The new film adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot now has a release date set for 2022. The novel Salem's Lot, which is about the writer Ben Mears returning to his hometown of Jerusalem's Lot and realizing it is being infested with vampires, is King's second novel, released in 1975. The novel was previously adapted into a two-part miniseries by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) in 1979, which was followed by the 1987 feature film sequel, A Return to Salem's Lot, from director Larry Cohen (The Stuff). A reboot miniseries starring Rob Lowe premiered in 2004.
Although television has seen plenty of Salem's Lot, this will be the first time the novel will be directly adapted to film (George A. Romero was once attached to a film adaptation, but that never came to fruition). New Line is backing the new film with producers Roy Lee, Michael Clear, Mark Wolper, and James Wan. The writer-director attached is Gary Dauberman, a recurring figure in Wan's Conjuring universe. Dauberman made his directorial debut with Annabelle Comes Home after penning the first two Annabelle scripts and The Nun. He also co-wrote both It films, so this isn't his first time adapting the works of King.
Salem's Lot now has an official release date from Warner Bros. King fans can expect the new adaptation to swoop into theaters on September 9, 2022. Due to films' transitions back into theaters, it is highly unlikely that Salem's Lot will follow the Warner Bros. model for their 2021 slate, which included simultaneous HBO Max streaming for the first month of theatrical release.
This new adaptation of Salem's Lot will star Bad Times at the El Royale's Lewis Pullman (Bill Pullman's son) as Ben Mears. Also featured are Makenzie Leigh (Gotham) as Ben's love interest Susan Norton, Bill Camp (The Queen's Gambit) as high school teacher Matt Burke, Spencer Treat Clark (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as gravedigger Mike Ryerson, and William Sadler (a King veteran from The Mist, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile) in an as-yet-unspecified role. The most recent addition to the Salem's Lot cast is Alfre Woodard, who previously worked with Gary Dauberman in Annabelle. She will be playing Dr. Cody in a bit of gender-swapping from the source material.
Salem's Lot is coming almost two full months before Halloween, but September horror has a solid track record. In fact, both It movies came out in September and landed in the top 10 for domestic box office in 2017 and 2019 respectively. In addition to that, producers are likely giving a wide berth to the mid-October release of Halloween Ends. It remains to be seen if Salem's Lot can recreate the success of It (and indeed, there's always a chance the film will reveal itself to be the first chapter of two just like It), but now, fans know exactly how long they have to wait to find out.
Source: Warner Bros.