For years, Stephen King and his fans have been asking themselves: What is going on with the Salem’s Lot Film? The adaptation was shot in 2021 and was supposed to be released in 2022, but was then pushed back to 2023 and eventually dropped from Warner Bros. Discovery’s calendar altogether. According to King, the film was good and not “embarrassing,” so he didn’t know what the problem was – and neither did director Gary Dauberman. “I had the same questions as everyone else,” Dauberman says today Vanity Fair. “This film was shot at a time when the transition to new ownership was taking place, which was an interesting experience. At a certain point, you’re out of control. People would ask me, ‘Where’s the film? Where’s the film?’ I wish I had an answer for them other than a shrug and ‘I don’t know.'”
Salem’s Lot was uniquely plagued by “COVID-related delays,” the WB-Discovery merger, and writer/actor strikes. In the latter case, Salem’s Lot was reportedly downgraded from theatrical release to a streaming release on Max to fill the content gap from the strikes. Of course, there was a whole lot of post-strike content on Max, including big hits like House of the Dragontherefore it is unclear why Salem’s Lot was necessary to strengthen the service. In fact, Salem to streaming is the exact opposite of the strategy advocated by David Zaslav during the aforementioned transition to ownership, namely to “focus entirely on cinema”. Batgirl was reportedly canceled in 2022 because it was produced for streaming and its quality was not sufficient for a theatrical release. Salem’s Lot was produced for theatrical release and is now streaming. WBD’s strategy seems to have no rhyme or reason – and it shows, because the company is currently in big trouble.
Dauberman, for his part, is simply “excited that the film is finally coming out and people can see it.” However, he has a suggestion for those who want to tune in: “As with most horror films, I think the audience really enhances the experience,” he says VF“I think the best way to watch this would be to cram as many people onto the couch as possible.” You and your friends can get together for a good (streaming-only) night of spooky fun in October.
