ScreamWire Daily

Warner Bros has landed Siren Head in a five-studio bidding war, closing a multi-million-dollar rights deal on Trevor Henderson’s viral creepypasta monster. Zach Cregger is producing and Brian Duffield is set to direct, extending the rush on internet-born horror IP after Backrooms and Obsession.

Steven Spielberg’s Amblin joins United Artists and Amazon MGM Studios in a rights grab for The Mandela Catalogue after a fierce bidding war. Alex Kister writes and directs the feature take on the viral analog-horror series, signaling another big-studio move into creator-led web horror IP.

North American premiere at Fantasia on July 22; Shudder streams Hanna Bergholm’s dark-fable horror thriller on July 31; Seidi Haarla and Rupert Grint star.

Jagged Edge’s Twisted Childhood Universe keeps expanding with a public-domain Pinocchio splatter pic; Viva Pictures opens the R-rated horror reimagining in theaters July 24. Rhys Frake-Waterfield directs, Robert Englund boards as the sinister Cricket, and the film is positioned as another low-budget franchise play.

Saban Films sets Son of Sara: Volume 1 for digital and VOD July 31; the Canadian supernatural horror carries Telefilm Canada support, Visit Films sales, and Blood in the Snow pedigree.

Bruce Campbell pressed Sébastien Vaniček to protect Evil Dead’s core DNA as the standalone Evil Dead Burn heads toward a July 10, 2026 theatrical release; Sam Raimi is advising the production.

Fantasia’s full 2026 lineup is now public, with Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell opening and Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein’s Freaks Part II closing. The slate also adds Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s The Samurai And The Prisoner and Eriko Katagiri’s werewolf tale When You Open the Door.

Miracle Media sets The Fetus for UK digital July 6; the Joe Lam debut pairs Bill Moseley and Lauren LaVera in a satanic body-horror pregnancy riff.

Lionsgate and Blumhouse-Atomic Monster have set a September 24, 2027 theatrical date for a Blair Witch Project reboot, with Dylan Clark of Portrait of God on directing duties. Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams are back as executive producers, while Heather Donahue stays out after pushing back on rights and AI-language concerns.

Bhargav Saikia unveils Bokshi, a new horror-fantasy feature from Assam that adds another genre title to the regional indie pipeline. No deal terms or distribution partners are disclosed yet, but the project is now on the board as a feature follow-up.

Wayfarer Films confirms Lokah: Chapter 2 with Tovino Thomas set to lead after Chapter 1 crossed ₹300 crore worldwide and over ₹121 crore in Kerala; the first film also lands Stuttgart Indian Film Festival and BIFAN selections while streaming on JioHotstar.

Knifepoint Horror podcast IP Lockbox rolls into theaters July 3 via Aura Entertainment, giving Daniel Stamm a new supernatural-horror title with Carla Gugino, Lou Taylor Pucci and Katharine Isabella aboard. The clip push adds another podcast-to-film adaptation to the genre pipeline.

Remaining 5% stake sold to principal shareholder SouthWind Group, a Hong Kong-based investment fund; seller Tatxo Benet is Mediapro co-founder.

Venice’s Gap-Financing Market lines up 66 projects seeking closing money, with 31 features already at least 70% financed. Lav Diaz, Ursula Meier and Jessica Hausner are among the filmmakers in play as buyers, sellers and distributors converge in September.

Lola Tung lands in A24’s Please, with Halina Reijn directing from her own script and the studio fully financing the feature. Principal photography is slated to start this month in London and Germany, adding another high-profile piece to Reijn’s A24 run after Bodies Bodies Bodies and Babygirl.

BIFAN launches its 30th edition with 321 films, special awards for Josie Ho, Fan Bingbing and Isabelle Huppert, and an AI-forward opening ceremony; Yuen Woo-ping's Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert opens the fest.

TCCF PITCHING 2026 submissions close July 6; Train to Busan producer Dongha Lee joins the mentoring program, keeping the market open to Asian genre projects.

Dead Northern rolls out its first wave with found-footage folk horror, microbudget slasher fare and a vampire gorefest on the slate. The genre-fest programming keeps the fest squarely in the indie horror discovery lane.

Michele Fiascaris' Rain Catcher lands its world premiere in Karlovy Vary Proxima; the feature debut expands his Sitges-winning short into a noirish psychological thriller led by Dudley O'Shaughnessy, Jessie Mei Li and Kate Dickie.

Apple TV is keeping Neuromancer on deck for a later-2026 launch; the Skydance/Anonymous Content adaptation stars Callum Turner, with Graham Roland showrunning and J.D. Dillard directing the pilot.

Paramount has locked the exclusive linear home for all 11 Wizarding World films, using MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, and Paramount Network to extend the franchise’s reach while HBO’s reboot series gears up. The licensing move adds a fresh distribution window around one of the industry’s biggest fantasy brands.

Diego Céspedes is developing The Case of the Boy Who Lost His Heart, a Chile-set murder mystery about heartless bodies, a monstrous woman and dictatorship-era horror. Quijote Films is reuniting with the Cannes Un Certain Regard winner for the sophomore feature.

I Will Find You hit 58.1M views in two weeks and 318.9M hours watched, making the Harlan Coben adaptation Netflix’s biggest current series. The eight-part crime thriller pulled 34.1M views in week two, more than quadruple Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2’s 8.7M.

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is taking Obsession to digital June 30 and to 4K UHD/Blu-ray/DVD on July 14; the Curry Barker breakout continues its record theatrical run and tees up his next feature, Anything But Ghosts.

The Dutchman is surging to No. 4 on Paramount+ after a quiet January theatrical run from Rogue Pictures; the play adaptation is now finding a broader audience on streaming. Andre Gaines makes his feature directorial debut with Kate Mara, Andre Holland, and Zazie Beetz, while FlixPatrol data is driving the turnaround story.

Umbrella Entertainment is rolling out Thunderlips’ body-horror sci-fi comedy Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant in New Zealand cinemas later in 2026 after its Sundance Midnight bow; no U.S. date is set.