Horror Industry News — Thursday, August 27, 2026

Prime Video has ordered a six-part UK limited series of Stephen King’s Crouch End; Paul Tomalin adapts and Tom Shankland directs, with Mammoth Screen and Fifth Season producing the Lovecraftian crime-thriller mystery.

Elizabeth McGovern has closed to join Amazon MGM Studios’ horror feature Seasons, now set with Lily James, Jack Reynor and Ron Perlman. Drew Hancock directs the Blumhouse Atomic Monster/21 Laps package, adapting a viral Reddit short about a ranch haunted by ancient spirits.

A24’s Backrooms tops $395 million worldwide and lands an exclusive U.S. streaming debut on HBO Max Sept. 25, followed by a linear HBO premiere Sept. 26. Kane Parsons’ feature debut now stands as A24’s biggest box-office hit; James Wan, Michael Clear and Peter Chernin are among the producers.

Amazon MGM Studios boards THUNDER ROAD and Badlands’ killer-wasp horror Hivemind, locking Samara Weaving and Nicholas Braun into a Prime Video play as Ciarán Foy rolls cameras in Dublin.

Paramount and Warner Bros. are racing separate Elm Street reboots under split rights; Jane Schoenbrun is actively angling for a meeting on the Paramount side while Lee Cronin remains in talks for Warner’s version.

51% awareness and 52% interest put Sony’s Resident Evil reboot atop current tracking; Box Office Pro sees a $30M-$40M domestic opening, positioning Zach Cregger’s first IP swing as a potential franchise reset.

FilmQuest adds a 20-40-title genre market to its Oct. 22-31 Utah festival; world premieres include The Avalanche, The Relic: Dragon, The Crawling and Ithaqua. Halloween night will also bring a promised game-changing production opportunity alongside the Cthulhu awards.

Toho and Gkids push Godzilla Minus Zero toward a Sept. 26 NYFF Spotlight Gala world premiere, with Japan opening Nov. 3 and North America following Nov. 6. The sequel is the first Japanese production filmed for Imax and was shot entirely in Japan, extending Toho’s franchise run with Yamazaki Takashi back at the helm.

Ridley Scott says a 'Covenant' sequel is back in play, with Michael Fassbender’s David at the center; Fede Álvarez is out of the follow-up, and 20th Century has also approached Sébastien Vaniček for a separate 'Alien' lane.

Netflix’s AMC-sourced Talamasca: The Secret Order is surging to No. 2 on the U.S. Top 10 after landing on the service Aug. 23; the streamer’s broader five-year AMC package is worth $500 million and keeps Walking Dead library rights in-house through 2032.

South Korea’s late-summer horror corridor is filling up after Salmokji’s breakout; Universal’s Obsession is the year’s top horror grosser at $488.05 million worldwide as distributors chase the post-blockbuster window.

Alliance Home Entertainment rolls Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man out on Digital Sept. 22, then Blu-ray/DVD Oct. 20 and a 4K UHD SteelBook Nov. 17; Roth and Noah Belson load the discs with commentary and behind-the-scenes extras.

Neon's horror road trip pic opened to $61,287 on 5 screens; a 36-hour marathon screening powered the specialty launch.

Curry Barker’s debut feature is posting a 670x return against its budget, a fresh proof point for ultra-low-budget horror breakouts making the jump to theatrical.

GKIDS has locked North American rights to Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s cult gothic horror anime Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust; the 2000 title is set for a 2027 theatrical rollout before home video.

Deborah Richards’ Southern Gothic horror Scissor Mouth adds Tara Reid and Johnny Pemberton; Patrick Wirtz and 1905 Films are producing, with New Mexico production targeted for 2027.

UK theatrical bow set for October; Cynefilms is rolling out Cyrus Neshvad’s psychological horror thriller Child, a parents-in-extremis feature about keeping a dying child alive.

Martin Freeman boards Dakota Gorman’s thriller Speak Up for Altitude; the UK shoot is set for November as the project is introduced to Toronto buyers.

Netflix has set Joe Carnahan’s next feature The Operator after Harrison Query sold the spec in a bidding war. Mark Wahlberg stars as a CIA fixer forced to protect his enemy, keeping Carnahan in pulp-thriller territory after The RIP.

Paramount Television Studios lands Rafe Judkins on an exclusive overall deal as Paramount+ leans harder into world-building genre TV; the Wheel of Time creator joins the studio after prior Sony and Amazon work.

Busan’s ACFM is turning into an AI sandbox, with Google DeepMind, AWS, Alibaba Cloud, Kling AI and Netflix’s Eyeline Studios on the program alongside startups spanning casting, localization, VFX and audience analytics. InnoAsia 2026 also adds a branded short-film competition, microdrama policy panels and startup pitch funding tied to Hanwha’s Space Solar Power brief.

Black Mandala is expanding The 100 Candles Game franchise with Dark Mirror, the third installment in the supernatural horror series. Emma Bell boards as the saga extends a run that’s already played in 20 countries.

$50M Netflix release lands Aug. 28 for The Whisper Man; AGBO marks its sixth film with the streamer as Robert De Niro, Adam Scott and Michelle Monaghan headline James Ashcroft’s Alex North adaptation.

Level 33 Entertainment opens EVER AFTER theatrically Sept. 4, 2026, then hits On Demand Oct. 27; the fairy-tale survival slasher packs Mark Sheppard, Bonnie Aarons, Michael Berryman, Kane Hodder and Malcolm McDowell.

Sublimity launches TIFF sales on horror Postmortem, now in post-production with Odette Annable leading the cast; Andrés Beltrán’s grief-driven resurrection play adds Allegra Leguizamo, Julio Cesar Cedillo and Tony Revolori.

Little Spark Films wraps Bridgette Wrona and the Whisper Creek Murders and exits as a fully financed studio; the YA mystery/gateway horror feature stars Kelli Maroney and Lisa Gaye.

Overlook Film Festival title Parasomnia is set for a Shudder debut on Sept. 4 after its trailer rollout. James Ross II’s feature debut keeps the platform’s supernatural-horror lane stocked with festival-to-streamer acquisitions.