Last year it was revealed that after teaming up to bring nightmares to life in The Conjuring cinematic universe, James Wan and Gary Dauberman are looking to bring one of Stephen King's classic stories to the big screen with a film adaptation of ’Salem's Lot, with Wan producing and Dauberman executive producing and writing the screenplay. Nearly one year later, it's now been reported that Dauberman will also direct the latest adaptation of King's beloved 1975 book.
The news comes from The Hollywood Reporter, who report that Dauberman "has closed a deal to direct the feature thriller" for New Line Cinema. This will mark Dauberman's second movie as director, as he made his directorial debut with last year's Annabelle Comes Home.
According to THR, Roy Lee and Mark Wolper will produce the new 'Salem's Lot adaptation alongside Wan. A release date has yet to be announced.
Wan and Dauberman are frequent collaborators, with Dauberman having written The Nun and all three Annabelle movies, all of which are produced by Wan, and he also co-wrote the pilot episode of the Swamp Thing series that Wan executive produced.
One of the busiest screenwriters working in the horror genre today, Dauberman also co-wrote the screenplay for IT Chapter One and wrote the script for IT Chapter Two.
A story about an author who moves back to his hometown only to discover that it's being overrun by vampires (thanks to the enigmatic new resident in town known as Kurt Barlow), ’Salem's Lot was adapted as a TV miniseries in 1979 by Tobe Hooper and as a TV miniseries in 2004 by Mikael Salomon. A sequel to the 1979 miniseries, A Return to Salem's Lot was directed by Larry Cohen and released in 1987.
The ’Salem's Lot adaptation isn't the only Stephen King adaptation that Wan has in the works, as he's also producing a new adaptation of The Tommyknockers, which was previously adapted as a 1993 miniseries.
Casting for the new e'll keep Daily Dead readers updated as more details surface for the new ’Salem's Lot adaptation, and for those unfamiliar with the book, we have the official synopsis below (via StephenKing.com):
"Author Ben Mears returns to ‘Salem's Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more victims, Mears convinces a small group of believers to combat the undead."
Cover art via Amazon:
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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