A24, Roy Lee & Steven Schneider

MBC Studios is rolling a Saudi-focused slate led by high-end horror Traveller’s Hell, a theatrical MENA release this year; Traveller’s Hell adapts best-seller by Osamah Almuslim and boards director Hana Al Omair; MBC plans further Almuslim adaptations including Spider’s Web (production targeted Q4 2026) and a Khawf-based fantasy series, signaling continued Saudi investment in local genre IP and mid-budget, regionally-tailored theatrical strategy after a costly Desert Warrior miss.

Dario Argento and Rome-based Mattia's Film announced a three-picture thriller slate at the Marché du Film Fantastic Pavilion with Neo Art handling international sales; first film Flesh of My Flesh is shooting near Rome, second (The Girl with Crystal Eyes) slated to begin production autumn 2026, and third (The Black Velvet Mask) scheduled for 2027 across multiple European territories and languages.

Guneet Monga Kapoor is pivoting into women-led genre franchises and gaming as producer and founder of Women in Film India; she has a Jio Studios deal, is financing a Tamil-language film outright, has a Sept. 11 release Udta Teer co-produced with Dharma, and says three films (including a slasher and a natural-disaster picture) will go into production within a year while other genre projects sit in deal-closing stages.

Producer Steven Schneider (Spooky Pictures) boards Henry Chaisson’s debut horror Recluse as executive producer ahead of its world premiere in Tribeca’s Escape From Tribeca strand; Blue Finch Films is handling world sales, positioning the title for festival-driven buyer interest.

Bong Joon-ho; first feature-length animation Ally aims for production wrap in H1 2027; CJ ENM, Pench K‑Content Investment Fund and Pathé co-invest/distribute with Barunson E&A producing; large multinational team across 12 countries and co-writer Yoo Jae-sun attached.

Gary Dauberman has secured the rights to Rest Stop, a recently published horror novella by Nat Cassidy, with an eye toward developing a feature adaptation. Dauberman continues to expand his producing/writing horror slate and creates a new IP pipeline.

20th Century Studios has locked Radio Silence to direct and produce a major feature adaptation of the Choose Your Own Adventure franchise with Tom Bissell writing; the move is the first big theatrical take on the gamebook IP and plays to Radio Silence’s success reviving genre tentpoles.

Ryan Spindell and Cullen Bunn are attached to adapt Scott Hampton’s graphic novel The Upturned Stone into a feature; Spindell will write and direct from a screenplay by Bunn, signaling a genre-forward graphic-novel-to-film play with known horror creators attached and IP readying for development.

Frontières is partnering with TIFFCOM to launch a Tokyo gap‑financing program at the Tokyo Gap Financing Market this October; the curated showcase will target international horror/sci‑fi/fantasy/action/animation projects seeking up to 40% gap financing, with submissions open May 22–July 21 and one‑to‑one meetings with producers, financiers and platforms.

Lionsgate reported a swing to $70M net profit for the quarter as The Housemaid grossed nearly $400M worldwide and became Starz’s top pay-one title, prompting the studio to schedule sequel The Housemaid’s Secret for Dec. 17, 2027 and cite stronger ancillary performance.

Sony Pictures’ Skeletons adds Kyle Gallner opposite Brie Larson with JT Mollner directing and J.J. Abrams producing via Bad Robot; FilmNation’s Infrared is financing, worldwide rights were picked up at the European Film Market, and the script originates from Brian Duffield adapting a Philip Fracassi story—package signals a mid/upper-tier studio-backed creature-horror production.

Film financiers at the American Pavilion in Cannes argue the product has shifted from films to ongoing audience relationships; panels stressed subscription/engagement metrics over box-office-only valuations and signaled changing underwriting criteria for projects and slates going forward.

Low-budget horror Obsession topped the domestic box office on Monday with $2.9M on a reported $750K budget, marking the smallest-budget film to lead in 17 years and signaling strong word-of-mouth upside and high ROI for micro-budget horror.

