Netflix, NEON & A24

Screen tracks Cannes market packages ahead of the May 12-20 market, listing diverse projects from Doug Liman’s AI-enabled Bitcoin thriller (Gal Gadot, Isla Fisher, Casey Affleck, Pete Davidson) to high-concept thrillers from Ant Timpson and other international auteurs, with international sales partners noted per package.

Multiple reports say A24’s live-action Elden Ring (written/directed by Alex Garland) is scheduled for IMAX theatrical release on March 3, 2028 and is reportedly A24’s most expensive production to date with a budget reported well over $100 million and an ensemble cast attached.

Panic Fest premiere Obsession (dir. Curry Barker) is being hailed as a breakout theatrical-ready horror debut—mixing body horror and consent-driven themes—with a star-making lead turn from Inde Navarrette and strong festival buzz that could drive distribution interest.

Damian McCarthy’s Hokum, starring Adam Scott and picked up by NEON for wide theatrical release, premiered at Panic Fest as a crowd-pleasing supernatural horror-comedy that expands McCarthy’s scope while signaling distributor confidence in the director’s commercial trajectory.

Netflix released the first six minutes of Stranger Things: Tales from '85, the animated 10-episode series set between Seasons 2 and 3, marking an expansion of the Stranger Things franchise into animated formats.

Acquisition news: Neon has picked up U.S. rights to Brandon Cronenberg’s sci‑fi thriller Possessor, indicating a distributor fit for elevated genre fare and setting the picture up for a U.S. release path via a specialty/genre-focused theatrical and VOD rollout.

Searchlight’s Ready or Not 2 premiered at SXSW with directors Matt Bettinelli‑Olpin and Tyler Gillett and Samara Weaving returning as Grace; the sequel leans harder into gore and franchise set‑pieces while introducing a new sister character (Kathryn Newton) and a larger conspiracy of elite families—critic frames it as a likely sophomore slump that nonetheless delivers crowd-pleasing violence. The piece reiterates the first film’s $6M budget / $50M+ global gross as franchise context.

Netflix acquired Jaume Collet-Serra’s WWII survival thriller Play Dead (starring Noah Jupe and Matthias Schweighöfer), produced by Ghost House, BoulderLight and financed by Nocturnal — WME Independent handled sales and the film will join Collet‑Serra’s Netflix creative partnership slate.

Talk To Me — the 2022 Australian supernatural horror from directors Danny & Michael Philippou starring Sophie Wilde — is leaving Netflix on April 25; the film (A24 release) continues to draw praise for its body-horror imagery and themes of grief, addiction and social-media rituals.

Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich tease an update on Five Nights at Freddy’s 3, hinting at an unexpected reunion of Scream franchise villains as Blumhouse advances its live‑action FNaF series following the franchise’s box-office success.

Netflix secured global first-run simulcast rights to Chinese crime thriller Light to the Night (黑夜告白 / Confessions in the Dark), a 28-episode multi-timeline investigation series directed by Wang Zhi that will roll out daily beginning April 25, 2026.

Hulu has ordered a pilot for a new X-Files reboot with Ryan Coogler set to write and direct the pilot and Danielle Deadwyler cast as one of the two lead FBI agents; Jennifer Yale is showrunner, original creator Chris Carter remains a non-writing EP, and the project sits under Coogler's Disney overall TV deal via Proximity Media.

Netflix's live-action Gundam is now in production with an ensemble led by Sydney Sweeney, Jason Isaacs and Noah Centineo; Jim Mickle is directing and wrote the script, with Netflix producing alongside Legendary Pictures and Bandai Namco Filmworks.

Netflix and 21 Laps are developing a feature adaptation of Grady Hendrix’s short story 'The Blanks'—a continuation of Netflix’s investment in literary horror IP from a prolific contemporary genre author.

Ben Leonberg (Good Boy) is attached to direct a Grady Hendrix adaptation for Sony Pictures, marking another studio-scale move to translate a commercial horror author into a potential franchise film.

Magnolia’s Magnet label will release the dark, nightmarish thriller HEEL on Blu‑Ray, DVD and VOD May 26, 2026 (SRP listed: Blu‑Ray $29.98, DVD $26.98); the TIFF 2025 selection stars Anson Boon, Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough.

Michael Chaves (The Conjuring Universe) and writer/artist Matthew Roberts launch Corpse Knight with Skybound — a character‑driven, historical‑fantasy horror comic focused on a father/daughter dynamic, with issue one just released as a mini‑series.

CMPA reports Canadian production volume reached CAD 10.2 billion in 2024–25, underscoring Canada's continuing role as a high-capacity production jurisdiction that matters for genre and indie horror shoots.

BIFAN’s 30th edition (July 2–12) unveiled a ‘chameleon’ poster and ‘New Era, New Skin’ slogan signaling a programming pivot that embraces AI-driven creativity alongside its established genre slate.

Apple TV+ set Silo Season 3 to premiere July 3 with a 10-episode run releasing one episode weekly through Sept. 4; Season 3 continues the dystopian saga (present timeline + origin ‘Before Times’) and was greenlit alongside a final Season 4. Rebecca Ferguson returns as Juliette with new and returning cast additions including Jessica Henwick, Ashley Zukerman and Colin Hanks.

A teaser trailer for Alex Kahuam’s The Remedy — produced with Kahuam Films, Sparta Productions and Breakwall Pictures — will screen at SXSW London on June 3, positioning the film for festival exposure ahead of wider distribution moves.

A trailer has debuted for Hungry, a killer-hippo creature feature directed by James Nunn, positioning the film as a high-concept creature-horror/comedy ahead of its release campaign.

A Tokyo court found Wataru Takeuchi guilty for running a spoiler site that reproduced extensive content from Godzilla Minus One and Overlord; he earned ¥38M from ads in 2023 and was sentenced to 18 months in prison plus a ¥1M fine, a landmark ruling on spoiler sites and monetized copyright infringement.