ScreamWire Daily

Mubi fully bankrolling Nicolas Winding Refn’s Maniac Cop and has taken distribution rights across North America, Latin America, UK/Ireland, major European territories, Australia/NZ; production shooting in LA this January with NWR Originals producing and Mubi committing to a wide theatrical release.

Netflix bought the spec script Run the Football from Canadian brothers Josh and Spencer Marentette in a competitive situation; producers attached include Dylan Clark and Brian Williams (Dylan Clark Productions) and Jaume Collet-Serra and Max Jacoby for Jadis Collective; logline described as a nuclear-weapons thriller involving Air Force One.

CGT-Spectacle has filed suit at the Nanterre court seeking to annul Canal+’s threat to boycott signatories of the anti-Bolloré letter and is considering escalation to the European Commission; the move escalates a funding-and-access crisis that could materially affect French film financing and distributor relations.

Imax appears to be in an early-stage sales process; Wall Street names potential buyers ranging from exhibitors (AMC, Cinemark) to studios/tech giants (Sony, Apple, Netflix, Disney) and PE or sovereign funds; analysts flag buyer choice as critical to preserving Imax’s neutral premium-screening value for tentpoles and international/local-language programming.

Comedy-horror demand is rising globally; since mid-2024 average demand for comedy-horror series jumped ~50%, with titles like Apple TV+'s Widow’s Bay peaking at 30x average series demand, making horror-comedy a travelable, lower-risk bet for streamers seeking international reach.

Netflix pre-bought U.S. rights to Romain Gavras’ satirical eco-thriller Sacrifice following its TIFF premiere; the film features Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Evans and was brokered domestically by CAA Media Finance with production from Iconoclast, Film4 and Heretic.

Prime Video's Vought Rising is set for 2027; cast includes Jensen Ackles and Aya Cash with Paul Grellong as showrunner and Eric Kripke among EPs; series will adopt a grittier, noir-tinged tone and explores 1950s origins of Vought International.

IMAX has officially gone to market with a roughly $1.85 billion market cap; suitors include studios and streamers but a studio acquisition would raise anti‑trust and exhibition-priority risks, while streamers could buy theatrical legitimacy; sale talks are early but could reshape premium-large-format access and theatrical windows.

An AI-generated feature, Hell Grind, screened at a third-party Cannes industry event but was not part of the Festival de Cannes program; producers claim it was made on Higgfield/Higgsfield AI for under $500K versus a $50M traditional cost, spotlighting AI production claims, festival misrepresentation risks, and investor/PR puffery around synthetic filmmaking.

CRTC overhauls Canadian programming expenditure rules: streamers must increase CanCon support while PNI spend for documentaries and other genres is removed; changes reset obligations for foreign-owned streamers and will alter commissioning, Canadian financing and tax-credit timing across the market.

CAA expands its Moebius showcase with a 10-film lineup from top film schools and launches Moebius Labs to give emerging filmmakers direct access to execs and creatives; the program adds workshops and named industry speakers, increasing agency-to-talent pipeline activity.

'Kokuhou' exceeded ¥20 billion and helped drive Toho's consolidated net profit to ¥51.7 billion for the fiscal year ending Feb 2026; Toho distributed eight of Japan's top 10 films and leveraged an unusual near-three-hour runtime as a premium theatrical experience to maximize repeat business and market share.

Hulu has consolidated dominance over second-run and library TV licensing; rights holders should expect stronger pricing and predictable windowing dynamics for repeat runs on Hulu, affecting monetization strategies for legacy TV catalogs.

Cannes buyers signalled increased appetite for Korean titles; demand at the Marché is translating to more pre-buys and stronger negotiating leverage for Korean producers and sales agents across international territories.

Mubi pre-buys Lukas Dhont’s WWI romance Coward at Cannes; Netflix pre-bought The Black Ball earlier in the market, signaling continued streamer and specialty-platform buying for prestige festival titles.

Directors Arie and Chuko Esiri premiered Clarissa (a Mrs. Dalloway adaptation set in Lagos) to strong Directors’ Fortnight response and Neon showed early buyer interest, positioning the film for a likely commercial/arty release path with Sophie Okonedo attached.

Lightbulb Film Distribution has acquired Australian supernatural religious horror Diabolic for upcoming release; film directed by Daniel J. Phillips (Awoken) positions as faith-driven supernatural horror for international indie festival and niche theatrical/AVOD play.

Marginal MediaWorks has wrapped production on Southern-set indie horror Last Day, shot on location in Baton Rouge; Tanyell Quian leads with Ellis Hobbs IV, Brandon Gilpin and Royce Johnson attached and Marginal producers Sanjay M. Sharma and Milan Chakraborty onboard.

Witchcraft 18 moves forward with casting additions Lisa Wilcox and Kato Kaelin; long-running indie horror franchise continues production trajectory with legacy casting to appeal to established fanbase and festival/VOD exploitation windows.