Back in April, we openly wondered what the hell was going on with Warner Bros.’ highly-anticipated ‘Salem’s Lot remake, a project that hadn’t released so much as a trailer despite one having premiered at CinemaCon the year before. Well, it’s now six months later, and it appears we have an answer to that question.
According to Variety, Warner Bros. is planning to send the film directly to Max (formerly HBO Max). The reason?
“A source with knowledge of the back-and-forth says the move is not a reflection of the film’s quality but is due to the fact that the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike has created a growing need for Max content. Salem’s Lot is one of a few Warner Bros. films deemed to make the jump.”
Yes, ‘Salem’s Lot, which was planned as a theatrical feature and which has, in Variety’s words, been “sitting on the shelf for a year,” is now being called to the frontlines of Max, where it will help smooth over the dearth of fresh content caused by the SAG-AFTRA strike (that the strike itself is the direct result of the studios’ greed turns this entire saga into something of a Möbius strip, but let’s not get distracted by that right now).
Meanwhile, a Warner Bros. spokesman tells Variety that “no decision has been made about the film’s future distribution plans,” but Variety seems to be standing by its sources on this one.
For those just joining the conversation, the new ‘Salem’s Lot was directed by Gary Dauberman (no stranger to the King-on-film genre following his work on both of Andy Muschietti’s IT films) and stars Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, Bill Camp, John Benjamin Hickey, Nicholas Crovetti, Jordan Preston Carter, William Sadler, Spencer Treat Clark, Cade Woodward, Debra Christofferson, and Pilou Asbaek.
Will ‘Salem’s Lot end up being a Max-only title? Will the studio suddenly make a decision about the film’s “future distribution plans” and pick out a date on the calendar? Stay tuned to find out, folks! We’ll keep you informed as further updates roll in.
