Credit: Warner Bros. PicturesStephen King is one of the most popular and adapted writers in the world, and maybe because of that, he is not afraid to get public with harsh words to Warner Bros. Discovery over a new canceled movie.
Since the release of Carrie (1976), adaptations of Stephen King’s books, movies, and ice-cream headaches have been a cottage industry in Hollywood. Critically acclaimed filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick and John Carpenter have made films of his work, while everyone from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Matthew McConaughey to Pierce Brosnan has starred in one. In many ways, a King adaptation is one of the few sure bets that the entertainment ever has.
Because of that, it seems that Stephen King finds it pretty weird that Warner Bros. Discovery is apparently refusing to release Salem’s Lot, the second adaptation of the 1975 vampire horror novel of the same name. The film is directed by Gary Dauberman and set to star Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Pilou Asbæk, Alfre Woodard, and William Sadler, and was initially supposed to have been released in 2022.
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Since then, it was rescheduled to 2023, taken off the official WBD schedule, and rumored to be dumped on the Max streaming service. As of right now, apparently, the studio has literally no plans at all to release it.
Stephen King spoke up about that on Twitter, saying, “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. Who knows. I just write the f***ing things.”
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. Who knows. I just write the fucking things.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) February 19, 2024
While Warner Bros. Discovery may just be sitting on Salem’s Lot for the moment until executives decide what to do, it seems entirely more likely that the company has decided not to release the film in order to claim a tax credit for it. In recent years, the company (under the controversial leadership of CEO David Zaslav) has faced a huge amount of backlash for shelving nearly complete and entirely complete films in order to claim that its production was a loss.
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It has been theorized that this dubious tax strategy (which has kicked off its own investigation in Congress) is an attempt to recoup expenditures from the massive merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc.; it is also angering fans who increasingly feel that executives like David Zalsav seem to have no interest in actually releasing films or television show.
Either way, it seems very possible that Salem’s Lot will be relegated to the same hidden storerooms as Batgirl, Scoob! Holiday Haunt, and Coyote Vs. Acme. There seems to be just no stopping studios from canceling films.
Do you think Salem’s Lot will be another lost WB movie? Tell us in the comments below!