ScreamWire Daily

Netflix announced another US price increase across plans (ad plan to $8.99; standard $19.99; premium $26.99) and higher add‑member fees — the streamer says it will reinvest in content as it budgets roughly $20B in 2026, a signal that impact to indie and genre licensing/commission economics may continue.

Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders will vote April 23 on the proposed merger with Paramount — WBD boards recommend approval and the merger terms specify $31 cash per WBD share (a 147% premium), with the deal expected to close Q3 2026 subject to regulatory review; executive compensation/exit figures for David Zaslav are noted in the filing.

Blumhouse Games and developer Perfect Garbage announced the cozy‑horror farming sim Grave Seasons will launch August 14 on PC and consoles—positioned as Stardew-style gameplay with Lovecraftian and serial‑killer narrative beats—marking another push by Blumhouse into gaming.

Belgium’s Constitutional Court dismissed Netflix’s appeal against Wallonia-Brussels rules requiring streamers to invest up to 9.5% of turnover in local production (previously 2.2%), while referring specific legal questions to the CJEU — a ruling with implications for EU platform contribution regimes.

Series Mania signaled a TV quality reset with riskier, boundary-pushing international shows attracting buyers again; the market discussion included signs of streamers and broadcasters reopening to bold originals and a new Council of Europe co‑production treaty to boost cross-border financing.

Malcolm D. Lee’s psychological thriller Strung—produced by Tyler Perry, Jason Blum and others and starring Chloe Bailey with Lynn Whitfield, Anna Diop and Coco Jones—will premiere as the opener of the 30th American Black Film Festival and stream on Peacock beginning June 26, 2026.

Variety/Clayton Davis' Emmy predictions note a surge in genre storytelling — with Netflix’s Stranger Things, HBO Max’s IT: Welcome to Derry and Apple’s Pluribus among frontrunners — signaling genre series are central to the drama race and shaping Emmy campaign strategies ahead of June voting and July nominations.

Anaconda — a 2025 horror-comedy starring Jack Black, Paul Rudd and Ice Cube and directed by Tom Gormican — topped Netflix's U.S. movie charts after its streaming debut; the film grossed roughly $135M worldwide.

Tubi published a trailer-led story highlighting Xochitl Gomez as a babysitter forced to confront a sinister entity on a playground in Hive, reiterating the April 17 premiere date and the film’s creepy-kid subgenre positioning.

Netflix dates Tommy Wirkola’s shark-thriller Thrash for April 10; R-rated disaster/shark premise starring Phoebe Dynevor, Whitney Peak and Djimon Hounsou — first poster unveiled ahead of streaming release.

Concept art has surfaced for a cancelled sci‑fi horror prototype developed by Sony-owned UK studio Firesprite — described as Dead Space‑adjacent — which never progressed past prototype before being shuttered; report surfaced via MP1st and picked up by Bloody Disgusting.

SXSW programming leaned into genre-mashing this year, showcasing rom-com hybrids that blend romance with horror, sci-fi, and fantasy — highlights include Wishful Thinking (sci-fi/rom-com, no distributor yet) and Obsession (horror debuting at SXSW).

Tubi launched Death Name, directed by Réi and starring Amy Keum, as a free Tubi Original that blends supernatural horror with a culturally rooted family-curse story and is now streaming without subscription.

Netflix set a global release date for Spanish psychological thriller The Truthers (Los Creyentes) for July 24, 2026; the film is directed by Roger Gual and written/executive-produced by Carlos Montero and Darío Madrona.

Kevin Williamson says directing Scream 7 was 'one and done' and indicates he doesn’t plan to return to the director’s chair for further Scream sequels, while expressing interest in launching a new horror franchise.

JoBlo reports director Lee Cronin declined to return for an Evil Dead Rise sequel in favor of taking on The Mummy, signaling a notable auteur move within the horror director market and altering sequel prospects for the Evil Dead franchise.

Development on Hocus Pocus 3 appears stalled amid leadership changes at Disney despite past assurances and a reportedly completed script, with original cast members saying they’ve had no contact about returning.

Victoria Pedretti promotes Meredith Alloway’s comedy-horror Forbidden Fruits (she plays Cherry), describing the film as a witchy, Mean Girls–adjacent exploration of consumerism, grief and abusive community dynamics; she notes use of an intimacy coordinator and that the project matured over several years from attachment to shooting.

Well Go USA will release monster movie The Yeti in theaters nationwide April 4–8 as part of the AMC Thrills Chills series, with digital release on April 10 and in-person Q&As scheduled in Dallas, LA and NYC.

Glen Powell officially joined the cast of Anya Taylor‑Joye’s upcoming sci‑fi movie releasing next week, adding star power to the film’s final pre-release marketing push and signaling a high‑profile supporting turn for Powell.

Alice Maio Mackay’s indie witchcraft feature The Serpent’s Kiss is praised for its trans representation, intimate performances and stylistic ambition despite low-budget SFX and rough edges — reviewer scores it 3/5.

