Horror Industry News — Monday, July 6, 2026

Obsession is over $403 million worldwide; Backrooms is at roughly $348 million and closing in on $350 million. Two original horror hits, one from Blumhouse and Atomic Monster and one from A24, are redefining the summer box office.

Full financing is in place for Herbert West: ReAnimator; Joseph Morgan and Katie Cassidy board as the leads, with Michael Grossman directing from Jade Sandberg Wallace's script. Bad Injections is producing and the Lovecraft reimagining shoots this month in Alton, Illinois.

Tubi is taking headline sponsorship of FrightFest 2026, with the London genre festival rebranding as Tubi FrightFest for its Aug. 27-31 run. The deal gives the streamer naming rights and a bigger footprint inside one of the UK’s key horror-market hubs.

Amazon Prime Video locks July 31 for Primate after its theatrical run; Paramount+ already carries the killer-chimp slasher. Johannes Roberts directs the Cujo-style survival pic starring Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, and Troy Kotsur.

Raccoon City-set Resident Evil is going original, with Zach Cregger scrapping all game characters so the film can play as a self-contained zombie survival story; Bryan the medical courier anchors the 1998 outbreak narrative ahead of the Sept. 18, 2026 theatrical release.

$90 million worldwide on a $22 million budget has Lee Cronin open to a The Mummy sequel if the 2026 horror title keeps performing; the franchise talk leans on a Conjuring- and Insidious-style mythology play with spinoff upside.

Shudder has picked up gothic horror feature The Baby in the Basket for a July U.S. streaming slot, giving the indie a platform-backed release inside the service's monthly horror lineup. The acquisition locks in a streaming window for the film.

Netflix locks in a U.S. streaming debut for Five Nights at Freddy's 2 on Aug. 3, extending the horror sequel's theatrical-to-SVOD window. The franchise's latest installment has already crossed $239 million worldwide, keeping a third film firmly in play.

Kadokawa lines up a two-week Japan theatrical run for SHIBOYUGI: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table 44: Cloudy Beach before Netflix takes the anime worldwide. The death-game sequel follows Yuuki and seven other players onto a remote island for another survival challenge.

Obsession's $400 million-plus run is fueling a mid-budget shift toward 'horror-coated' dramas, where genre beats are deployed to widen the audience for relationship and geopolitical stories. The piece frames the film as evidence that hybrid horror structures are quietly taking over theatrical drama space.

Creature Commandos season 2 is actively rolling, with Dean Lorey already checking animatics on episode 206. The DC/HBO Max animated series remains on track for its 2027 return and is deep into season buildout.

Schlock and Awe Films and Trimungus Films have unveiled Transylvania Bikini Car Wash Ghouls, a retro horror-comedy from Newt Wallen that’s already in production. The low-budget feature mixes monster-movie throwback energy with exploitation comedy and casts Jessa Jupiter Flux, Fallon Vendetta, Mel Heflin, and Penny Aphrodite.

THE EYES now has a Sitges invite and a staggered international rollout, with North America set for July 10 after launches in the Philippines, Singapore and Mongolia.

Psychological horror-drama 3:14 AM is crowdfunding with Todd Staruch directing, Desiree Pearl writing, Mark Boutros on cinematography, and Heather Drew attached to star. The indie centers on an abusive marriage and is using Kickstarter perks to seed production.

Prime Video’s 'Mirzapur: The Movie' is being used as a theatrical experiment in India, rewinding Guddu Pandit’s arc instead of continuing the series; Fazal is also circling 'Raakh,' the true-crime investigative thriller from Prosit Roy, while Pushing Buttons Studios builds out its indie slate after 'Girls Will Be Girls'.

Gary Dauberman boards as writer on the next Five Nights at Freddy's film for Blumhouse Atomic Monster, extending one of the studio's most bankable game-to-film horror franchises. The first two films have already grossed nearly $540 million worldwide combined, with the original breaking out despite a Peacock day-and-date launch.

Mubi and Madman are widening their Australia/New Zealand theatrical partnership, with Madman set to roll out five titles led by Jane Schoenbrun’s ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ starting Aug. 6 in Australia and Aug. 20 in New Zealand. The slate also spans Cannes and Berlinale titles, giving Mubi another regional distribution lever outside its own platform.

Next Interactive Studio uses BIFAN to unveil Replica, a Chinese-language interactive animated feature that gives audiences 40-plus story choices via app voting; the company also spotlights interactive thriller The Run and other slate titles.

Na Hong-jin says Hope was storyboarded a year out and built with Hwang Jung-min in mind; the creature pic is being pitched as a lower-violence pivot ahead of the Korea rollout.

Clive Barker and Doug Bradley are advising Hellraiser: Revival from early story development through build approvals, with Saber Interactive using both to lock the franchise tone.

Hope is booked for Korea and Taiwan, extending Na Hong-jin’s rollout across two Asian territories.

NIFFF’s 25th edition opened to sold-out screenings and a packed Open Air, with the festival reporting full houses across its opening-night rollout. The turnout reinforces Neuchâtel’s position as a destination genre event as it deepens its lineup and industry pull.

Na Hong-jin is trimming and adding scenes to Hope after its Cannes screening.

Rebecca Loviconi’s 90-minute doc feature Crime or Rescue, boarded by Off The Fence, follows radical animal activists behind a Ridglan, Wisconsin beagle rescue and court case; lawyer Wayne Hsiung and Rose Patterson fell in love, married, and adopted a rescued dog. Expected late 2026.

Tubi will premiere R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead 2 exclusively this October, a follow-up to the 2025 feature adaptation of The Haunting Hour story; Jem Garrard returns to write and direct, and R.L. Stine says he’s “so happy” for another pumpkin-head adventure.

Netflix has set a late-2026 return for Black Doves, with Sarah Lancashire’s Reed getting a bigger play in season two. Joe Barton is expanding the Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw-led spy series as the factional loyalties turn deadlier.

Na Hong-jin is pitching Hope as a lower-violence follow-up to The Wailing; the DMZ-set story of a tiger sighting opens July 15, with action prep and safety work locked a year before shoot.

Nearly four hours of rough-cut material got trimmed from Project Hail Mary before Phil Lord and Chris Miller landed on a 2:36 cut; audience feedback pushed them to tighten Ryland Grace's panic stretch early in the film.

BBC has unveiled a first look at five-part psychological thriller The Rapture, adapted from Liz Jensen’s novel and set for BBC One and iPlayer. Ruth Madeley, India Amarteifio and a stacked supporting cast anchor the Wales-shot Mammoth Screen production.