiere directly on Max. But after a combination of positive test screenings and Warner Bros. Pictures’ chaotic rescheduling of their film distribution plans, Evil Dead Rise was given Salem’s Lot‘s release date.
Following that, there seemed to be no news at all regarding the release of Salem’s Lot. The silence was finally broken in October 2023 when it was reported that Salem’s Lot would skip a theatrical release to instead premiere on Max. This move was apparently due to the SAG-AFTRA strike creating a desperate need for new content on Max. In March, Max confirmed the film would release sometime in 2024, but no official date was given. Finally, only a few days ago, Max announced the October 2024 release.
Stephen King’s Frustration and Endorsement
In February of this year, Stephen King took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his thoughts on the Salem’s Lot remake and its myriad delays. He shared, “Old-school horror filmmaking: slow build, big payoff. I’m not sure why WB is holding it back—not like it’s embarrassing or anything. Who knows.” The famous author’s annoyance with the delays is palpable in his tweet. But so is his satisfaction with the production of the film, calling it “quite good.”.
This comes after several recent adaptations of Stephen King’s novels received critical failure status. Aside from It (2017) and its overwhelming success, other films based on King’s works just haven’t worked out. Pet Sematary (2019) received 57% on Rotten Tomatoes’ “Tomatometer.” Children of the Corn (2020) and Firestarter (2022) did even worse, with 12% and 11%, respectively. Stephen King and fans of his work are much overdue for a successful adaptation.
Final Thoughts
It can be frustrating to wait so long for a highly anticipated film, even without so many delays. But fans can rest assured knowing that Salem’s Lot is finally confirmed to release on Max in October. In addition, though colored by Stephen King’s understandable impatience, the legendary author shared his approval of the film. Hopefully, this means that the fans’ patience will be rewarded with a great adaptation that was worth the wait.
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