ScreamWire Daily

Lily James boards Amazon MGM's horror-thriller Seasons as a ranch buyer trapped by ancient spirits; Drew Hancock directs from the viral Matt and Harrison Query story, with 21 Laps and Blumhouse Atomic Monster producing.

Paramount Animation is developing Yehudi Mercado’s Freddy the 13th as a PG-rated animated horror-comedy with Dan Trachtenberg directing and producing via Ben Rosenblatt. The project was unveiled at Annecy as part of Jennifer Dodge’s expanding animation slate.

Kevin Bacon boards Amazon MGM's theatrical horror feature Summoner as Jefferson Haddock; Jeremy Slater makes his directing debut, with the Muschiettis producing and a fall shoot set.

Roughly $75 million from Google lands at A24 in a non-exclusive DeepMind research pact; Google gets its first direct film-studio stake while A24 keeps control and opens an AI test bed for storyboarding, marketing and distribution.

Warner Bros. Pictures Animation used Annecy to roll out a seven-feature theatrical slate through 2028, led by The Cat in the Hat, Bad Fairies, The Lunar Chronicles, Hello Kitty and Dynamic Duo. The studio also flagged a broader turnaround push after Ketchup Entertainment’s $50 million pickup of Coyote vs. Acme.

"Obsession" added $13.3 million domestically in its sixth frame, lifting its North America total to $215 million and global cume to $332.4 million; Focus Features’ sub-$1 million buy for the Curry Barker breakout is shaping into one of the year’s most profitable horror bets.

Warner Bros. has snapped up Exposure, a psychosexual thriller based on a short story by Erika Vázquez and Siena Butterfield; the writers are also scripting the feature. Barbara and Andy Muschietti are producing under Double Dream.

A24 picks up and finances Panos Cosmatos' vampire thriller Flesh of the Gods as production wraps in Spain; Wagner Moura replaces Oscar Isaac, with Kristen Stewart still onboard.

KPop Demon Hunters turned into Netflix’s first movie to hit No. 1 at the box office with a roughly $19M weekend, and Hannah Minghella now runs the streamer’s animation studio footprint; the reorg also pushes franchise expansion across live events and consumer products.

Sony screened the first 18 minutes of Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil at CineEurope, positioning the game adaptation as a clean franchise reset; the slate presentation also teased Insidious: Out of the Further with completed footage.

Netflix’s Gears of War movie is set up as a Delta Squad origin story against the Locust; David Leitch directs from a Jon Spaihts script, with an adult animated series also in development and Gears of War: E-Day due Oct. 6.

Steven Spielberg taps Scott Beck and Bryan Woods to write his untitled sci-fi feature, pairing the A Quiet Place and Heretic duo with a top-tier studio assignment.

Cineverse slots Pitfall on digital and VOD June 30 after a Screamfest bow and AMC theatrical run; the survival-horror title now pivots into home windows with Alexandra Essoe and Randy Couture in the cast.

Shudder stacks July with originals Faces of Death, Saccharine, Exit 8 and Touch Me, plus a new Joe Bob Briggs special; the slate mixes horror, supernatural, and game-adaptation titles across the U.S., Canada, and U.K. windows.

Universal and Illumination have dated Not Alone for April 16, 2027, with Timothée Chalamet and Selena Gomez leading the voice cast. Eric Guillon directs the animated feature, which centers on an introverted rocket mechanic, an astro-botanist and three runaway aliens.

Netflix is taking Steps straight to streaming after greenlighting the Cinderella retelling in 2020; the animated feature stars Amanda Seyfried, Bette Midler, Ali Wong, Stephanie Hsu and Nikki Glaser and skips a theatrical window.

Warner Bros. Pictures Animation has a Powerpuff Girls movie in development, but the studio says no greenlight or deal is locked. The reboot keeps the Cartoon Network IP in play after the 2002 feature and a shelved live-action version.

Monster Mia is lining up a 2,700-screen Halloween rollout across Europe after a broad AFM market run, with new territory deals across France, the U.K., Benelux, Latin America and more; Sola Media is steering the sell-through.

BBC Studios Kids & Family and Blink Industries board Nick Mohammed’s The Young Magicians as an animated series; Mohammed writes and showruns on the adaptation. The project is based on his 2017 and 2020 books and follows four young magicians uncovering conspiracies inside London’s Magic Circle.

Keanu Reeves is in negotiations to star in Universal’s live-action/animation LEGO hybrid, with Josh Cooley directing and The Lego Group producing. Universal needs the movie near pre-production within six months or the LEGO rights could slip back into play.

Netflix and Toho unite on Human Vapor, an eight-episode sci-fi crime thriller launching July 2 as the first collaboration between the streamer and the Godzilla studio.

Netflix sets Aug. 28 for the global launch of Danish thriller The Secret Woman; Barbara Topsøe-Rothenborg directs the SF Studios Denmark adaptation of Anna Ekberg’s novel, starring Natalie Madueño, Claes Bang and Pål Sverre Hagen.

Google is putting about $75 million into A24 as part of a multiyear DeepMind R&D pact; the nonexclusive deal keeps A24’s library off the table while the studio helps shape AI tools for production, editing and distribution.

Xilam has already closed France Télévisions, Super RTL, BBC and Cartoon Network deals on Submarine Jim and is now shopping the U.S. at Annecy; the company is eyeing a second season as broader buyer talks continue.

Richard Kelly’s cult sci-fi thriller finally got its first Mexican theatrical run, turning a 25-year-old catalog title into a local box-office play; the Latin America rollout underscores how dormant genre IP can still be monetized internationally.

Peter Sarsgaard boards HBO's "The Last of Us" Season 3 as Amon, a Seraphites leader, while the Vancouver shoot resumes June 28 after a World Cup-related hiatus. The casting update knocks down cancellation chatter and points to an early 2027 debut window.

Rooh is set for a 2027 theatrical launch in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, giving Emraan Hashmi another horror headline while Mayank Sharma turns his Breathe pedigree toward a musical-horror feature for the big screen.

A $15M budget and soft-money/prebuy structure are powering Twisted, with Mediawan Kids & Family, Palomar and Sola Media backing Lino DiSalvo’s indie feature; Dwarf Animation is leading production in France with up to 150 artists.

Harlan Coben’s latest Netflix thriller is topping the streamer’s global rankings, reinforcing Coben as one of Netflix’s most reliable international genre engines. The result is another data point for Netflix’s chase for durable, globally exportable thrillers.

Warner Bros. Clockwork lines up a fall global theatrical rollout for Ken Russell’s The Devils restoration; the long-shelved horror title returns to cinemas more than 50 years after its original release.