Netflix, Shudder & Disney

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.

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.

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.

Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion Warner Bros. bid is colliding with a California antitrust fight; the company is threatening to move operations to Texas, Tennessee or Georgia if the case stalls.

$500 million worldwide on a $750,000 budget after Focus’ TIFF Midnight Madness buy; Curry Barker and Inde Navarrette say the set stayed playful while keeping the work isolated and focused.

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.

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.

Warner Bros. has Flanagan scripting a new The Mist take, with the project set up in February and a Halloween draft target; the adaptation is being framed as a clean break from Darabont’s film rather than a retread.

Jessica Chastain and Amy Ryan board Netflix’s The Retrievals opposite Emilia Jones; Molly Smith Metzler writes and exec produces the podcast adaptation for LuckyChap, with filming eyed for New York/New Haven in September 2026.

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

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.

$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.

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.

Angel Melanson joins AMC Global Media as Shudder’s new Director of Programming; a notable exec move inside the horror streaming lane.

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.

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.

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.

$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.

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.

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.

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.

Adam Smith is named chairman of Disney Entertainment’s direct-to-consumer business, with Joe Earley taking a new franchise/content strategy role as Disney tightens control over Disney+ and Hulu operations.

AGC International has closed a wide international sales sweep on Lauren Miller Rogen’s TIFF comedy Babies, with deals set across the U.K./Ireland, Latin America, Germany, Australia/New Zealand, Scandinavia and multiple individual territories including Canada via Amazon. Roadside Attractions and Vertical hold U.S. rights for a theatrical launch in 2027.

Shudder sets The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula season 7 for Oct. 27, aligning the horror competition’s 10th anniversary with a stacked guest-judge roster and the streamer’s highest-performing unscripted original. The season leans into VHS-era horror iconography and keeps one of Shudder’s signature franchises front and center.

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.

$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.

Disney inks a development and licensing pact with Like Nastya for an original animated preschool series and live-action kids-to-family programming; the deal also opens the creator’s library to Disney+ and other Disney-owned platforms.

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.

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.