Dead For 20 Years, Stephen King’s Vampire Movie May Finally Hit Screens

Summary:

• Salem’s Lot, being one of the most remarkable Stephen King ’s novels, which was adapted twice, now gets another chance to be seen on the big screen.
• Warner Bros., having already filmed it in 2021, delayed its theatrical release and then pulled it from their schedule, causing rumors of its cancellation.
• It finally has been reported by WB that the new Salem’s Lot would stream on Max later this year, after King expressed his concern about it.

Nowadays, with the super-fast development of the streaming platforms, movie releases are, surprisingly, much complicated, as, apart from other obvious unpleasant difficulties of movie production, there is a delicate matter of choice whether the bet on the definite film is going to win if it’s released at theaters or if it’s aired online on streaming.

Some movies get even buried before the release because of these circumstances, for example, Warner Bros. chose to finally cancel such movie projects, as Batgirl and Coyote vs. Acme. The same fate was, presumably, waiting for the adaptation of Stephen King’s vampire horror novel titled Salem's Lot, one of his most cultish books.

The synopsis of both the novel and its movie adaptation is as follows: a writer returns to his childhood home town, Jerusalem's Lot, Maine, to realize its residents are becoming vampires. This story was already successfully adapted for TV in 1979 in the miniseries of the same name and again in 2004, with the second attempt coming out controversial.

The new adaptation was filmed in 2021, but then its theatrical release was delayed and the potential date was announced in 2023, but it didn’t happen anyway. Then it was even pulled from the release schedule, leading to the speculation that it was canceled.

Luckily, it was a false alarm, since it finally got recalled and it was made by Stephen King himself. Last month, on February 19, the master of horror raised the topic of the new Salem’s Lot movie in his X-account, addressing the company, delaying its release.

“Between you and me, Twitter, I’ve seen the new SALEM’S LOT and it’s quite good. Old-school horror filmmaking: slow build, big payoff. Not sure why WB is holding it back; not like it’s embarrassing, or anything,” the author expressed his concern.

Just as a coincidence or indirectly responding to King’s comment, it has been recently announced that Warner Bros. is going to air the new Salem’s Lot movie on HBO Max later this year, so this project was not finally canceled, to our great fortune.

Remembering that the adaptations of Stephen King’s novels brought the cinema industry millions of dollars, this decision is considered quite a fair one, making us anxious to see the new nail-biting horror based on the master’s timeless book.

Sources: X, The Hollywood Reporter