Netflix, Shudder & Paramount

Shudder, of AMC Global Media, taps Angel Melanson as director of programming, adding a new curation lead to the horror streamer’s acquisition and originals pipeline.

20th Century closes on 99 Nights in the Forest after a competitive rights race; Josh Cooley is set to write and Sam Raimi/Rob Tapert produce for Ghost House Pictures.

Disney and Sundance are opening a new round of project advancement and completion funding plus artist fellowships; Beth de Araújo is among the recipients as the partnership keeps underwriting emerging filmmakers.

Rob Bonta puts the Paramount California-exit threat on David Ellison and keeps the pressure on a deal already burdened by a $7 million-a-day ticking fee and a $7 billion breakup exposure.

British Horror Studio launches Picture House, a new theatrical distribution arm that will handle in-house and outside titles, with North America expansion targeted for 2027. Amicus’ In the Grip of Terror leads the slate as UK screenings roll out this fall.

BBC launches The Haunted Library, a new horror podcast adapting classic novels into audio drama; the anthology extends a low-cost lane for genre IP and keeps the property pipeline active outside film and TV.

$500 million debt-for-equity recapitalization hands 99% of Corus Entertainment to lenders; CRTC approves NewCo’s takeover, waives tangible-benefits payments and says closing should land in coming weeks.

Prime Video is in talks to take over the Emmys, which would move TV’s top awards show off broadcast for the first time and end the long-running network rotation. The shift would give Amazon exclusive multi-year control of the telecast.

Paramount is escalating plans to leave California, with Tennessee and Texas both courting the company as the Ellison merger drama deepens. California AG Rob Bonta is calling the move a threat, but the relocation push could reshape where Paramount bases future production and corporate operations.

FCC signs off on 49.5% foreign ownership of the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. entity, clearing one regulatory hurdle while leaving the antitrust fight and closing timeline unresolved; the Ellison family and RedBird keep voting control.

Eric Schrier exits Disney’s international D2C originals post and shifts into a production deal; Adam Smith is elevated to chairman of Disney Entertainment’s D2C business while Joe Earley takes over franchise and international originals strategy as Disney pushes harder into global streaming output.

Brillstein signs Rodo Sayagues for management; the Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe, and Alien: Romulus co-writer just finished a Romulus sequel script and is writing a new Warner Bros. feature for Andy Muschietti.

CAP and studio lobbyists swarmed Congress pushing a federal film and TV tax credit after Trump backed the idea on Truth Social; MPA is pitching a $250 billion gross-value lift and 143,500 annual jobs, while a bipartisan production caucus just launched on the Hill.

Tubi maps a horror-heavy October push: 13,000+ hours in the Terror on Tubi hub, plus originals Buzzkill and R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead 2, Bite Size Terror shorts, and creator series Dark Suburbia, CREEPERS and The Haunted Estate season 2.

Shudder renews The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula for season seven, extending its highest-performing unscripted original franchise; the October 27 rollout on Shudder/AMC+ leans into VHS-era horror aesthetics and a stacked guest slate.

U.S. rent/buy rollout on Amazon, Apple TV and Fandango at Home lands for 5’7 Films’ paranormal comedy; the co-production also launches Potluck Originals, a YouTube channel debuting with an 8-episode ghost-hunting doc series.

Martin Scorsese has joined Trees Are Watching as an executive producer, adding major weight to Bahman Ghobadi’s psychological thriller starring Eva Green. The film follows a writer haunted by childhood memories, family trauma, and an ominous presence tied to the natural world.

Netflix is lining up Richard Osman’s We Solve Murders after The Thursday Murder Club broke out; Osman has confirmed a second crime novel is heading to the streamer, extending the book-to-screen pipeline.

Filmoption International has taken on supernatural horror Split Rock, adding a sales and distribution home for the project ahead of market movement.

Focus Features / Blumhouse / Atomic Monster’s Anything But Ghosts is shooting on a 130-page script in 26 days; Curry Barker directs and stars opposite Aaron Paul, with the TIFF panel surfacing the production’s crunch schedule.

$100,000 Fantastic Fest Pitches award helped bankroll Nicolas Curcio’s microbudget horror feature, with Chroma backing the launch and an Alamo Drafthouse theatrical path baked in. Divide/Conquer steered the project early and now boards as executive producers as Curcio takes the film to premiere after a sub-year turnaround.

Netflix, Lionsgate, Hasbro, Adobe and Google execs mapped AI use cases from assistive tools to synthetic characters; Netflix said its public framework now covers roughly 300 programs, while Hasbro is leaning on authorized replicas for IP guardrails.

$10 million TIFF sale for River to Universal Pictures and Blumhouse; Joshua Giuliano’s stripped-down slasher is the fest’s first headline market move and another sign distributors are chasing the next Obsession.

Mad Cave is launching La Mancha, a horror reimagining of Don Quixote that sends Dulcinea del Toboso after the mad knight in a genre twist on the public-domain classic.

Archie and Dynamite are crossing Sabrina the Teenage Witch with Vampirella, with Tini Howard writing and Bill and Ben Galvan on art.

Shot over two one-week blocks on a shoestring at a single Hudson Valley location, Neil LaBute’s Hitchcock-leaning horror-comedy “Murderous” premieres at Oldenburg after financing finally came together.

Shudder lines up V/H/S/MIXTAPE for an Oct. 9 debut with segments from RZA, Ernest Dickerson, David Moreau and Renee Zhan; the franchise returns after V/H/S/HALLOWEEN became the service’s most-watched exclusive film premiere of 2025.

A24 and Marcus Theatres settle a months-long booking dispute, clearing Primetime for ticket sales and reopening the exhibitor path for the indie slate.

Amber Midthunder boards Rot, a psychological body-horror feature from Mike Flanagan’s camp; the role pushes her into unfamiliar territory and gives one of Flanagan’s longtime collaborators a first turn in the director’s chair.

Snow Pictures launches as Ayvianna Snow’s horror banner, with psychological horror feature The Nice Ones as the debut title; the film bows on streaming in North America Sept. 29 and gets a UK theatrical run.

Fantastic Fest world premiere set for Nick Simon’s What Happened to Doris?; clip teases Heather Graham as a single mother stalked by an unseen force tied to the alleged paranormal case behind The Entity.