ScreamWire Daily

Backrooms and Obsession are both closing in on $200M worldwide, sharpening the case for creator-driven horror as a box office engine. The roundup also flags Netflix’s podcast-talent shopping and the growing legal fight over Paramount Skydance’s Warner Bros. Discovery bid.

Backrooms is about to become A24's biggest film ever, clearing Marty Supreme after a $134.8M domestic and $50.3M international run; the viral horror adaptation is headed past $185M worldwide.

$56M domestic opening gives Scary Movie 6 the franchise’s biggest launch ever; Melissa Joan Hart was originally eyed for Cindy before Anna Faris won the role on Keenen Ivory Wayans’ push.

AMC is turning Season 3 into a full relaunch, retitling Interview With the Vampire as The Vampire Lestat and backing the shift with a Beacon Theatre concert, 20 original songs and a broader music-platform rollout. Netflix sampling, branded tie-ins and in-world marketing are doing the heavy lifting as AMC tries to reset the series’ audience base.

Paramount+ has picked up a Cop Land TV adaptation, with James Mangold co-writing and directing and Robert Levine set to showrun. The series reopens Miramax’s library playbook after Paramount’s Skydance-backed regime scooped up Mangold’s High Side last year.

Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation lock in Ghostbusters: Night Shift for a 2027 debut; Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan, Ben Hibon and Elliott Kalan front the next animated chapter, unveiled with a new logo at Ghostbusters Day.

A24’s Backrooms has crossed $154M worldwide even as its second-weekend drop hit 68%; the studio is already pushing fresh footage while an early digital window could help blunt the falloff.

Amazon/MGM keeps Heat 2 fluid around Leonardo DiCaprio, with Christian Bale and Jason Clarke effectively locked; Michael Mann is targeting a September start on a six- to seven-month, multi-country shoot, budgeted near $200M.

Bruce Campbell says Ash is no longer part of Evil Dead’s core path as the franchise keeps moving beyond its original icon; Evil Dead Burn is dated for July 10, 2026, with Evil Dead Wrath set for April 7, 2028.

Shudder and IFC have acquired Alex Goyette's body-horror debut Breeder for the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand ahead of its Tribeca world premiere and fall theatrical run.

2026 KILLER SHORTS adds feature screenplays for the first time; $5,000 top prize, John Zaozirny script review, and The Scream List pipeline keep the competition wired into horror reps, managers, and buyers.

Lionsgate and Bloober Team are turning SAW into a 3v1 multiplayer prequel game, SAW: Genesis; early access is slated for fall with playtests opening soon.

Sony Pictures locks worldwide rights to JT Mollner's creature horror Skeletons while Kyle Gallner boards opposite Brie Larson; FilmNation's Infrared is financing and J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot is producing.

Sky has commissioned Dynamo vs Houdini, a three-part original from Shine TV and Seventeen17 that sends Steven Frayne across America retracing Harry Houdini’s steps. The unscripted series is slated for later this year and is being positioned as a stunt-heavy event play for Sky’s lineup.

Alas Roban has cracked Netflix's global Top 10 at No. 3, pulling nearly 2M views in a few days; the Indonesian folklore horror is overperforming on streaming despite mixed audience reaction.

Stranger Things still functions as Netflix's flagship sci-fi-horror engine; the series drew 64M household views in Season 3's first month and spawned animated offshoot Tales from '85, which already landed a rapid Season 2 renewal. The piece argues the franchise can keep expanding long after the mothership ends.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Ted Lasso actor Anthony Head has died aged 72, his daughters Emily and Daisy Head said; he died peacefully from complications of pneumonia, surrounded by family.

Fantasia’s 30th edition (Jul. 16-Aug. 2) added Jane Schoenbrun’s Canadian premiere Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma, the season-finale premiere of Apple TV’s Cape Fear with Javier Bardem, and world premieres of God Skin, Someone’s Daughter and The Glorious Dead.

13 genre projects land on the Frontières Platform in Cannes, split between Buyers Showcase and Proof of Concept sessions aimed at financing, sales and festival partners. Telefilm Canada, SODEC, Quebec, Montreal, Wallimage and the Netherlands Film Fund back the platform, with Outpost MTL adding post-production awards.

Mubi sets an Aug. 7 U.S. theatrical rollout for Jane Schoenbrun’s horror feature after its Cannes Queer Palm win; the SXSW London premiere keeps the title in festival circulation. Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson front the push for the psychosexual slasher sequel.

Sony Pictures Classics backs Haifaa Al-Mansour’s crime thriller 'Unidentified'; Tribeca’s Spotlight Narrative slot lands June 9-11. Saudi Film Commission’s Daw Program supported the film, which follows a young police officer probing a desert death.

Season 4 of Dark Winds gets a Netflix release date, extending the AMC thriller's second-window life on the streamer. The move is a programming update, not a new commissioning or licensing swing.

Prime Video’s shelved Stargate series spotlights how even legacy sci-fi IP can stall in development; the cancellation underscores tightening streamer appetite for big, effects-heavy TV bets.

Daniel Pemberton teamed with Brian May on “Electrica,” the theme for Travis Knight’s Masters of the Universe, after meeting at Abbey Road while May was mastering Queen II; the track uses May’s Red Special, plus a 100-piece choir and 80-piece orchestra.