Among the new delays and announcements from Warner Bros. Discovery, which saw Aquaman and Shazam sequels both being pushed down the schedule, the new adaptation of Salem’s Lot has lost its release date to Evil Dead Rise. Originally, Salem’s Lot was set to be released in April 2023, but after Warner Bros. Discovery decided to movie Evil Dead Rise from an HBO Max exclusive to a theatrical release, it seems that Salem’s Lot is now another movie at the studio with an uncertain future.
Salem’s Lot is based on Stephen King’s 1975 second novel and has already been adapted as a TV mini-series in 1979 starring David Soul and James Mason, and again in 2004 starring Rob Lowe and Donald Sutherland. The new iteration will be the first big screen production of the classic vampire story, directed by The Conjuring universe’s Gary Dauberman and starring Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh and Bill Camp, amongst others. The movie was originally announced in 2019, with filming taking place in late 2021.
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The movie was originally given a release date of September 9, 2022, but was subsequently pushed out to April 21, 2022 due to Covid-related production delays. This schedule shuffle was similar to many other movie productions that filmed within the last year, but at the time, it seemed that the April 2023 date would stick. That was until this week when the slot was taken over by Evil Dead Rise, the latest movie in the iconic horror franchise that was originally set to premiere on HBO Max this Fall, but after reported positive test screenings, has been promoted to a big screen release.
Salem’s Lot is One of the Few Big WBD Movies Now Without a Release Date
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Warner Bros. Discovery has been wielding the axe on many movies and TV shows recently as they attempt to cut costs and recoup money from movies like Batgirl, which are being used as tax write-offs. Salem’s Lot is not among that group yet, but the latest announcements have left its future on shaky ground, and until a new release date is announced, it is not surprising that some fear the worst for the new Stephen King adaptation.
While Salem’s Lot’s removal from the release schedule was done very quietly, with the announcement centering on Evil Dead Rise’s release date rather than Salem’s Lot’s lack of one, other movies like The Nun 2 were given slots in the schedule. Salem’s Lot not being given a new date has seen rumors circulating that the film could end up being a direct swap with Evil Dead Rise, with the former now being considered as an HBO Max exclusive. However, Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO David Zaslav has made it clear that much of the focus is on making cinematic movies and not concentrating on streaming exclusives, and with HBO Max’s future also seeming to be up in the air, fans and most likely those involved in the movie’s production, can only wait for more details about when and if they will get to see the film arrive at all.
