Netflix, 20th Century Studios & Hulu

CinemaCon 2026 saw studios coalesce around reinstating longer theatrical windows (commonly 45 days or more), with Universal leading and other majors — including Disney and Amazon MGM — publicly committing to extended windows as a strategy to bolster theatrical revenue and exhibitor relations.

Alien: Romulus (Fede Álvarez; produced under Disney/20th Century) will arrive on Hulu May 21 after a $350.9M global box office on an ~$80M budget; Disney has a sequel in development though Álvarez won’t return to direct.

Focus Features acquired distribution for Curry Barker’s Anything But Ghosts (wrapped in Vancouver) starring Aaron Paul; produced by Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Spooky Pictures and Divide/Conquer — Barker directed and co-wrote, indicating a major studio pick-up for a rising horror filmmaker.

Eli Roth, director Adam MacDonald and Peyton List are teaming on Be Mine, a Valentine’s Day VR slasher/experience — a genre experiment combining slasher tropes with immersive VR distribution that could signal more premium horror in immersive formats.

James Mangold and Robert Levine are developing a Cop Land TV adaptation for Paramount Television Studios and Miramax Television with Levine as showrunner; the property, mined from Miramax’s library, has attracted multiple offers and stems from Mangold’s overall deal with Paramount.

Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to Japanese horror Never After Dark (directed by Dave Boyle) with a planned theatrical release this fall after festival play.

Courtney Kemp retools her pitching: shows must prove budget, scale and franchise potential up front; her new Netflix-set series Nemesis (starring Matthew Law and Y'lan Noel) is positioned as a scalable, action-leaning crime drama filmed in L.A.

Studio Dome’s Horror Collective acquired worldwide rights to slasher 213 Bones (dir. Jeffrey Primm) and will launch international sales at Cannes; package highlights a 1993 Pacific Northwest slasher, a Jason Baker‑designed mask, and ’90s soundtrack assets to boost marketability.

Next Narrative Africa Fund study (by Parrot Analytics) finds the U.S. is the largest single market for African storytelling (8.7% of global demand) and highlights a supply gap—non-English African stories are 28% of demand but only 16% of supply—supporting NNAF’s $40M commercial fund and $10M nonprofit venture studio as opportunity signals for increased financing and distribution.

Cannes added 15 new titles including Zachary Wigon’s Victorian Psycho—a gothic psychological thriller now in Un Certain Regard starring Maika Monroe (replacing Margaret Qualley) and Jason Isaacs—after A24 dropped the project and it landed at Bleecker Street; Werner Herzog’s film appears headed to Venice instead.

SSFF & ASIA 2026 in Tokyo (May 26–June 9, online through June 30) selected ~250 shorts from 5,000 submissions under a “Cinema Engineering” theme; programming includes genre entries such as the Korean horror short “4:44: Time of Fear” (starring Onew), expanded AI-focused initiatives, and high-profile director debuts from Renée Zellweger and Charlie Kaufman.

Netflix’s new animated Stranger Things spinoff Tales From ‘85 recasts Robert Englund in a different role (Cosmo, a tabloid editor); the series premieres Apr 23 and features a largely new voice cast with the franchise’s creators and 21 Laps attached as EPs.

20th Century Studios reports Send Help had a $40M production budget and grossed $64.7M domestic / $29.3M international for a $94M global total; the Sam Raimi film (Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien) will stream on Hulu/Disney+ May 7, 2026.

Investigation Discovery (WBD) will air The Many Lives of Benjaman Kyle as a two-night true-crime documentary that examines a medical/amnesia mystery, positioning ID to continue leaning into human-interest investigative specials.

Pocket‑lint highlights Guillermo del Toro’s Devil’s Backbone as a forgotten horror masterpiece now available to stream free, boosting visibility for a classic that can drive catalog viewership and renewed critical interest.

Catalog and release news: Ginger Snaps is returning in a Vestron Collector’s Series 4K/BD + Digital on May 19 (MSRP $39.97); Adrian Chiarella’s Leviticus hits theaters June 19; and Natalie Erika James’ Saccharine opens in select theaters May 22.

Amazon MGM Studios launched a public consultation for a major redevelopment of Bray Film Studios — restoring heritage buildings, adding new sound stages and workshops to enable two major productions simultaneously, targeting net‑zero all‑electric stages and creating an estimated 3,000+ UK jobs; formal planning submission expected this summer with a decision due autumn 2026.

Blood Pact Films is programming a one‑day theatrical event (May 17) in Evansville, IN, to screen two extreme independent horror titles — The Benefactress (An Exposure of Cinematic Freedom) and Tape Me — offering rare theatrical access for extreme/experimental horror.

A24’s Elden Ring adaptation released set photos showing Kit Connor and a depiction of Queen Marika, signaling the film will incorporate key FromSoftware canon (possibly a pre‑Shattering story); Alex Garland remains attached as creative lead and the production appears high‑budget for a prestige game adaptation.

A Netflix preview lists five high‑profile 2026 originals relevant to genre watchers: Apex (survival/action with Charlize Theron, Apr 24), The Whisper Man (psychological thriller with Robert De Niro and Adam Scott), plus franchise/adaptation tentpoles including Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man and Narnia (Greta Gerwig) — framing Netflix’s growing original film spend.

Image Comics will collect Frank J. Barbiere and Morgan Beem's queer portal-fantasy The Author Immortal as Volume One this spring, positioning the creator-owned series for broader discoverability.

IDW Dark has an original OPERATION: IRON COFFIN series reimagining Dracula in a WWII/John Wick–style revenge arc — a public-domain Dracula riff positioning the IP for high-concept genre comics and potential cross-media interest.

Warner Bros./DC Studios released a trailer for Clayface—an R‑rated, body‑horror‑leaning DCU film directed by James Watkins from early drafts by Mike Flanagan and a rewrite by Hossein Amini—starring Tom Rhys Harries, with a reported $40M budget and an October 23, 2026 theatrical date.

Collider (exclusive) teases a savage first teaser for Sam Raimi’s returning fantasy-horror franchise (implied Evil Dead universe), signaling a new installment and early marketing push—an industry-level franchise relaunch for Raimi’s IP.

IFC Films and Shudder released the first trailer for Natalie Erika James’ Saccharine — a supernatural body‑horror about a medical student drawn into ash‑eating and toxic weight‑loss culture — following premieres at Sundance and Berlin; stars include Midori Francis, Danielle Macdonald and Madeleine Madden.

Dark House of the Mannequins, written and directed by Staci Layne Wilson and starring Arielle Brachfeld, gets its first trailer and is set for a summer release across Prime Video, Vudu, Tubi and BloodstreamTV—positioned as a grindhouse-flavored, gore-soaked midnight‑screening cult play.