A24, Disney & Paramount

A24’s Backrooms has crossed $400 million-plus worldwide and pushed the indie distributor into a fight over exhibitor splits; theater chains are balking at its low- to mid-50s ticket-revenue demands on Primetime and upcoming titles.

Netflix is adding The Conjuring: Unspoken, the franchise’s first dedicated video game, a cloud-based paranormal-investigation title set around the Red Lion Inn; The Conjuring: First Communion is already dated for Sept. 10, 2027.

Warner Bros. pushes the new Gremlins feature to Oct. 6, 2028, landing the sequel-reboot in a better Halloween-adjacent slot; Dynamic Duo shifts to Sept. 22 as the studio reshuffles its 2028 calendar.

Shudder’s October slate centers on Infirmary, V/H/S/Mixtape, Hallowarrior, The Cycle and Big Baby, while also using Joe Bob Briggs, The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula and the Chainsaw Awards to own Halloween season fandom.

Paramount-Warner Bros. merger clears its final legal hurdle; settlement locks a $5 million annual indie-film acquisition fund, a $25 million five-year pool, and a requirement to release at least four independent titles a year alongside $1.5 billion in domestic production spend.

Body-horror short Fishbrain lands a world premiere at BFI London Film Festival on Oct. 7, with a second sold-out screening Oct. 18; Viridian Films backs Max Vanderspuy’s debut and the short has already won Best Production Design at the British Film Designers Guild awards.

Thailand used TIFF to pitch itself as a production destination, touting cash rebates up to 30%, location routes and meetings with 40-plus companies. The campaign wrapped around Inherit’s world premiere and a panel positioning Thai locations as part of the film’s value proposition.

Finnish horror Nightborn takes best film at the inaugural Freyas in Helsinki, while Nordic speeches flagged AI threats to originals and Laura Birn picked up the Local Nordic Hero Award for Foundation.

Tubi pushes its horror hub into the UK with exclusive Tales From the Crypt, the new original BITE SIZE TERROR, and a September 2026 BUZZKILL rollout; the streamer says viewers log more than 53 million horror hours a month.

Netflix’s October 1 horror drop includes 25 films, led by Evil Dead (2013), The Strangers, Friday the 13th and Psycho, Psycho II and Psycho III; Below premieres October 8, Haunted Hotel S2 on October 9, and Cocaine Bear arrives October 14.

A24 is eyeing Jan. 29, 2027 for Jeremy Saulnier’s fugitive thriller; the film is still in edit after a strong test cut, with a possible Sundance launch still in play.

Dan Farah has acquired the film and TV rights to Jay Stratton’s UAP memoir; Terence Winter is set to develop the adaptation as a government-conspiracy thriller about classified encounters and non-human intelligence.

Korean horror has turned into a year-round box-office engine; Obsession’s $750,000 budget has ballooned into roughly $500 million worldwide, while Salmokji’s 3.241 million admissions reset the local horror record and new titles like Resident Evil: Night Zero and Alpha are riding the wave.

Universal and Blumhouse have River headed to theaters Jan. 15, 2027 after the TIFF slasher pickup; Jessica Rothe says she and Christopher Landon have the full Happy Death Day 3 story mapped, but the sequel still needs financing.

The 19th Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival (25 September-4 October) is gearing up to welcome audiences with a program of around 40 films, including new international productions and preview screenings.

Adobe has agreed to acquire Topaz Labs, adding AI tools that sharpen images, reduce noise and restore footage to its creative lineup. Planned integration across Firefly and Creative Cloud would give filmmakers more ways to improve the quality and resolution of both captured and AI-generated content.

A stacked-cast horror feature is locking in a theatrical rollout, keeping another genre title in the big-screen pipeline. Based on Goldman’s 2022 short film Return to Sender, the full feature premiered at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, where it earned rave reviews.

Barbarian moves from Max to Hulu on Oct. 1 under Disney’s legacy streaming routing; the shift keeps Zach Cregger’s breakout horror title in the Hulu lane after its theatrical run.

Diane Lane boards Hulu’s Victoria; the Christy Hall limited series pairs a con artist with a seductive killer inside San Francisco’s elite. Geeta Vasant Patel directs the pilot for Onyx Collective and Counterpart Studios.

Peacock’s Crystal Lake is staying grounded, with creator Brad Caleb Kane saying the Friday the 13th prequel will explain parts of Jason Voorhees’ backstory without going full supernatural. The series is set for Oct. 15 on Peacock and stars Linda Cardellini as Pam Voorhees.

Good Fiend Films launches Good Fiend Lit and the Buried in Books interview series; first up is Nat Cassidy at Twisted Spine Books on Oct. 9, with Tananarive Due and Josh Malerman queued for follow-up conversations.

Dentsu now fronts Kodansha’s anime and manga IP in the Americas, opening brand access to Attack on Titan, Ghost in the Shell and Blue Lock for sponsorships, live events and fan activations; the pitch leans on Dentsu.Connect and anime’s projected $60.27 billion global market by 2030.

Image Comics is launching Merciless this December, a four-issue gothic horror sequel to Mirka Andolfo’s Mercy with Lidia Bolognini on art. The series returns to Woodsburgh as Andolfo extends the original supernatural mythology.

Shudder closed the rights deal on Ben Sottak’s feature debut ahead of its Tribeca bow; Milly Shapiro leads the Halloween-set siege pic, with Shannyn Sossamon, AJ Bowen and Ajani Russell in support. The streamer has it set for an Oct. 16 debut as part of Season of Screams.

Adrián and Ramiro García Bogliano’s youth-horror La Mancha lands in Sitges’ Noves Visions after a sold-out BAFICI bow; Salto de Fe, Far Away Cine and Sync Comunicación Audiovisual produce, with VDF Films handling sales.

Hana Mae Lee and Hal Satin’s occult anthology Magick Mtn. bowed at Fantastic Fest and is set for Oct. 13 digital release; the Lynchian rock-and-roll horror fairytale mixes supernatural vignettes with an underground gothic soundtrack.