Neon released new key art for Damian McCarthy's Hokum, a kaleidoscopic horror starring Adam Scott as a novelist encountering nightmare tales at a remote Irish inn, with a theatrical release set for May 1.

Parapsychologist, a supernatural graphic novel co-created by Taki Soma and Mark Schey with art by Cat Farris, will premiere digitally March 31 and follows a therapist managing family life and paranormal patients.

Bryan Singer quietly returned to directing with Monument, a Middle East suspense thriller that opened recently but registered weak box-office/awareness and made little cultural or commercial impact after his eight-year hiatus.

SAG‑AFTRA endorsed the Trump administration’s national AI policy framework—backing protections against nonconsensual AI replicas of performers while urging Congress to pass federal legislation (including support for the NO FAKES Act) and preserving courts as arbiters for unauthorized AI training disputes.

TIFF: The Market (Sept 10–16, Toronto) will launch with financing meetings, labs for directors and writers, an IP Exchange connecting publishing/gaming/immersive rights-holders with studios, and prize-backed screenwriter and Sloan fellowships — specific awards include a $15,000 CAD TIFF-CBC Screenwriter Award and a $35,000 CAD Sloan fellowship (and a $15,000 CAD Sloan project pitch award).

Row K Entertainment saw president Megan Colligan and CMO Ben Carlson exit seven months after launch amid clashes with founders Christopher Woodrow and Raj Singh and reported cashflow issues; the company pushed back release dates, lost vendor confidence, and insiders disclosed acquisition and P&A figures including a $12M reported (not closed) Cliffhanger purchase and $5M acquisition + $5M marketing on Dead Man’s Wire, signaling distribution instability.

Vice Studios under president Amy Powell has appointed Adam Kassan EVP scripted film/TV and Cat Lawson EVP unscripted, promoted Clair Marshall and Paul Randle, and announced plans to invest up to $500M in original content over 3–5 years while acquiring worldwide adaptation rights to the Payday gaming franchise.

Netflix cast Damson Idris as lead in a six-episode political/action thriller The Lords’ Day — an adaptation of Michael Dobbs' novel developed by Bad Wolf, written by Jonathan Brackley & Sam Vincent and directed by Ben Chanan, positioning Idris as a new flagship action TV lead for the streamer.

Disney+ added City of Blood, a supernatural thriller series adapted from the Berlinoir graphic novel by Reinhard Kleist and Tobias O. Meißner, to its Germany Originals slate following Series Mania coverage.

Himesh Patel has been cast to co-star opposite Danielle Deadwyler on Ryan Coogler’s Hulu X‑Files reboot; the pilot is scheduled to shoot in Vancouver this May under Coogler’s producing banner.

Ramin Bahrani is set to rewrite and direct The Rancher, a female-led Texas thriller based on a spec by Melanie Toast, for Netflix with producer Toby Jaffe and RDV Films attached; Bahrani moves onto this after Vegas: A Love Story and Last Meals.

Apple Studios greenlit Liminal, a sci‑fi action‑thriller from Louis Leterrier based on the AWA graphic novel Telepaths; Vanessa Kirby and Yahya Abdul‑Mateen II star and Justin Rhodes wrote the screenplay.

Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink Drama selected seven Southeast European series projects for development support, including the horror-comedy Small Yugoslavia (vampire queens in an apartment complex) alongside multiple crime thrillers and regionally focused drama series, signaling stronger genre TV activity in the region.

Toronto launches a new five-year strategy targeting $2B annual film GDP—policy/strategy aimed at boosting local production economy and incentives, signaling municipal-level production targets that could affect Canadian genre shoots and inward production flow.

Playback deals roundup notes activity involving K.O. Distribution, Quebecor Content and Radio-Canada—likely distribution and rights deals in Canadian/Quebec markets though excerpt provides no deal terms.

The End of Oak Street’s first trailer confirms the film’s dinosaur/prehistoric angle: a neighborhood is ripped from suburbia and dropped into an unknown, dangerous place; David Robert Mitchell directs, Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor lead, and the film opens Aug 14, 2026.

Forge, Jing Ai Ng's SXSW 2025 favorite starring Kelly Marie Tran, is an offbeat crime film about siblings in the art forgery underworld and will open in NYC and LA in May.

Solo developer FYRE Games launched Project Songbird, a narratively driven psychological horror game, on PS5, Xbox Series and PC (Steam) with a 10% launch discount for PS5 and Steam players.

Brainstorm Media released the trailer for Chad Faust’s revenge thriller Ballistic, starring Lena Headey; the film hits VOD in April and follows a mother who discovers the bullet that killed her son was made at her factory and seeks answers.

A full trailer debuted for Renny Harlin's new shark thriller Deep Water, which stars Aaron Eckhart and evokes Harlin's Deep Blue Sea pedigree.

Epic Pictures Group released the U.S. trailer for Colin McIvor’s No Ordinary Heist—an Irish crime thriller inspired by the Northern Bank robbery—starring Eddie Marsan and Éanna Hardwicke with a late-April release.