Horror Industry News — Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Amazon MGM Studios orders a RoboCop series with Peter Ocko set as showrunner and James Wan/Blumhouse Atomic Monster producing; Prime Video is positioning the franchise as a tech-dystopia play for streaming.

Audible lines up an all-star Dracula rollout for October 1, with Jonathan Bailey leading the English-language cast as Count Dracula and Mary Lambert directing the adaptation of Bram Stoker’s public-domain classic.

Investigation Discovery greenlights a three-part Aileen Wuornos docuseries built around digital replication and VFX, using AI to reconstruct the serial killer across archival sources and performance capture.

Level 33 Entertainment has taken North American rights to Ever After, a dark fairy-tale survival horror feature from Laszlo Illes; the film opens exclusively in U.S. and Canadian theaters on Sept. 4, 2026 after the acquisition.

Peacock exits the planned Hostel series, and Eli Roth is now redeveloping the franchise as a feature with Paul Giamatti still circling. The pivot keeps the torture-horror IP alive after the TV take failed to land.

An animated Texas Chain Saw Massacre reimagining is moving ahead, extending Tobe Hooper’s horror IP into a new feature take.

Vanessa Marano boards and stars in bridal-party horror comedy ‘Ring Leader,’ with Jason Lapeyre co-producing as the package goes out at Fantasia’s Frontières market seeking a gap-financing partner. The feature is set for a British Columbia shoot, leaning on Canadian tax incentives to keep the budget commercially viable.

Refn has Maniac Cop back on track as a feature after HBO bailed on the series; the remake is set to shoot soon after 16 years in development limbo.

Ralph Ineson, Corey Stoll and Nyasha Hatendi board Legendary and Apple TV’s Monsterverse series; JD Dillard is set to direct the pilot while Joby Harold showruns and Wyatt Russell returns as Young Lee Shaw.

Six-part true-crime docuseries lands on Disney+ and Hulu in select international markets July 30; Disney+ EMEA commissioned the series from Candle True Stories and ABC News Studios.

2 million admissions in five days for Hope; Na Hong-jin says the sequel outline is already written and will go if the first film gets a green light. The sci-fi thriller is positioned as the first chapter in a planned trilogy.

Tubi FrightFest 2026 will premiere Bad Karaoke, a cursed-karaoke horror-comedy from Chris Lightbody and Robert J. Steinmiller Jr.; Lexi Underwood, Case Walker and Kate Miner star.

Cine+ has already pre-bought France on Alexandre O. Philippe’s two-part Vertigo doc The Fall as Medianoche Productions heads into Frontières seeking sales and co-financing. The project is already in production with roughly a year to go, and Guillermo del Toro, Kim Novak, and Ari Aster are lined up among the witness lineup.

5 has acquired CMG Productions’ Ghostwatch and will air the feature doc later this year. The title digs into the BBC’s infamous Halloween 1992 broadcast, giving a cult horror property a fresh broadcast window.

The Weird Kidz is launching on an exclusive nationwide theatrical roadshow in August, keeping the animated sci-fi horror-comedy in cinemas instead of a standard day-and-date rollout. Zach Passero directs and Lucky McKee produces, giving the title a notable genre pedigree for indie exhibitors.

South Africa’s Totem Zea and Dutch outfit PRPL are bringing psychological thriller ‘Third Wheel’ to Fantasia’s Frontières market; the project is set to shoot in 2027 and already has development and production support from the Thuthuka Co-Development Fund. Zoe Ramushu writes and directs, with a Black female-led creative team fronting the package.

Sitges spotlights Spanish fantastic cinema with 4K restorations of Carrie, ¿Quién puede matar a un niño?, Scanners, and The Devils; Mike Flanagan’s Carrie series gets a first-episode showcase alongside the festival’s 2026 tribute slate.

Quiver Distribution has pushed horror-thriller Kill Trip onto VOD and digital; the release turns the stranger-danger road trip premise into a new genre title for the indie market. No sale terms disclosed, but the rollout adds another day-and-date style horror option to the distributor’s slate.

A legacy horror title is back on the calendar for a 2026 release; the new window keeps catalog horror moving and signals fresh monetization for classic IP.

AMC Global Media has taken U.S. rights to Catherine Zeta-Jones’ revenge thriller series ‘Kill Jackie,’ with AMC+ set for a fall premiere. The series adapts Nick Harkaway’s novel ‘The Price You Pay’ and stacks a sizable cast around Zeta-Jones as AMC deepens its premium scripted slate.

Carol Abney’s period vampire horror Los Vampires is set for a Fantasia premiere, putting the genre title on the festival market ahead of wider distribution.

MegaCity Media rolls out dual teasers for Space Goblins, a long-gestating indie sci-fi feature built with AI-assisted tools, practical creature effects, miniatures, animation, and CGI; no studio backing or crowdfunding.

Michael Tiddes’ Scary Movie director’s cut bowed today on PVOD from Paramount and Miramax, with more than 30 minutes of bonus features, a 13-minute-longer cut, new scenes and an unseen alternate ending.

A24 eyes Will Forte for David Mikalson’s R-rated puppet comedy Goblin; Skyler Gisondo and Kenneth Branagh are already set, with Branagh voicing the title character after Mikalson’s script sparked a bidding frenzy.

James Watkins remains aboard Clayface while Mike Flanagan stays on screenplay duties; Peter Safran is positioning the DC feature as R-rated body horror with a psychological-thriller frame. Flanagan passed on directing because Carrie and The Exorcist series already had him booked solid.

Mahal Empire pushes Alien Storm onto Amazon and Apple TV; Adam Werth’s 74-minute sci-fi/action-horror survival pic strands a Vegas bunker party in a deadly alien fog, with Tom Arnold and Kevin Sorbo in the cast.

Son of Sara lands on digital and VOD July 31, 2026; Houston Bone’s horror feature centers on a pregnant woman whose cravings turn sinister as her estranged boyfriend returns.

AnnaSophia Robb boards Will Smith’s Supermax as his partner; Amazon MGM and Miramax have worldwide Prime Video rights, with David Gordon Green directing and CAA Media Finance brokering the package.

Indiegogo is funding Attack of the Killer Space Tentacles, an indie horror-comedy creature feature about biologically modified alien tentacles slamming the western U.S.

Elijah J. Alvarez’s Oz-horror feature is in post and targeting a fall 2026 premiere; the indie blends psychological thriller, supernatural slasher, and sci-fi worldbuilding around a Halloween-night curse.