Salem’s Lot movie heading straight to streaming

'Salem's Lot' will be released on the streaming service Max rather than being launched in cinemas.

The studio behind the horror picture, New Line, has confirmed that the flick will appear on the streamer at some point in 2024.

The film is an adaptation of Stephen King's 1975 novel of the same name and has an ensemble cast that features Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh and Alfre Woodward.

The movie had initially been slated for release in 2022 before being pushed back to spring 2023 as a result of Covid-related delays. It was then taken off the release schedule altogether by Warner Bros. - to the bemusement of King himself.

Taking to social media platform X (previously Twitter), the author wrote: "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 things."

Warner Bros. have recently come under fire for shelving a number of finished movies as tax write-offs including ‘Batgirl’ and ‘Coyote vs. Acme’, although DC Studios co-chair Peter Safran defended the company’s “bold and courageous” decision to axe the "unreleasable" superhero film in 2022.

He told Variety: "On the 'Batgirl' front, it's not about late in the process of the film getting cancelled. I saw the movie, and there are a lot of incredibly talented people in front of and behind the camera on the film.

"But that film was not releasable, and it happens sometimes. That film was not releasable. I actually think that (the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, David) Zaslav and the team made a very bold and courageous decision to cancel it because it would have hurt DC. It would have hurt those people involved."