More than 40 advocacy organizations including GLAAD, HRC and PFLAG filed comments with the FCC opposing a proposal to require warning labels specifically for programming with LGBTQ characters/themes; the coalition warns the move would be discriminatory, set a dangerous precedent, and cedes parental‑content decisions to regulators.

Estonia is pushing to triple its film industry in five years with two new soundstage complexes and a raised cash rebate now at 40%; government backing, LEED Gold–targeted facilities, and a production-friendly regulatory stance position Estonia as a growing Nordic-Baltic production hub for big international shoots.

Xavier Becerra proposes a California Content Performance Disclosure requirement to force streamers to share standardized viewership/performance data with creators and crew and suggests tying disclosure to tax-credit or permitting incentives; he also proposes a California Entertainment Summit to produce binding action plans on job loss and production leakage.

NEON and ROW K are in distribution talks for festival titles, indicating active acquisitive positioning ahead of summer releases; IMAX is exploring a potential sale of its large-format exhibition business, a move that could reshape premium-theatrical infrastruture and buyer appetite for spectacle-driven genre titles.

Showrunners at TheWrap’s industry breakfast pushed back on AI replacing writers and shared tactics for avoiding sophomore slumps; panel highlighted rising genre blends on streaming with Katie Dippold calling horror-comedy’s tonal tightrope a production pressure point.

IMAX is in preliminary discussions to gauge interest in a potential sale, sparking a >10% stock jump; company positions itself as a strategic theatrical asset globally amid strong box-office contribution from blockbuster tentpoles and expansion into India.

CRTC sets a revised Canadian Programming Expenditures framework; companies with >=$25M Canadian broadcasting revenue face a 25% CPE requirement while online streaming services get a 15% floor; large players (>=$100M) must dedicate funds to French/OLMC programming and contribute 1.55% of audiovisual revenues to a new Services of Exceptional Importance Fund, with discoverability reporting and a three-year review cadence.

Make Believe launches an AI media lab led by Ben Relles with Reid Hoffman as an investor; studio-grade real‑time video avatars and interactive-video tools are being built for conversational experiences and the company already has a development deal with A+E Networks’ History Channel; positions interactive AI video as a potential new format that could change creator-to-audience product and licensing opportunities.

Tubi reported 97M monthly active users and 10B annual streaming hours, driven by younger, multicultural viewers and a growing slate of 300+ originals where nearly 25% of viewers watch Tubi Originals; the metrics bolster ad-supported VOD's scale and position Tubi as a viable free-window outlet for genre and indie films targeting Gen Z/millennial audiences.

MUBI has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner; Bitmovin will replace MUBI’s legacy on‑premises encoder with a managed cloud service supporting 3‑pass encoding, UHD and a multi‑codec strategy (AVC, HEVC, AV1) plus HDR; signals MUBI is prioritising AV1/HDR optimisation and modernising its streaming infrastructure.

CAA and Finch & Partners hosted a Future of Film symposium at Cannes gathering top filmmakers and studio execs to debate theatrical windows, AI, financing and attention economy; the event signals agency-led efforts to shape festival-to-market strategies and to export the format to other cultural gatherings.

Fremantle inks a YouTube content partnership with PBS Distribution and acquires a stake in Craft Films to boost digital-first distribution and creator-led channels; move signals traditional broadcasters shifting investment into ad-supported digital distribution and boutique production partners.

Bell Media is repositioning Crave as an all-day platform by adding live sports, news hubs and a slate of video podcasts (English and French) to increase daily engagement and reduce churn; move signals streamer diversification beyond purely on-demand film/TV to live and audio-visual formats in Canada.

Spooky Pictures exec Steven Schneider boarded Henry Chaisson’s sound-driven horror Recluse as EP with Blue Finch Films handling world sales; the film world premieres in Tribeca’s Escape From Tribeca strand, positioning it for festival-driven sales and boutique-distributor pickup given Schneider/Roy Lee’s low-budget genre label track record.

