Horror Industry News — Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Backrooms hits $160.2 million domestic after three weekends, passing A Quiet Place Part Two to become North America’s 13th highest-grossing horror film; A24 and Chernin co-financed it for roughly $10 million.

Neon paid A$7.1m at Sundance for Leviticus, Adrian Chiarella's gay-exorcism horror pic; the US release lands the day after its Australian bow, with Joe Bird, Stacy Clausen and Mia Wasikowska starring.

Black Harbor launches in Vancouver as a full-service production banner built to court U.S. and international shoots into British Columbia. The team is leveraging BC tax credits and local crews off the back of Backrooms, the $10 million Kane Parsons adaptation that has already pulled in more than $260 million worldwide.

A24 taps Curry Barker for a Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot after Obsession's breakout; sequel chatter around Obsession 2 remains informal while Barker lines up Anything But Ghosts.

HBO Max has pushed They Will Kill You to No. 1 after the Zazie Beetz-led horror pic grossed just $19 million worldwide against a $20 million budget; the streamer spike gives Warner Bros. a late-life audience after a weak theatrical launch.

Grasshopper Film has North American rights to Kogonada's sci-fi/supernatural zi out of Sundance; a fall theatrical release is set, with Haley Lu Richardson, Michelle Mao and Jin Ha in the cast.

Sundance Collab and TikTok are launching a free four-week micro-series writing course, formalizing a creator pipeline for vertical drama. Industry analysis pegs the U.S. micro-drama market at roughly $1.3 billion in 2025, with direct-pay apps like ReelShort and DramaBox driving the model.

Ruthless Studios sues Dark Age Cinema and Art the Clown LLC in California over Terrifier ownership, seeking damages, an injunction, and control of sequels, games, merch, and derivative rights; the original shorts transfer is pegged at $5.

Mexico’s first independently made stop-motion feature landed HBO Max Latin America co-production support and Netflix international distribution after the Ambriz brothers self-financed the movie over 3.5 years with Guillermo del Toro advising and helping unlock the sale.

Radio Silence’s fourth Mummy movie is moving with Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz and John Hannah all back; Hannah says more returning faces and surprises are still being lined up. The franchise revival keeps Universal’s horror-adventure IP in active feature development.

Reddit is emerging as a real-time IP incubator for horror and fan-built concepts, with Backrooms and r/nosleep showing how online communities can feed studio development. The platform says entertainment content drew 240 billion views over the past year, while Reddit-backed audience behavior is increasingly steering agents and execs toward new material.

Witchcraft Motion Picture Company and Fever Dream are adapting viral horror short Alone Time into a feature; Rod Blackhurst returns to direct from David Ebeltoft’s script, with Noah Lang producing.

India’s CBFC cut 38 seconds from Obsession, trimming violence, sexual content and nudity before clearing the horror breakout for adults-only release. The $750,000 Focus Features title has already topped $286 million worldwide, turning censorship into a new flashpoint around the sleeper hit.

Production has begun on horror-comedy Youth Juice; Luna Blaise, Gideon Adlon, Simon Rex, and Jay Hernandez star, with Veronica Rodriguez directing from Danya Jimenez and Hannah McMechan’s script.

Canadian production wrapped on S. Craig Zahler’s gangster thriller The Bookie & the Bruiser; C2 Motion Picture Group financed the 1959 New York underworld pic starring Theo James, Vince Vaughn and Saul Rubinek.

Disney+ greenlights Journey from Disney Kids & Family and Higher Ground; the animated series is already in production with ICON Creative Studio and Disney Television Animation. Matt Munn created the project and Steve Loter boards as executive producer, with Jessie Dicovitsky EPing for Higher Ground.

Anya Taylor-Joy boards as Seren in Andy Serkis' Warner Bros./New Line LOTR sequel, joining Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Lee Pace, Kate Winslet, Jamie Dornan and Leo Woodall; release is set for Dec. 17, 2027.

Thordur Palsson boards the Blumhouse and Atomic Monster Dead by Daylight movie; David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Alexandre Aja already have the script, but the adaptation still lacks a clean plot hook.

Stephen King’s Mister Yummy lands a feature adaptation with Ben Young directing and co-writing; casting is underway and Australia remains a possible shoot base.

Boulder approved a $34 million bid to lock in Sundance, while local lodging costs are already flashing as a pressure point for the move. The relocation adds fresh festival-market uncertainty around pricing, capacity, and how Park City’s loss reshapes the indie calendar.

Sundance Institute’s Ignite Fellowship adds 10 emerging filmmakers to its 2026 cohort, each receiving a $5,000 grant and Adobe Creative Cloud support ahead of the 2027 festival gathering in Boulder. The lab remains a feeder system for breakout shorts and early-career talent.

Colorado is trying to stay competitive with a bigger, faster film incentive as Sundance heads to Boulder in 2027; the state's current 22% refundable credit is capped at $5M, and officials want a richer refund structure to keep productions from leaving.

Kickstarter launches for Sorry About the Mess, a trans punk adult animation with Lilly Wachowski exec producing and Princess Pictures backing an independently funded pilot.

Andrew L. Phillips' kaiju feature is in production in Japan for a 2026 release; Philip Granger, Yuki Morita, Jason Schombing, Jerry Trimble, Dylan Schombing and Seth Whittaker join the cast.

Sony boards international theatrical distribution for Greta Gerwig’s Narnia origin story; Netflix keeps North American rights and lands the film on streaming after its Feb. 12, 2027 Imax/theatrical run. The split rollout underscores Netflix’s continuing hybrid-release strategy on prestige tentpoles.

42West’s 25th Tribeca slate featured 16 film and TV titles, including client work for Martin Scorsese, Rebecca Miller, Marc Maron and Sophia Takal; the package also included Prime Video’s Every Year After.

Four-year Paramount pact spins up its first film as Matt and Ross Duffer set an untitled wide theatrical release for Nov. 3, 2028 through Upside Down Pictures; the studio is banking on the brothers for large-scale theatrical work after Netflix.

The Horror Section's first release books an Aug. 7 bow in 2,000 North American theaters; Nas boards as executive producer through Mass Appeal's partnership with Eli Roth's new company. Roth directs and co-writes, with practical effects support from Steve Newburn and Adrien Morot.

Now in production, the slasher centers on a masked killer driven by bullying, rejection, and lost love; Eric Roberts, Rhonda Shear, Lloyd Kaufman, Mel Heflin, Brinke Stevens, Markin Carvalho and Kobi Frumer are attached.