ScreamWire Daily

Backrooms has crossed $175.2 million domestic and $272.7 million global, overtaking Us to become the No. 11 all-time domestic horror title; A24 and Chernin's roughly $10 million bet is now 16x+ back on domestic ticket sales and sequel development is already underway.

Disney+ EMEA lands a straight-to-series order for DAD, a dark family-murder mystery from Clem Garritty; the Hulu Original beat out BBC, ITV and Sky in a competitive buy.

Apple is keeping windowing fluid rather than fixed, with Eddy Cue and Jerry Bruckheimer teasing another F1 film and a Joseph Kosinski-directed UAP conspiracy thriller while reiterating Apple’s “best, not most” content strategy.

Zach Cregger has split from Artists First after roughly 15 years; CAA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman remain on his business, with Sony’s Resident Evil reboot, New Line’s The Flood and Gladys still in his pipeline. The move lands as Cregger’s original-horror profile keeps rising off Barbarian and the Weapons launch.

Neon’s Leviticus opens at No. 8 with a $2.75 million domestic bow on 1,076 screens; Adrian Chiarella's debut pits two teenage boys against a violent entity that wears the face of what they desire most. Toy Story 5 also sets a franchise record in the same weekend report, but the genre takeaway is Leviticus' strong specialty launch.

Neon’s Leviticus expands its specialty run with a $2.75 million opening and a No. 8 domestic finish; Adrian Chiarella’s queer horror feature is already punching above its weight on 1,076 screens. The same weekend report also shows Magnolia’s Maddie’s Secret opening to $58.2k at IFC Center, the arthouse’s biggest bow in more than two years.

EIFF’s Midnight Madness strand opens with world premiere Bad Day At The Office, a first-person hotel-room conspiracy thriller from Chee Keong Cheung; John Hannah and Radha Mitchell lead the cast for UK outfit Action Xtreme.

2026’s horror breakout cycle is already running hot, with Obsession at $305.1 million worldwide and Backrooms at $272.7 million worldwide as the genre keeps outpacing a softer IP field. The piece pivots to They Follow as the next sequel positioned to ride that theatrical momentum.

BIFAN has selected Sandeep Francis’s Switch Off for the Bucheon Choice: World Shorts main competition; the psychological thriller bows as Francis’s directorial debut and the only Indian short in the lineup. Panorama Studios is backing the short ahead of its world premiere in Bucheon.

Filming wrapped on Universal’s new Exorcist reboot; Mike Flanagan writes and directs, with Scarlett Johansson and Chiwetel Ejiofor leading a stacked ensemble. Blumhouse-Atomic Monster and Red Room Pictures produce; theatrical release is locked for March 12, 2027.

Parker Finn is writing and directing a Possession remake with Margaret Qualley set to star and Robert Pattinson producing; filming is eyed for summer. The package keeps the cult psychological horror in active development after a wave of fan backlash.

Mubi and Goodfellas are backing the revived Maniac Cop feature, with North America, the UK/Ireland, and additional territories covered; Nicolas Winding Refn is eyeing a fall shoot and January start. The reboot has emerged from years in development limbo after an abandoned HBO series iteration.

Whalefall and No One Will Save You filmmaker Brian Duffield is reportedly writing an Alien film, per Jeff Sneider and Daniel Richtman; it’s unclear whether he’ll direct. 20th Century boss Steve Asbell also acknowledged the rumor on X.

Illfonic’s Halloween: The Game casts Chelsea Krause as Laurie Strode, with Angela Carbone, Kaitlyn Robrock, and Nicholas Leung as Lynda, Annie, Bob; Jamie Lee Curtis is out, and the game is separate from the films’ continuity.

Backrooms is tracking to an ~$80 million domestic opening; paired with Obsession, the two indie horror titles are on pace to clear $100 million at the U.S. box office this weekend. A24’s 3,000-screen rollout is a breakout moment for viral-IP horror and a loud signal for low-budget genre financing.

Curry Barker’s Obsession is tracking past $300 million worldwide on a $750,000 budget; Focus Features is leaning into the breakout with a shrine generator as the microbudget horror hit holds strong in week four.

Recovered censored footage from Warner Bros.’ archive restores three minutes to Hammer’s 1958 Dracula; the uncensored 4K rolls into UK cinemas this October after a worldwide home-entertainment debut. The restoration reopens one of Hammer’s most bankable legacy titles and could set up a wider US rollout if appetite holds.

Seven Tales sets Round the Decay for UK digital on June 22 and U.S. digital on June 23 after its festival/theatrical run. Adam Newman's folk-horror creature feature leans on practical monster work and a survival-horror structure to extend its afterlife at home.

Warner Bros. Pictures Animation boards Vivienne Medrano’s feature debut Prehistoria; Bad Fairies adds James Acaster and Dee Bradley Baker as production rolls in London for a May 21, 2027 theatrical bow.

Locarno is handing Rick Baker its Vision Award and programming An American Werewolf in London and The Nutty Professor as part of the honor package. The tribute spotlights one of genre cinema’s defining practical-effects craftsmen on a major international festival stage.

Dario Argento is producing and writing a three-film genre slate with Gabriele Altobelli; the first entry, Carne della Mia Carne, wrapped in Latina and is moving through international sales via Neo Art. The remaining two films are penciled for autumn 2026 and 2027, giving the Italian horror pipeline a multi-year runway.

Adrien Brody and Rachel Zegler will lead Karim Aïnouz’s father-daughter drama Last Dance, with Ben Platt co-starring and composing original music; Zegler will also sing the film’s songs. FilmNation is launching international sales at Cannes, with Fifth Season and CAA handling domestic rights.

Ari Aster says he has written a Hereditary prequel, keeping the project alive without a formal greenlight. He also confirms Scapegoat at A24 with Scarlett Johansson attached, adding another watched horror title to his slate.

Maya Gray’s psychological horror short ANIMALS lands its international premiere at Raindance later this month; Michael Jasper produces via LaNaMA Films.

FIPRESCI joins Sitges' 2026 competition jury, adding an international critics' prize to the festival's fantastic-and-horror slate. The move further cements Sitges as a global hub for genre cinema and criticism.

Apple TV renews Widow’s Bay for Season 2 and locks showrunner Katie Dippold into a multi-year overall deal; the cursed-town horror-comedy has become an early breakout for the streamer.

Jennifer E. Montgomery’s debut This Tempting Madness stars Simone Ashley in a true-events psychological thriller built around coma recovery, amnesia, and a husband accused of attempted murder.

John Carpenter’s Memoirs of an Invisible Man helped develop visual-effects tech later used to remove Gary Sinise’s legs as Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump. The Chevy Chase sci-fi film, in development since 1986, became a production nightmare but yielded a key effects breakthrough.

Arrow Video is lining up a 2-disc 4K UHD release for Mike Flanagan’s HUSH, extending the title’s life in the premium home-entertainment lane. The move underscores continued catalog monetization for horror titles with durable physical-media demand.

FX lands the first look at The Shards as Ryan Murphy’s Bret Easton Ellis adaptation settles in after an aborted HBO development pass; the prep-school serial-killer series adapts Ellis’ autofictional horror novel for TV.