Cannes Marché du Film closed with high‑value acquisitions: Netflix paid roughly $5M for French animation In Waves and A24 paid $17M for Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid, while Amazon picked up Mimi Cave’s Pumping Black; Warner Bros’ Clockworks is in late talks for Park Chan‑wook’s The Brigands of Rattlecreek, underscoring aggressive festival buying and streamer/studio competition.

Quiver Distribution acquired North American digital rights to Pavan Moodi’s Middle Life; Vertigo Releasing picked up Nirvanna for the U.K. and Ireland; additional regional deals closed with Big Time Decent, Elevation and VVS Films indicating continued boutique distributor activity for indie titles.

Portland Horror Film Festival set its 11th edition for June 3–7, 2026 with in-person and virtual programs; lineup signals continued regional festival demand for indie scare fare and provides a market venue for North American genre filmmakers seeking visibility and potential buyers.

Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie thriller Colony opened in South Korea with 199,768 admissions on opening day—the biggest opening-day of the year and ahead of The Devil Wears Prada 2; Well Go USA secured US theatrical rights with an August 28, 2026 release, indicating strong international market momentum for Korean genre titles.

Lionsgate sets March 26, 2027 wide release for supernatural revenge thriller Day Drinker starring Johnny Depp, Madelyn Cline and Penélope Cruz; Marc Webb directs, Zach Dean wrote, Thunder Road/IN.2/Nostromo produce and 30West exec-produces.

193 (Legendary-backed sales arm) inked multiple international pre-sales at Cannes; Park Chan-wook’s revenge Western The Brigands of Rattlecreek pre-sold to Sun Distribution (Latin America) and Leone Film Group (Italy) with Clockworks/Warners in talks for domestic; high-profile cast includes Matthew McConaughey, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal and Tang Wei.

Athletes James Harden and Carmelo Anthony are deploying AI-native studios to create owned short-form IP and anime-style content directly to fans, demonstrating a fast, low-cost route to test IP and challenging Hollywood’s traditional gatekeeping for character-driven franchises.

Neon pre-bought global distribution on Clarissa at Cannes; Chuko and Arie Esiri's film is the second Nigerian title ever at Cannes and the brothers position the pic as an arthouse alternative to Nollywood; Neon’s backing signals growing international appetite and export pathways for Nigerian auteur cinema.

Three-year theatrical distribution pact gives Studiocanal a structured South African pipeline via Sun Africa Group; slate includes titles from genre label 6th Dimension plus upcoming local co-productions and Anthony Maras’ thriller Pressure, strengthening European studio theatrical presence and co-production leverage in Africa.

Warner Bros.’ Oscar-winning horror Sinners is getting an official Halloween Horror Nights haunted house at Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood this fall; the Universal partnership extends the franchise’s brand merchandising and experiential revenue streams and reflects theme-park demand for recent high-profile original horror IP.

M. Night Shyamalan says Remain is testing as the highest-performing film of his career; co-created with Nicholas Sparks, filmed in Rhode Island with Jake Gyllenhaal and Phoebe Dynevor, and scheduled for February 5, 2027 release, signalling Warner Bros. confidence in a prestige genre launch.

Creative 7 and AI-forward producer Utopai Studios form a development partnership to build sports and entertainment IP with an AI-driven production emphasis; signals a continued push by talent-led companies into IP creation and tech-enabled content pipelines.

Peacock sets June 26 premiere for Blumhouse-produced R-rated thriller Strung; Malcolm D. Lee directs from an Alan McElroy script with Tyler Perry producing under Peachtree & Vine and a starry cast led by Chloe Bailey.

Bleeker Street closed U.S. distribution rights to Victorian Psycho after A24 departed the project; premiered to strong Cannes response and will release this Autumn; Warwick cast includes Maika Monroe, Jason Isaacs, Ruth Wilson and Thomasin McKenzie, signalling an upscale festival-to-theatrical play for a literary-adaptation gothic horror-comedy.